2018 Education Classes for Adults

SOLD OUT

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER (Outdoor Class)

A professor in the UNCA Biology Department, Dr. David Clark is regarded as one of the premier botanists of South American floras. He has discovered dozens of new plant species while exploring for the Smithsonian Institution. David possesses an unpretentious wit and an infectious style of sharing his vast knowledge of plants. Join him for an informative walk through the Gardens – rain or shine!

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 12

The Botanical Gardens and numerous local plant vendors will offer a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers. BGA members will get a 10% discount on BGA-grown plants that we sell at the gazebo. As always, this event will take place rain or shine. The Botanical Gardens receives no city, state or federal funds. Instead, we receive our funding exclusively through memberships, donations, gift shop sales and the spring and fall plant sales. Free admission and parking on site or nearby. On Saturday, we have a food stand which features Sharon Turner’s world famous Chocolate Kahlua Cake.

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER

Join us for an easy, early morning bird walk in the Gardens, led by Aaron Steed, expert birder and ornithologist. As we look for, listen to, and enjoy the spring birds, we’ll learn to recognize their songs and calls. Field guides helpful but not required. Bring your binoculars.

Aaron Steed has had a passion for birds and wildlife his entire life. Originally from Wilmington, NC, Aaron studied biology at UNC-Asheville and has since worked on numerous avian research projects in Kansas, Texas, Arizona and California, primarily focusing on endangered and threatened species. He currently works as a guide for Ventures Birding Tours in Asheville, designing and leading birding trips throughout the Carolinas, the USA, and Central America. Though Aaron loves traveling and birding new places, he’ll always be drawn to the wonderful biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 15

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER (Outdoor Class)

This class will examine numerous aspects of ecology to create more dynamic, stable, and harmonious gardens. Subjects will include reading the landscape, natural community modeling, creating/utilizing micro-climes, and using habitat-specific native plants for year-round interest. It is hoped that these topics will not only demystify native gardening, but will also foster a better understanding of the natural world around us. Handouts will be provided. This is an outdoor class. Bring rain jackets/umbrellas if needed.

Jay Kranyik is the BGA Garden Manager, Horticulture Chairman, naturalist, and nature photographer. He has botanized widely in the region, and is coauthor of “The Flora of Dupont State Forest, NC.” He is also a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society and is a Blue Ridge Parkway “Junior Ranger.”

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 24

BUTLER ROOM

Join BGA staffer Heather Rayburn as she hosts a special book club in celebration of Pollinator Month. Participants should read Dr. Erica McAlister’s “The Secret Life of Flies,” before the event. Refreshments will be served as we discuss the book, review its highlights, and look at some slides about these fascinating insects.

Why this book? Everyone knows about the sexy bee pollinators, but the plant world also benefits from the pollination of other insects, bats, birds, rodents and even lizards. McAlister, a British entomologist, “gets under the wings of these crucial creatures as she ventures into the land of the fly. From hungry herbivores and precocious pollinators to robber flies, danceflies and the much maligned mosquito, she describes the different types of fly, their unique and often unusual characteristics, and the unpredictable nature of their daily life.”

Heather is the creator of www.MonarchLover.org, a website dedicated to promoting the planting of native milkweed to help the endangered Monarch butterfly. She’s worked at the Botanical Gardens for 10 years.

[This book will be available for purchase in the Visitor Center by April 2018. Members get 10% off the retail price.]

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost: $10 for members & non-members (does not include book).

Limit 24

RAIN or SHINE!

BUTLER ROOM

Join artist Jocelyn Mathewes as you create beautiful blue botanical art prints using the oldest historic photographic process, cyanotype.

In this workshop, participants will see examples of what’s possible with the cyanotype process and get an introduction to the chemicals and equipment needed. We will create images on both paper and fabric. By the end, attendees will have at least three pieces to take home, a resource list, and knowledge to make their own cyanotypes.

Jocelyn is a fine artist working in mixed media and photography, living with her husband and three children in Johnson City, Tennessee. Her background includes English literature, graphic design, and commercial photography. Her work has been published in SHOTS and The HAND magazine. Recently, she exhibited at the William King Museum of Art and Academy Center for the Arts. Her website, www.jocelynmathewes.com, features Jocelyn’s writings on motherhood and the creative process.

Participation is limited to 12 students. All materials are provided, but students are encouraged to bring interesting botanical specimens from their own backyard to use in their art.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members, with a $10 additional fee for materials.

There will be a materials fee for this class (to be announced).

Limit 12

RAIN or SHINE!

BUTLER ROOM

Join artist Jocelyn Mathewes as you create beautiful blue botanical art prints using the oldest historic photographic process, cyanotype.

In this workshop, participants will see examples of what’s possible with the cyanotype process and get an introduction to the chemicals and equipment needed. We will create images on both paper and fabric. By the end, attendees will have at least three pieces to take home, a resource list, and knowledge to make their own cyanotypes.

Jocelyn is a fine artist working in mixed media and photography, living with her husband and three children in Johnson City, Tennessee. Her background includes English literature, graphic design, and commercial photography. Her work has been published in SHOTS and The HAND magazine. Recently, she exhibited at the William King Museum of Art and Academy Center for the Arts. Her website, www.jocelynmathewes.com, features Jocelyn’s writings on motherhood and the creative process.

Participation is limited to 12 students. All materials are provided, but students are encouraged to bring interesting botanical specimens from their own backyard to use in their art.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members, with a $10 additional fee for materials.

Limit 12

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER (Outdoor Class)

On this slow ramble through the Gardens, we will observe and discuss numerous aspects of our natural history. Botany, scientific nomenclature, reading the landscape, birds, insects, weather, plant compounds, and other interesting subjects will be pondered in a fun, non-intimidating setting.

Past naturalist walks have been graced by duck-eating hawks, snakes that could not fly, a seed marauding bear, Hummingbirds with antennas and other moments of serendipity! This is an outdoor class. Bring rain jackets/umbrellas if needed, as well as a loupe and binoculars if you have them.

Jay Kranyik is the BGA Garden Manager, Horticulture Chairman, naturalist, and nature photographer. He has botanized widely in the region, and is coauthor of “The Flora of Dupont State Forest, NC.” He is also a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society and is a Blue Ridge Parkway “Junior Ranger.”

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 24

BUTLER ROOM

Sara DeFosset, outreach associate for the Asheville-based Hemlock Restoration Initiative (HRI)

HRI’s mission is to restore eastern and Carolina hemlocks to their native habitats throughout North Carolina and to mitigate damage to hemlocks caused by infestation of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Savehemlocksnc.org).  More specifically, their goal is to work with a variety of partners and current restoration initiatives to ensure that eastern and Carolina hemlocks can resist the deadly hemlock woolly adelgid and survive to maturity on North Carolina’s public and private lands.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 24

The Botanical Gardens and numerous local plant vendors will offer a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers for fall planting. BGA members will get a 10% discount on BGA-grown plants that we sell at the gazebo. As always, this event will take place rain or shine. The Botanical Gardens receives no city, state or federal funds. Instead, we receive our funding exclusively through memberships, donations, gift shop sales and the fall and spring plant sales. Free admission and parking on site or nearby. We will also have a breakfast stand with fresh coffee and baked goods for sale.

Note: If  you would like to donate garden tools, books or other interesting items to be sold in the rummage sale, bring them by the Visitor Center 10 am to 4 pm, Monday-Friday and 12-4 on Sundays once the Visitor Center is open for the season. You’ll get a gold star in our book.

BGA BUTLER ROOM

Many of our native species are well-suited to small spaces, allowing you to create natural garden vignettes in decorative containers, by entrances or around mailboxes. Slow-growing shrubs and compact perennials are easiest to use, but larger-growing natives are also suitable when used in annual or short-term plantings. Combining plants in small spaces doesn’t have to be complicated, but benefits from using nature’s inspiration to create pleasing naturalistic designs. Join Lisa Wagner to learn about her favorite natives and design strategies for small gardens and containers.

Lisa Wagner served as Director of Education at the South Carolina Botanical Garden, Clemson University for over 20 years. A plant ecologist by background (Ph.D. in Botany, UC Berkeley), she’s interested in native plants, sustainable gardening, public education, and promoting habitat restoration, as well as being a passionate gardener. She does frequent presentations and classes as a volunteer, on a variety of topics including gardening for nature and creating a native woodland garden. Her blog, Natural Gardening (www.naturalgardening.blogspot.com) reflects her observations about gardening and the natural world.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit: 30

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER (Outdoor Class)

Join us for an easy, early morning bird walk in the Gardens, led by Simon Thompson, expert birder and ornithologist. As we look for, listen to, and enjoy the fall birds, you’ll learn to recognize their songs and calls.  Binoculars and field guide are helpful but not necessary.

Simon Thompson owns Ventures Birding Tours, a bird watching and natural history tour company based in Asheville, NC. An international birding expert, he leads small groups of naturalists and birders both within North America and to many locations throughout the world. In western North Carolina, he was the ornithologist at Chimney Rock Park where he led bird walks and has put together the park bird list. He also is on the board of the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society. Simon was born in Malta and educated at Writtle Agricultural College in Chelmsford, England, where he received his degree in commercial horticulture. Prior to taking his degree, Simon has lived in Malta, Ghana, Kenya and Lebanon, where his interest in birds began. In addition to traveling extensively in the US, he spent six months in China studying the crane and bird of prey migration as a member of the British “China Crane Watch” expedition. Simon has lived in Asheville for the past 25 years.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit: 12

MEET AT VISITOR CENTER (Outdoor Class)

Extending from West Virginia to Northern Georgia, the dry oak forest community is an intriguing ecosystem with a varied history and composition. Many of the tree species found in the dry oak community are common throughout the southern Appalachian landscape but combine to form an ecosystem unique unto itself. This program will introduce the common tree species of the dry oak forest providing basic dendrology, ecological traits, and other fun facts.

Dress warmly. This program will include a presentation followed by a tour of the species present in the Botanical Gardens. Come learn about some of the tree species that are commonly found in and around the woods of Asheville.

Jason Rodrigue holds degrees in Environmental Biology, Resource Management and Forest Soils. He is a forester with the U.S. Forest Service and a silviculturist for the National Forests in N.C., which include the Nantahala, Pisgah, Uwharrie, and Croatan National Forests. Jason’s work includes management of forest communities to maintain and improve their health, enhance habitats, restore and protect desired conditions, and supply resources to local economies.

Participants must pre-register and pre-pay for classes: 828-252-5190.

Cost for the workshop is $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

Limit 15