The club encourages members to garden organically and to strengthen the harmony among plants, earth, animals, and people. The Environmental Group promotes educational programs that center on environmental stewardship and conservation.
Programs for this year - 2024-25
Details available at the meetings and in the newsletter.
Sept 23, 2024 Mon, 1 – 3 pm. Environmental Group. Topic: Habitat Gardens. JCRA Ruby McSwain Education Center.
Nov 25, 2024 Mon, 1 – 3 pm. Environmental Group. Topic: Building the Canopy – Trees. Ruby McSwain Education Center at JCRA.
Jan 27, 2025 Mon, 1 – 3 pm. Environmental Group. Movie showing of the documentary, FIVE SEASONS: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, at the JCRA Ruby McSwain Education Center.
March 24, 2025 Mon, 1 – 3 pm. Environmental Group. Topic: The Wildflower Roadside Program: Challenges with Natives. JCRA Ruby McSwain Education Center.
May 27, 2025 Tues, 1 – 3 pm. Environmental Group. Topic: Keystone Species, Flowering Lawns and No Mow May at the JCRA Ruby McSwain Education Center.
Previous Environmental
Group Activities
Previous activities of the Environmental Group have included visits to nature preserves featuring native plants, community gardens, decorating bird houses for the Raulston Blooms! competition, and hearing about Raleigh plans for conservation. We usually finish each year with a plant exchange and tea.
From The Season: Jeff Beane’s Guide to Natural North Carolina
Sept 20, 2025: BugFest, NC State Museum of Natural Sciences annual expo. This year, BugFest shines a spotlight on krill! Delight in children’s activities designed to inspire the next generation of bug enthusiasts, observe a variety of live arthropods, browse vendor stalls for arthropod-themed merchandise, and celebrate the extraordinary diversity of arthropods. For info, visit www.naturalsciences.org.
Sept 20: Flowering dogwood berries are ripe. Watch trees for migrating scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and other birds that relish these berries.
Sept 27, 2025: National Public Lands Day! Visit your public lands for a hike. NC is favored with many: federal national wildlife refuges, national forests, national seashores, state public game lands, state parks, state forests, and local parks and greenways.