hollies east of the Mississippi. At that time, the trustees of the college also dedicated 15 additional acres of campus land to the Landscape Gardening Program for future expansion. Between 1980 and 1984, a decision was made to develop a plan for the entire garden, which was to serve as an outdoor green laboratory for the students. Students in the design class took on the project creating the gardens’ master plan. The existing gardens, such as the vegetable garden, fruit orchard, conifer and annual gardens, were incorporated into the design with additional gardens to be added in following years. As part of the statewide celebration in 1984, the school assigned a student design project to create a garden celebrating America’s 400-year anniversary and commemorating the attempted colonization of Roanoke Island in 1584. Second-year student Susan Frett’s plan was accepted and funding of the garden construction began on the Sir Walter Raleigh Garden. Be sure to see this garden on your next visit. Note the cherry trees planted at the entrance to the garden. They came from seedlings from the Weymouth estate. Each subsequent garden has either been designed and or built by students in the program. Consistency has been a key to the program’s success. Over the last 50
years, there have been only two program coordinators. Fred Garrett served 33 years followed by Demaris (Dee) Johnson in 2001. Johnson is a graduate of the program and plans to retire this year. “I started as a student and I am ending as program coordinator,” says Johnson. Varied experience in all phases of Landscape Gardening are part of the curriculum. In addition to the rigorous classroom study of plant propagation/ identification, turf management, irrigation, etc., hands-on experience in all phases of horticulture and landscape gardening is the goal. The students learn how to operate tractors, use soil mixers, work with turf, nursery culture, perennial beds and prune trees while hanging high above the ground on safety ropes. “Unique to this program is a residency requirement,” says Johnson. “On a rotating basis, students live on the campus grounds and participate in operating and maintaining the now 32 acres of the gardens and greenhouses, thus learning management and supervisory skills. Additionally, an internship is required before completing the program. Students graduate with a two-year associate degree in applied science in Landscape Gardening.” “We are very proud of our graduates,” she adds. “They are highly sought after in the green industry. Past graduates
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Top left: The graduating class of 1972, which included Pete Gulley of Gulley's Garden Center in Southern Pines. Top right: Students hard at work.
have gone on to own their own business, locally and across the country. They work at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, Ginter Gardens and the estate of Paul & Bunny Mellon in Virginia, the Governor’s mansion, Tryon Palace and Old Salem in North Carolina and Dunbarton Oakes in D.C. They have taken on prestigious positions such as that of the head gardener and his assistant at the White House, director of Reynolds Gardens in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and director of the gardens at Monticello.” This June, current and past students, the college faculty and supporters of the Landscape Gardening Program will celebrate the past 50 years and toast to another successful half-century to come. PL