Christen Hoover

By: UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens Staff
Posted on: September 12, 2018

Charlotte is not likely to see the worst of Hurricane Florence this weekend, but as they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry. As we work to prepare the Greenhouses and Gardens here on campus for the storm, we’ve compiled a list of ways that you can prepare your own home gardens as well.

#1- Secure Loose Objects– Secure or bring in loose items and materials. This includes but is not limited to: tools, decorations (garden gnomes, I’m looking at you), potted plants, bird feeders, chimes, and hanging baskets. Basically, you want to secure anything in the yard that could become a projectile when hit with heavy wind gusts. For large or heavy items that can’t be brought indoors, like grills, or outdoor furniture, either stake them down or tie them together to a tree to make them more sturdy against the wind. Secure windows and doors of sheds.

#2- Move Delicate Plants– Move delicate plants indoors. Anything that can’t be brought indoors, try to move into a sheltered area, or create a makeshift shelter for them with a tarp and stakes. Trees that are still in pots can be laid on their side. Delicate plants can also be covered with burlap.

#3- Clear Drainage– Make sure that any drains or drainage areas in the garden, yard, and street are clear. If they are already blocked before the storm hits, it will make the heavy rains flood the garden faster. This is also a good time to check to make sure that your roof gutters are clear.

#4- Turn Off Irrigation– If the lines get broken in a storm, they will flood your garden even more, and your water bill will be outrageous.

If you’ve covered these things and there’s still ample time before the storm, there are other things that you can do to help minimize damage. Do not attempt to make any changes to the garden once the storm arrives.

#5- Stake Weak Trees– Stake any poorly rooted trees. Tie trunks to stakes driven close to the roots, but not too tightly, the trunks need to be able to move in the wind.

#6- Prune Branches– Check the perimeter of the house and other outbuildings for nearby trees that have dead or low hanging branches, and prune them.

#7- Bar Water Flow– Create barriers to make water flow less intense in areas that you know are prone to flooding. Get creative. If you have sand bags, or something similar, that’s great but bags of mulch work just as well. Alternatively, garden borders, railroad ties, or even those branches that you pruned in step 6 above can block the flow of water. Just make sure that they are secured so that they don’t become projectiles themselves!

We hope you’ll all be safe and dry during the storm, and that all of your beautiful gardens make it through unscathed! In the meantime, the Greenhouses and Gardens here on campus will be closed Thursday through Sunday, and will hopefully reopen Monday, September 17.

Blooming in McMillan Greenhouse 9-7-18

Bottom row: (from left to right) Tacca integrifolia (White Batflower), Echeveria (Echeveria), Mussaenda erythrophylla

Top row: (from left to right) Coreopsis (tickseed), Abelia (abelia), Lycoris radiata (spider lily)

Bottom row: (from left to right) Liriope (monkey grass), Milletia (milletia), Patrinia (patrinia)

News from Director Jeff Gillman: 

(click thumbnail for full text)

News from Director Jeff Gillman:

Not to be outdone by his “twin” Rotney, the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens’ other mature titan arum, Odie, is now putting up a flower as well! This will be the second flower for the approximately 12 year old plant, which bloomed for the first time in 2015. Titan arums are renowned for their large size, reaching up to 10 feet tall, and for their terrible scent, which smells like rotting flesh, thus giving the plant one of its nicknames- “corpse flower.”

Blooms normally only last about 24 hours, making it hard for most people to catch the unusual occurrence, and visitors would normally have to wait another 3-5 years to witness another bloom. Thanks to this rare coincidence, they’ll be delighted with a new bloom just weeks after Rotney’s display.

Many visitors that came to view Rotney in full bloom noticed that Odie had developed a bud. At that time, the staff was unsure if the bud would become a flower, or develop into the more common leaf cycle. We are now 100% certain that the bud is a flower structure. We expect the plant to bloom in late May.

This unusual phenomenon is expected to draw thousands of visitors over a 2 day period to the McMillan Greenhouse and UNCC Botanical Gardens, where admission is always free. A live webcam will be available as we get closer to the big event!

For more information about Titan Arums, click here. For more information about the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, click here. To keep up with this Titan’s progress, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Parking note for visitors: Parking on campus is available on the weekdays in the specially marked Greenhouse spots across from the Greenhouse, with a tag from the parking office, or there is paid parking in the East Deck 1. Weekend parking is available in any unmarked spot on campus.

On May 2nd, 2018, in the midst of “Rotney Mania,” the Botanical Gardens partnered with the UNC Charlotte Music Department to bring Music in the Gardens to the community. 

A string quartet played in the gazebo in the Susie Harwood Garden, while guests from the University and the community relaxed and enjoyed their lunches in the idyllic setting. 

Pictures below from Jeff Gillman, Botanical Gardens Director.