Let’s dive deep into lavender!  Participants will learn about the history of this plant, discover how it’s used to promote relaxation and wellness, and make their own DIY lavender products to take home.  We will make bath salts, pillow sprays, and tea blends to bring relaxation home!

Tuesday May 27, 2025, 2:00-4:00. $25.00/$21 for Friends of Bullington Gardens.

Join the magical fairies at Bullington Gardens for a special Fairy Tea Party. Start your journey with a guided walk through the Fairy Trail. Your child will make their own wand followed by tea and cookies in the pavilion. This event is for children ages 7 and up. Each child must be accompanied by an adult.

Three different dates to choose from!

June 10th, June 24th, or July 12th at 10:00AM, $28.00/per child, $21 for Friends of Bullington Gardens. Limit of 12 children per event.

By cultivating and protecting healthy diverse habitats for pollinators, for wildlife, for healthy flora and fauna, we benefit the individuals who live in and enjoy these spaces and for our community, as a whole. By creating natural areas in your yard and leaving the leaves each fall you can benefit many kinds of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which depend on the native plants and their fallen leaves and seeds for shelter, food and habitat.

Join Steve Pettis, Henderson County Commercial and Consumer Horticulture Agent and host of the Gardening in the Mountains Radio Show and Podcast to learn how we can do things better!

Tuesday June 10,  1:00 – 3:00

Join the magical fairies at Bullington Gardens for a special Fairy Tea Party. Start your journey with a guided walk through the Fairy Trail. Your child will make their own wand followed by tea and cookies in the pavilion. This event is for children ages 7 and up. Each child must be accompanied by an adult.

Three different dates to choose from!

June 10th, June 24th, or July 12th at 10:00AM, $28.00/per child, $21 for Friends of Bullington Gardens. Limit of 12 children per event.

Join the magical fairies at Bullington Gardens for a special Fairy Tea Party. Start your journey with a guided walk through the Fairy Trail. Your child will make their own wand followed by tea and cookies in the pavilion. This event is for children ages 7 and up. Each child must be accompanied by an adult.

Three different dates to choose from!

June 10th, June 24th, or July 12th at 10:00AM, $28.00/per child, $21 for Friends of Bullington Gardens. Limit of 12 children per event.

Did you miss our first Awe Walk on Sunday, August 4? Our next walk will be Sunday September 7th from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and we will continue to meet on the first Sunday of each month for the following two months (last day is November 2 – don’t forget to turn your clocks back the night before!). The walks will begin at the Garden Entry at Hatcher Garden, located beside the Jess Taylor Pavilion, and will move about the garden to experience the feeling of awe in nature.

Each month, we’ll explore one of the five key processes associated with the experience of awe, which support overall well-being:

1. Shifts in neurophysiology

2. A diminished focus on the self

3. Increased prosocial behavior and relational connection

4. Greater sense of social integration

5. A heightened sense of meaning

Led by Executive Director Dan Shook and his wife and yoga instructor Kristin Shook, each walk will offer time for reflection, connection with nature, and insights into how the Garden supports these powerful emotional and psychological benefits.

Come walk with us—and discover the wonder.

Hatcher Garden and Woodland Preserve is hosting a symposium this autumn, which is the perfect time to plant for spring. The three 40-minute workshops will be led by local certified Master Gardeners. Jeannette Bull Robinson (who taught at our Inaugural Gardening Day back in May) will speak on Landscape Design; author and former board member Mary Snoddy will expound on the subject of Growing a Pollinator Garden; and finally Joyce Cooper Coggins will address the important issue of “Gardening Smarter. Not Harder”. Locations (Jess Taylor Pavilion, Overlook Terrace and the Activity Deck) and times of the individual workshops within the garden will be announced as the event draws near. Be prompt!

A donation based entry fee of $10.00 is suggested which benefits Hatcher Garden. You can attend one or all three workshops for $10.00! You can register online now or in person at 8:00 a.m on Saturday, September 27, the last day of our Fall Plant Sale.

Come join us on this informative Saturday morning.

Arts in the Garden celebrates the vibrant art culture in Spartanburg and in our region. This year, 35 artists will be demonstrating their craft and selling works from 10 am-4 pm.

Back by popular demand, the third Annual Mountain Monarch Festival will be at Gorges State Park in Sapphire on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This free event, hosted by the park and sponsored by the Friends of Gorges State Park and other partners, will celebrate the monarch butterfly during its migration and raise awareness about the species’ declining numbers. The park lies along the monarchs’ migratory route. The butterflies can be seen in early October each year flying over the park, heading south to the high-elevation fir forests in central-southern Mexico’s Volcanic Belt, where they overwinter until early spring.

The festival will offer educational programs and exhibits as well as children’s crafts, face painting by Brevard College cheerleaders, a butterfly hike, and a Monarch Migration Passport to guide visitors through the activities. The featured speakers will be Heyward Douglas, an entomologist who is a former naturalist and has served on the Foothills Trail Conservancy’s board of directors since 1989, who will talk about visiting the wintering area for the monarchs in Mexico, and Brian Bockhahn, interpretation and education specialist for North Carolina State Parks, who will discuss “Monarch Life Cycle and Tagging.”

The event, activities and programs are free and open to the public. The event will be held rain or shine and is first-come, first-served. For event details, visit https://www.friendsofgorges.org

Saturday October 11 is Dog Adoption Day at Hatcher Garden’s Strutt Your Mutt event.

Join us on Thursday, October 24 at 1800 Drayton for Bacon & Barrel — a lively evening of bourbon tastings, bacon-inspired bites from local restaurants, live music, and a curated silent auction, all in support of St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic. This beloved annual fundraiser helps provide free, high-quality healthcare to uninsured residents of Spartanburg County.

Tickets include access to bourbon samples, food tastings, and entertainment. Proceeds go directly toward sustaining our clinic’s mission of compassionate care for those who need it most.

To learn more or purchase tickets, visit: https://slfmc.networkforgood.com/events/88843-bacon-and-barrel

Something extraordinary is coming to Asheville this winter! The North Carolina Arboretum and Explore Asheville are elated to announce the arrival of Trolls: A Field Study. Visiting on their first North American excursion, these twelve interactive troll sculptures will explore the Arboretum, embarking on a curious journey to learn about humankind.

Produced by Imagine in collaboration with Danish artist Thomas Dambo, these friendly and fanciful sculptures evoke a sense of wonder and intrigue as they study our small, intricate and inventive ways of life in Western North Carolina. Standing seven to nine feet tall and lovingly described by the artist as “Baby Trolls”, the creatures are crafted from materials like fallen branches, wooden pallets and twigs.

Through their observations, the trolls reveal a fresh perspective on what makes us human, sparking curiosity and laughter in visitors of all ages.

Only cost is the parking fee. No other admission fees.