Big changes are taking root at the JC Raulston Arboretum, a research and
teaching garden of North Carolina State University.
 
In an effort to improve circulation and accessibility, provide more
program space in the gardens and develop more plant beds, the arboretum
is undergoing major renovations.
 
It’s all part of its master plan, according to arboretum interim
director Dr. Ted Bilderback.
 
In 2005, the arboretum’s master plan committee of volunteer design
professionals put out a call for design ideas and received more than
1,000 responses from staff, friends, volunteers and visitors. Volunteers
cataloged the survey results into categories from which the committee
developed the program analyses, needs assessments and the plan itself.
 
The arboretum's board of advisors voted unanimously to approve the
master plan in April 2008.
 
Since then, several projects have been completed, including the crape
myrtle circle, the central path, the southwest garden and the Asian
valley.
 
“These projects already have resulted in vast improvements to
circulation and accessibility, and they have provided more planting area
for our expanding number of collections,” Bilderback said. “We’re
grateful for our donors, friends and volunteers, whose generosity and
hard work are making this exciting vision for the arboretum a reality.”
 
Projects currently underway are a new stone path in the Japanese garden
that will provide access to the Asian valley; design for a lath house;
and new areas for the annual trials and plantsman’s woods.
 
Once the annual trials are relocated next spring, an “ellipse lawn” will
be developed, surrounded by perennial and mixed borders. The lawn will
serve as a gathering place in the heart of the arboretum.
 
For more information on the JC Raulston Arboretum master plan or to
become involved in this initiative, please contact Anne Porter,
arboretum director of development, at anne_porter@ncsu.edu or 919-513-3826.