CALENDAR OF MEETINGS
2024-2025
Presentations will begin at the designated time (listed below) followed by a brief business meeting.
Please note the date and time as we are offering evening and Saturday presentations this year.
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
130 W. Tryon St.
Hillsborough, NC
Thursday, September 12
Program: Fall Flower Fling
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
social at 9:30 am, meeting at 10:00 am
HGC Member Alice Moore offers tips on flower arranging. Bring a vase, cup, pitcher or other unique container, as well as flowers from your garden to share. Out-of-the-box creativity is what’s in store for our first meeting of the season.
Thursday, October 10
Program: Planting a Bulb Lawn or Small Design in Your Yard
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
5:00 pm social, 5:30 pm program
Presenters: Johanna Wilson, HGC Member and Master Gardner
Tammy Dorfman, HGC President
Join us as Johanna helps us explore some options for thinking outside the box with spring bulbs. From creating a corner with a fun design in your lawn to naturalizing your whole lawn, we’ll talk through ways to brighten your lawn during that time in the year when it seems that Spring might never come. From designed to free flowing, the bulbs are forgiving multipliers, reminding you every year of the light at the end of the winter tunnel.
As an added treat, Tammy will demonstrate how to plant bulbs in a crate so we can have cut flowers as early in the year as possible.
Thursday, November 14
Program: Birding 101: Recognize and Support Local Birds
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenter: Carol Hamilton, President of the New Hope Bird Alliance
Carol Hamilton, current President of the New Hope Bird Alliance (our local Audubon Society chapter), will be joined by bird and plant experts Rachelle Roach and Gail Boyarsky to demonstrate how to use sound, sight and smartphone tools to figure out which bird is singing in the neighborhood and how to make your yard a magnet for our feathered friends. Bring binoculars if you have them for a hands-on demonstration.
Thursday, December 12
Program: Holiday Card Making and Holiday Cookie Swap
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenter: Lynn Odom, HGC Member
Lynn will share her talents and guide us in the art of holiday card making. Each member will make a card to send and one to share with recipients of the Orange County Meals on Wheels program. Materials will be provided.
Bring a batch of your favorite holiday cookies to share!
Thursday, January 9
Program: Designing a Garden with an Emphasis on Pollinators
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenter: Danesha Seth Carley, Associate Professor of Horticultural Science at
NCSU and Director of the Southern Integrated Pest Management Center
Danesha is a fun, dynamic speaker who will present about garden design, with a specific focus on southern pollinator garden planning. Danesha authored Pollinator Gardening in the South with Anne M. Spafford.
Thursday, February 13
Program: Rain Gardening in the South - Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge & Everything in Between
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenter: Helen Kraus - Associate Professor, Emeritus, at the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences and Director of Undergraduate
Programs at NCSU
Helen will share her experience on this important new environmental movement. Rain Gardening in the South helps gardeners wisely use our most precious resource—-water. Rain Gardens maximize rainwater, enhance the landscape, and promote good environmental stewardship.
Thursday, March 13
Program: Local Wildlife and Snakes/Snake Id and How to Live With Them
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenter: Hayley Quay, Zoologist and Former Naturalist for the Eno River State Park
Hayley will discuss common types of wildlife that live around us, how to identify different species and how to coexist with them. She might even have a surprise visitor for us!!
Thursday, April 10
Program: Public Gardens Around North Carolina
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
5:00 pm social, 5:30 pm program
Presenter: Carolyn Burns Bass, HGC Member and Photojournalist
Join Carolyn Burns Bass on a photographic journey through some of North Carolina’s finest public gardens, from the niche gardens of Southern Pines to the historical blooms of the coastal Elizabethan Gardens. Enjoy colorful images of camellia groves, rose gardens, pollinator paradise, native cultivars and whimsical getaways where flora and fauna coexist in the beauty of nature specific to each garden. Carolyn has photographed trees, shrubs, and blossoms in sixteen counties (and counting).
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Thursday, May 8
Program: Passalong Plants and Their Care
Hillsborough United Methodist Church
9:30 am social, 10:00 am program
Presenters: Gardening Panel, HGC Members
Learn about some of our favorite Passalong plants, those often grown by our grandmothers that are still popular today. Experienced HGC members will guide you with their hints about planting, grooming, dividing, propagating, and sharing favorites such as hellebores, daffodils, iris, hostas, roses, and more. You’ll soon have the most spectacular garden around!
Thursday, June 12
Program: Duke Campus Farm Tour and Lunch
Duke Campus Farm
10:00 am program
Presenter: Saskia Cornes, Program Director and Assistant Professor of the
Practice at Duke Franklin Humanities Institute
The Duke Campus Farm is a one-acre working farm owned and operated by Duke University that provides sustainably-grown produce and food systems education for Duke and its surrounding communities. We will visit the farm and learn about how it provides opportunities to reimagine the ways we “cultivate, access, value, and think about food.: After a tour and Q & A with Saskia, we will stay for a box lunch.
This farm is located at 4934 Friends School Rd, directly across from Carolina Friends School in the Duke Forest.
