On the Rocks: A Scree & Crevice Garden Tour

Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Venue: Duke Gardens–Barnes Welcome Center, Durham

Price: $24

Category: Outdoors

At first glance, a pile of rocks seems like the last place a plant would want to call home—yet the scree and crevice gardens at Duke Gardens are bursting with an array of tenacious, beautiful and cleverly adapted plants. Join Branden Kowalyszyn, horticulturist of the Gateway Gardens at Duke Gardens, for a guided tour through these rugged landscapes, where sharp drainage, shifting gravel and thin soils support an extraordinary community of plants from around the world. Explore the artistry and science that goes into creating these gardens, including how the angle of a tilted stone, the chemistry of the gravel and the geometry of a crevice allow these plants to live here. Learn how a plant's form, texture and growth habit reveal its survival strategies. Whether you're a seasoned gardener looking for new ideas or someone who has walked past a rock garden and wondered what's going on, you’ll get an insider's look at the horticultural craft required to create these habitats and leave with an appreciation for plants’ ability to thrive even in the hardest of places . Fee: $24; free for Duke Gardens members with discount code. Parking: Parking fees apply. Location: Meet at the Barnes Welcome Center. Accessibility: This will be a small group program that takes place outdoors, traveling on a combination of paved and unpaved paths with some uneven surfaces and moderate inclines.