Durham’s annual cherry blossom spectacle is about to collide with construction crews at Duke Gardens, where a $30 million renovation just launched three weeks before the garden’s busiest month of the year.
Construction began Monday on the “Garden Gateway” project, a redesign that will bring a new welcome center and improved accessibility to the 55-acre garden campus. Both main parking lots will be closed for the year-long renovation, as will the Anderson Street entrance, and all formal events are suspended until the project’s completion.
The timing—delayed from an original fall start date—creates unique challenges for the gardens’ peak season.
A record-breaking 155,000 people visited Duke Gardens last March, drawn to the Cherry Allée, a dreamy tunnel of cherry blossoms where visitors angle for the perfect shot beneath the pink canopy.
This year’s pilgrimage will require some creative navigation. Construction fencing will create a dead end at the Cherry Allée—typically accessed through the main “gothic gates” entrance—meaning visitors will need to wind their way through other parts of the garden to reach the blossoms.
“We’re going to be putting the construction fence right along the back of it, so we’ll have, like, 15,000 people who want to get in and 15,000 people trying to get out at the same time,” says Lauren Smith Hong, director of marketing and communications at Duke Gardens. “There’s going to be a lot of March madness.”
During peak bloom, which typically lasts about 10 days, staff will implement crowd control measures from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends to ensure visitors can safely enter and exit the area.
Duke Gardens will also be developing an interactive map highlighting alternative but still “really Instagrammable” cherry trees throughout the grounds, Smith Hong says.
With no on-site parking available during construction, getting to the gardens will take some extra steps. Weekday visitors should plan to bike, walk, or take the bus (several GoDurham and GoTriangle routes drop off nearby). On weekends, parking will be available in the H lot on Anderson Street, with a temporary entrance at 2000 Lewis Street. Visitors can also enter through gates along Flowers Drive, which connects to Duke’s West Campus.
The Renovation Plan
The renovation, which has been in the works for a decade, is an effort to address long-standing issues with visitor engagement and safety. Currently, many guests bypass the visitor center entirely, missing out on resources and programming, according to Smith Hong.
The new welcome center will serve as a central hub—visitors will pass through it to enter the gardens—complete with a café, gallery space, and outdoor meeting areas, while the existing Doris Duke Center will be renovated to focus exclusively on events, with upgrades including a new catering kitchen and dedicated wedding preparation suite.
The design will also eliminate the need for pedestrians to dodge cars in the parking lots. The lower parking lot, which currently holds about 75 spaces, will be converted into green space, adding 10,000 square feet of garden area. Total parking capacity will decrease slightly; the upper lot will be reconfigured and expanded to accommodate around 140 cars.
The renovation is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. The Gardens considered closing entirely during the construction period but ultimately decided maintaining public access was crucial, Smith Hong says. Staff have spent the past year relocating plants from construction zones.
“Plant people are people pleasers by nature,” Smith Hong says. “Having these disruptions breaks our hearts a little bit. But we’re asking people to stick with us—we promise the end result will be worth it.”
Visitors can find more information and regular updates at gardens.duke.edu and on the Cherry Blossoms webpage.
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