While visiting the campus of Duke University we were able to explore just a small portion of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The Gardens were established by Mary Duke Biddle in honor of her mother Sarah in 1938 after her mother's original gardens were flooded. Today the gardens cover 55 acres and are free to the public. In addition to interesting plants and flowers, the gardens are filled with unique fountains, statues and sculpture. Above is the Perennial Allee. A cool respite on a very hot and steamy North Carolina day.
"Melludere" Mother of Pearl Rose, Grandiflora, 2007 in the Rose Garden.
My favorite spot, the Garden's Tool House, designed by the esteemed American landscape designer Ellen Biddle Shipman in 1937. Shipman also designed one of my favorite gardens, the English Garden at Stan Hywet Hall in Akron, Ohio, established in the same time period.
A fountain behind the Garden Shed.
Busy bee in a "MEIkanoro" Sunshine Daydream Rose, Grandiflora Richardier, 2001.
A new pergola built in honor of Gardens Board Chair Cynthia Brodhead, 2017.
Details......
A fantastic new stickwork sculpture, "The Big Easy," by Patrick Dougherty, a North Carolina artist, built with sticks collected from the Duke Forest earlier this year.
Fabulous Lilium Regale...antidote to so many store bought varieties.
"God Almighty First Planted a Garden and Indeed It Is the Rarest of Human Pleasures" Francis Bacon.
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