JC Raulston Arboretum e-Update
December 2019
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Your Monthly News and Updates
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Director's Note
By Mark Weathington, Director
December caps off a great year for the Arboretum. We co-hosted with Juniper Level Botanic Garden the first annual Southeastern Plant Symposium to great acclaim, we hosted about 11,000 visitors to Moonlight in the Garden, paid household memberships topped 2,000, we had a very successful collecting and speaking trip to south China, and brought in a total of over 1,240 accessions to the garden. Whew!
All this means that we are setting ourselves up for an even better 2020. If you are a new member, and there are about 958 of you this year, I hope you’ll come by often to visit your Arboretum. Make sure to say hello to the various staff and volunteers you see out here and ask us any questions you might have. We're here to be a resource whether you are a novice gardener or a green industry professional.
See you in the garden.
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Looking for the Perfect Connoisseur Plant?
By Sana Sheikh, Programs and Education Assistant
Our Connoisseur Plants program is right around the corner! The Arboretum has propagated an exclusive set of plants available for qualifying Friends of the Arboretum membership tiers: Sponsor, Patron, Founder, Benefactor, and Philanthropist. This program is another way the Arboretum shows our thanks for your help in supporting the Arboretum's cause. Member contribution is what keeps the Arboretum thriving.
This program is great for members interested in unusual, rare, and hard-to-locate plants. If you're looking for more information on what plants the Arboretum has offered prior to this year or the number of exclusive plants available to each membership level, visit the
Connoisseur Plants page
on the Arboretum Web site for more information.
If you are not already qualified for this program and are looking to get access to rare plants while taking your support of the Arboretum to the next level, upgrading is easy. Contact Kathryn Wall at (919) 513-7004
or
make an online membership upgrade contribution
. If you pay online, be sure to e-mail Kathryn at kbwall@ncsu.edu to make sure you have been upgraded to the appropriate membership level by December 31. Qualifying members should expect to hear about the Connoisseur Plants catalogs via e-mail in early 2020.
Photograph: Juvenile foliage of
Cupressus vietnamensis
.
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Gift the Gift of Membership
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By giving a membership to family, friends, or colleagues, you are ensuring a year of benefits for them as well as supporting the JC Raulston Arboretum and its mission to connect people with plants.
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December and January Educational Programs
By Sana Sheikh, Programs and Education Assistant
The holiday season is a great time for events here at the Arboretum. Whether you’re looking to improve your photography skills, bring home a new plant or polish your gardening skills for the coming spring, we’ve got tons of educational events to give you our own unique Arboretum holiday cheer.
December
Photography Walk
"Photographing Holiday Lights"
Mary Louise Ravese, Bella Vista Photography - 11:00 AM
One of the best parts of capturing the holiday season through photography is the light displays illuminated at night. However, night photography can provide a challenge for any photographer. Mary Louise is here to teach us about the equipment and techniques for taking stunning photos of light displays. Afterwards you’ll be able to test out your new skills during an indoor practice photo shoot.
Make this your chance
to learn how to polish your night photography skills and wow all your friends and family with your breathtaking shots.
January
Take Your Best Shot, and Make It Even Better
Co-sponsored by the JC Raulston Arboretum and Capital City Camera Club
"Advanced Post-Processing with Intention—A Masterclass with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop"
Chris Ogden, Chris Ogden Photography
Saturday, January 11 – 9:00 AM
No matter what you love taking photos of, professional Chris Ogden will guide you in improving your skills in this photography workshop. Chris will shine light on the top 25 most common mistakes that photographers do and how we can fix them with photo-editing tools like Lightroom and Photoshop.
When you sign up
, you can even come in with up to three of your own shots for critiques and processing “makeovers!” Learn how to increase the impact of your images to spark a greater connection with your viewers in this enlighteningly interactive workshop! This workshop is great for anyone with prior knowledge in Lightroom Classic!
Garden Soils Class
"If You Build It, They Will Come: Understanding and Improving Garden Soils"
Bryce Lane, Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Emeritus and Lecturer Emeritus, Department of Horticultural Science, NC State University
Saturday, January 25 – 8:30 AM
Gardeners spend most of our time thinking about what happens to our plants “above ground.” In this workshop, get a better understanding of what happens
below
ground in the soil we keep our precious plants in. Bryce Lane will help us learn about basic soil principles and how we can use that understanding to maximize our garden to its full potential.
Register and take your gardening to the next level!
Propagation Workshop
Tim Alderton, Research Technician, and Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator
Saturday, January 25 – 9:00 AM
Ready to learn how to propagate plants
? Join JC Raulston Arboretum staff in a hands-on workshop dedicated to propagating some of your favorite Arboretum plants through hardwood cuttings. Go home with a greater understanding of plant propagation with strategies you can apply at home and a batch of newly propagated plants. This is a great workshop open to all knowledge and experience levels.
Photography Walk
"Budget-friendly Close-up Flower Photography"
Thursday, January 23, 2020 – 10:00 AM
When we are able to get a close-up view of flowers, we can produce beautiful, intriguing photographs. Many amateur photographers think that to achieve these images you need to invest in a costly macro lens. Fortunately, that's not true. Mary Louise will explain how to use accessories to
successfully achieve close-up images
.
For more information about these programs, please contact Chris Glenn at (919) 513-7005 or chris_glenn@ncsu.edu. To register online, please use the links below
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Year-end Wish List
By Emily Bonner,
Development Assistant
We've reached the end of another phenomenal year at the JC Raulston Arboretum!
We owe a big thanks to everyone in our community who makes our success possible. Staff, volunteers, donors, members, and plant enthusiasts
—
you are all a critical piece of the community that allows us to keep celebrating horticulture and creating an innovative, accessible space for research, education, and observation.
As we look forward to the next decade, we are focusing on the goals for our continued progress and improvement. If you are interested in supporting our efforts, please consider contributing to one of the items on our
year-end wish list
. Garden improvements like our beautiful new portion of brick fencing along Beryl Road are due to the generosity of incredible donors supporting our wish list projects.
End-of-year donations, of all sizes, received by our generous supporters are integral to helping the JCRA reach our goals and will help us complete many new garden renovations in the coming year.
Thank you all for your dedication to the JCRA. We hope you all enjoy a wonderful holiday season full of lots of plants!
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Warmer Days on the Mind
…
Summer Camps at the JCRA
By Elizabeth Overcash, Children's Program Coordinator
Can you believe it's time to think about registration for 2020 summer camps? You might be in the midst of winter holiday planning and prepping, but don't forget to mark your calendars so you don't miss out!
Registration opens to Family/Dual or higher level members at 9:00 AM on
Monday, January 27, 2020
.
This is our 7th year of summer camps, and the excitement grows each year. Campers love spending time exploring the gardens with friends. This summer's camps include perennial favorites along with two new camps offering summertime fun to ages four through rising seventh and eighth graders. Arboretum camps keep your campers moving as we investigate the wacky antics of the Mixed-up Gardener, nurture campers' minds and bodies with veggie-based recipes, and create artistic masterpieces from the Arboretum's gardens.
Only JCRA members at the Family/Dual or higher level can take advantage of the members-only early registration period. These members get a member discounted price and can register two weeks before registration opens to the general public.
Mark your calendars! Set a reminder!
You do not want your child to miss out on this summer's fun. Last summer, members took over half of the camp spots and filled three camps with only members. One camp filled by 11:00 AM on the first day of member registration! Make your summer plans early and register early to make sure that your camper is in the gardens this summer.
Don't have campers at home? Tell a friend. Share the Arboretum and our programs with your family and friends!
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Thanks
By Douglas Ruhren, Gardens Manager
Though it will be early December when you read this it is Thanksgiving week when I am writing this. I love the holiday of Thanksgiving because it is one of my fundamental beliefs that it is important to be thankful; to not take for granted the things that make our lives possible.
There are almost endless things to be thankful for as an employee of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University. First and foremost, I am thankful for volunteers. There are far too many individuals and businesses to thank and far too great a risk to fail to mention someone, to actually name all of you in this brief message. I started as a volunteer in the mid 1980s. I have a good sense of how much gets done only because there are volunteers doing it. Volunteers are involved with practically all aspects of running the JCRA. There are those projects that involve the plant collection and gardens: planting, watering, weeding, mulching, nursery production, mapping of plantings, map review, plant database data entry. And there are the non-gardening volunteers who support the Arboretum through such things as special events, media, customer support, tour guides, construction projects, educational programs, and so much more.
Huge thanks are due to the nurseries and individuals that support the JCRA through donations of plants for plant sales and furthering the plantings in the gardens. A recent donation of camellias will add much color to the fall and winter displays. A huge donation of primarily herbaceous perennials will allow the planting of masses of plants in those currently well-mulched but plantless areas between trees and shrubs. Donations of bareroot and plug-grown woody plants enhanced plant sales and auctions this year and next.
Thank you to all who make the JC Raulston Arboretum the amazing place that it is.
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Winter Symposium
By Sana Sheikh, Programs and Education Assistant
Design and gardening intertwine for this year's Winter Symposium: "Where Design and Plants Become One." Our amazing guest speakers Shannon Currey, Bob Lyons and Elissa Steeves will be sharing the ways they incorporate design into gardening and how we can, too. This is sure to be a great event to expand your horizons on the artistic potential within gardening, so be sure to register fast before spots run out!
Winter Symposium
"Where Design and Plants Become One"
Saturday, February 15, 2020 – 8:00 AM–12:00 PM
Shannon Currey, Marketing Director, Hoffman Nursery
"Finding Solutions with Grasses and Sedges"
High maintenance landscapes can provide a challenge for any gardener. Luckily, Shannon is here to teach us how to capitalize on our landscapes with the help of ornamental grasses and sedges. Not only are these plants low maintenance, but they provide a number of ecological services for your garden! Learn how to make these beautiful plants your solution to landscape troubles.
Robert E. Lyons, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware
"Personal Tragedy, Restoration of Normalcy, Soul Searching, and Their Impact on Garden Design"
Research has proven that gardening helps us heal both emotionally and physically. So what happens when gardens themselves become a source of disappointment and personal tragedy? This lecture will focus on a man's journey following loss and the profound influence that redesigning one's gardens can have during the path to recovery.
Elissa Steeves, Horticulture Teacher and Author
"The Artful Garden"
Elissa’s garden has been featured in
Southern Living,
Horticulture,
and the
Virginia Gardener
. Her garden is an outdoor gallery where her tasteful use of original art, artifacts, and color transforms her array of plants into a breathtaking 3D experience. In this lecture, Elissa will be divulging information about her famous garden and the creative thinking behind its creation.
For more information, visit the JC Raulston Arboretum
https://jcra.ncsu.edu/winter-symposium/
or contact Chris Glenn at at (919) 513-7005 or
chris_glenn@ncsu.edu
. Registration is limited and is available online (link below).
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Upcoming Events
Friday, December 6 – 10:00 AM
Treasures from a Winter Garden
Saturday, December 14 – 9:00 AM
✽Denotes a children's program.
Many programs require advance registration. Please register early to reserve your spot.
Save the Date
Gardening in the South
Saturday, February 1, 2020
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YouTube Channel Update
By Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs and Education Coordinator
No new videos were recorded in November, however, there are over 100 videos of past Friends of the Arboretum Lectures, North American Rock Garden Society (Piedmont Chapter) Lectures, Gardening Adventures with Extension Master Gardener Volunteers presentations, and Plantsme's Tours in 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.
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Your Membership Makes a Difference
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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.
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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.
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