Location: Norfolk, VA
Status: Completed 2012
Landscape Architect: NBW
Awards: 2013 VA ASLA Merit Award (w/ NBW)

Norfolk Botanical Garden is a 175 acre major cultural and educational destination on the Chesapeake Bay that receives over 300,000 visitors annually. While working at NBW, Mary Wolf led a Conceptual Master Plan effort which produced both an overall Master Plan for the garden and Conceptual Designs for four garden areas including a re-envisioned circulation system to improve vehicular and pedestrian entry, wayfinding and connections between gardens.

A proposed central spine, the Promenade, connects three distinct garden zones - the historic core (formal/display); the educational precinct (children’s garden and new educational building); and the more remote and contemplative wooded area (Enchanted Forest). Loop trails, varying in length, extend from the Visitor’s Center and Promenade offering a range of garden experiences that invite a wide visitor demographic, from the experience-seeker interested a lengthy waterfront trek to the frequent garden-goer interested to see what’s in bloom. Several sustainability initiatives were proposed within the master plan including a large central rain garden within a redesigned parking lot connecting the Visitor Center to a new waterfront events building and an eco-classroom/public restroom building set within a series of education gardens.