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UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences The University of Georgia Tifton Campus
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Centennial Garden

View of the UGA‑Tifton Centennial Garden with paved walkways, newly planted shrubs and trees, and a bench, looking toward the H.H. Tift Building. Flowering plants frame the foreground, and the garden’s formal layout is visible under morning or late‑afternoon sunlight.
We invite you to take a stroll through the Centennial Garden!

In the early days of the Coastal Plain Experiment Station (now the University of Georgia Tifton Campus), a formal garden was located at the center of campus behind the H.H. Tift Building. The garden was symmetrical, contained a variety of ornamental plants and even had a reflecting pool. It is unknown when or why, but eventually the garden was paved over for parking; reminiscent of the song Big Yellow Taxi where “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

To commemorate UGA-Tifton’s centennial, and as a part of the campus’ master redesign, plans were drawn up to return the parking lot to a formal garden space.

The new garden’s design reflects many features of the original. It is bordered by Georgia granite, and the numerous and varied plants are all releases of plant genetics developed by University of Georgia scientists. The green space between the garden and the Tift Building contains the latest UGA commercial turf bermudagrass release, TifTuf, and is an ideal setting for special events.

The Centennial Garden serves as an homage to our first century of existence and marks the achievements of the men and women who came before. It also looks forward to a second century of service to agriculture and the citizens of Georgia.


Plant Identification and Location


This image is an illustrated planting plan for the UGA‑Tifton Centennial Garden, shown from an overhead perspective. The garden is designed as a formal, symmetrical layout centered around straight walkways and planting beds. At the center of the design is a rectangular main walkway and axis, shaded in light purple, running horizontally through the middle of the garden. Four large, circular planting areas frame this central space—two on the left and two on the right—each surrounding a mature tree canopy. Connecting paths link the circular areas to the main walkway, creating a balanced cross‑shaped circulation pattern. On both the far left and far right sides of the image are long, narrow planting beds running vertically. These beds contain repeated groupings of shrubs and ornamental grasses arranged in mirror‑image patterns. Color‑coded plant symbols indicate different species, with darker green circles representing evergreen shrubs and lighter colored areas showing grass or groundcover zones. Along the top and bottom edges of the plan are additional long planting strips. These beds feature clusters of small shrubs, flowering plants, and grasses arranged in sweeping bands. The top left bed includes flowering shrubs shown in red tones, transitioning to green shrub groupings. The top right bed shows flowering trees or shrubs in yellow tones. The bottom beds feature blue‑toned and red‑toned plantings, indicating seasonal color variation. Throughout the plan, numbered circular markers appear within planting areas. These numbers correspond to a legend at the bottom of the image that lists twelve plant species used in the garden. The legend includes trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials, identified by common name and scientific name. The numbering allows viewers to match each planting area to its plant type without crowding the diagram with text. Overall, the garden plan emphasizes symmetry, repetition, and clear circulation, combining formal structure with a diverse plant palette developed through University of Georgia research. The illustration uses soft colors, textured shading, and clean outlines to distinguish lawn areas, walkways, and planted beds.