Winding Stair Gardens

Tame Your Steep Slope
2026-05-16 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | Winding Stair Gardens, 57 Saunders Rd., Franklin, NC, 28734, United States
Saturday May 16th, 2026 | 10am
Choose-Your-Price: ($5 -$30)
Your steep slope isn’t just an eyesore. It’s moving. Slowly, steadily, and after a heavy rain? It heads downhill, taking your soil with it.
Steep slope erosion is one of the most common — and most urgent — challenges for homeowners across Western North Carolina. The good news? The right plants can fix it fast.
In this class, Greg Mason will demonstrate proven techniques to tame your steep slope that goes beyond the usual advice. You’ll learn about plants with root systems that will actually hold your hillside, while building something that looks like it was always supposed to be there.
What You’ll Cover:

Reading Your Slope: How to assess grade, soil composition, and water movement to understand what you’re actually working with before you plant a single thing
Roots That Work: Which species establish quickly and send roots deep enough to bind soil and slow erosion, even on serious grades
The Beauty Part: How to layer in native shrubs, groundcovers, and perennials so your slope looks like a natural mountain habitat rather than an erosion-control project
Plant Selection for Our Region: Specific varieties that thrive in our acidic soils and mountain climate, including what performed well and what didn’t survive Helene
Installation Without Making It Worse: Practical guidance on planting into a slope without disturbing the soil more than necessary
Long-Term Thinking: What your slope will look like in year one, year three, and beyond as plants mature and the root network does its job

Class includes time built-in for questions, site-specific conversations, and the kind of practical problem-solving that only comes from someone who has actually planted a lot of steep slopes. Bring pictures of your slope challenges, and Greg will share his expert recommendations.
About Greg: As Winding Stair’s Nursery Manager, Greg Mason knows these mountain plants from the roots up. He brings a BA in Landscape Architecture along with real-world experience to help you see your slope not as a problem to manage, but as one of the most beautiful parts of your property waiting to happen.
Purchase your ticket at our new, secure online portal here!

Native Bees: Species & Superpowers
2026-05-30 10:00 - 12:00
Saturday May 30th, 2026 | 10am
Choose-Your-Price: ($5 -$30)
North America has over 4,000 species of native bees, and most of them are far better pollinators than the honeybee you’ve been trying to attract. Our native bees are the most efficient and effective pollinators, especially for the native plants they have pollinated for hundreds of thousands of years. Brannen Basham and Jill Jacobs of Spriggly’s Beescaping are coming to Winding Stair Gardens to introduce you to the bees your garden actually needs, and show you how to roll out the welcome mat for them.
What You’ll Cover:

Which Native Bees are Actually Out There: Enjoy an introduction to the native bee species common to Western North Carolina, exploring their appearance, habitat, behaviors, and specialities.
What They Need to Stick Around: The nesting conditions, plant choices, and small habitat decisions that turn a regular garden into a place bees come back to season after season
Plants That Do the Real Work: Which flowering species attract the most diverse pollinator activity, and how to plant a space that provides blooms throughout the growing season
Getting Started Without Overcomplicating: Realistic, low-cost steps you can take this season to see results, whether you have a half-acre or a back porch with some containers

Bring your gardening problems and pictures- Brannen & Jill love to answer your questions!
About Spriggly’s Beescaping: Brannen Basham and Jill Jacobs built Spriggly’s Beescaping right here in Western North Carolina with one clear focus: connecting people with nature and showing them how to support local ecosystems in their own outdoor spaces. Their business focuses on nature education and habitat restoration, offering online courses, books, consultations, landscape design and much more. They know their bees, they know this region, and they know how to make all of it make sense to a regular gardener.
Purchase your ticket at our new, secure online portal here!

Introduction to Mountain Gardening
2026-05-30 13:00 - 14:30
Saturday May 30th, 2026 | 1pm
Choose-Your-Price: ($5 -$30)
Your mountain property is not a blank canvas. It’s a slope. It’s shade. It’s soil that would make a flatlander nervous. And if you have deer… well, you know.
The good news? Every one of those things is workable. This beginner-friendly workshop with Arielle McIntyre is built for people who are new to gardening, new to these mountains, or both. You’ll leave with a real plan: which plants to put where, how to stop fighting your soil, and how to build a garden that actually takes care of itself.
What You’ll Cover:

Reading Your Property: How to look at your yard the way a designer does: slope direction, shade patterns, water movement, and what your soil is actually telling you before you buy a single plant
Working With Acidic Mountain Soil: What grows well in it, what doesn’t, and how to stop treating it like a problem to overcome
Plants That Earn Their Keep: Native species and deer-resistant selections that thrive here without constant attention from you
The Shade Question: Which plants will actually perform under a tree canopy and how to layer them so the shaded spots become some of the best-looking areas on your property
Deer Strategy: Honest, field-tested guidance on what actually discourages deer browsing (and what the deer have long since figured out)
Designing for Low Maintenance: How to think about plant placement, spacing, and succession so your garden gets better over time rather than requiring more work

This class is perfect for those who aren’t long-time gardeners, or those folks with a ton of experience but aren’t accustomed to the unique ecosystem found in the southern Appalachian mountains.
About Arielle: Arielle McIntyre doesn’t just know what grows here; she knows how to make it beautiful. As the owner of Kintyre Design and co-creator of the Placemakers Academy of Garden Design, she brings years of working with resilient, regionally grounded plantings to every project.
Purchase your ticket at our new, secure online portal here!
