There was a wealth of historical documentation available to guide the project work. The Archives at Reynolda House contain an extensive collection of Thomas Sears' original drawings, correspondence between Sears and Katharine Reynolds, invoices for plants and other materials, an extensive photographic collection, and other ephemera including several photographs taken by Sears soon after the gardens' installation. In the assessment and analysis phase, the garden's history was organized and analyzed, the period of significance was determined based on extant landscape features and surviving archival materials from each period, and an interpretative agenda was recommended to complement these findings. During this phase of work, the application of new technologies to solve existing problems was explored; and sources for new materials compatible with historic materials and reasonable in cost were identified. The garden's history was organized by establishing distinct periods of development. The periods were based upon design and caretaking responsibilities for the gardens and major events, which transpired in terms of planting, maintenance, or changes. Following are the periods appropriate to Reynolda Gardens: (1) Period One 1912 - 1915: The Buckenham and Miller Period; (2) Period Two 1916 - 1924: The Sears/KSR Period [illustrated above]; (3) Period Three 1924-1936: The Trustees Period; (4) Period Four 1936 -1958: The Babcock Period; (5) Period Five - 1958 - present: The Wake Forest University Period [illustrated below]. Period Two, for example, was considered the most important phase of development in the garden's history. This was the period when the garden envisioned by both of its designers, Thomas Sears and Katharine Smith Reynolds, was realized. Ultimately, the period of significance determined for the garden was 1912-1936 (Periods 1-3). This was based on a careful analysis of surviving landscape features from this period coupled with an understanding of supporting archival materials that would allow for an accurate repair or restoration of lost or altered character-defining landscape features. The effort to make the new improvements visually compatible with original elements in the garden, such as brick, fountain tiles, and slate paving materials, required extensive product research. Paint analysis identified the original finishes of garden shelters and the extant pathway lights. In the repair and reconstruction of retaining walls and grassed paths within the quadrants, a variety of new technologies were considered. It was possible to reestablish the grassed paths using stabilized soils--plastic mesh elements were mixed into the lawn's growing media, to create a more resilient grass surface that could accommodate intense foot traffic. Deteriorated sections of the garden walls were removed and repaired. The non-deteriorated sections remained, and the stucco finish was uniformly repaired. Project consultants and garden staff worked together in locating new materials to match or duplicate historic elements of the garden. The process to find original plant materials and compatible brick and fountain tile is described below.   Historic resources such as this 1918 receipt documents plant materials actually installed at Reynolda.       Original plant material: The search for plant materials was conducted by the staff of Reynolda Gardens. Analysis of the original plant lists and research tracing plant names through horticultural and botanical texts for the period 1899 to 1992 revealed that of the 133 varieties of trees, perennials, and annuals only seventy-eight were still commercially available under the 1917 name or a new name. Information gleaned from these texts plus descriptions of plants in periodicals, garden handbooks, and garden catalogs of the early 1900s through the 1930s provided a baseline for determining substitutions that are close in form and color to the plants that Thomas Sears intended for the garden. Plants were obtained through national search, with sources including large-scale retail nurseries, specialty nurseries and brokers, and individual growers. Brick: New brick had to match existing brick in both material and size, since much would be used alongside the historic brick. New brick was to be used exclusively in the new access ramp. Brick had been used originally in the garden as caps for stucco-finished walls and steps. A standard brick was found that matched the historic in color and texture but not size. Existing bricks were eight inches long in contrast to today's slightly smaller brick, so a special run was required. The North Carolina brick company, Lee Brick, which produced the standard brick agreed to produce the custom-sized brick. Fountain Tiles: The Lion's Head Fountain was reconstructed for a second time; the 1970s replacement fountain was in poor condition and was not an exact match to the original. Likewise, the replacement tiles from the 1970s effort were not appropriate for reuse. A smaller fountain in the garden did retain original tiles, so it was possible to match the original. Finding a historically accurate tile was not difficult, but finding an appropriate substitute tile at a reasonable cost became a challenge. The first sample that was a reasonable match was estimated to cost approximately $20,000 for 250 square feet of tile (material only). Additional tile manufacturers were contacted with the assistance of Mohawk Tile and Marble Company of Metuchen, New Jersey and more samples offered. Finally, a second matching sample produced by EPRO of Westerville, Ohio, was found for a more reasonable price (approximately $3,200).