News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- September may be quickly approaching, but fun in the garden is far from over, as proven by upcoming activities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s N.C. Botanical Garden.

Native plant sales, sculpture exhibits and hikes will offer much enjoyment to visitors throughout autumn. The habitat display gardens will feature brilliant yellow floral spikes of goldenrods, purple daisy-like blooms of asters, and a profusion of seed heads, pods, and colorful fruits on shrubs and perennials well into October. The familiar palette of autumnal leaf color also will paint the forest bordering the Totten Center, enticing the visitor to stroll the Piedmont Nature Trails, open until dusk every day.

Inside the Totten Center, works by members of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators will be on display Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, and classes in basic botany and botanical illustration, among other topics, will be held. A regular storytime for children, instituted this spring, will continue through November.

The garden, located at Old Mason Farm Road and Fordham Boulevard, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Through Oct. 30, the garden is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Beginning Oct. 31, the gate closes at 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

A partial list of fall events and programs follows, with preregistration required for some activities:

· "Serving Your Community through Therapeutic Gardening," a workshop introducing participants to therapeutic horticulture and local volunteering opportunities, will be held 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 10. Preregistration is required.

· "17th Annual Sculpture in the Garden," an outdoor exhibition of sculpture by artists with N.C. ties, will be held Sept. 18 through Nov. 19. A reception with the artists will be held 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 17.

· "Fall Is for Planting," a plant sale featuring native perennials and herbs propagated and grown at the garden, will be held 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 24 and 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 25. Those interested should bring a box or tray.

· "Storytime: Garden Tales in the Autumn Leaves," will be held 10 a.m. Wednesdays from September through November. Children between ages 2½ and 5, with an accompanying adult, will meet at the Paul Green Cabin behind the Totten Center. Preregistration is required.

· "Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest," a book release event with author Lawrence Earley, will be held 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Totten Center classroom. A preview of the book is at uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/earley_looking.html.

· "Mason Farm Biological Reserve Hike," an informative walk through 200 years of cultural and natural history and on an old farm trail, will be held 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 2. Preregistration is required.

· "Piedmont Prairies: Fall Wildflowers and Grasses at Penny’s Bend," a walk through the fall landscape of this remnant Piedmont prairie in northwest Durham that is surrounded on three sides by the Eno River, will be 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 16. Preregistration is required.

For more information, visit www.ncbg.unc.edu or call (919) 962-0522.

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Photo note: View and download a photo of berries of the woodland plant Solomon’s Seal, visible into early fall at the N.C. Botanical Garden, by clicking on: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/other/solsealberries.jpg

N.C. Botanical Garden contacts: Dorothy Wilbur-Brooks, (919) 962-9460; or Laura Cotterman, (919) 962-0522