Shaping the Gateway Gardens

Gateway Gardens curator Jason Holmes discusses the creativity, care and consideration that have gone into the design of the new garden spaces around the Barnes Welcome Center and Doris Duke Center.

In February 2025, construction began on the Garden Gateway, a transformational project to expand and enrich the Duke Gardens visitor experience. In addition to creating a new welcome center with a café, a safer and more accessible entrance to the gardens and enhanced learning and event facilities, the project includes the expansion of green spaces around the new and renovated buildings. In fact, the overall amount of green space in Duke Gardens will increase by approximately 40,000 square feet, which is significant given the limited options we have to expand the gardens’ footprint beyond our current borders. The new landscape is a key component of the Garden Gateway project, offering a green introduction to the botanical treasures that make Duke Gardens such a beloved place.

So, where does one begin when asked to help shape this new landscape? For me, the answer began not with grand visions, but with gratitude. I was entrusted with a remarkable opportunity to review the garden spaces within the project, think carefully about how new plantings would interact with established areas and select the plants that would eventually take root in the Gateway Gardens. I am not an architect of walls or pathways, so I was thankful to work with Durham-based landscape architecture studio Surface 678. Under the leadership of landscape architect Phillip Tripp, they designed the elegant framework and essential infrastructure that allows the landscape to function, including paths, walls and drainage.

My part was far simpler, though no less meaningful: to paint with plants. I tried to approach this responsibility with a light touch, carefully considering how people move through the landscape so they feel welcomed, not overwhelmed. At every turn, my goal was to support the visitor experience, to allow plants to frame, delight and guide without shouting too loudly, because let’s face it, there is a lot to see in Duke Gardens.

When visitors first arrive at Duke Gardens through our main entrance on Anderson Street, vibrant plantings frame the welcome sign, creating a lively invitation into the gardens and a taste of the beauty and artistry to come. Along the entry drive, azaleas and woodland trees like red buds, dogwoods and cherry trees lend a sense of calm, helping visitors transition from the urban area around us to the peace of the gardens. The design also focuses your attention on the iconic view of Duke Chapel beyond the gardens’ tree line. 

As visitors pull into the parking lot, the Duke Gardens experience continues with the parking islands treated as miniature gardens of their own. Inspired by both the resilient desert landscapes of the American Southwest and the dynamic roadside plantings we saw in Germany when we visited in 2024, these islands will feature tough, striking plants like agaves, yuccas, cacti and native prairie perennials that, once established, can thrive in the harsh environment of the parking lot with little to no watering and fertilization. Each bed is uniquely different, celebrating plants of endurance and beauty.

From the parking area, guests step into the E.T. Rollins Jr. and Frances P. Rollins Plaza, where the new Welcome Center becomes the backdrop. Here, I lean heavily on native plants like azaleas, oakleaf hydrangea and bottlebrush buckeye, mingled with evergreens such as Florida anise and needle palm, helping the plaza transition gently into the surrounding landscape. A purple-flowering crape myrtle and ‘Akebono’ cherry tree will shade visitors as they pause near the café, while containers placed throughout the space allow for seasonal displays and botanical surprises.

As visitors pass beneath the breezeway of the new Welcome Center into the spacious courtyard dotted with café tables, they will meet something Duke Gardens is especially known for: containers brimming with rare and unique plants. Beyond these, grasses, perennials and shrubs shape the paths that lead from the courtyard to the Doris Duke Center, with rosemary, spiraea, and one of my personal favorites, Whale’s Tongue agaves (Agave ovatifolia) lining the walk. As visitors enter the plaza of the Doris Duke Center, they will see once again the ever-popular Iris Fountain surrounded by stunning container plantings.

From the Welcome Center courtyard, visitors are encouraged to follow a main route into the gardens that draws them toward the historic Gothic Gate and the beloved Rhodes Family Allée lined with cherry trees. This area, which was once the lower parking lot, has not only been transformed into green space, but it has also been regraded to create a gentler, more accessible descent into the gardens. In spring, this path is framed by the soft pink and white blossoms of ‘Akebono’ cherries, creating a breathtaking approach. Along the way, borders of grasses, flowering perennials and blooming shrubs such as hydrangeas and spiraeas add seasonal layers of color and texture. For those taking the ADA-accessible route, the journey winds through a cooler, shaded planting of mondo grass, hellebores, ferns and cast iron plants, offering a lush and tranquil contrast.

On the western side of the Doris Duke Events Center lies the most expansive feature of the new Gateway Gardens: the Event Lawn. Planted in durable Empire zoysia grass, the lawn provides a lush stage for outdoor events, performances and gatherings. Around the edge of the lawn, pond cypress rise like sentinels, underplanted with mountain hydrangeas, Virginia sweetspire and perennials that soften not only the space but also the sound.

Beyond the Event Lawn, stroll paths will take you to the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum, Spring Woodland Garden or the Page-Rollins White Garden. Along these pathways, my team and I will continue to add in botanical treasures that tie the landscapes together and create focal points for horticultural marvels.

The existing lawn on the north side of the Doris Duke Event Center, which was used for weddings and events in years past, will be reduced in size, creating a more intimate outdoor space adjacent to the glass windows of our indoor events venue, Kirby Horton Hall. In its place, we will create an aggregate and bluestone plaza formed in a full arc, with the surrounding grass lawn and White Garden perennial borders following the curve. More plantings will envelop the left-hand side of this arc, echoing the white-flowered planting scheme on the right-hand side.

Overall, the new Garden Gateway landscape will add many new dimensions to the Duke Gardens visitor experience by creating a welcoming place that invites new discoveries from the moment people arrive.

I am deeply aware that I was just one hand among many in this project. The vision, planning, and execution belong to a wide team of architects, designers, horticulturists and gardeners. My contribution, choosing the plants and imagining how they might grow together, was a privilege. The Garden Gateway is not a canvas painted by one person, but a living collaboration tended to by many. If I have done my part well, the plants will not only beautify these new spaces, but also invite visitors to slow down, notice and feel a connection both to Duke Gardens and one another.

Questions about the Garden Gateway?

Please contact us at gardens@duke.edu.