Plant Festival 2025 Guide
Exhibitors
Welcome table - Get information about Durham Cooperative Extension and meet an Extension Master Gardener (EMG) volunteer or two.
EMG Speakers Bureau - Learn how the Speakers Bureau can inform interested groups about gardening topics in detail. Understand the importance of soil testing and take home a free soil sample kit.
Durham Garden Forum - Learn about the Durham Garden Forum and benefits of being a member.
EMG Propagation Team - Prop team members will answer questions about propagation and demonstrate some techniques by request.
Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN) Catawba Trail Farm - Learn about the reclaiming of an old farmstead in support of food security, resilience and historical awareness.
EMG Book Nook - Free Garden Books! - Peruse books about all types of gardening topics, free to any attendees. Limit 1 book per person.
Durham County Beekeepers - Explore an educational hive AND an observation hive with live bees, complete with educational materials and posters, beekeeping tools and honey bears with local honey for tasting.
New Hope Bird Alliance - Find information on how to improve the habitat in your yard for birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife.
EMG Backyard Chickens - Learn the basics of how and why to start your own flock.
North Carolina Native Plant Society - Find information about gardening with native plants and about the NC Native Plant Society.
EMG Demo Garden - Discover a unique city Demo Garden located in the Durham Community that provides opportunities to teach and demonstrate practical research-based gardening techniques for a variety of urban spaces.
EMG Container Gardening - Put together a fabulous display in your favorite container, and learn how to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces.
EMG Compost folks - Find information about, and demonstration of, multiple composting and pre-composting strategies useful to the home gardener. Come ask questions and see how to make traditional hot compost, vermicompost, and leaf mould. We’ll also have a bokashi pre-compost system.
Panther Creek Forest Farm- Take home and plant a locally grown, two year old oak tree. Working in partnership with Keep Durham Beautiful and Project Pando to serve the community, with an emphasis on underserved neighborhoods.
Briggs Avenue Community Garden is a 45-acre forested lot located in East Durham, on S Briggs Avenue. Its purpose is to provide an urban garden for Durham families to affordably grow healthy food, learn about sustainable agriculture, conserve pollinators, build community, and increase food security.
Campus Community Garden at NCCU - Learn about how to get involved with the Campus Community Garden at NCCU and receive a variety of seeds. Explore the different types of plants that we grow and their uses.
Digging Durham Seed Library - Come visit us to learn more about the Durham County Library's Digging Durham Seed Library, pick up a packet of seeds, and even plant your own seed start!
Durham 4-H offers hands-on learning opportunities for youth through community clubs, in-school enrichment, and summer camps. Check out all the fun programs we offer including sewing, cooking, gardening, computers and much more!
Small Farms and Local Foods - Meet Agriculture Extension agent John Lyttle and discover a wealth of resources.
Aggies Go Green - is an organization at NC A&T created to educate and expose students to urban agriculture and other related activities.
EMG Greener Gardening - Skip the seedling pot and make a soil block, learn how to reuse and recycle pots and explore the future of biodegradable plant pots.
El Centro Hispano - is the largest Latino-led and Latino-serving organization in North Carolina, dedicated to improving health and quality of life. Get a free blood pressure check!
Frank Hyman - Award-winning designer, carpenter and horticulturist Frank Hyman of Cottage Garden Landscaping will be sharing insights on growing edible ornamental plants. He will also be sharing links to his Substack newsletter and his two best selling books How to Forage Mushrooms Without Dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide and Hentopia.
Master Naturalist Volunteer Program - prepares volunteers to lead stewardship, education outreach, and citizen science projects with leading environmental organizations in the Triangle.
City of Durham Department of Waste Management - will show you strategies to use water wisely.
Extension Master Gardener Plant Experts
Native Plants - Learn about plants that grow well in our region and support our diverse native ecosystem. Find the perfect native plants for your garden.
Non-native Perennials, Trees and Shrubs - Find ornamental, deer resistant, pollinator friendly and fruit bearing plants in this section. Explore the NCSU Plant Toolbox with our experts.
Veggies and Herbs - Get ready to plant your summer garden. See a demo of starting seeds indoors under lights. Note that warm weather varieties will need protection until after our last frost date of April 8.
Houseplants and Annuals - Brighten your indoor spaces and summer outdoor spaces with one of our Master Gardener favorites. Experts show how to root cuttings to expand your collection.
