JC Raulston Arboretum e-Update
July 2019
Your Monthly News and Updates
Summer Adventures at the Arboretum

By Emily Bonner, Development Assistant

Summer is in full swing at the Arboretum, and so are our summer garden camps! Every year, the Arboretum offers a variety of unique week-long programs to encourage young gardeners to engage with the JCRA's diverse plant life. 

Camp topics range from Nature Detectives, which helps campers develop both horticultural and problem solving skills as they follow the path of a mystery gardener, to Artists in the Garden, wherein budding artists work with natural materials collected from the Arboretum to create one-of-a-kind art projects.

Learning opportunities like our summer garden camps are possible because of the community's generous support of the JC Raulston Arboretum Children's Program. Through this program, the JCRA is able to provide new and exciting ways for youth to explore the world around them, from Garden Storytime and school field trips to programs specifically designed for both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

These programs are an invaluable resource for helping the Arboretum engage with the youngest members of our community. Not only do they allow us to fulfill J.C. Raulston’s mission of education and outreach, but they also give us an opportunity to spark a lifelong enthusiasm for nature and plant science in our youngest horticulturists.

Thank you to everyone who supports the wonderful work of our Children’s Program! We depend on your generosity to keep providing these educational opportunities. If you are interested in learning more about sponsoring or donating to the Children's Program, please visit our Web site for more information. 
We Want You to Come Vote

By Bernadette Clark, Bedding Plant Trials Coordinator, and Kathryn Wall, Membership and Volunteer Coordinator

Do you like seeing new cultivars and judging plants? Then come on out to the Arboretum July 1 – 5 and vote for your favorites. The Color Trials at the JC Raulston Arboretum is an official All-America Selections (AAS) testing site for new cultivars of bedding plants, flowers, and cool season plants in North America. AAS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to testing and trumpeting outstanding new cultivars. The newest varieties for bedding, hanging baskets, and containers are showcased and evaluated.

This year, we want you to come cast your vote. No robocalls are involved, nor political affiliation! Bring your friends, family, or out-of-town guests, and vote for your favorites. Voting by members and the general public will be held each day July 1 – 5. 

It's easy, go to the Color Trials where you'll find flags and voting instructions. Votes will be tallied at the end of the day and the results shared. See how your picks differ from industry professionals, horticulture department staff, and JCRA volunteers in an upcoming article.
Juried Photographic Competition and Exhibition

By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator

Calling all photographers! Do you have an eye for beauty? Would you like to share your work with other people who would appreciate it? If so, the Juried Photographic Competition is for you. Adults and youth can submit original photographs of garden or plant related subjects. Distinguished judges will determine the winning images and cash awards will be presented. The winning prints along with the judges' favorites will be displayed at the Arboretum from September 16 through November 15 for the public to see. Don't delay! Start capturing your favorite images today. Maybe yours will become "Best in Show."

Judging takes place in two stages. Digital photographs are evaluated during the first round of judging and selected photographs are then printed, framed, and dropped off by the photographers at the JCRA for another round of judging. Cash awards given to the best in show, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in the adult category and to the best in show in the youth category.

For more information, please see the online announcement and brochure or contact Chris Glenn at (919) 513-7005 or chris_glenn@ncsu.edu
Farewell to a Garden

By Douglas Ruhren, Gardens Manager

The two pollinator beds have been removed from the midst of the Color Trials. They were the work of Anne Spafford a professor in NC State University's Department of Horticultural Science. Her research goal, in part at least, was to study if the public was more accepting of a wild and wooly planting of pollinator-supporting native plants if the planting was bordered by tidy little shrubs. To this end, half of each of the two beds was edged with shrubs and the other halves were not. Untold numbers of visitors filled out questionnaires left in the mailboxes in the beds. The JCRA was chosen as a test site because the Arboretum enjoys heavy visitation. The plantings were to last just two years but they remained in place a bit longer than that.

Once again, the Color Trials area reads as one whole now that the pollinator planting no longer interrupts one's view. But what about the pollinators? JCRA director Mark Weathington likes to say that "The whole Arboretum is a pollinator garden." And to a large degree he is correct. But if you are selecting plants for pollinator support, it is good to be aware of a few things:

  • Unimproved plants, that is wild plants unaltered through human selection, are usually excellent food sources.
  • The majority of pollinators do not care if the plants are native or exotic (the opposite of native).
  • When humans start modifying flowers they often become less useful for pollinators.
  • Double flowers often offer little to no nectar or pollen because the nectaries and stamens become the additional petals and no longer function as they were originally intended to.
  • Plants that are hybrids between species are often less attractive to pollinators than the original species. Abelia ×grandiflora is visited by some insects in a lukewarm kind of way, but one of its parents, Abelia chinensis is an absolute butterfly magnet. However "African Blue" basil is a phenomenally good pollinator supporter despite it being a hybrid between two other species of basil.

Many of the plants from Anne Spafford's plantings have been relocated elsewhere. Some served as a source for cuttings to root for various JCRA plantings and distributions. The future of these two beds has not yet been determined. A number of serious perennial weeds are now well established in them and we will be well served by dealing with them first before planting anew. It might be noted that a group of volunteers is renovating the Butterfly Garden over by the Paradise Garden. So come out and enjoy the flowers and the critters visiting them.
Hot Summer Educational Programs

By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator

Summer continues to sizzle with more educational programs including some new programming and some of our returning favorites. Plantsmen's Tours, Friends of the Arboretum Lectures, Gardening Adventures with Extension Master Gardener Volunteers lectures continue throughout the summer as well. In fact, this is our first summer ever with FOA Lectures every month.

Introduction to Mushroom Foraging: Learn a Year's Worth of Wild Edible Mushrooms in One Day
Saturday, July 13 – 9:00 AM

Want to learn to safely identify morels, black trumpets, chanterelles, and other delicious, edible mushrooms ? In this class you can learn to identify an entire year's worth—a dozen—of the best-tasting, easy to identify mushrooms (no poisonous look-alikes) presented in one indoor sitting.

Introduction to Growing Citrus in North Carolina
Saturday, July 13 – 1:00 PM

You don't have to live on the Gulf Coast (or the Left Coast) to grow delicious citrus . Learn how to grow citrus trees in the Triangle either in-ground or in pots in this class.

Photography Walk
"Key Photography Gear for Better Garden Photographs"
Mary Louise Ravese, Bella Vista Photography
Thursday, July 18 – 10:00 AM

Garden photography presents some interesting challenges for the photographer from being able to photograph in close proximity to flowers, to controlling the light to enable photographing at different times of the day. In this session we'll discuss some key equipment professionals use to enable better garden photographs.

Japanese Maple Grafting Workshop
Saturday, July 27 – 8:30 AM and 1:00 PM

Grafting is the only method possible to propagate some plants. Many rare and expensive plants are grafted. In this workshop, participants learn to graft Japanese maples ( 8:30 AM and 1:00 PM ) from two experts. Tim and Matt Nichols will discuss and demonstrate grafting techniques and then will individually assist each participant as they graft their own plants.

Hypertufa Trough Workshop
Saturday, July 27 – 9:00 AM

Hypertufa troughs were developed in England as an alternative to old stone sinks which were used to feed and water livestock. Participants will mix the ingredients, build a container, and learn how to release a finished container from its mold in this workshop.

Cast Concrete Leaf Workshop
Saturday, July 27 – 1:00 PM

This two-hour workshop will teach you everything you need to know about how to prepare your leaf, mix the concrete medium, and mold a natural leaf sculpture to hang on an inside wall or use outside in a garden.

Perennial Vegetables: Plant Once, Reap Twice (or More)
Saturday, August 17 – 9:00 AM

Perennial vegetables are not fruits. The part you eat is the flower bud (artichoke), the spring shoot (asparagus, Solomon seal), the fiddlehead (ostrich fern), the leaf stalk (rhubarb, cardoon, lovage), the leaf (lovage, Burbank spineless cactus) or the root (sunchokes, ramps, giant Solomon seal, ground nuts).

Cool-season Vegetables: Fewer Pests and Less Work
Saturday, August 17 – 1:00 PM

The conditions for gardening all improve after Labor Day: the weather cools off, many weeds are going dormant, most bugs and diseases have run their course. And in the North Carolina climate, fall planted crops benefit from the cooler weather and can be harvested through the fall, winter, and spring. Learn how to grow the greens, crucifers, and root crops that thrive in the cool half of the year.

Photography Walk
"Visual Storytelling: Capturing a Sense of Place with Your Camera"
Mary Louise Ravese, Bella Vista Photography
Thursday, August 29 – 8:30 AM

Whether you are photographing your garden, your home town, or a vacation destination, we like to share the full extent of our experience of being there. In this session, you'll learn some easy to implement techniques to go beyond the snap shot to visually "tell the story" of the experience of being in a place.

For more information about these programs, please contact Chris Glenn at (919) 513-7005 or chris_glenn@ncsu.edu. Online registration is available via the links below.
Upcoming Events

"Interns' Top Picks"
2019 Summer Interns
Tuesday, July 2 – 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM

Volunteer Tour Docents
Sunday, July 7, 14, 21, and 28 – 2:00 PM

Monday, July 8 through Friday, July 12 – 9:00 AM

Frank Hyman, Cottage Garden Landscaping
Saturday, July 13 – 9:00 AM

Frank Hyman, Cottage Garden Landscaping
Saturday, July 13 – 1:00 PM
Register (Almost Full)

Monday, July 15 through Friday, July 19 – 9:00 AM

"Key Photography Gear for Better Garden Photographs"
Mary Louise Ravese, Bella Vista Photography
Thursday, July 18 – 10:00 AM

Monday, July 22 through Friday, July 26 – 9:00 AM

"The Joys of Gardening 50 Years as a Klutz: Prickles Pests, and Other Concerns in the Garden"
Cathy DeWitt, Wake County Extension Master Gardener
Monday, July 22 – 10:00 AM

"Every Tree Has a Story—The Stories Behind Many Well Known and Amazing Japanese Maples and Other Ornamental Trees"
Tim and Matt Nichols, Nichols Nursery
Friday, July 26 – 7:30 PM

Tim and Matt Nichols, Nichols Nursery
Saturday, July 27 – 8:30 AM
Register (Almost Full)
and
Saturday, July 27 – 1:00 PM

Beth Jimenez and Amelia Lane, Lasting Impressions and JCRA Volunteers
Saturday, July 27 – 9:00 AM

Beth Jimenez and Amelia Lane, JCRA Volunteers
Saturday, July 27 – 1:00 PM

Monday, July 29 through Friday, August 2 – 9:00 AM


✽Denotes a children's program.

Many programs require advance registration. Please register early to reserve your spot.

Save the Date

Saturday, January 18, 2020 through Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Coming Attractions
By Nancy Doubrava, JCRA Volunteer
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'
panicled hydrangea
Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
summersweet clethra
Eucomis comosa 'Sparkling Burgundy'
purple-leaf pineapple-lily
Solidago shortii 'Solar Cascade'
Short's goldenrod
Lagerstroemia 'Gamad VII'
Sweetheart Dazzle dwarf crepe myrtle
Cortaderia selloana 'Blue Bayou'
compact pampas grass
Hosta 'Hans'
hosta
Buddleja 'Boscranz'
CranRazz butterfly-bush
YouTube Channel Update

By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator

Three new videos were recorded in June and posted to our YouTube Channel . Look for them on our channel or click the graphics below.

Receive announcements about our latest additions by subscribing to our YouTube Channel . Click on the bell icon to adjust your frequency settings from occasional notifications to all notifications and vice versa.
Your Membership Makes a Difference
Please Join or Renew Today!

The JC Raulston Arboretum is free to the public, but it is not free to operate. Memberships keep the gates open and the gardens in top shape. Membership gifts are the primary support for the Arboretum's daily operations and vital for its success. Thank you for your support and advocacy of the JC Raulston Arboretum through the membership program. It's fast and easy to become a Friend of the Arboretum, and there are many great benefits for you and your family. Join or renew now using our secure Web site, or contact Kathryn Wall, membership and volunteer coordinator, at kbwall@ncsu.edu or (919) 513-7004.
Christopher Todd Glenn
Programs and Education Coordinator
NC State University
Campus Box 7522
Raleigh, NC 27695-7522
(919) 513-7005

You're receiving this e-mail because you're a member of the JC Raulston Arboretum. JCRA e-Updates are published electronically every month. If you are a member and need to update your contact information or wish to be removed from this mailing, please contact Kathryn Wall at (919) 513-7004 or kbwall@ncsu.edu. Please do not use the links below to update your e-mail address or to unsubscribe.