Partnership with NCSU to help education take root at gardens

ROANOKE ISLAND

As far as its assets go, The Elizabethan Gardens can now add academic substance to its considerable beauty.

A new partnership with North Carolina State University will provide a full-time educator and two graduate horticultural science students to work at the Outer Banks attraction, as well as the funding for new community outreach programs.

Called the NCSU Horticultural Program in Eastern North Carolina, the initiative will help the gardens' staff expand educational and scientific resources for the coast.

"It means what we're able to do is to fulfill that part of our mission," Horace Whitfield, the gardens' executive director, said in an interview. "Education is foremost in the mission of the gardens."

The partnership developed out of brainstorming to develop a program with the community college, Whitfield said, "but someone mentioned N.C. State, and when I approached them, they were open to the idea."

Whitfield said that in working with the university's horticulture department, programming will be enhanced by the students' access to the latest science and ideas.

According to information that will be included in the gardens' upcoming newsletter, the program will include educational research, sustainable horticulture, development of exhibits and interpretive sign s, new garden design, greenhouse and nursery management, master planning and publications, and staff development.

Funding for the horticulture program has been provided in the fiscal 2008-09 state budget with $200,000 for graduate students at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, which oversees the Department of Horticulture, to do field work at the Elizabethan Gardens.

The agriculture college also is responsible for extension services, 4-H, and the J.S. Raulston Arboretum at the Raleigh campus. Potentially, the newsletter said, programs could also be developed with those partners. And the extension's focus on urban development - management to maximize benefits while minimizing negative environmental impacts - fits nicely with the gardens' existing programs.

Considering the current financial crisis, Whitfield said, it is not certain what impact recent state agency budget cuts will have on the appropriation.

"It's going to be less than that," he said.

The partners signed the memorandum of agreement in September, but it was not announced, Whitfield said. The full-time horticulture program staff person is expected to be in place by Jan. 1.

The Elizabethan Gardens, opened in 1960 as a tribute to the 1584-87 Roanoke Voyages, is a nonprofit supported by its founder, The Garden Club of North Carolina. The Roanoke Island Historical Association, owner of "The Lost Colony" production held next door, leases 10.5 acres to the gardens.

Whitfield said the new partnership is a continuation of the gardens' improvements and look toward the future. The gardens' master plan includes relocation of the greenhouse area, construction of a hand-wrought wedding chapel and a 2-acre cottage garden, and expansion of the retail sales area, including the addition of aquatic plants.

Sustainability will be at the fore in development of the program, he said. Already, the gardens use recycled bags in the gift shop, and compact fluorescent light bulbs have been installed at the Gatehouse. Funding is being sought to install cisterns to harvest rainwater.

The partnership adds polish to the gardens' reputation, but in turn, Whitfield said, the arrangement will also benefit the university.

"It's a good move for them because it gives them outreach into northeastern North Carolina," he said.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com