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Touring the historic Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Touring the historic Sarah P. Duke Gardens

By Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel

Spring and summer is an ideal time to view a burst of color at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, N.C., the Duke Gardens contains four sections: Doris Duke Center & Gardens with its visitors center and gift shop; the Historic Gardens that include perennials, terraces and a fish pool; H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants containing a 36th Parallel Latitude Marker; and the W.L. Culberson Asiatic Arboretum with an arched bridge and Japanese and Chinese plants.

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Visitors enter the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, which includes Eastern bluestar, Cherokee sedge, and palmetto at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A visitor looks at the plants for sale at the gift shop of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

Water sprays through a sculpture of irises outside the visitors center at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

The Roney Fountain serves as the centerpiece of the Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

The Roney Fountain serves as the centerpiece of the Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham N.C. The garden was created in 2012. It originally was a gift in 1902 to Trinity College, the school of arts and sciences and placed on the east campus of Duke University in Durham N.C. It was restored and rededicated at the gardens in 2011. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

Cinco de Mayo roses grow in the Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C.

Visitors walk along the Walker Dllard Kirby Perennial Allee in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

Chocolate Chip bugleweed grows in the Walker Dllard Kirby Perennial Allee in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

One of many educational markers in the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

Maxicat rhododendron grows in the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

The 36th Parallel Latitude Marker in the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. Click for high resolution image. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

Statues carved into the entrance portal of Duke University's chapel include, from left, Thomas Jefferson; Robert E. Lee, and Sidney Lanier, a poet, in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A statue of James B. Duke, who created the Duke Endowment to Trinity College, which later changed its name to Duke University, stands in front of Duke Chapel. His father, Washington, earned a fortune in the tobacco industry. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A pergola entwined in wisteria stands atop the terrace gardens in the Historic Gardens at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. Make your way past these beds filled with foxglove, alium oriental onion, and numerous other plants. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A sculpture offers this Francis Bacon quote in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C.: "God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."

A small snack shop offers ice cream and other treats at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

The Asiatic Arboretum includes Asian-themed stone lanterns, Japanese maples, irises, ginger lillies and more at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A row of turtles bathes in the sun in the Asiatic Arboretum at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A path winds through the Doris Duke Center Gardens at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. Click for high resolution image. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)

A woman walks her dog in the Doris Duke Center Gardens at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Lisa Esquivel Long of The News-Sentinel)