Intro to Gardening in the South

Between our intensely variable weather at all times of year, our robust variety of soil conditions, and our delightfully extensive potential plant palette, gardening in North Carolina can be both intimidating to new gardeners and utterly bewildering to experienced gardeners who are new to the area. We want to help change that!

monarch butterfly on cosmos flower

Intro to Gardening in the South is a free morning symposium covering gardening basics that the JC Raulston Arboretum holds twice a year, right before the planting seasons in the spring and the fall when everyone has gardening on their mind. We strive to balance the content of this program to be approachable to people who are completely new to gardening, while still making it useful for people with previous gardening experience, albeit in some faraway land where oppressive humidity is a novelty rather than a perennial fact of life.

The morning typically consists of three 30 minute lectures with an hour-long Q&A at the end. We invite new speakers, all local gardening experts, to give new talks on the fundamentals of gardening every time we hold this event. Generally we'll have a talk about gardening basics like pruning, soils, or pest management; a talk all about plants, covering which species thrive in our area and which to avoid; as well as a presentation on hot topics in gardening like flowering lawns, gardening for wildlife, or creating English cottage gardens with Southeastern US plants. After the presentations we have a question and answer session with all the speakers simultaneously where we invite attendees to ask any questions they might have about their own gardening endeavors, no matter how unique or specific those questions may be.

auditorium full of attendees
Dr. Barb Fair introducing people to gardening in the south

We cram so much gardening knowledge and wisdom into this program that it often feels like the morning just flies by and we've barely scratched the surface. The truth is, there's so much to learn about gardening that even with a life dedicated entirely to its study, scratching the surface is the best anybody could ever hope to achieve. Which brings us to the true purpose of this event: letting people know that the JC Raulston Arboretum is here for you as a resource as you embark on this lifelong journey of discovery. We hope you'll join us for this program so you can meet our Horticulture Staff and see how knowledgeable we are and how freely we share that knowledge. We hope you'll join us so you find out about all the educational programs and events we hold throughout the year to help you garden more successfully. And we hope you'll join us so that you meet the amazing community of gardeners who call this area home, with all their unique interests and proclivities, and the vast wealth of knowledge that can be accessed by just spending time around these friendly faces.

This program is available both in person and online, and we make recordings of all the presentations publicly available on our YouTube channel, so no matter what you'll have access to the content if you're here to learn. Space is limited in our auditorium, and registration for this free program fills up fast. Sign up for the waitlist and there's a good chance you'll be able to join us in person and see what we're all about.

Prunus mume 'Rose Bud'

We hold Intro to Gardening in the South on the fourth Saturday in February and the fourth Saturday in August every year. Make sure to add it to your calendar, and we'll see you for the next one!

Questions
Contact the JCRA Education Team at jcraprograms@ncsu.edu for more information about this program.