Nature Hikes
In addition to our regular Saturday tours of the Display Gardens and Education Center, and monthly tours of Coker Arboretum (see sidebar), we offer occasional guided hikes and walks in other natural areas or campus locales. These hikes/tours are listed below. Please, always leave pets at home! (If you would like to arrange for a special private tour of the Botanical Garden Grounds, Coker Arboretum, or Battle Park for your group, please see the Scheduling Tours page.)
Unless otherwise indicated, the following tours/hikes require pre-registration and a small fee. See Registration Instructions in the sidebar to the lower right.
Tours and hikes are listed below in date order.
Owl Prowl: A Nocturnal Experience
Date: Feb 10; 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Guide: Gail Abrams, Executive Director, Piedmont Wildlife Center
In winter, local owls are coming back to their nesting territory to find their mate and to build a nest for their new family. We will travel to the Mason Farm Biological Reserve to listen and look for signs of screech, barred, and great horned owls. You will learn why owls are so important and what you can do to help protect them. We'll try several owl calls to see if we can get any wild owls to come check us out and call back. You will also meet Otus the screech owl and Athena the barred owl—two live owls used in education programs at Piedmont Wildlife Center (www.piedmontwildlifecenter.org). To register for this program you must contact the Piedmont Wildlife Center: 919-489-0900.
Spring Wildflowers at Stillhouse Bottom
Date: Saturday, March 17
Time: 2 - 4 pm
Guide: Carol Ann McCormick, NCBG Staff
Celebrate spring at Stillhouse Bottom Nature Preserve—home to an amazing array of spring wildflowers and several regionally rare plant species. This hike is off trail, on steep and rocky slopes, with un-bridged stream crossings. Please wear sturdy walking shoes. Children welcome; please leave pets at home. Meeting place will be confirmed at time of registration. Fee: $5 (Free for NCBG members)
Celebrating Spring Haiku Walk-and-Write Workshop
Date: Sunday, March 25
Time: 2:30 - 4:30 pm
Guide: North Carolina Haiku Society (NCHS)
You've probably heard that a haiku is a short poem of 17 syllables, written in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. There is much more to haiku than the famous syllable count—find out what these little poems have to offer! The N.C. Haiku Society was founded in 1979 to promote the writing and appreciation of haiku in English. We begin with some simple approaches to writing haiku. Participants then take a "haiku walk" in the gardens and along the trails with NCHS members, and follow up with a discussion of poems written by participants. Fee: $15 ($10 NCBG members)
Spring Tours of the Garden!
Dates: Saturdays, April 14, 21, 28
Time: 10 am
Guide: NCBG Staff/Tour Guides
Join us for a private tour of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. On this 60-minute walk, you will experience the beauty of plants native to North Carolina. Discover a longleaf pine forest, a wet savanna, and a mountain bog in our different Habitat Gardens. Learn about native wildflowers for the home landscape in our Perennial Border, and finish up with a look at some of North Carolina's most unique plants in our Carnivorous Plant Collection, where you will find Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews, as well as non-carnivorous wildflowers and native orchids. Tour begins in the Pegg Exhibit Hall of the Education Center. FREE—no advance registration needed!
Tour of the LEED Platinum Education Center
Date: Saturdas, April 21
Time: 1:30 pm
Guide: NCBG Staff/Tour Guides
Join us for a free behind-the-scenes tour of North Carolina's first state-owned LEED Platinum building. One of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the Southeast, the Botanical Garden's Education Center provides a unique opportunity to learn about cutting-edge green building practices. On this 45-minute tour, you will learn about the building's energy conservation, renewable energy use, stormwater management systems, and site appropriate landscaping. Tour begins in the Pegg Exhibit Hall of the Education Center. FREE, but space is limited, so please call to register.
Bird Walk at Mason Farm
Date: Saturday, April 21
Time: 8 am
Guide: Cynthia Fox
Join Cynthia Fox, bird expert and owner of Chapel Hill's Wild Bird Center, for an early morning walk at our Mason Farm Biological Reserve. The 367-acre reserve encompasses a combination of forests and old fields that support approximately 800 species of plants and 216 species of birds. A greater number of different species of animals have been recorded at Mason Farm than in any other comparably-sized area in the entire Piedmont. Participants will learn to recognize birds by song and sight. Bring your binoculars! Meeting place will be confirmed at time of registration. Pre-registration is required. Fee: $10 ($5 NCBG members)
Earth Day: Wildflowers on the Nature Trails
Date: Sunday, April 22
Time: 2- 4 pm
Guide: Carol Ann McCormick, Botanist/NCBG Staff
Explore a Piedmont hardwood forest and find early spring wildflowers including spring beauties, wild ginger, and star chickweed. Participants will also spot lesser-known native plants such as pennywort and dwarf paw paw. Easy pace; some steps and uphill walking. Children welcome; please leave pets at home. Meeting place will be confirmed at time of registration. Fee: $5 (Free for NCBG members)
Mother's Day Walk at Mason Farm
Date: Sunday, May 13
Time: 2 - 4 pm
Guide: Ed Harrison, Naturalist
Take your mother for a turn around the Mason Farm Biological Reserves "old farm trail," which travels through some 260 years of cultural and natural history. Naturalist Ed Harrison will point out wildflowers and discuss how the Garden's intense management of both field and forest benefits local biological diversity conservation. Meeting place will be confirmed at registration. Fee $10 ($5 NCBG members).
Penny's Bend Wild Blue Indigo Hike
Date: Saturday, May 19
Time: 9:30 am - 1:00 pm
Guide: Ed Harrison, Naturalist
Ed Harrison, Penny's Bend Management Committee member, leads a hike through the spring landscape of this 84-acre natural area surrounded on three sides by the Eno River in northeast Durham. With luck, the wild blue indigo (Baptisia australis) will be in full bloom. Pennys Bend Nature Preserve encompasses mature forests and remnant diabase glades and prairies with regionally rare plants. Fee: $10 ($5 NCBG members). Directions provided after registration. About 2 miles in length, much of this hike is on primitive trails over uneven terrain, with one short, steep climb up from the river. Wear sturdy hiking footwear and bring a walking stick and water.
Return to the EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS page to find other public programs, such as Lectures, Classes/Workshops, Art in the Garden.
Last updated by Laura Cotterman on February 09, 2012 at 01:18:28 pm.
