HOURS
Thanks for a great year! Mt. Cuba Center is closed for general admission for the season and will reopen on April 3, 2024.
Online Courses
The Mt. Cuba Lecture Series
Through inspiring and entertaining storytelling, our winter lecture series showcases the voices of edible native plants and ecological landscaping influencers. Each speaker shares their expertise and connection to the plants, places and purpose behind conserving native plant communities, soil health and the wildlife these wildscapes attract.
Programs included: Wild Plant Culture, Edible Landscaping Using Permaculture, and A world of Discovery with Science and Heart (see descriptions below).
$25 per lecture or $68 for the full series.
Wild Plant Culture
Native edible and medicinal plant species can be integrated into gardens and ecological restoration projects to create habitats that support (and include) humans as part of local ecosystems. We’ll consider stewarding edible and medicinal plant species in native habitats such as riparian corridors and glades and discuss how a habitat-based approach translates to yards, parks, and farms. We’ll explore the prospect of changing our foodways to patterns that favor native diversity, rewarding restoration and stewardship.
This program takes place online on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm. $25
About the Instructor:
Field botanist, native plant grower, and restoration practitioner Jared Rosenbaum, author of Wild Plant Culture: A Guide to Restoring Edible and Medicinal Native Plant Communities asks whether we can honor native ecosystems and lifeways as we restore habitats that support humans, other animals, and native plants alike.
Edible Landscaping Using Permaculture
Imagine a yard where trees are dripping with fresh fruits, shrubs are bejeweled with delicious berries, and gourmet mushrooms sprout in the shade. Join author and edible landscape designer, Michael Judd, in an exploration of combining form, function and production in your edible and ecological landscape. This fundamental presentation is for the budding gardener and experienced green thumb alike, full of creative and easy-to-follow designs that guide you to having your yard and eating it, too.
This program takes place online Saturday, February 24th, 2024 from 11am-12:30 pm. $25
About the Instructor:
With personality and humor, permaculture designer and master grower and author of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist, Michael Judd translates the complexities of permaculture design into simple self-build projects, providing details on the evolving design process, materials identification, and costs.
A World of Discovery with Science and Heart
Much has been written about gardening for human senses, but how do plants and animals perceive the world around them? What do we miss when we landscape for human visual appeal but neglect the sensory experiences of our wild neighbors? Noise, light and odor pollution can have many unintended consequences. Through science, heart, and our powers of observation, we can learn to mitigate these disruptions and create sensory refuges in an increasingly noisy world.
This program takes place online Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 from 11am-12:30 pm. $25
About the Instructor:
Nancy Lawson is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife and the recently released Wildscape: Trilling Chipmunks, Beckoning Blooms, Salty Butterflies, and other Sensory Wonders of Nature. A certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional and master naturalist, she co-chairs Howard County Bee City in Maryland and co-launched a community science project, Monarch Rx, based on discoveries in her habitat. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O magazine, Ecological Entomology, and Entomology Today.
Deer-Resistant Native Plants
Deer, oh deer. Join us online with horticulturist Gregg Tepper for an entertaining and informative lecture inspired by Gregg’s recently co-authored book, Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast. Gregg will share his experiences with what he’s found to be the best native deer-resistant plants and how to create a strategy for rebuffing deer with effective and safe natural deer repellent products.
This program takes place online Wednesday, January 24, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm. $19
About the Instructor:
Gregg Tepper is a professional horticulturist, lecturer, consultant, and life-long native plant enthusiast. He has been in the public horticulture industry for over 30 years and has helped steward, guide, and promote various public gardens including Mt. Cuba Center and Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek. He is the Senior Horticulturist at the Arboretum at Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, PA, comprised of two historic cemetery properties totaling 265 acres, where he co-manages the horticulture interns and staff. His primary focus is on creating and stewarding multiple ecologically-sound display garden areas at both properties including the Rock Garden, the historic Medallion Garden, the award-winning Chapel Gardens and Nature’s Sanctuary, a multiple-award-winning SITES Gold certified green burial landscape. His work brings him much joy through the many opportunities to educate the public, collaborate with fellow public gardens and work closely with specialty nurseries to custom grow vast collections of unique and garden-worthy plants that, through the building of diverse plant communities, create what he calls “gardens to feel good about”.
Gregg has lectured extensively in the United States as well as the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Wisley in Great Britain. He is co-author of the popular book “Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast” about which he lectures regularly. He is currently working on two new books, “Mirabelle visits a Garden: A Native Plant Garden Adventure”, a co-authored book for children about native plants and their many wildlife benefits and “The Sensory Appeal of Native Plants: A Wildflower Celebration”. His happiest pastimes are discovering new plants, scouring on-line plant, shrub, and tree catalogs, stewarding his own city garden, and reading about his favorite subject, Horticulture.
Amsonia for Every Garden
Amsonia, or bluestars, are a rugged, versatile, and endlessly garden-worthy genus that deserve a place in any home garden. Without exception, bluestars are long-lived and provide multiple seasons of interest from their blue flowers in April and May, to their beautiful foliar textures in summer, and striking golden color in autumn. In addition to being exemplary garden plants, amsonia support a variety of early season pollinators, including bumblebees and hummingbirds, and are even host plants for several butterflies and moths. Sam Hoadley, manager of horticultural research, will be your guide through the trials, sharing how amsonia is evaluated to determine horticultural value and performance, disease resistance, and pollinator preference.
This program takes place online Wednesday, February 7, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm. $19
About the Instructor:
Sam Hoadley is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba, where he evaluates native plants to determine their horticultural and ecological values. Sam received his degree in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont.
Misunderstood Native Plants
Canada goldenrod, Virginia creeper, and American pokeweed, oh my! These and other native plants like eastern poison ivy are often maligned as worthless weeds because they don’t fit into the popular idea of what a garden plant should be. Join Leah Brooks as she explores how species which may not be suitable for a home garden provide important wildlife benefits and add beauty to the natural landscape.
This program takes place online on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm. $19
About the Instructor:
Leah Brooks is Mt. Cuba’s Public Programs Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Delaware with dual bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Science and Wildlife Ecology. She’s an avid contributor to the Delaware Native Plant Identification and Exchange group on Facebook. Her passion is sharing the joy of nature and native gardening with others.
Women in Horticulture
In this lecture, timed to coincide with Women’s History Month, author Jenny Rose Carey gives a historic overview of American women in horticulture and landscape design. Using archival images and the words of the female horticulturists of the time, Jenny paints a picture of a movement that brought women to the forefront of the burgeoning gardening movement in the early part of the twentieth century. Jenny will discuss authors, educators, garden designers, the garden club movement, and conservationists. You might be surprised to learn that the early roots of our passion for native plants and protecting birds was alive and well 110 years ago right here in the Philadelphia region. Learn the names of some of the most incredible horticulturally minded women and their influence on the ways that we garden today.
This program takes place online Wednesday, March 13th, 2024 from 6-7:30 pm. $19
About the Instructor:
Jenny Rose Carey is a lifelong educator, garden author, and former public garden director. She is a practical, hands-on gardener who gardens on over four acres in Ambler, PA. She is also a garden historian with a specialty in women in gardens, and English and American gardens.