ArtPlantae Today

Please welcome Mt.Cuba Center to the Classes Near You section!

You can view their classes here and at Classes Near You > Delaware.

Mt. Cuba Center
www.mtcubacenter.org
Mt. Cuba Center is a botanical garden in Hockessin, DE dedicated to the conservation, display, and research of native plants. Their woodland wildflower gardens are recognized as the area’s finest. The Center hosts many interesting classes related to plants, gardening and the arts. View their full schedule of on-site classes and distance learning classes on their website.

Fall Photography Free Stroll
Saturday, October 26, 2013
7:30 am – 11:30 am

Enjoy this early morning opportunity to photograph the gardens of
Mt. Cuba Center!

Chris Starr will offer advice, tips, and ideas as well as answer your photography questions. Photographers of all experience levels, from novices to experts, will receive personal guidance. Stroll the gardens while capturing the visual glory of autumn. Be sure to bring your lenses, camera manual, and dress for the weather. Tripods are welcome. Garden admission is included with registration. Chris Starr is an experienced photographer who has played many roles at Mt. Cuba Center since 1984. Currently he is a member of the grounds team. View Details/Register


Hidden Treasures
November 5-7, 2013
10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Create botanical art from a new perspective!

Primarily using graphite pencil, but including watercolor and colored pencil, create a drawing with a range of texture and tone. Our focus will be more on the sculptural and textural qualities of our plant source than on color. Learn how to capture nature from a different vantage point and see the art you can create from spent flowers, dried up leaves or spindly stalks. John will augment his group instruction with individual coaching. Basic drawing ability needed and a materials list is provided upon class registration. Please bring your lunch.

John Gist is an acclaimed artist who worked as an illustrator after graduating from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) with a degree in Illustration. He has taught art for over 15 years including at Bartram’s Garden and the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators. His work has been displayed in several exhibitions, including the exclusive International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute, the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators Exhibition at the Philadelphia International Flower Show, the Woodmere Art Museum, and with the American Society of Botanical Artists annual shows. View Details/Register


Multiply Your Natives from Seed
Saturday, November 9
9:00 am – 2:00 pm

Learn how to identify, collect, and sow native seeds. Join Bill McAvoy, Delaware’s state botanist, and Phil Oyerly, Mt. Cuba Center’s greenhouse manager, as they share their joint expertise in growing native plants from seed. Bill will teach you how to correctly identify seeds, explain the ethics of collecting seed from the wild, and demonstrate sustainable seed collecting practices. Clean the seed you harvest, learn seed scarification and stratification techniques, and find out the best ways to store seed. This is a hands-on workshop so be dressed for the weather and able to walk the rugged terrain of our Natural Lands. Students will take home wildflower seeds. Please bring a bagged lunch.

William McAvoy has been the Delaware state botanist for the last 23 years, while serving in the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. He is the primary author of the 2001 publication The Flora of Delaware, an annotated checklist, which has been revised as an online database. Phil Oyerly is the greenhouse manager at Mt. Cuba Center and has worked in the plant propagation area for many years. Phil and his staff grow native plants in support of the landscape and research activities of
Mt. Cuba Center. View Details/Register


Winter Tree Identification
Saturday, January 18, 2014
(Snow date: February 1, 2014)
9:00 am – 12 Noon

Learn the basics for identifying woody plants in winter. Don’t let the leafless trees of winter scare you! Eileen Boyle, Director of Education and Research at Mt. Cuba Center, will teach you distinguishing characteristics for identifying native trees and shrubs during the austerity of winter. Examine bark, study habit, inspect buds, and collect twigs then put them through a dichotomous key. Dress for winter conditions since this class will be held both outdoors and in the lab. Eileen Boyle is the Director of Education and Research at Mt. Cuba Center. Previously she was the director of horticulture at the Philadelphia Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden. She has also worked as a horticulture professor, an administrator for the New York City’s parks, and for the USDA. View Details/Register


Why We Need More Natives in Our Gardens
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
(Snow Date: Feb. 4, 2014)
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Garden for life – ours and theirs!

Specialized relationships between animals and plants is the norm in nature, rather than the exception. Plants that evolved in concert with local animals provide for their needs better than plants that evolved elsewhere. Doug will explain why this is so, why it is important to restore biodiversity to our residential properties, what we need to do to turn our landscapes into functioning ecosystems once again, and what we will gain by doing so. Doug will sign copies of his book, Bringing Nature Home. Doug Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology and Director of the Center for Managed Ecosystems at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. He has authored 73 research articles and taught Insect Taxonomy, Behavioral Ecology, and other courses for 30 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, received the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers Association.
View Details/Register