The Gardens - Special Features and Facilities
The Hahn Horticulture Garden holds a host of lovely plantings and features throughout our six acres. Most of the hardscape features, such as pergolas, arbors, decks, walls, and bridges, have been constructed by Robert McDuffie's Landscape Construction classes. Students, volunteers, and garden faculty and staff have created and planted the display beds. Scroll down for a sampling of our main features - many more await discovery on your next visit.
Designed by Hill Studios, completed in 2006, and named for Dr. T. Marshall Hahn's lovely wife Peggy, the Peggy Lee Hahn Garden Pavilion multi-purpose facility graces the hill in the "new" part of the garden. The front beds feature outstanding landscape plants, including the hottest new annuals and tropicals. The Southwest-facing patio and surrounding landscape was recently dedicated as the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Memorial Terrace Garden in honor of our then-department head's wife, lost in the April 16, 2007 tragedy. |
 The view from the meadow of the Garden Pavilion, the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Memorial Terrace, and the Hahn Amphitheater. |
Dedicated in June 2008, the Hahn Meadow Garden is our newest garden feature, situated between Duck Pond Drive and the Garden Pavilion, and includes the Hahn Amphitheater and Peggy's Meadow. The amphitheater is constructed of Hokie Stone and provides hillside outdoor seating for up to 75 people. The meadow proper covers two- thirds of an acre and features native perennials, grasses, trees, and shrubs planted in the sw  eeping "New American Garden" style. The center "field" is buffalo grass - a native no-mow, warm season alternative to bluegrass and fescue. Planting is on-going for this massive project with expected completion in spring 2009. |
Our Utility Line Arboretum was created in 20  07 by Dr. Eric Wiseman of the Department of Forestry with funding from arboriculture and utility organizations. This educational display features a wide variety of small trees and large shrubs suitable for urban conditions and planting under power lines. The arboretum is maintained by Dr. Wiseman and students in the Urban Forestry program. |
The Jane Andrews Memorial Stream Garden is an extraordinary 200' long water garden, built in 2002 under the guidance of Dr. Robert Wright of the Department of Horticulture. A Hokie Stone  bridge provides a view of the 10' water fall and pool below. The stream widens to a large pond with an overlooking deck. Goldfish and koi swim among more than twenty species of emergent (bog) and aquatic plants. |
Ten trident maples (Acer buergeranum) form the Trident Maple Allee  - a towering arch of branches that welcomes visitors to our shade gardens. Here also resides our "garden sprite" - a sandstone rendition of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Maid in the Mud", donated by Warren and Margie Kark. Paved and grass paths wind through mature shade gardens taking our visitors past hundreds of trees, shrubs, and perennials from all over the world. Benches throughout and a bamboo gazebo invite you to linger, eat lunch, or read a book, all within earshot of a small, burbling water garden. |
The Conifer Display features delightful dwarf evergreen conifers as well as  full-sized specimens. Originally planted in 2001, it serves as a great reference for growth rates of various species and cultivars suitable for the home landscape. The bed is anchored by our most iconic tree - the majestic Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (Nootka false cypress or Alaska cedar. This display will be expanded in 2009! |
 A rainbow of shrubs and perennials comprises the circular Spectrum Border in the front of the garden. Three trellises, graced with climbing roses, help define this small garden. Designed by Robert McDuffie and Holly Scoggins, the intent was to fit as many species and cultivars of perennials as possible into a small space by organizing them by color. Originally constructed in 2003, the plantings were renovated in fall 2008 to re-define the color spectrum. |
Two dry-stacked walls of Hokie Stone pieces and slabs form curved Entrance Beds along Washington Street. Masses  of tulips brighten the scene each spring, then the warm season features a new and different pallette of plants each year - mostly annuals and tropicals. Exciting new hybrid dogwoods (Cornus x 'Venus') added in 2008 will make a splendid backdrop to the riot of color along the walls. |