A audio tour of the Garden

Join us for an audio tour of the Garden to enjoy the sights and sounds of late summer.

On this recently aired YourDay program, Lisa Wagner, John Bodiford, and Kathy Bridges take Dyana Daniels on a stroll along the recently completed President's Garden pathway, past the Duck Pond and around the Children's Garden.

Click through to the link to the archived show, which aired on Aug. 29.  There's lots to see and experience in the Garden's almost 300 acres;  most of the Garden looks wonderful, thanks to the incredibly wet summer.

And don't miss seeing the new plantings around the Geology Museum, either in person or via images (in this case on Facebook).  Education Program Coordinator Sue Watts took these photos last week during partial installation.

Here are some additional images from the Chihuahuan landscape that's taking shape.

Mid-January programs

Our upcoming programs this week and next are a diverse group -- perfect for an early kick-off to a new gardening season. To register, click here.

The free lunchtime program about Cambodia on Wednesday begins a series of free lecture programs (pre-registration is not required).  February's program on the 13th will focus on our native wildflowers and plant communities, while the March 13th program will reflect a visit to naturalistic gardens in Germany and the Netherlands.

Our monthly open houses at the Hunt Cabin have now been joined by a monthly open house at the Hanson Nature Learning Center.  Drop by either on the 19th or 26th (1-4 pm) to explore learning about trees in winter.

Tuesday, Jan. 15

GARDEN NATURALISTS: Winter Tree Identification

Learn how to use twigs, buds, scales and bark to identify deciduous trees in winter. Join Garden naturalist Sue Watts to learn helpful characteristics and become familiar with a dichotomous key for winter trees.  A classroom introduction will be followed by hands-on fieldwork in the Garden’s woodland habitats.

Fee: $20 ($15 members & volunteers)

Time: 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Location: Hanson  Nature Learning Center

Wednesday, Jan. 16

EXPLORING ASIAN VEGETABLES:  Cambodia

As part of a Clemson University sustainable agriculture outreach team, Meg Williamson, CU’s Plant Diagnostician, provided expertise in plant disease diagnosis on a trip to Cambodia last October. Join us to hear about the program and the highlights of her trip as she shares her experiences.

Fee: Free

Time: 12- 1 p.m.

Location: Hayden Conference Center

Thursday, Jan. 17

DESIGNING WITH PLANTS

A pleasing landscape depends on combining trees, shrubs, and perennials in ways that work over the seasons (and years).  In this class, Director of Education Lisa Wagner will help you think about designing with plants with space and time in mind. She’ll also talk about using design elements such as shape, size, foliage texture, and color to maximize garden appeal throughout the year.

Fee: $15 ($12 for SCBG members & volunteers)

Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Location: Hanson Nature Learning Center

Saturday, January 19 & 26

HANSON NATURE CENTER OPEN HOUSE:

Trees in Winter

Visit the Garden’s classroom to learn more about trees in winter and how you can enjoy this special time of year in the Garden.  Join Garden naturalist Sue Watts to start your exploration of native trees in the Garden.

Fee:  Free

Time: 12 - 4 p.m.

Location: Hanson Nature Learning Center

Tuesday, Jan. 22

STARTING A COOL-SEASON VEGETABLE GARDEN

Would you like to get an early start on cool-season vegetables?  Simple frost protection provides a tempering influence, allowing cool-season veggies to thrive in the lengthening days of our usually mild winters.  Vegetables well suited to cold weather include salad greens, spinach, and kale, as well as turnips, beets, and other crops.  You’ll have the opportunity to select seeds to try, sow a variety of cool-season vegetables to transplant, along with learning how to extend your gardening seasons.

Fee: $15 ($12 for members & volunteers)

Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Location: Hanson Nature Learning Center

Interpretation, gardening, and programs

In my trajectory as a garden educator, interpreter, and teacher, I've found a couple of basic truths. (I had a lovely experience this morning doing a program for 20 graduating Master Naturalists at the Garden).

It's not about the information, rather it's about connection.

It's about engagement, not content.

It's not about what you know, but how you teach.

And taking advantage of teachable moments, where ever they happen is key.

We saw a Cooper's Hawk today in our morning walk, probably attracted by migrants coming through the Garden. I certainly hadn't seen one in the Garden before.  It first sat on a fence rail above the Duck Pond and then swooped below one of the ginkgoes up the slope, trying to nab something beneath a Salvia clump.

We couldn't see if the hawk was successful, but s/he then perched on top of a nearby sign for awhile.

A teachable moment, for sure.  I wouldn't have known that it was a Cooper's Hawk, but a naturalist (Tim Lee) from a local state park was part of our group (he's one of the regular teachers).  He knew.  So I was able to look up more information from the field guide apps on my iPad, etc.

Fall planting

I'm an answer person periodically on a call-in radio program for our university's Your Day Public Service Radio feed that goes throughout the state.  It's fun, and I'm glad to encourage gardeners of whatever knowledge level to learn more and have fun doing it.  I pitched in today as a last-minute guest for my friend and colleague, Bob Polomski (and substitute for a much more well-known gardening 'personality') - Felder Rushing, whose Mississippi radio base needed to switch their focus to Hurricane Isaac.


Today's calls were typical, from ornamentals to vegetables.

I'm always reminded (and try to encourage folks) that learning about plants is fun, and rewarding.  Before adding landscape plants, learn about them.  Vegetables, ditto.   If you've  inherited an overgrown landscape, learn about what you have and prune things back judiciously.


Talk to your extension agent, too. He/she often knows a lot about what you're interested in planting.

(This was a duplicate post from my blog, Natural Gardening).

A pileated woodpecker

Behind my office is a Southern red oak in decline.  Limbs have been trimmed and the top has already broken, although we're not inclined to take it down just yet.

My colleague pointed out to me this morning that a pileated woodpecker was busily working a cavity high up on the trunk - what a great sight.  This is a blurry image from early morning (cropped, of course!).

It's probably a feeding cavity based on my bit of research, although I'm hardly an expert on bird behavior.  Not the time of the year for a nesting cavity, certainly, and pileated woodpeckers forage in dead and dying trees in search of a favorite prey item, carpenter ants, according to All About Birds, Cornell Ornithology Lab's online field guide site.

(This is a duplicate post from Natural Gardening).

Spring nights

I'd scheduled a spring full moon hike for April 6, not realizing that it was Good Friday (so maybe not such a good time for Christian observers), but then again, it may be a lovely evening to connect with nature and spirit.

A previous (almost) full moon

The warm season in the Southern U.S. --spring, summer, and fall-- is magical with night sounds.  Insects and frogs (of many species) are the primary players in the nocturnal symphony, with birds punctuating the transition from dusk to dark, and perhaps some of the night flying birds (such as owls) will be calling out.

The exceptionally warm winter and early spring means that the nocturnal symphony is playing earlier than normal.  Enjoy!

(This is a duplicate post from my blog, Natural Gardening).  Here's a link to previous posts about night sounds, with some excellent resource links. 

Spring wildflowers

If you have a chance to visit the Garden, you'll find spring definitely well along.

I've made a number of posts about early spring wildflowers on my blog, Natural Gardening, over the last couple of weeks (here's one about Hepatica) from late February). 

Some of my colleagues have posted on the Garden's Facebook page about sightings of Oconee Bell, Hepatica, and others.

This last week has seen flowers of bloodroot and trout lily, among many other early-flowering species from around the world.

Here's a trout lily blooming today in the Woodland Wildflower Garden.

Erythronium americanum (Trout lily)

American beech

American beech trees are a ghostly presence in winter.  Their leaves persist until expansion of new buds pushes them off in early spring.

Shade-tolerant, young beeches became established and persist as saplings in the understory of mixed hardwood forests in the Piedmont of the Southeastern U.S., and maybe elsewhere, too.

beeches near the old sawmill in the Schoenike Arboretum, SC Botanical Garden

In a mild winter, other hardwood species retain their leaves, too.  Ironwood (Carpinus caroliniana), also known as musclewood or American hornbeam, is a beech look-alike in winter guise this year along the stream near Crucible, apart from the distinctive long buds signifying beech.

There are a lot more beech saplings in the understory today than were present five years ago -- it's something I've noticed particularly this winter.

I'm thinking that the easing of the decade-long drought might have encouraged a 'cohort' of establishment (first seedlings and now saplings) in the understory of our mixed hardwood forests, where seed-producing beeches were nearby. 

This is evident both in woodland/forest areas near the Meditation Garden, as well as beyond the powerline corridor, where the photo (above) was taken (adjacent to the beech grove).

Hunt Cabin Open House

Starting in February we are opening the Hunt Cabin once a month.  These are pictures from our first event.

We had about 60 guests over the course of the time (10 am to 2 pm) and we had fun eating popcorn cooked on the fire and drinking apple cider warmed on the hearth.  There was dancing, storytelling and playing  fun (and historically appropriate) games.

Our next open houses are

March 10th, 10 am to 2 pm

Open hearth cooking with Wayne Link

Secrets of cabin construction

Storytelling 

April 14th, 10 am to 2 pm

What to wear? Cloth and clothing in the 19th C upcountry

Storytelling

May 5th, 10 am to 2 pm

Ready for visitors

Games to play

A roaring fire of welcome!

Wintery Outside

Pam Kline - lovely spinning

Playing Graces.

Storyteller Jennifer Bausman

Boy Scouts playing

Learning to write with a dip fountain pen

Tessa and Helen (l to r)

Tessa - an English Sheepdog

Learning to play the washboard

Visiting with Pam and learning about the past

More stories

Early flowering and phenology

" Phenology is derived from the Greek word phaino , meaning to show or appear. Phenology refers to recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, maturation of agricultural plants, emergence of insects, and migration of birds.  It is also the study of these recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, especially their timing and relationships with weather and climate."
~ USA National Phenology network.

Roundleaf Hepatica

Oconee Bells

First emerging Mayapple

Phenology has been on my mind this week as we have enjoyed several days over 70 degrees fahrenheit.  It seemed unseasonably warm for late January as I shed my jacket and rolled up my sleeves looking for signs of Spring.  Early in the week I learned the USDA had changed the plant hardiness zone map to reflect data collected over a period of 30 years, more sophisticated mapping techniques and the warming trends we have experienced over the past few years. (npr.org)  Clemson has moved from zone 7B to 8A, a zone that,until this new map was issued, belonged to South Carolinians living below Columbia. I wondered what might be happening in the garden in the beginning of February, in light of this shift in our designated climate zone.
In the Woodland Wildflower Garden I  discovered life was stirring already, perhaps three weeks earlier that I expected (although I have never kept written records).  There were several signs of spring: Hepatica, Violets and Oconee Bells in flower.  In front of Crucible, after a somewhat intense search, I discovered an emerging MayApple.  I love this plant, just for the way it unfurls like a beautiful glossy green umbrella.  I have never kept phenological records, but perhaps this might be an interesting and valuable project for Garden visitors.  The US National Phenology Network is monitoring many species of plants and animals and would welcome the efforts of citizen scientists to gather data visit their website for more information.

A excited Ruby-crowned Kinglet

A very excited Ruby-crowned Kinglet attacking his reflection in my car mirror this morning.

A brown thrasher - so beautiful!

Robin flocks

It's been busy at the hollies over the last few days.

Large numbers of robins (200+) have been devouring the berries on the row of Ilex opaca cultivar hollies above the education building at the garden where I work. They visit the hollies, collect berries, then retreat nearby to eat them, then repeat.

This morning, in rain, before I began a program, the circuit from holly to perching trees nearby  (in this case, large Cryptomeria and Southern Magnolia) was in full swing.  Their continuous melodic murmurs were more than evident outside, but at a lower level from inside the building.

a robin eating fruit (from a royalty-free photo used in The Nature of Clemson)

The year-round vegetable gardening class participants were fascinated, and we peered outside for a bit before we started the class. 

By the end of the morning, the flock had moved to the lower row of hollies (also Ilex opaca cultivars) below the nature center (the lower level of the building), presumably finished with the upper row after 4 days of feasting.

(This is a duplicate post from Natural Gardening).

Winter vegetables

Turnips and turnip greens are staples of southern vegetable gardens.

I've grown lots of kale, collard, and mustards, but hadn't grown turnips myself, but Kathy Bridges sowed some Purple Top turnip seed late last summer in the Snell Vegetable Garden next to the visitor center.

We've harvested quite a few of the greens already to contribute to our local food bank, including many of the turnips, which had sized up nicely last fall, as have the Master Gardeners in their Plant-a-Row for the Hungry in the Heirloom Vegetable garden site.

But, a number were left in the ground (supposedly, turnips 'sweeten' with frost), and this was the largest of the bunch, harvested yesterday afternoon.

Turnip on grocery bag

 Yikes, this turnip is on a LARGE grocery paper bag (not a lunch bag).  It was big.

An extra-large turnip

But amazingly, it wasn't woody, and roasted, it was quite tasty (I figured that I'd better see if it was edible before taking it over to Clemson Community Care.

Summer turnips are often fibrous and bitter, but not this one, and its greens were very tasty, too, in spite of their size.   We'll be able to harvest the rest for the food bank, after all!  And, we've also got plenty of arugula, purple mustard, and broccoli to contribute, as well.

Old Southern apples

We'll be adding a selection of South Carolina heirloom apples (10 semi-dwarf trees) in the Heirloom Garden, thanks to Slow Food Clemson University (through grants from Slow Food Upstate and Slow Food US). 

Malus domestica

A celebration today at the Student Organic Farm, where another ten are planted, featured comments by Creighton Lee Calhoun, author of Old Southern Apples.

Apples are a storied crop (I mention this a bit more in the link provided above about the celebration), and most of us have apple memories and stories to share.  I remember discovering Gravensteins and Newtown Pippins as a graduate student in California years ago.  We once grew over 2000 varieties in the South according to Lee Calhoun -- we still have about 500 extant.  Remarkable.

Fall color

fall color along the Cameron Walkway

Plant a Row for the Hungry

Master Gardeners' vegetable garden

A devoted Master Gardeners of the Foothills group has been growing vegetables all summer and fall in the Heirloom Vegetable Garden site.  It's resulted in well over 600 lbs. of produce to our local food banks.

In the spirit of the Garden Writer Association initiative, I've titled this post "Plant a Row for the Hungry" -- they've been encouraging this for years. 

But lots of groups are growing food for local food banks on open space in our cities and towns. Often, it's on space previously devoted to lawn;  here it's a highly productive garden area that's been well-tended for many years as the Heirloom Vegetable Garden.

Check out the great fall plantings that they've made.  What a lovely, productive garden!

cool-season vegetables and the last of the peppers

Hayden Conference Center rain garden

This was an excellent project, sponsored by CU Extension's Water Quality programs, Pickens County Stormwater Initiative,  and Pickens County Extension.

I described the plants and process on a recent post on my personal gardening blog.

Small meadow plantings

Junction of Arboretum Rd and the service road to the Hort. Support Area

Don't miss the recently-added small meadow plantings if you have a chance to visit the Garden sometime soon.

Kathy Bridges, one of our staff horticulturists, has been working magic creating small meadow swaths along our entrance road medians, along the Arboretum Road, and the junction towards the horticultural support area.

The small meadow planting at the junction is particularly nice, and looks great in early morning light.

Fall

Fall is one of the best times to visit the Garden. Our perennial borders in the Children's Garden, and above the Hayden Conference Center are outstanding, not to mention the Butterfly Garden (just beyond the Children's Garden).

Lots of flower visitors --butterflies, flower flies, bumblebees, honeybees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, wasps, etc. -- check them out!

It's time to plant

Yes, it's been a dry late summer and early fall, but we have had a good rainy spell last week, cooler temperatures are ahead, and it's time to plant!

The Garden's Fall Plant Sale begins tomorrow  with our Friend's sale (Sept. 30: 2:30-6 pm; you can join on the spot), and our public sale on Saturday (Oct. 1) from 9 am to 1 pm.

Ryan Merck, our Nursery Manager, has put together a great array of plants, from woodies to perennials, all plants that you're not going to find at a local big box store or garden center.

Check it out!