Tag: Durham NC

Learn With Us, March 2023

On By durhammastergardenersIn Learn With Us

Planting Native Perennials for Pollinators

Saturday, March 11 2:00 – 4:00pm

Location: 221 Milton Rd, Durham

This presentation will cover native plants, rich in nectar and/or pollen, which will
bloom sequentially throughout the life cycle of our Piedmont pollinators. Plants
selected for the presentation will include many that tolerate deer, heat, and
drought and will include plants for sun and shade gardens. Handouts will be
provided that summarize information about the plants presented in the
PowerPoint and include resource links for native plant gardeners.

Register: https://durhamcountylibrary.libcal.com/event/10254152

Container Gardening: Setting Up for Success

Choose one session:

Tuesday, March 2110:00 – 11:00am or Sunday, March 26⋅2:00 – 3:00pm

Location: Cocoa Cinnamon

420 W Geer St, Durham, NC 27701, USA

For city dwellers, growing plants outdoors often means gardening in containers. Whether you live in an apartment, condo, townhome or house, our Urban Container Gardening series will get you prepared to grow ornamental plants or edibles in containers at your city home. For this two-part miniseries, you can attend either one or both seminars, as they’ll cover complementary information.

For the first part, Extension Master Gardeners Cathy Halloran and Jackie MacLeod will lead you through the steps of determining how much sun you have, choosing containers and potting medium, checking drainage and irrigation, the tools you’ll need, and choosing plants for success for your sun exposure.

Join the Extension Master Gardener℠ Volunteers of Durham County to learn gardening tricks and tips at the Cocoa Cinnamon Container Gardeners.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED https://www.eventbrite.com/e/container-gardening-setting-up-for-success-321-tickets-513363553207

$5 Fee

Parking is available along the street and in the Cooperative Extension Parking lot (721 Foster St). There is a limit of 15 people per class.

This class is part of the Bull City Gardener Learning Series and is open to everyone.

This class is made possible by an Inspire-Connect-Empower Grant from the Master Gardener Association of North Carolina.

Durham Garden Forum – Plant Propagation

Tuesday, March 21 7:00 – 8:30pm


Sara Smith, Durham County Master Gardener
In the beginning, there were plants – EVERYWHERE! Plants spread across the Earth from the depths of the oceans to rocky mountain peaks. That didn’t happen with just one
method of propagation. Join us for a look at the various propagation techniques that plants employ. Learn how to facilitate their natural tendencies to produce an abundance of your favorites.
Disclaimer: Plant propagation may be habit-forming

Registration Required

The Durham Garden Forum is an informal group that meets once a month to enrich our gardening knowledge and skill. 3rd Tuesdays, 7:00- 8:30 pm via Zoom link sent to registrants.

Memberships: $25 per year. Members have access to video library of presentations. CONTACT US/REGISTER: durhamgardenforum@gmail.com

Inaugural Plant Festival

Saturday, April 1⋅10:00am – 12:00pm

721 Foster St., Durham

Come and join us for our first ever Plant Festival, to be held on Saturday April 1 in the Foster St parking lot, the week before the Master Gardeners’ plant sale. Preview plants, ask questions, and learn from Master Gardeners and community partners! More information HERE.

More opportunities:

Duke Gardens

JC Raulston Arboretum

NC Botanical Garden

Triangle Gardener

Shortlink: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-3eB

Get Ready for Creek Week!

On By durhammastergardenersIn PSA1 Comment

By Ellie Dilworth, AmeriCorps Environmental Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, Keep Durham Beautiful

With Spring fast approaching, it’s hard not to stare out the window and dream of being outside. Luckily, the third week in March offers a great chance to get out there: Durham Creek Week.

This year, Creek Week runs from March 18th through March 25th. Creek Week is one of Durham’s largest litter cleanup initiatives of the year; a collaboration of over 15 community groups, organizations, local government divisions, and businesses; and a week-long celebration of Durham’s creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.

Volunteers from Durham Tech at a litter removal event at Long Meadow Park along Goose Creek, Creek Week 2019 (Credit: Tania Dautlick)

Tackling Pollution

One of Creek Week’s main initiatives is removing litter from waterways and raising awareness about water pollution. Litter flows into our waterways with runoff and pollutes water as materials degrade, leaching chemicals into the surrounding water and soil. Did you know, the chemicals from just one cigarette butt can contaminate around two gallons of water—removing litter is a big deal!

Durham’s main source of drinking water is Lake Michie, located in North Durham. However, most of the creeks and streams in Durham flow into Jordan or Falls Lake, which serve as drinking water sources for surrounding cities. March is a great time to remove litter from our waterways as much of the overgrowth is dormant, making it easier to get close to waterways, spot the litter, and go in there to get it out.

Durham has celebrated Creek Week since 2009. In Creek Week’s 13-year history, approximately 4,117 volunteers have removed 190,637 pounds of litter from Durham’s waterways. This year, Creek Week will host a variety of cleanups across Durham to remove litter both on foot and by boat. Below we’ll tell you how to get involved.

Educational Opportunities

            While litter removal is a big part of Creek Week, it’s also a great time to learn more about our waterways, aquatic life, and water infrastructure in Durham. Participants can gain knowledge and experience through hands-on learning opportunities.

Kids searching for frogs at last year’s Frog Watch at Sandy Creek Park, Creek Week 2022 (Credit: Laura Webb Smith)

Some of this year’s events include:

  • Experiencing the explosion of spring song and mating activity among frogs at Sandy Creek Park
  • A bioretention tour at the City of Durham’s General Services Building
  • A Green Stormwater workshop at the Museum of Life and Science

An Educational Resource Guide with youth book recommendations and classroom activities and lessons can be found on the Creek Week website for a great way to learn and participate from home!

Recreational Activities

After lots of litter removals and educational events, it can be nice to spend some time exploring and enjoying our local waterways. Creek Week has ample opportunities for both fun and challenging—but still fun—recreational activities. Join Creek Week partners for one of many canoe and kayak adventures and classes which offer a new perspective on our lakes and rivers, enjoy free admission to explore the Museum of Life and Science on Durham Community Day, or team up for a hike along one of Durham’s many trails that run alongside our waterways.

Participate from Home

Whether you can attend an in-person event or not, you can still participate in Creek Week! Visit the Creek Week website to fill out this year’s bingo card. Participants who complete five spaces will receive a Creek Week patch. Those who fill out ten spaces will be entered for a chance to win a $120 gift card from Frog Hollow Outdoors. Durham County Stormwater is hosting a virtual scavenger hunt via social media with prizes for participants who get all the questions correct.

In addition to events in Durham, the Clean Water Education Partnership of the Triangle J Council of Governments hosts a Regional Creek Week event. For this year’s Regional Creek Week theme of “GSI Oh My!,” CWEP will be hosting a virtual scavenger hunt highlighting local examples of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). GSI provides an alternative to sending runoff unfiltered directly into waterways via methods of filtering and absorbing stormwater in the place where it falls. Implement green stormwater infrastructure at your home through things like a rain barrel or rain garden, or take on a larger project like bioretention cells or redeveloping the riparian buffer along a waterway. For more information on the scavenger hunt and Regional Creek Week events, visit CWEP’s Regional Creek Week webpage.

Volunteers at a litter removal event at Beaver Marsh Preserve, Creek Week 2022 (Credit: Laura Webb Smith)

Register and Learn More

If you’re interested in joining a cleanup, participating in a workshop, or attending a recreational event, visit www.durhamcreekweek.org and navigate to the events page for registration links. Space is limited for many events, so sign up soon to secure your spot. If you’d like to organize or lead a litter removal event, please fill out this form. Keep Durham Beautiful will provide tools for those leading litter cleanups. If you’re not in Durham but would still like to get involved, keep an eye out for similar events in your area by visiting CWEP’s Regional Creek Week webpage or the NC Creek Week Network Hub from the NC Department of Environmental Quality.

However you choose to participate, we hope you take the chance this March to explore, appreciate, learn, and care for our local waterways. See you out there!

Resources/Links:

www.durhamcreekweek.org (Includes Event Registration, Educational Resource Guide, Bingo Card)

NC Creek Week Network Hub

CWEP’s Regional Creek Week webpage

Registration Form to Lead or Organize a Cleanup

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-3eo

Learn With Us, February 2023

On By durhammastergardenersIn Learn With Us

Scion Exchange
Saturday, February 11⋅11:00am – 12:00pm
721 Foster St, Durham, NC 27701
February is the perfect time for winter pruning fruit and nut trees. Instead of composting the discarded branches (scions), exchange them with other orchardists and pick up some new-to-you varieties.

No Registration Required

Visit https://trianglefruitandnutgrowers.weebly.com/collect-scions.html for instructions on how to collect scions

Durham Garden Forum – “Drought Tolerant Landscapes” with Annabelle Renwick
Tuesday, February 21⋅7:00 – 8:30pm via Zoom
Annabel Renwick, curator of the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at Duke Gardens.
Learn how to create a garden that is both beautiful and sustainable by choosing plants that will tolerate North
Carolina’s hot dry summer, avoiding the need to irrigate.

Registration Required. Fee.

The Durham Garden Forum is an informal group that meets once a month to enrich our gardening knowledge and skill.
3rd Tuesdays, 7:00- 8:30 pm via Zoom link sent to registrants.
Memberships: $25 per year
Members have access to video library of presentations
CONTACT US/REGISTER: durhamgardenforum@gmail.com

Browse these links for other educational opportunities:

Visit Sarah P. Duke Gardens and participate in their Adult Programs and Children & Family Programs. Summer and spring break camps are enrolling students in grades K-5 and accepting volunteer applications from teens ages 16+ More information here.

Triangle Gardener has an extensive list of classes and events. Scroll down for February and beyond.

J.C. Raulston Arboretum calendar of events has something for everyone.

Learn With Us, July 2022

On By durhammastergardenersIn Gardening information, Learn With Us

Durham Garden Forum – Agronomics: The Economics of Land Use
July 19, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM
with Delphine Sellers, retired director of the Durham Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Via Zoom. Registration Required: durhamgardenforum@gmail.com. Dues for the 2022 calendar year are $25. (Another option is to pay $10 to attend one lecture.)

Are you interested in becoming a Master Gardener? Durham County’s 15 week training program will begin in January 2023, and interest meetings will be held this summer. Contact the Master Gardener office at mastergardener@dconc.gov for more information or to be added to the interest list.

Check out Triangle Gardener‘s list of area lectures and other learning opportunities.

Stay hydrated and cool while you are enjoying outdoor spaces, and keep learning!

Ten Plants That Can Take the Heat

On By durhammastergardenersIn annuals, container gardening, Perennial

by Andrea Laine, EMGV

The pilgrimage to local nurseries has begun and warm-weather gardening is upon us. With so many plant selections available and a heat wave due by the end of the week, it seems like the perfect time to revisit one of our most popular blog posts: “Ten Plants that Can Take the Heat,” by Andrea Laine. Grab a cold iced tea and plan your garden for the long hot summer to come. 

_______________________________________

Come July, I am unlikely to be outdoors — much less gardening—unless watering or weeding is absolutely required. I dislike the heat of a North Carolina Piedmont summer. Luckily for my garden and the birds and insects who visit it, there are perennials and annuals that do just fine despite the heat and even when rain is not plentiful.  

I’ve been noticing those plants more lately as it has been almost two weeks since a measurable amount of rain has fallen on my garden. And, we’ve had some very hot days, with heat indexes of 100 or more. I watered six days ago and again this morning (July 20).

Plants begin suffering physiological damage at 86 degrees and above1. Keeping up with watering is important, especially for the newer additions to the garden or those recently transplanted. An established tree, shrub or plant will fare better due to a stronger, more settled root system.  

Here are 10 plants that tolerate sunny, hot, and dry conditions reasonably well:

Perennials

Blackberry Lily or Leopard Flower (Belamcanda) This is my first experience with this semi-hardy summer bulb. It prefers morning sun, but this plant is doing very well in afternoon sun in well-drained soil. The dainty flowers began blooming in July atop stalks 30 to 36 inches high. Blackberry refers to the black seeds that follow flowering. Store corms in dry sand at 35-41 degrees.

Catmint (Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’) This is another plant I had never grown before this year and so far I am very pleased. Lavender spikes of flowers (10 inches high) appear late spring to mid-summer and flowers are always crowded with bees, moths and butterflies. It is deer resistant. Photo credit: Debbie Roos

Lantana (Lantana Camara) The ‘Miss Huff’ cultivar is a generally reliable perennial in the Piedmont region of NC. Treat all other cultivars as annuals here. Miss Huff is a woody evergreen shrub that will grow 4’ high and wide in full sun. It blooms from late spring to fall and flowers are a mix of orange, yellow and pink. Cut it down to four to six inches in the spring before new growth begins.

Garden Sage (Salvia Officinalis) This plant is the star of my herb garden – good-looking, evergreen and productive all year. It is planted in well-drained soil and receives four to six hours of sun; that’s about as ‘full’ as my heavily wooded property allows, but obviously it has been good enough for this plant.  

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)  Being native to the southeast United States, it’s not a great surprise that the purple coneflower tolerates heat and drought. But it also tolerates humidity and poor soil and can grow in full sun or part shade. Pinkish-purple flowers appear from May to October. It is deer resistant, too. Photo credit: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/echinacea-purpurea/

Annuals

Summer snapdragon (Angelonia angustifolia)  For years now I have relied on this annual to add color and grace to my front walkway. I choose white and purple flowering cultivars but there are pink and variegated ones, too.  It grows at a medium rate and flowers from June through September. I bet it would do well in a container. Actually, most plants that tolerate drought probably would.

Begonia x ‘Dragonwing’ This has long been my favorite begonia because it fills out so nicely. I don’t readily think of begonias as being heat and drought tolerant, but I’ve included this one because of my firsthand experience with it under exactly those conditions. I love its drooping clusters of flowers. I usually plant this in a container on my deck which receives morning sun. This year I put it in the ground outside my front door,  a western exposure that also receives a good bit of shade. As you can see, it is doing well.

Evolvulus  glomeratus ‘Blue daze’ It was serendipity when I spotted this plant in a nursery in Mebane last summer. I was through with my planting for the season (or so I told myself) but just couldn’t resist its charms. I do like plants with blue flowers. I brought it home without knowing anything about it. I put it in the ground in full sun among some perennial grasses and it proceeded to take over! I eventually learned that it is a ground cover in the morning-glory family. It’s flowers close at dusk or on cloudy days. If planted in the ground, it forms sprawling mounds nine to 18 inches tall2, which was precisely what I experienced. I would plant it again, but in a more open space. It was yet another lesson in “right plant, right place.” Photo credit: JC Raulston Arboretum

Mandevilla (Dipladenia sanderi) Every summer my mother planted this tropical vine in a container (with trellis for climbing) on her deck in Southeast Pennsylvania. In a short time, it looked spectacular. I’ve often considered doing the same, but the vines have become more expensive than I care to spend for a one-season plant. So, imagine my glee this spring when I noticed a new compact mounding cultivar for $6 in a big box store. I planted three in the ground; I mulched but have not been aggressive with water. They attract hummingbirds and butterflies. NC State Extension says they can be wintered indoors in a container.  

Portulaca grandiflora This is an old favorite of mine that I have not planted in a great while but is such a crowd pleaser. I think it might come to own this sloped spot (therefore, well-draining) among the native pink muhly grasses. There are varieties that flower in a single color, but I enjoy the ones with a variety of colors on one plant. So cheerful! Like evolvulus, the flowers close on cloudy days.

I’ll be looking to add more of these plants to my garden in future years. I am so grateful that some like it hot!

Footnotes, Resources & Further Reading

1. https://www.ahsgardening.org/gardening-resources/gardening-maps/heat-zone-map

2. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/evolvulus-glomeratus/

https://extensiongardener.ces.ncsu.edu/extgardener-salvias-for-the-sage-gardener/

https://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/begonia-dragonwings.aspx

Learn more about other plants listed above: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/

(Unless otherwise noted, photos taken by A. Laine)

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