When the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville was being planned, honoring Paul Ciener's commitment to horticultural education was as much of a goal as installing beautiful plants. Ciener died in 1998.
"Many people knew him as a car-dealership owner. They really didn't know he owned Carolina Piedmont Nursery, too. He was an entrepreneur who had a passion for plants and beauty," said his son David Ciener, vice president of the garden's board of directors.
Now that the garden's multipurpose building has opened, several classes will be in full swing this fall.
The "Wine & Canvas" series offers four classes. A maximum of 25 attendees will discuss "wine-tasting language" and then paint a garden-inspired subject on a small canvas. The subject will change each class.
Jodi Gabriel, a local art teacher, will lead the classes. The first class was Tuesday. The next three classes are Sept. 27, Oct. 11 and Oct. 25. The fee for each class is $35 for nonmembers and $25 for members. Materials and finger food are covered in the cost, and participants are encouraged to bring a bottle of their favorite wine.
On Oct. 1, the garden will hold its semiannual plant sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and it will open the Dolores and Wyatt LeFever Gift Shop.
Staying true to the garden's commitment to increase horticultural education, demonstrations on different gardening techniques will be given each hour on an elevated platform. Some of the topics will be creating a potted container and how to prune.
For the past three years, the garden has sponsored lecture series on the third Thursday of each month. Kitty Lyon, the interim director, said a new lecture series, The Chip Callaway Lecture Series, named for a prolific Greensboro garden designer, will debut in November. It will bring in gardening experts.
Callaway will give the first lecture, "Trials and Triumphs of a Southern Gardener," from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 12. The cost is $25 for members, $35 for nonmembers. The lecture will cover a series of case histories with several before-and-after pictures of historic and contemporary gardens Callaway has restored or re-created during the past three decades. His work has been profiled in Garden & Gun and Our State magazines.
Local schoolchildren also are benefiting from the garden's programs. Lyon said the garden is collaborating with area schools to create science lessons that support the state's science curricula.
"I foresee a time where children can go and see that they eat what you grow, that vegetables really don't come from the grocery store. They can learn about the life cycle of plants and see the textures and colors of a garden," said Patti Morrison, a volunteer at the garden and an elementary-school teacher.
David Ciener thinks his father would be proud of the garden's education programs.
"(My father) was interested in education of all ages and in all aspects of horticulture, from vegetables to decorative plants. He wanted people to learn more about plants and enjoy them as much as he did."
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