New Events in the New Year and more...
Director's Update December 2018
This has been an amazing year with wonderful new Gardens, new plants, and new people. The Gardens celebrated the end of the educational year with a class on fairy houses and gnome homes; certainly the most entertaining event of the season.

With our new staff firmly in place, next year is going to be even better !

Check out some of our new events below:
We’ll be starting the year off with a bang as we present A Green New Year: Makers' workshops for your mind, soul, and body. This is an opportunity for our guests to learn how to make homemade cleaning products, herbal teas, beauty products, and even microgreens ! If you are interested in trying to do more things for yourself, or in using more natural ingredients in your many life endeavors, then this is your opportunity. And remember, the best gifts are shared experiences ! Give this workshop as a gift! Email Wendy Wilson for a gift certificate. Find out more about these workshops including how to buy tickets here .
We are particularly excited about a special event that we are hosting on January 30 called There’s a Garden in my Beer. This event will be held at Free Range Brewing in NoDa and will feature Mary Izett , a friend of mine from graduate school who has done extremely well as an author, brewer, and co-owner of Fifth Hammer Brewing in Long Island, NY. You can read a little bit about Mary here and check out her book here and her brewery here.
Besides these big events we also have an incredible assortment of classes for the Certificate of Native Plant Studies and At Home in the Garden Programs. You can check those out here .
Some sad news to share
Over the last couple of months two deflated hurricanes roared through the Gardens, Florence and Michael. Florence passed us by without doing any major damage, but we weren’t quite so lucky with Michael. In the Harwood Garden a Leyland cypress collapsed across one of the bridges that was originally installed by the founder of the Gardens, Herbert Hechenbleikner.
What Plants Do You Want?
We are in the process of putting together the list of plants that we will try to purchase for our next plant sale this coming April. If you have any rare plants that you’re absolutely desperate to get and simply can’t find anywhere then please e-mail me about them . We love to know what our customers are interested in! Just email me at [email protected]
And speaking of plant sales, be sure to save the date for our Orchid Sale , February 9-14, and our Spring Plant Sale , April 11-13!
Plant Spotlight: Sobralia
One of the neat things about this Botanical Garden is that we have a number of plants that only bloom for a very short period of time. This is definitely greenery that isn’t appropriate for everyone’s home, but which fits in nicely with our gardens. One of these is the orchid Sobralia, which has a lovely fragrance and a delicate bloom. While we will have blooms at other times, today was a banner day for these flowers in the greenhouse.

If you love this one, you'll love our ORCHID SALE on February 9-14, or our Orchid Care 101 Workshop on February 12. Save the date!
That's all for this month! Click below for a full list of our upcoming events. I look forward to seeing you in the Gardens!
Jeff Gillman Ph.D.     
Director, UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens