Annabel Renwick

garden curator: Durham, nc

Dr. Annabel Renwick is the curator of the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham North Carolina.  Annabel has worked in the Blomquist Garden since 2012 initially as a horticulturalist, and became its curator in 2018.  Annabel is British and has a BSc and PhD  in botany and worked in agricultural research prior to changing career direction in 2004.  She followed her passion for gardening and obtained a Garden Design Diploma from the English Garden School at Chelsea Physical Garden in London and then worked as a garden designer in the UK prior to moving to North Carolina in 2008.  

lecture:

From Prairies to Parking Lots

Annabel will speak about the one acre Piedmont Prairie display that was planted ten years ago in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, and continues to be managed through mowing and burning to maintain a diverse habitat.  She will explain how this project initiated experimental trials in a Duke hospital parking lot as a result of feedback about the prairie from landscape professionals. 

The Benefits and Challenges of Gardening with Native Plants in the Southeastern US

Gardening in England is very different from gardening in North Carolina,  and many south eastern US native plants are stalwarts in British gardens where they can bloom for many weeks, if not months in the cooler climate.  The challenges of heat and  humidity in the south eastern US deter many people from venturing into the garden during the summer months.  Those that try to garden are put off by the grazing deer and rabbits, especially when growing herbaceous perennials whether native or non-native. It is a challenge to encourage homeowners to create wildlife friendly gardens in their backyards.  As a result of visitor feed-back Annabel designed a backyard wildlife garden in 2022 with the goal of evaluating a wide range of native plants for their reliability and overall impact in the garden. 

In this presentation Annabel will talk about the native plants that performed well and why, and propose a list of those that can be recommended to the novice gardener as a basic plant palette.