Additional seating nodes and garden development are recommended at building entries along the Chancellor's Walk.

View across pond from amphitheater in Campus Commons.

View to Wagoner Hall where native plantings are recommended.

4. Academic Core

Character

As the nucleus of the Arboretum, the Academic Core is the central garden zone within the campus which extends from Randall Library along the Chancellor's Walk to Wagoner Hall. The classroom buildings within this zone provide the opportunity for individual thematic gardens of a highly cultivated nature. Each end or terminus of the Chancellor's Walk will have a landscape sub-zone with emphasis upon native species and their use in the contemporary landscape. The linear configuration of the Chancellor's Walk should be modified with various planting arrangements which create spaces and rooms acknowledging formal connections to the buildings' entries. Each building has an opportunity for a thematic garden with a focus or emphasis pertaining to a main plant genus and its supporting cast of species and cultivar plant material, i.e., Magnolia collection. This thematic approach will allow for the highly cultivated landscape to present itself through collections of hybrid plants and exceptional cultivars.

Recommendations

Academic Core

1. Each building should have a garden room at its entry. This garden will support educational opportunities for classroom instruction and will display collections of significant plant families. These spaces should accommodate 30 to 40 students.
2. These garden rooms, as well as other nodes along the walk, should provide "interruptions" in the linearity of the Chancellor's Walk. Brick paving nodes with seat walls will provide variety and contrast to the existing concrete walk.
3. The majority of the existing line of Crape Myrtles in the center of the Chancellor's Walk should be relocated to other garden zones (i.e., residential areas). This central zone should then be filled in with brick or stone. A study should be performed to see if the existing light poles in the center of the walk should also be relocated.
4. Seating opportunities should be created along the walk edges as much as possible. Additional pavement off the Chancellor's walk with the addition of benches and shade trees will provide seating nodes and gathering spaces.
5. Access to the Chancellor's Walk is presently occurring through the wooded area across from the new Science Building. A boardwalk pathway through this low, natural area should be explored for it provides a pleasant, naturalistic setting for seating and gathering opportunities.
6. A standard group of site furniture should be selected for this area, as well as the entire campus, to provide visual continuity.
7. A concerted effort should be made to screen views to the parking lots fronting the Chancellor's walk. A composition of evergreen hedges and small trees around their perimeter would buffer views to cars and pavement. Consideration should be given to moving the large "S" and "T" lots. These lots represent favorable locations on the Chancellor's Walk for future buildings and garden development.
8. Thematic gardens to consider for this area include:
   • Butterfly Garden
   • Plant Pollinator Garden
   • Medicinal Herb Garden
   • Healing Garden
   • Fragrance Garden
9. Suggested plant collection gardens:
   • Crape Myrtles
   • Camellias
   • Dogwoods
   • Ornamental grasses, sedges and rushes
   • Bamboos
   • Tropicals
   • Daylilies

Campus Commons

1. This area should continue to encourage relaxation, casual recreation and social gatherings. Large tree groves are important for shade and definition of space, especially at the outdoor amphitheater area.
2. The garden space should present naturalistic placement of native plants with emphasis on coastal wetland species. A balance of trees, shrubs, ground covers and lawn will enhance the ponds which are the focal point of the garden.
3. Sweeping, curvilinear plant beds of shrubs, grasses, and perennials should flow in and around the pond's edge and sidewalks. Plants at the pond's edge should be selected to control the erosion which is occurring here.
4. Plant material selection should support birds and wildlife and provide nesting habitats for waterfowl. Placement of appropriate bird houses should occur near the pond.
5. A study should be performed to determine if the Arboretum Visitor Center should be located adjacent to the Commons. Walking tours could originate from the Center and easily continue into the Preserve, Conservation areas and other areas of the campus.

Wagoner Hall

1. Planting concepts should represent a continued assemblage of species native to North Carolina Coastal areas.
2. Upland species of plant types should be planted in groves. Representative colonies of various pines, oaks and magnolias can be displayed here.
3. Interpretives for the native pine savannah grasses are important here. Stands of these grasses have begun growing naturally under the pine trees.
4. The cultivated gardens near the building courtyards can display a variety of the more ornamental native trees like Magnolias, Buckeyes, Serviceberry and Fringe Trees. This formal arrangement of ornamental natives will educate the visitor on their use and strength in a traditional garden arrangement.

Maintenance

A high level of maintenance will be necessary for the individual gardens along the Chancellor's Walk. These gardens will present various plant collections and maintenance of these collections will become an important demonstration and educational tool.

The native plant pallets in the Commons and at Wagoner Hall will require a moderate level of maintenance. Lawns will become secondary to the gardens and plant beds.

Issues

• Plants along the Chancellor's Walk which are part of the Thematic Gardens should be monitored closely. Any declining or diseased plants will need to be moved out of the gardens promptly.
• Plant identification and interpretives are important for this garden zone. Botanists, plant collectors, as well as residential gardeners, will study these areas.
• In the Commons, care should be given to the plants near the ponds so that little, if any, fertilizers or chemicals pollute the water. Algae build-up will result and is very unsightly. Grass mowing should not occur near the water's edge. Shade trees at the pond's edge will also help to control algae growth.
• Limited pruning and mulching will occur in the more naturalized plant beds in the Commons and near Wagoner Hall. Native grasses should help to reduce the expanse of manicured lawns. The beauty of native plants should be emphasized here.

Plant Palaette

Campus Commons

Shade Trees

Acer rubrum/Red Maple
Betula nigra 'Heritage' or 'Dura-Heat'/River Birch
Liquidambar styraciflua 'Rotundiloba'/Fruitless Sweetgum
Taxodium ascendens/Pondcypress
Taxodium distichum/Baldcypress
Nyssa sylvatica/Black Gum

Evergreen Trees

Ilex opaca/American Holly
Ilex vomitoria/Yaupon Holly
Pinus taeda/Loblolly Pine
Pinus palustris/Longleaf Pine
Pinus virginiana/Virginia Pine

Ornamental Trees

Aesculus pavia/Red Buckeye
Amelanchier arborea/Downy Serviceberry
Aronia arbutifolia/Red Chokeberry
Chionanthus virginicus/Fringe Tree
Magnolia virginiana/Sweetbay Magnolia
Persea borbonia/Red Bay
Prunus serotina/Black Cherry

Shrubs

Callicarpa americana/American Beautyberry
Cephalanthus occidentalis/Buttonbush
Clethra alnifolia/Sweet Pepperbush
Ilex glabra 'Compacta'/Compact Inkberry
Itea virginica/Virginia Sweetspire
Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler'/Coral Honeysuckle
Lyonia lucida/Fetter Bush

Herbaceous Plants for Pond Edge

Boltonia asteroides 'Snowbank'/Boltonia
Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips'/Pink Turtlehead
Chrysogonum virginianum var. australe/Green and Gold Plant
Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'/Moonbeam Coreopsis
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'/Purple Coneflower
Equisetum hyemale/Horsetail
Eupatorium fistulosum 'Selection'/Compact Joe Pye Weed
Helianthus angustifolia 'Mellow Yellow'/Pale Yellow Swamp Sunflower
Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst'/Native Golden St. John's Wort
Iris fulva/Copper Iris
Iris pseudacorus/Yellow Flag Iris
Iris versicolor/Blue Flag Iris
Oenothera tetragona 'Summer Solstice'/Sundrops
Tiarella cordifolia 'Slickrock'/Foamflower
Tradescantia 'Purple Profusion'/Spiderwort
Typha latifolia/Cattail

Grasses/Ground Covers

Andropogon virginicus/Broom Sedge
Carex plantaginea/Plantain Sedge
Dichromena latifolia/White-Bracted Sedge
Panicum virgatum/Switch Grass
Schizachyrium scoparium/Little Bluestem

Wagoner Hall

Shade Trees

Pinus palustris/Longleaf Pine
Ulmus alata/Winged Elm
Quercus coccinea/Scarlet Oak
Quercus incana/Bluejack Oak
Quercus marilandica/Blackjack Oak
Quercus stellata var. margaretta/Sand Post Oak
Quercus virginiana/Live Oak

Ornamental Trees

Aesculus pavia/Red Buckeye
Cercis canadensis/Eastern Redbud
Cornus florida/Dogwood
Magnolia acuminata/Cucumber Magnolia
Magnolia grandiflora/Southern Magnolia
Magnolia macrophylla/Bigleaf Magnolia
Sassafras albidum/Sassafras
Vaccinum arboreum/Sparkleberry

Grasses

Andropogon virginicus/Broom Sedge
Aristida stricta/Wire grass