Afternoon all! Just wanted to let you know that last weeks "Walk on the Wild Side" tour in the Blomquist garden was well attended and informative. We spent an hour with Jeff Pippen from the Duke School of the Environment looking at dragonfly, amphibian, reptile and bird species within the garden. It was a real treat to have a guest speaker who knows his stuff as well as Jeff does. I hope to bring him back to focus on the natural history and identification of native bird species later in the year. Stay tuned! As I mentioned in my last post, we have another guest speaker in August (8/6). Laurie Lawson from Niche gardens will be teaching us about medicinal plants from our region. Please join us. Anyone who is interested in volunteering for a community invasive plant removal trip this month, let me know. On July 16th we'll be heading to Scotland Neck to visit the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park to help them with a chinese privet problem. If you've never been to SHWP, this would be a chance for you to see some amazing birds from across the globe and help a special institution through volunteering. Send me an email at sbloodwo@duke.edu to sign up for or ask questions about the Sylvan Heights invasive removal trip. Finally, the web album I mentioned posting of the many stages of the recently completed Wildlife Garden will be available Friday. I'll post a link to the album on this blog.

Hey there! I just wanted to give you a heads up about two upcoming tours in the Blomquist garden. Tomorrow (7/2) Jeff pippen from the Duke School of the Environment will be our guide for a peek into the world of native wildlife in our local ecosystems. We'll use the Blomquist garden as a showcase for some of these fascinating birds and insects. On August 6th, Lauri Lawson from Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill will be leading a tour focusing on native medicinal plants of our region. I hope to see you there! A last note: the Wildlife garden is now finished and open to the public. Look for a photo album featuring this garden in all it's stages of construction on the Wildlife Garden page of the Blomquist website next week. See you soon!

Good morning! I feel like an old piece of beef jerky after this past weekend! (I'll elaborate) I spent Saturday at the Triangle Land Conservancy's Green Jamboree in Chapel Hill. It was HOT and WINDY (thus the beef jerky reference), but it was also a LOT of fun. I facilitated a wildlife gardening seminar at the jamboree that culminated in the actual planting of a wildlife garden adjacent to a historic house on the property. I had about 30 people attend the seminar, and a good number of them stayed after my talk to brave the hair dryer heat and help put plants in the ground. The event would not have been possible without the generous donations of a number of organizations. Plants for the event were donated by the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Niche Gardens, Mellow Marsh Farm, Cure Nursery and Hoffman Nursery. Other help for the event came from the North Carolina Native Plant Society. Thanks to all of you who helped! As the garden matures over the next few years, we will make plans to use it as an educational tool in the effort to educate the public about the importance of gardening for wildlife. You can also visit www.blomquistgarden.com and choose the link for the Wildlife Garden to see what we've been doing to encourage the use of native plants for wildlife attraction here at Duke Gardens. I'll post photos of the TLC Green Jamboree on this blog as soon as they are available. See you soon!

What was that?! Oh, never mind. It was just the last three weeks of my life passing by in the blink of an eye. Lots going on these days. My trusty sidekick has been out with a bad back for three weeks now, and I promise I'll never take him for granted again. (not that I ever did, really). At any rate, the weeds stop growing for no man, and the show must go on, etc, etc. For those of you coming to the "Walk on the Wild Side" tour tomorrow in the Blomquist Garden, we'll be discussing the natural history and landscape uses of native ferns. Want to get out of the house? Come to the Triangle Land Conservancy's "Green Jamboree" on June 20th at the Irvin Farm property in Chapel Hill. I'll be conducting a hand's on (that means you will be getting dirty) wildlife gardening workshop there in the afternoon. You can learn more at www.triangleland.org. If there is anyone out there who wants to learn more about invasive plant removal, the Duke Gardens will be involved in two community invasive removals this summer. Send an email to me at sbloodwo@duke.edu for more info. K- the weeds are growing. Be back later..

I love this weather! The past three days have felt like summer in the mountains, with low humidity, a constant breeze, and temperatures in the 60-70 degree range. Too bad it can't last. It won't be long before the dog days are here, when you do your yearly gut check and ask yourself yet again why you chose a profession that requires you to spend NC summers with a shovel in your hand. In my case, it was what I learned to do in prison. Ooops, strike that comment. I forgot to mention that in my interview. But seriously folks, you gotta love this weather! Okay... what's new? Well, for starters, soccer season is over, so no more long drives at rush hour to Chapel Hill. That's really what I've become when I'm not working at Duke or for myself: a chauffeur who transports young athletes to (pick a sport) practice. I'm sure you didn't log on to read about my children's athletic exploits, though. If you did, just ask me about them the next time you see me and I'll fill you in. One thing of note to discuss is an event I'll be attending in June. The Triangle Land Conservancy in hosting a "Green Jamboree" on June 20th at Irvin Farm in Chapel Hill. I'll be conducting a wildlife gardening seminar during the event. It will involve both instruction on the principles of gardening for wildlife as well as a hands on event in which participants will help me plant a small wildlife garden during the seminar. I'm looking forward to it. As far as what's happening in the Blomquist Garden, at the moment it's weeding, weeding, weeding (rinse, repeat). Warm temps plus abundant rain = an explosion of green things popping out of the ground. The Poison Ivy is particularly agressive this year. Fun, fun, fun! As far as invasive weeds are concerned, Youngia japonica is the weed du jour. This Aster family member is a pain in the rear. It grows fast and goes to seed faster, meaning that if you better not turn your back on it or....POOOF! Job security in the form of thousands of Youngia japonica to deal with next year. Want to learn more about it, just Google "Pain in the @#%$#". I mean, just Google Youngia japonica and prepare for a deluge of hand-wringing and curses. A last note: the "walk on the Wild Side" for June (6/4) will focus on native fern species. Hope to see you there!

Singing in the rain... just when it seemed we were about to enter another hot dry prelude to summer, voila! The rains the past few days have really perked things back up again. The weeds appreciate the rains as well, unfortunately. Oh well, that's what we call in the green industry "Job Security". For any of you interested in attending the monthly walk in the Blomquist Garden tomorrow, the topic will be the newly completed Wildlife Garden. We'll discuss the design and construction of the collection, as well as go through a number of related topics such as a) the connection between plant and animal diversity, b) neighborhood scale wildlife gardening, and c) the importance of using native plant species to sustain native wildlife. I hope you can make it. If so, meet me at the gatehouse entrance for the Blomquist Garden @ 11:00. See you then!

Hi there! I'm about to go to work at my "other job" (landscape contracting), but I thought I'd drop a line or two about recent goings-on in the Blomquist Garden. It's hot and dry all of a sudden, and watering has begun in the garden as a result. Rain is called for this afternoon and evening perhaps, a cruel irony of sorts as the Sarah Duke Gardens 75th anniversary gala dinner is tonight, and a portion of the proceedings are outdoors. We need the rain, but perhaps not until the dinner bell, if that can be arranged. Beautiful flowering continues in the Blomquist, with the native azaleas continuing to steal the show. Check out our website at www.blomquistgarden.com to see photos of what's in bloom right now on the "What's Blooming" page. Since that site was created on an Apple computer, it looks it's best using a windows version of the Safari browser. You can download this browser at http://www.apple.com/safari/download/ . Our spring board of advisors meeting is in full swing as we speak, with folks from across the region coming into town to catch up on what's been happening in the gardens over the last six months. Finally, try to catch the Columbine "meadow" before it's gone. Adjacent to the Endangered Species collection is an area covered in thousands of pendulous Columbine blooms. As is always the case, if your in the garden and you see a guy with a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses who happens to be covered in dirt, it's probably me. Feel free to ask me about what deserves a look in the garden, or just to stop and say hi.