The Midweek Program
Hello everyone and welcome to the Midweek Program at the JC Raulston Arboretum! Every week we tap into the knowledge, the experience, and the passion of our horticulture staff to put on a free, educational program full of gardening how-to's, compelling plant talks and everything new & exciting in the world of horticulture to give you the tools you need to plan — and plant for a better world!
Every Wednesday at 3:00 pm Eastern Time the JCRA staff hop into our Midweek Zoom Room and record a live, unscripted, educational program that we later make publicly available on our YouTube Channel. Every week we feature a different format with a different topic always related to horticulture and gardening, and we conclude each program with a live Q&A and an opportunity to engage with our team of professional plant people. Our Hort staff would much rather be working in the garden than memorizing lines, so we do not script this program or rehearse what we're going to say ahead of time. Rather, we rely on the knowledge and experience of our amazing staff to reveal itself organically in the moment, which gives us a show full of gardening advice that is always candid, personable, and practical.
"Gardening 101" explores the fundamentals of good gardening practices and takes a month by month approach to look at the various tasks gardeners face throughout the year to give a road map of what can be accomplished in the garden each month. This format features the practical side of gardening and provides demonstrations of proper techniques, as well as explanations of the science behind why we take the time to do what we do.
On “Top Plant Picks” we scour the garden for the top performing plants at a particular time of year and show them off and talk about their care and culture. This program is a great opportunity to get some inspiration for new plants to extend the seasonal interest in your garden, and it's a great opportunity for us to share some potentially under-utilized and under-appreciated plants with the public to help diversify the landscape.
For “Midweek with The Hort Staff” (Midweek with Mark, Midweek with Greg, etc.) we pick one of our knowledgable staff members to deliver a presentation on a topic that's near and dear to them. This format offers a diverse array of topics, from showcases of plant groups we love, to unique styles of gardening we're intrigued with, to the sights and specimens encountered on our global plant-collecting expeditions.
When we go “Deeper in the Garden” we go deep and bring our passion for plants to the forefront and explore our topic du jour exhaustively. Whether we're thoroughly discussing a plant family and its constituent genera, or doing a more in-depth gardening how-to like how to build your own professional propagation set-up at home, we explore topics fully and leave no stone unturned. This isn't Gardening 101!
Every month we invite a fellow plant-lover to join us for our "Garden Conversations" program where we find a beautiful place in the garden and nerd-out about plants for an hour. This format is reminiscent of a podcast and the topic of conversation can go wherever it will (though we usually just talk about plants). Guests of this program range from TV stars like Bryce Lane and Patrick McMillan, to the volunteers that care for the honeybees at the arboretum (shout out Charles & Gordon!).
On the fifth Wednesday of any month having 5 Wednesdays, we come together for a "Horticulture Hour", an hour-long, live Q&A. We entertain any and every question from our viewers about gardening and tap into the impressive knowledge of our staff to answer them. Whether you're curious about broad topics like pruning, dividing, or overwintering, or if you have a hyper-specific question about why the daffodils in your front yard aren't blooming like they used to, we're here to demystify the gardening experience and provide you with some sound advice.
With our diverse array of topics and our dedication to personally engaging with our audience on a weekly basis, the Midweek Program is a phenomenal resource for fledgling gardeners and veteran green-thumbs alike. Tune in every Wednesday at 3:00 pm and see what our fantastic team is excited about this week. There's always more to learn about plants, and there's always more we'd love to share with you!
- Questions
- Contact the JCRA Education Team at jcraprograms@ncsu.edu for questions or suggestions about this program.