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North Carolina Botanical Garden Essentials

Have you ever looked at a big patch of trout lilies and wondered how many there actually were? Here, NCBG research botanist Scott Ward (@newyork_botany) takes to the Piedmont Nature Trails behind the Garden to demonstrate a simple, old-school method plant ecologists still use to estimate the number of plants in an area. Dimpled trout lilies (Erythronium umbilicatum), the most common trout lilies in our area, are blooming now in their large, clonal mats. This species is endemic to the Southeast! If you live in the Triangle area, American trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) are less common, but you can occasionally find them. This species – more common in the Northeast – typically blooms a couple of weeks after the dimpled trout lilies here. A key way to tell them apart is by prying apart the flower to look at the ovary: dimpled trout lilies have a striking dimple (like an innie belly button) at the top, whereas American trout lily ovaries end in a smooth, round, un-dimpled top.

Please remember that glitter is litter as you celebrate graduations, weddings, and everything else this time of year! Last weekend, guests at the Garden used shredded mylar for a photo op, and our staff has spent hours trying to clean it up. Microplastics, including glitter and other small plastics, are terrible for our environment. Instead, use a filter to make your photos look like you used glitter without actually littering. In addition, please don't celebrate by throwing seeds--leave the planting to our highly-skilled gardening staff!

Big news! UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University will unite their herbaria under the management of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Together, the collection will comprise about 1.7 million specimens, making it the third-largest university herbarium in the country after Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley; and the largest in the southeastern United States. Herbaria are collections of preserved plant specimens that serve as irreplaceable scientific archives and enable researchers to study biodiversity, long-term climate shifts, invasive species and other changes in plant life across generations. Find out more on our website: https://ncbg.unc.edu/2026/08/31/unc-chapel-hill-duke-combine-herbaria

Check out a few of the beautiful plants our team has the opportunity to work with in the coastal plain of North Carolina… These photos have been taken by members of our Conservation Department over the past couple months of their field excursions! Cleistesiopsis divaricata (large dragonhead pogonia) — imperiled in NC Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus (tuberosus grass-pink) — vulnerable in NC Hypericum species 2 — endemic to wet pine savannas of NC’s outer coastal plain Sarracenia flava (yellow pitcherplant) Spiranthes eatonii (Eaton’s ladies’-tresses) — globally vulnerable Stenanthium densum (crow-poison) Pogonia ophioglossoides (rose pogonia) — threatened in NC Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) in fruit! — globally imperiled Aletris farinosa (white-tubed colicroot) Cleistesiopsis oricamporum (small dragonhead pogonia) — globally vulnerable Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus (tuberosus grass-pink) (again!) Triantha racemosa (coastal false asphodel) Eurybia paludosa (southern swamp aster) Rhexia alifanus (rose meadowbeauty)

The spring ephemerals (and ephemeral-adjacent wildflowers) are coming and going quickly — as is their way! The bloodroot and trout lilies are already mostly past their peak; the trilliums and windflowers are just getting started. Here’s some of what we’ve seen this week. 1: Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis): Technically not a true ephemeral because its leaves last into summer, but its flowers last for only a few days! 2: Little sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum): The first of many in our Mountain Habitat have started to bloom. Also called purple toadshade! 3: Dimpled trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum): Distinguishable from the closely related American trout lily by the dimple (like an innie bellie button) at the top of its ovary, which you can see if you peel back the tepals. 4: Windflower (Thalictrum thalictroides) 5: Sandhills pyxie moss (Pyxidanthera barbulata var. brevifolia): Rescued three years ago from a site in the North Carolina Sandhills slated for clearing. 6: Leatherwood (Dirca palustris): Most of this plants common names (also leatherbark, rope-bark) refer to its use by Indigenous Peoples for cordage. 7: Windflower (Thalictrum thalictroides) 8: Sharp-lobed liverleaf (Hepatica acutiloba) 9: A big patch of bloodroot, already on its way out, in our Mountain Habitat.

There’s nothing like April in Chapel Hill. The Garden is awash with rainbows: red buckeyes, orange Florida flame azaleas, yellow golden ragwort, green EVERYTHING, blue phlox, purple irises. 🌈🌳🌸 Here’s some of what’s been blooming this week: 1: Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) in the foreground; red buckeye and azalea in the background. 2: Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) 3: Rose (Rosa ‘Old Blush’) 4: Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) 5: Great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) and eastern blue phlox 6: Perfoliate bellowort (Uvularia perfoliata) 7: Azalea and red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) 8: Eastern blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) 9: Florida anise-tree (Illicium floridanum) 10: Northern sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis ssp. perennis) 11: Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) 12: Atamasco lilies (Zephyranthes atamasco) 13: Coastal Plain dwarf iris (Iris verna) 14: Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) 15: Eastern bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) 16: Scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) in front of foamflower 17: Lady Banks rose (Rosa banksiae ‘Alba’) 18: Tall blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis) 19: Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) with ragwort and phlox 20: Coastal doghobble (Leucothoe axillaris) P.S. A note from Emily, outgoing communications & exhibits coordinator: I’ve been managing the Garden’s social media since 2017, but I’m leaving this week for a new role. It has been the honor of a lifetime to get to share the beauty and magic of this incredible place with y’all. Thanks for following along – and stay tuned for lots of exciting things coming from the Garden soon! ❤️

In nutrient-poor environments across the world, plants have evolved unique ways to supplement their diets with insects. Catching the insects is the trick. In the southeastern United States, 5 different types of native carnivorous plants can be found, and in our state of North Carolina, all five can be seen growing in the wild. Join NCBG Research Botanist Scott Ward from the field as he gives a quick run-down of our region’s carnivorous plants. For those looking to see these fascinating plants in action, come visit the garden Tuesday-Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm, where our carnivorous plant beds are cared for meticulously by Horticulture staff year-round. #CarnivorousPlants #NativePlants #NorthCarolinaBotanicalGarden #VenusFlyTraps

Toad-al madness: a group of American toads caused quite a stir in our Native American Garden today! 🐸 Eager single males hurled themselves at mating pairs, hoping to get in on the action, but the pairs fended them off with lots of kicking and thrashing. It’s a tough life for a single frog! These native amphibians make their way to collective breeding sites like this – often the same ones each year – in late winter. Successful pairings produce clutches with thousands of eggs in long strings, which you can see in these clips! #americantoad #anaxyrusamericanusamericanus #herpsofnc

Can you spot the pollinator on these pawpaw flowers? 🪰 That’s right: it’s a fly! Common pawpaws (Asimina triloba) flowers have a pungent, yeasty smell and look a little like rotting meat, qualities that help them attract their main pollinators: flies and beetles. You’d hardly guess these stinky flowers turn into tropical-tasting fruits in autumn! Unfortunately for pawpaws, flies and beetles tend to be less efficient than bees at pollination: they don’t have the special pollen-carrying hairs many bees have, and they usually visit flowers to feed themselves, rather than making many trips to and from a nest to feed their larvae, as bees do. (Fewer flower visits mean fewer opportunities for pollination!) Pawpaws can also have a hard time setting fruit because they require cross-pollination: pollen needs to move between two genetically distinct individuals to be successful. To make for more fruits, backyard growers and pawpaw farmers have tried a number of techniques, from hand pollination to hanging roadkill around the trees! Have you heard of (or tried) any other odd pawpaw pollination tricks? 👀 #pawpaw #pollinators #spring

Have you ever noticed the way a single oak tree can have differently-shaped leaves? Many trees, including oaks, have broader "shade leaves" lower on the trunk and narrower "sun leaves" higher on the tree. This comes in handy when you're trying to identify an oak based on its leaves: while the shade leaves can get a little funky, the sun leaves tend to be the most distinctive and true to type. If you poke around in the leaf litter for sun leaves, it'll help narrow down your ID! Here, NCBG research botanist Scott Ward (@newyork_botany) gets into a couple of common native red oaks in our area: pagoda oak (Quercus pagoda, also known as cherrybark oak) and southern red oak (Quercus falcata). Their shade leaves can look super similar, but their sun leaves are easier to tell apart: southern red oak tends to have distinctive, three-lobed sun leaves, with a sickle-shaped central lobe. Pagoda oak sun leaves typically have between 7 and 11 lobes! Another rule of thumb is that pagoda oak leaf bases tend to be more V-shaped than southern red oak, which usually has more U-shaped leaf bases. They also generally live in slightly different habitats: pagoda oak is most common in bottomland forests, and southern red oak is more of an upland species. (But, as ever, there are exceptions: both species can be found in higher and drier or lower and wetter habitats.) Dig into oak identification on our Flora of the Southeastern US site: fsus.ncbg.unc.edu.

Are you a college student or recent grad looking for hands-on experience in field botany and applied ecology? We're hiring for an exciting new summer internship: the Venus Flytrap Intern! In this role, you'll join our ongoing research project studying the effects of climate change and fire on Venus flytraps and other rare plants in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. You'll get your hands (and boots) dirty conducting rare plant surveys and long-term demographic monitoring of Venus flytrap populations in the wild. And you'll have the opportunity to design and implement an independent field or lab research project focused on one of the plant species in question! Learn more and apply by March 28 at go.unc.edu/ncbgjobs. #hiring #internships #flytrap

Hello, spring! 🌸 Here’s a sample of what’s in bloom at our main garden, from native azaleas to jessamine to columbine. All of the plants pictured here are native to the southeastern U.S.! 1: Eastern blue phlox (Phlox divaricata var. divaricata) 2: Florida flame azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) 3: Great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) 4: Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) – available at our Daily Plant Sale! 5-6: Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) 7: Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) 8: Violet (Viola sp.) 9: Alabama snow-wreath (Neviusia alabamensis) 10: Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) 11-12: Pinxterflower azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides) – in a pot! Come enjoy! #nativeplants

As fall brings color and change to our region, pollinators are still on the prowl for fall-blooming wildflowers. From our courtyard display gardens to the wild pine savannas downeast, goldenrods provide easy fuel and food for native insects and birds. Join Scott as he engages us once again in two more native goldenrods of North Carolina. #ncbotanicalgarden #goldenrods #nativeplants #botanyeducation

Up next in our 3rd feature on goldenrods are the seaside and “bog wand” goldenrod groups, known for their their distinct basal rosettes and inflorescence “wands” that flower tall above their preferred salt marsh or boggy habitats. Join NCBG Botanist Scott Ward from the field as he entices us once again in Solidago, the southeast’s most diverse genus of aster. #Solidago #Goldenrod #bogwandgoldenrods #bogs #saltmarshes

Spring has arrived at Coker Arboretum! 🌸💐🌼 Come stroll among the magnolias and daffodils or pack a picnic and stretch out on an open lawn. Native spring ephemerals like trout lilies, trilliums, and bloodroot are also a little ahead of the ones at our main garden down the hill! Pictured: 1: Flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) 2: American trout lily (Erythronium americanum ssp. americanum) 3: Flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) 4: Willow-leaf magnolia (Magnolia ‘W.B. Clarke’) 5: Lily-of-the-valley bush (Pieris japonica) 6: Magnolia 7: Daffodils (Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’) 8: English primrose (Primula vulgaris ssp. sibthorpii) 9: Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia ‘Spectabilis’) 10: Quince (Chaenomeles x superba ‘Charming’) 11: Little sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) 12: Magnolia ‘Ballerina’ 13: Quinces and magnolias 14: Magnolia ‘Ballerina’ Learn more and plan your trip at ncbg.unc.edu/visit/coker-arboretum.

We're getting ready for our Spring Native Plant Sale, rain or shine! At tomorrow's sale, we'll be joined by Mellow Marsh Farm, Growing Wild Nursery, and Carolina Habitats. You can expect a wide variety of southeastern native perennials, shrubs, trees, ferns, grasses, and carnivorous plants! The morning timed-entry windows are full, but no pre-registration is required for the open shopping period from 12-2 p.m. We hope to see you there!

Our Carnivorous Plant Collection is an easy favorite for many garden visitors, but what does it take to curate these bogs and their many insect-loving plants? Tune in with Horticulture staff Chris Liloia and Shakita Holloway as they discuss some of the day-to-day work that goes into bog maintenance and curation. Watering, weeding, and (yes) even taxonomy all play an important role. What more would you like to learn about maintaining our bogs and other habitat gardens? Feel free to drop in the comment section about all things BOG 🤓. #CarnivorousPlants #NorthCarolinaNativePlants #Bogs #BogGardens #Horticulture Botany Polygalaceae

As temperatures heat up once again across the southeast, we welcome the many familiar flowers that usher in this transition time between late spring and early summer. Across our various Carolina-inspired habitats can be seen the deep magentas and purples of Grass-Pink orchids and Spiderworts, the bright whites of Wild Indigos, Beardtongues and Barbara’s Buttons, and the alluring pinks of Tracy’s Sundews, Mountain Laurels and Rose Pogonias. Be sure to stop by soon and through the summer to catch a glimpse of the many beautiful southeastern plants that happily call the garden home. 1. Grass-Pink Orchid (Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus) 2. Smooth Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohioensis) 3. Spiked Wild Indigo (Baptisia albescens) 4. Tall White Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) 5. Piedmont Barbara’s Buttons (Marshallia obovata var. obovata) 6. Tracy’s Sundew (Drosera tracyi) 7. Tracy’s Sundew sticky leaves 8. Tracy’s Sundew and White-topped pitcher plant (Sarracenia leucophylla) 9. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) 10. Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) Photos by Scott Ward #NorthCarolinaBotanicalGarden #NativePlants #ConservationGarden #SoutheasternPlants #PlantDiversity Biodiversity Orchids CarnivorousPlants

Up next in part two of our fall feature on Goldenrods we cover White Prairie and Licorice goldenrod, the latter of which is named for its sweet-smelling, gland-dotted leaves. As our many Solidago species begin to flower their way into fall, which species would you like to see highlighted? #ncbotanicalgarden #Solidago #Goldenrods #nativeplants

Goldenrods (Solidago) are among our region’s most diverse groups of southeastern wildlfowers, so how can we better identify them? Join Botanist Scott Ward in a multi-video tribute to identifying some of our region’s conspicuous (and not so conspicuous) species. Featured in part one are guides to identifying Pineywoods goldenrod, Silverrod and Southeastern Bold Goldenrod. Stay tuned for more featured species this fall! #Solidago #Goldenrods #Asters #NativePlants #NorthCarolinaBotanicalGarden

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Goldenrods (Solidago) are among our region’s most diverse groups of southeastern wildlfowers, so how can we better identify them?