A note from Stowe Executive Director John Searby 

What’s with the flags?
If you have been on our trails either in the gardens or outside of the gardens recently, you likely have seen a lot of flags. There are flags on trees, flagged off areas of grass, flags of various colors stuck in the ground and flags that seem to be in the most random places. All of these flags are indications of some fun and exciting new projects throughout the property at Stowe, and so we would ask that you leave them where they are until our staff starts their work and removes them in the spring/summer of 2026. Here’s a sneak peek into what some of the flags are all about:

Pink and orange flags wrapped around trees are markings for new trails. We recently completed a trail masterplan and had trail building contractors out to give us quotes on building almost eight miles of new trails outside of the gardens. Some of these trails will be natural surface, others will be crushed concrete surface and some are re-routing existing trails to make them more sustainable. Typically when you see a tree with two flags wrapped around it next to each other, that indicates a place where a new trail intersects with an existing trail. One flag wrapped around a tree is the general path the new trail wants to follow. We hope to get some new trail projects underway in the spring of 2026, if you’re interested in donating to help us build new trails, click the button below. 

Small colored flags stuck in the ground indicate that there is something special growing there. Members of our Phenology Volunteer Team have been marking new plants that they want to track along the Meadowwood Walk inside the gardens and they often mark the plants they have been tracking during the winter so they can find them in the spring. Additionally, our Ecological Services team has been planting new native species along Meadowwood Walk for introduction into our prairie and savanna restoration project.
At two spots on the new sidewalk along South New Hope Road, you’ll see caution flags marking off areas where we’ve planted naive pollinator plants as a part of the NC Wildlife Federation’s Butterfly Highway program. This spring, when these beautiful wildflowers and native grasses come up, they will be ideal habitat for butterflies, expanding their habitat even further across out property.
We know it may be tempting for kids and adults alike to pull up the flags or yank them off the trees, but please help us continue our work to inspire a love of nature and its beauty through unforgettable outdoor experiences by leaving our flags in place. They may not look like they’re marking much now, but they are helping us make important strides to improve Stowe for all of the users from across the varied ecosystem that calls this property home and enjoys exploring it.