Doris Duke spent 50 years making the gardens. There are 11 garden rooms, each devoted to a different style, including a Chinese Garden, a Mughal Garden, an Italian Garden, an English Garden and a Japanese Garden. Clearly it is a prime example of the Mixed Style advanced by Humprhry Repton and inadvertently promoted by JC Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening. There were originally 35 fountains, of which 7 remain. There are also 9 lakes at Dukes Farms. The gardens have been open to the public since 1964. Duke Gardens begins a 2 year program of renovation from May 2008.
