June 8 - Triangle Tour Series

This series of concurrent tours will focus on the use of native plants in public-facing and large-format landscapes. We’ll address how public spaces can be redesigned to allow native species to thrive and why this practice can increase biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with smart operational cost considerations.

Attendees will be responsible for driving to and from tour sites at the designated times. Please register for as many tours as you would like to attend.

There is no cost for tours. Please let us know if your plans change and you cannot attend a tour you have registered for. Thank you!

Forum registration is not required to attend the tours.

Tour Schedule

Tour details and descriptions below.

9 am - Duke Gardens (small scale)

420 Anderson St, Durham, NC 27708

9 am - Chapel Hill Public Library (small scale)

100 Library Dr, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

11 am - Downtown Durham (small scale)

400 N Mangum St, Durham, NC 27701

11 am - Leaf & Limb Project Pando (large scale)

511 Nowell Rd, Raleigh, NC 27607

1pm - NC Museum of Art in Raleigh (large scale)

2110 Blue Ridge Rd, Raleigh, NC 27607

1 pm - Bluestem Conservation Cemetery (large scale)

1900 Hurdle Mills Rd, Cedar Grove, NC 27231

3 pm - Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park (large scale)

5229 Awls Haven Dr, Raleigh, NC 27614

3 pm - Hoffman Nursery

5520 Bahama Rd, Rougemont, NC 27572

Tour details and descriptions

Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park

The 3pm tour will meet at the Wilkerson Nature Preserve Park Office to visit the public-access garden spaces, including the Box Turtle Rehabilitation Garden, Endangered species propagation display area, and Pea-vine Prairie. All 3pm tour locations are readily viewable from the Park Office parking area via accessible sidewalks or gravel paths. An optional second tour at 4pm (starting from the Park Office) will travel ~1.0mi on unpaved, irregular surfaces to visit rare plant conservation areas within the 157-acre Wilkerson Nature Preserve not visible from public paths (weather permitting). More about the Wilkerson Nature Preserve.

Chapel Hill Public Library

Surrounding the Chapel Hill Public Library, Pritchard Park contains 34 acres of diverse native forest as well as native plantings in gardens scattered around the library building. A well-marked one-mile trail loops through the hilly forest. This tour will explore the native plantings near the building. The tour will cover include under 1-mile of walking with the option to extend the walk to see some of the work being done in the forest. Parking is available at the Library.

Bluestem Conservation Cemetery

A tour of Bluestem will expose people to a community conservation project on 87 acres in Cedar Grove designed as a place where nature is enough. A place of reverence in a nature preserve with publicly accessible trails, Bluestem includes a conservation cemetery for green burial. Highlights include: converting former corn and tobacco farm fields into native grasslands and pollinator habitat, early hiking trails through the woodlands, and natural burials in a sustainable landscape where climate resiliency and ecological improvements are foundational to the project. We can take up to 30 people prepared to walk/hike 1-2 miles on foot. For folks with more mobility needs, we have a golf cart that seats 3. The parking area holds up to 12 cars with plenty of overflow parking along Bluestem Road (map here). We do encourage carpooling. More about Bluestem.

Downtown Durham

Join the City of Durham Horticulturist to visit five small-scale landscapes in the center of downtown Durham that are planted exclusively with native plant species or emphasize natives. Most of the sites are landscapes in transition so visitors will get insights to the process used by Durham's Landscape Services Division. Tour will begin and end at the Piedmont Prairie Garden at Rotary Plaza. Parking is available in the Chapel Hill Street Parking Deck diagonally across from Rotary Plaza.

Duke gardens

This tour will move between the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants and a nearby parking lot pocket prairie project with a focus on the native plants in other landscapes in between. Parking is available in our main visitor lots—while parking is currently scarce with high spring visitation, it should be more available in June. Duke University charges $2 per hour per vehicle, though bus parking is free. Participants should be prepared to travel 1.5-2 miles on a variety of surfaces, including loose gravel and potentially stairs. Please let us know if there are any accessibility needs to be aware of to plan an appropriate route. More about the Blomquist Garden.

Hoffman Nursery

Founded in Rougemont, North Carolina in 1986, Hoffman Nursery specializes in ornamental and native grass liners for the wholesale trade. We are a young plant supplier that grows over 140 species and cultivars of grasses, sedges, and grass-like plants. We sell to a wide range of customers with a focus on wholesale growers and landscape contractors. During this tour, we will follow the plants from stock to shipping, exploring how plants are made to meet the demands and timelines of landscapes from Durham stretching across North America. More about Hoffman Nursery.

Leaf & limb Project pando

This tour will explore Leaf & Limb’s main office including the space where they propagate thousands of trees for Project Pando. Project Pando is a volunteer-driven initiative based in Raleigh, NC that grows native trees from wild seeds to give to the public for free. More about Project Pando.

NCMA Museum Park

This tour will explore native plantings at the NCMA Museum Park. The Museum Park features temporary and permanent art installations, environmentally sustainable landscapes, colorful and contemporary gardens, 4.7 miles of recreational trails, and a terraced pond. This tour will cover approximately 1-mile over moderate grades. Parking is available in the Museum’s visitor lots and the tour will meet at the Welcome Center in the Museum Park (see map). More about the Museum Park.