The UNCG Arboretum encompasses 250 acres and includes two parks: Foust Park and Peabody Park. With trees from across the world, the arboretum includes over two dozen species of trees native to North Carolina and the Southeast, and over one dozen species of trees from Europe and East Asia. Among the collections are two rows of Japanese cherry trees, planted as a gift from the Class of 1939, gracefully lining College Avenue, the main campus thoroughfare.

Foust Park sits on the North side of Spring Garden Street, at the heart of UNCG’s academic building core. Students frequent the park en route to class, to get food, and as part of engaging in co-curricular and extracurricular activities. The park, a serene outdoor space with brick pathways, grassy expanses, and benches, has graced the campus since 1892 and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. Meanwhile, Peabody Park, on the other side of campus, is a protected natural greenspace and urban forest featuring native Piedmont canopy and sub-canopy species, including oaks, hickories, maples, beech, dogwoods, redbuds, and shortleaf pines.