For National Honeybee Day the Education Department will have an information table set up at the Observation Deck Beehive from 10 am - 4 pm. Volunteers will give information about bees, the hive, and some fun facts. Guests will be invited to make a craft and learn about how they can help save the bees!

Join Hal Vivian, a member and volunteer at Brookgreen Gardens for 25 years and an avid birder. Hal was a member of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania Audubon Society and the Waccamaw Audubon Society where he served as President for 2 years.

The group will meet at the Welcome Center after checking in at the front gate. Everyone will board a vehicle for the trip. The route will be from the Welcome Center to Beach Alley; Beach Alley to Pond Road; from Pond Road over to Oaks; then back to Beach Alley.

Participants need to bring/wear: hat, sunglasses, closed-toed outdoor style shoes, insect repellant, water & binoculars.   Please make sure to dress appropriately for the weather conditions, and you are more than welcome to bring your birding book.    Please be aware, there will be a significant amount of walking.

Rain or Shine  (Rain plan to host birding seminar / lecture under Leonard pavilion or zoo program shed)  

Excursion is from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. (gates to open 6:30 am) and there are 11 maximum participants per day

Ticket cost: $10 Members, $25 Non-members (no children under 12)

One ticket is required for each person. Space is very limited, therefore tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be available for sale the day of the excursion.

Tickets are non-refundable; unused tickets will be considered a donation to Brookgreen Gardens. Only open to those aged 12 and over.  

Changes and registration can not be made after 5:00 pm on Wednesdays prior to program date.

Portrait Sculpture – Beyond Likeness with Marc Mellon, FNSS, $550 plus materials fee and model’s fee (includes a ticket to Nights of a Thousand Candles)  

The four-day class will be structured to advance the portrait skills of both beginners and more advanced modelers.  Mellon will discuss and demonstrate lighting and photographing the model, basic armature building, and tools and varieties of surface treatment.  He will discuss ways of conceiving the portrait, utilizing proportional ideas, abstraction of mass, and basic facial anatomy.   He will also discuss and demonstrate training the eye, finding likeness, and expressing personality through nuance and selective emphasis.  Students will be encouraged to keep a photographic record of their process.  Reviewing any books on sculpting a portrait and artistic anatomy are encouraged, as are tutorials available online.

The workshop is $550 plus materials fee. For registration information, click here. 

William Barclay Hall, founder of the Charleston Tea Plantation, is a world-renowned tea taster and tea maker who is the founder of the Charleston Tea Plantation. An expert, third-generation tea taster, he received formal training in a four-year tea apprenticeship in London, England; and has traveled extensively throughout the tea-growing regions of the world.

Join Caleb Dennis of Brookgreen’s Zoological staff as he helps us understand the value of snakes and their purpose in our ecosystem. He will show how to identify a venomous snake from a non-venomous snake, and their importance in a food chain.

Jim Martin  recently completed the European Master Certification Program, a three-year intensive floral arts study. He is currently Director of Programs at Charleston Parks Conservancy.

Create Flower Moments using your creativity and the Garden. Our gardens are filled with endless floral opportunities. Harnessing this ability means looking at these spaces with new eyes. Join Jim as he plays with plants, structures, and interesting techniques that lend a fresh approach to bringing the garden into the home. Walk away with tips and tricks sure to inspire the flower arranger in you that is just waiting to emerge. Following a drawing, a lucky participant will have a chance to take home one of the demo arrangements!

Does pruning your bushes and trees leave you scratching your head? Let Cheney Taylor, Brookgreen's resident Arborist, show you the right way to prune the woodies in your garden. From the proper cuts to the best time of year for the job, Cheney will take the mystery out of pruning.

Enjoy a demonstration/talk with the delightful Zenobia Harper (Washington) as she creates one-of-a-kind Gullah dolls. Her dolls are a celebration of the lives of women who have influenced her.

"My community is rich with wise women, healers, warriors, and black butterfly dancers. My dolls pay respect and homage to the women that raised and continue to nurture me. Each one says thank you for keeping me grounded in a culture that is both my resting and rejuvenating place, my home, my self."

A resident of Georgetown, South Carolina, Zenobia is a full time Mother, and Artist. She is an Artist in Residence with the South Carolina Art Commission. 

Ever wonder how the wool from a sheep becomes a pair of socks or a sweater? Come visit Brookgreen’s Tunis sheep and learn the ancient art of making hand-spun fiber into beautiful products.

Free with garden admission.

A collection of oil paintings and bronze sculptures will showcase the career to date of Rosie Sandifer, an award-winning Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, Portrait Society of America, American Artists Professional League and Plein Air Painters of America. From maquettes of monuments to sculptures of all sizes depicting the joys of childhood, the three-dimensional aspect of the exhibit will amaze and awe visitors. The paintings range from landscapes – mostly plein-air, but also studio works – portraits, vignettes of people in everyday activities and Western-themed subjects.

For more information on the artist, visit her website rosiesandifer.com and explore her Instagram @rosiesandiferfineart.

This exhibition is generously sponsored in part by Elaine and Ken Trousdell & Susan and Robert Polack.