Explore Our Gardens
The Ebersole Holly Garden is a historic arboretum that was once home to 28 species of hollies and approximately 350 different cultivars. As the first garden in our collection to be planned and established, it took five years to prepare, plant, and label each specimen. Designed as a living laboratory, it played a crucial role in supporting the academic development of students in their field of study. Today, this significant part of the garden’s history and landscape is undergoing important renovations and reclamation efforts to restore its former beauty and function.
The Margaret Ambrose Japanese Garden is a serene three-acre landscape that beautifully embodies the harmony between nature and human craftsmanship. Visitors are welcomed by an entry bridge that spans a tranquil dry creek bed, leading to various distinctive features such as a Tsukubai, a stone basin with a drip fountain, and an Azumaya, a viewing shelter overlooking the peaceful upper pond. The garden also includes a Karesansui, or Zen Garden, which represents the timeless beauty of a dry landscape. Throughout the garden, you'll find a variety of plants typical of Japanese gardens, including Japanese maples, Japanese black pines, azaleas, and rhododendrons. This tranquil space invites reflection and connection with nature’s quiet elegance.
The Sir Walter Raleigh Garden spans over an acre of beautifully landscaped grounds and is designed as a formal English garden to honor the attempted colonization of Roanoke Island in 1584. This garden is divided into several distinct areas, each offering its own unique charm, including the Holly Maze, Fountain Courtyard, Sunken Garden, Ceremonial Courtyard, and Herb Garden. Known for its historical significance and stunning design, the Sir Walter Raleigh Garden is one of the most popular and sought-after spaces on the grounds. It is also available for private rentals, making it an ideal location for special events and gatherings.
The Conifer Garden showcases a unique collection of slow-growing conifers, highlighting the distinct colors, forms, and textures of foliage not commonly seen in the southern states. This thoughtfully curated space features a harmonious balance of rounded shapes, upright forms, and ground covers, with a vibrant mix of yellow, green, and blue hues. Among its highlights is a stunning 35-foot long Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar. The result is a captivating miniature forest, offering a serene and enchanting landscape for visitors to explore and enjoy. Photo Credit: Susan Bailey
The Perennial Border is located just outside the Sir Walter Raleigh Gardens, flanking both sides of the entrance at the rose arbor and extending along the edge of the Conifer Garden. Unlike traditional borders, this area features a diverse mix of herbaceous perennials, flowering bulbs, and ornamental grasses, which provide a dynamic display of color, texture, and interest throughout the year. This thoughtfully designed space offers a vibrant, ever-changing landscape that complements the surrounding gardens.
The Annual Garden Bed is a dynamic, ever-changing feature of the garden, offering a fresh design each year. Every spring, a student’s design is chosen, showcasing the winning project from the Landscape Design I course. This garden presents a unique opportunity to explore and incorporate a diverse range of colors, textures, and plant heights, creating a vibrant and seasonal display that evolves annually.
The Succulent Garden is designed to showcase the diverse beauty of succulents typically found in Southwest desert environments. The surrounding walls create a microclimate that helps protect and nurture these plants, allowing even some marginally hardy species to thrive in our local conditions. This thoughtfully designed space highlights the unique adaptability of succulents, offering a striking display of resilient, drought-tolerant plants.
The Atkins Hillside Garden is a beautifully naturalistic space designed to harmonize with the site's existing topography. The hill's gentle slope provides the ideal setting for a student-designed winding rock stream that spans 345 feet, adding a dynamic element to the landscape. A diverse collection of native and ornamental plants flourishes throughout the garden, creating a vibrant and visually striking environment. The garden features two distinct pocket gardens—the Butterfly Garden and the Falls Overlook—offering visitors unique spots to explore and appreciate nature. Numerous seating areas are thoughtfully placed throughout the space, inviting guests to relax, enjoy the soothing sound of flowing water, and take in the surrounding beauty of the landscape.
The Butterfly Garden, a charming pocket garden nestled within the Atkins Hillside Garden, is a vibrant blend of ornamental and native herbaceous annuals and perennials. Each plant is carefully selected for its nectary qualities and its ability to serve as forage for caterpillars. While the garden is designed with butterflies in mind, it also attracts a wide variety of hummingbirds and other important pollinators, creating a lively and diverse ecosystem. This garden offers a peaceful yet bustling sanctuary for nature enthusiasts and pollinators alike.
The Desmond Native Wetland Trail Garden is a nature conservancy and bird sanctuary with a boardwalk meandering among old poplars, pines, and plant material indigenous to wetland areas of the Sandhills. There is also a viewing deck overlooking a small lake, perfect for some quiet moments among nature’s sights and sounds.
The Upland Trail offers a more natural and untouched experience, winding through a wooded area that leads to the serene back lake. For those seeking a peaceful, uncultivated walk in nature, this rugged path provides an opportunity to immerse yourself in the beauty of the landscape. Accessible via one of the paths off the Wetland Trail, the Upland Trail invites visitors to explore the quieter, less-manicured side of the gardens, where the landscape remains largely undisturbed. Benches along the trail offer ideal spots to pause, relax, and take in the tranquil views of the lake.
The Bea O’Rand Children’s Vegetable Garden, enclosed by a charming white picket fence, is designed to provide an engaging, hands-on experience for young visitors. This accessible garden features ten raised beds, thoughtfully planted with seasonal vegetables and flowers, offering children the opportunity to closely observe the growth process of plants. The garden also includes several fun photo opportunities, such as a wall with face cutouts in the shapes of vegetables, adding an interactive and memorable element to the experience. It’s a wonderful space for fostering an early appreciation of gardening and nature.
*The Fruit & Vegetable Garden offers a diverse and thriving growing environment, featuring a variety of fig trees, including a large specimen near the back and a smaller collection closer to the Hackley Woodland Garden. The garden also boasts a muscadine grape arbor, showcasing the seasonal rhythms of agricultural life. A key feature of the garden is the fenced-in vegetable area, which includes raised beds on one side and rowed beds on the other. This dedicated space serves as the setting for the LSG students’ vegetable gardening class, held every summer. The class provides hands-on experience in growing vegetables, managing pests, and addressing common gardening challenges, offering valuable lessons in sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship.
The Hackley Woodland Garden is a serene retreat featuring a rich collection of woodland and shade-loving plants. Dominated by an impressive variety of azaleas, camellias, and rhododendrons, the garden also boasts a thoughtfully curated selection of companion plants that offer year-round interest. Amidst the canopy of deciduous azaleas, Japanese maples, dogwoods, magnolias, and longleaf pines, visitors will discover additional treasures such as gardenia, Japanese pieris, and Japanese stewartia. This garden offers a peaceful and captivating space, inviting exploration throughout all seasons.
The Hoad Children’s Garden is a thoughtfully designed natural play and learning space that encourages intentional interaction and exploration for young children. Created as part of the Early Childhood curriculum at Sandhills Community College, this engaging garden was designed by a former graduate of the Landscape Gardening Program. It features a variety of interactive elements, including a small cabin, a bird-watching fence with holes, and musical instruments for creative play. Whimsical additions such as a mulberry archway to crawl through, a weeping bald cypress to hide under, and a colorful bottle tree spark imagination and curiosity. This garden provides children with an opportunity to connect with nature in a fun, educational, and hands-on environment.