Mobile Botanical Gardens

Candle Making Class
2025-11-08 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | Mobile Botanical Gardens, 5151 MUSEUM DR, MOBILE, AL, 36608, United States
Candle Making Class
Taught by Seanna Mongon – Humble Hope Candle Co.
Saturday, November 8th , 4 – 6 PM
$50 for Not-Yet Members
$45 for Members (difference refunded after purchase)
Register Here
Bring a friend and come and create your own glowing masterpiece!
Join us for a hands-on, sensory candle making experience! You will craft your own signature candle using a coconut wax blend and customizing the fragrance with premium fragrance oils. Embellish your candle with creative touches like shimmering mica powder, dried herbs and flowers and handmade wax embellishments.
After creating and naming your one-of-a-kind candle you will have a chance to submit your signature name to Seanna. Each season she chooses a custom scent and name from the submissions to include in the Humble Hope candle line!
What is included:

learn the basics of candle making
how to safely melt, scent and pour your candle
phthalate, sulfate and prop 65 safe premium fragrances
create and decorate with mica powder and wax melt embellishments (flowers, shapes, textures)
a personalized candle to take home

A portion of class fees go to support Love All Food Pantry in Mobile, AL.
About Your Instructor
Seanna Mongan is the founder and visionary behind Humble Hope Candle Co. and Humble Hope Cozy Cottage, located at Central Midtown at 1260 Dauphin St. With a deep-rooted passion for community and justice, Seanna was inspired to create a space where creativity and compassion could work hand in hand. Drawing on years of community outreach and her belief in second chances, she launched the Cottage to highlight local artisans, support sustainable practices, and create job opportunities for those in need.
Her mission is simple but powerful: build bridges through small acts of hope. Whether through a candle, a conversation, or a connection, Seanna’s heart for others is the soul of the Cottage — and the reason it feels like a hug the moment you walk in.
Register Here

Fall Floral Class with Susan from LUSH Florist
2025-11-22 10:00 - 12:00
Fall Bouquet Class
Saturday, November 22
10:00 AM – 12:00PM
$85 for Not-Yet Members
$80 for Members (difference refunded after purchase)
Come join the fun and let the experts from LUSH teach you the basics of floral arranging! This is an informal floral design class where you will learn some simple design concepts and create a bouquet of your own. You will leave with a beautiful fall-inspired arrangement perfect for your Thanksgiving tablescapes! All supplies are included.
Register here.

Gardening Basics Part 1: Preparing Garden Soil
2026-01-24 10:00 - 12:00
Gardening Basics: Preparing Garden Soil
Saturday, January 24
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Register Here
Learn how to start a bountiful garden from the soil up! Master Gardener Pat Hall will teach you all about choosing the best site for your vegetable garden, testing and preparing your soil for planting and how to create a raised bed garden.
Early registration is requested. Drop-in registration on the day of the class will be offered if spots are still available.
$7 for members (difference refunded after purchase)
$10 for not-yet-members
The Mobile County Master Gardeners generously donate their time and teaching expertise. All registration fees go directly to MBG to support the work of caring for our plant collections
Register Here

How to Make Elderberry Syrup Workshop
2026-02-07 13:00 - 15:00
Elderberry Syrup Workshop
Saturday, February 7th
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Instructor: Veronica Culberson, Honey of the Hill
Register Here!
$35 for Not-Yet Members
$30 for Members (difference refunded after purchase)
After selling out the first time, we are offering a second class! Start the new year off right with a post-holiday immune boost! Join us for a lesson on everything elderberry!
Elderberry syrup is a popular and long-trusted herbal wellness remedy and illness preventative. Well known for its abundance of vitamins and antioxidants, people have historically used elderberry combined with other natural immune supporting herbs and fruits to fight off seasonal illnesses like the flu and colds.
In this class we will learn all about elderberry syrup, from the source to the solution. Learn to identify elderberry plants in the wild, how to nurture them in your own yard, safe and sustainable harvesting, various preparations, storage and uses. Everyone will take home a pint of completed traditional elderberry syrup and a small potted elderberry plant to add to their landscape.
Register Here!

Gardening Basics Part 2: Growing Vegetables in the Coastal South
2026-02-21 10:00 - 12:00
Gardening Basics: Growing Vegetables in the Coastal South
Saturday, February 21
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Register Here
Learn how to grow vegetables suited to our unique climate! In this class Master Gardener Barbara Boone will teach on growing vegetables in the South, companion planting and knowing what to plant in what season.
Early registration is requested. Drop-in registration on the day of the class will be offered if spots are still available.
$7 for members (difference refunded after purchase)
$10 for not-yet-members
The Mobile County Master Gardeners generously donate their time and teaching expertise. All registration fees go directly to MBG to support the work of caring for our plant collections.
Register Here

Natural Beekeeping: Principals & Practices for the Backyard Apiary
2026-02-28 13:00 - 16:00
Natural Beekeeping: Principles and Practices for the Backyard Apiary
Saturday, February 28 | 1:00-4:00
Instructors:
Veronica Culberson, Honey of the Hill
Dr. Don Culberson, Entomologist Professor
Register Here
$45 for Not-Yet Members
$40 for Members (difference refunded after purchase)
The technological advances of the Industrial Revolution have brought beekeeping science into the future. There are all sorts of devices, methods and treatments that, while seemingly beneficial to the commercial side of the trade, can often leave the hobby apiarist wishing for a simpler and more natural experience for themselves and their bees. Many of the current standard beekeeping practices conflict with the bees’ natural rhythms and inclinations in order to forcibly support the production of more and more honey, but at what cost? The bees have managed themselves quite well out in the wild for the past 150 million years or so, finely tuned evolutionary beings that they are, what could we possibly do to top that?
This class will uncover the vast differences in industrial and hobby beekeeping and show how the standards for one don’t really apply to the other, and how they may actually disadvantage the bees. We will discuss the whys and hows of honeybee behaviors, what the bees want, and how to use their natural tendencies to support their health and production. Other topics covered include apiary site selection and setup for healthy and productive colonies, hiving options, sourcing livestock, inspecting your bees and record keeping, supporting rather than preventing swarming, natural disease and pest management, expanding your apiary organically, and how we learn from our failures.
Weather permitting, we will be viewing live bees during this 2+ hour course.
This is not a beekeeping 101 class but if you’re an aspiring, new or even seasoned beekeeper who’d like to learn about the more natural, low impact and regenerative side of beekeeping and how to apply it to your own beekeeping journey, then this is the class for you.
Register Here

About the Instructor:
Presented by Mobile Botanical Garden’s beekeeper, Veronica Culberson, and her entomologist professor father, Dr. Don Culberson. Veronica and Don have been keeping bees without the use of chemical additives and unnatural feedings for 10+ years. What started as an experiment in backyard gardening has developed into a love affair with pollinators and community outreach. As their knowledge and their apiaries have grown and flourished through the seasons, so has the desire to educate.

Garden Photography Workshop
2026-03-21 11:00 - 14:00
Garden Photography Workshop
Saturday, March 21 | 11 AM – 2 PM
Instructor: Photographer & MBG Member, Julie Andel
Register Here!
$80 for Not-Yet Members
$75 for Members (difference refunded after purchase)
Join experienced photographer Julie Andel for a hands-on garden photography workshop. The workshop will include an hour of classroom instruction and two hours of hands-on training in and around the Garden.
Classroom instruction will cover basic camera settings, utilizing camera focus modes, and creative compositional techniques for subjects within gardens. The garden walk will reinforce the topics covered in the lecture and students will get real-time practice with techniques such as exposure settings, focusing, and creative compositions. Students of all ages and levels of experience are welcome to participate.
The only requirement for this class is a digital camera. It can be a simple point and shoot camera or a DSLR camera, as long as it’s digital. Students are asked to bring the camera manual if available.
Register Here!
