Exploring the cultivated outdoors

garden

EXPLORING

THE

cultivated

OUTDOORS

By Kimberly NewsomHer Contributor

Hitting the trail and getting in tune with nature doesn’t have to be an uncivilized affair. Our state has many beautiful public gardens to explore, with quite a few offering events and classes. You can even find a sip and stroll evening garden walk with your favorite spirited beverage. How can you beat a cool spring evening surrounded by nature and blooms, strolling along paved pathways with your favorite drink in hand?

Where to Go

North Carolina isn’t lacking in public gardens to choose from. Here is a short list to get you started.

1 NC Botanical Garden Chapel Hill

2 Old Salem Museum & Gardens

3 The North Carolina Arboretum

4 Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

5 Sarah P. Duke Gardens

1 | NC BOTANICAL GARDEN CHAPEL HILL If you happen to be traveling through Chapel Hill, take a moment to enjoy a free walk through the university’s Display Botanical Garden. Containing a native plant collection, a carnivorous plant garden, native water garden, herb garden, coastal plains and sandhills habitat, piedmont and mountain habitats, and a fern collection. The garden offers daily plant sales.

2 | OLD SALEMMUSEUM & GARDENS If you would like to see the original “sustainable” garden don’t miss out on Old Salem Museums and Gardens. Established in 1766, Old Salem maintains the history of this Moravian town restoring and preserving the historical architecture, gardens and landscape. The Horticulture Program preserves a landscape of early Salem of “utility, practicality, and beauty united.” The plants are open-pollinated heirlooms for seed saving and the produce is cooked in historical methods right on site. You can walk through the Miksch family backyard garden and visit the Single Brothers’ Garden, and throughout the town of Old Salem’s town and buildings as well. There are a several dining options and shoppes all within walking distance. You can find plant sales of the locally grown varieties during the growing season.

3 | NORTH CAROLINAARBORETUM With 65 acres, the North Carolina Arboretum hosts a Bonsai collection, an ever changing quilt garden, a streamside plant garden, a Heritage garden filled with plants used in basket, paper and broom making, along with historic medicinal plants, a forest meadow, a fluid landscape plant garden filled with award-winning specimens, and a Holly Garden. Located in beautiful Asheville, this would make a wonderful addition to a mountain road trip. There are also hiking trails, biking trails, art exhibits, and dining options.

4 | DANIEL STOWE BOTANICAL GARDEN A 400-acre conservation donation of land that is being cultivated over a 50-year time span boasts several garden exhibits: an Orchid conservatory, conifer garden, azalea garden, a white garden consisting of only white blooms, a Scroll garden that demonstrates shape and texture, the

Ribbon garden with a meandering stream, the Serpentine garden, a canal garden, the Lost Hollow for kids containing manicured plants and old growth forest, the Cottage garden of 19th century heirloom plants, and a Four Seasons garden. Located in Belmont, be sure to check out the Beer garden and the Mother’s Day sip and stroll with a wine tasting.

5 | SARAH P. DUKE GARDENS In the heart of Duke University you can find 5 acres of cultivated gardens free to enjoy. The garden features four distinct areas: the Historic gardens that include the original Terraces began in the 1930s, including the Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden and historic Roney Fountain, the H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, the W.L. Culberson Asiatic Arboretum that includes a moss garden, and the Doris Duke Center Gardens, including the new Charlotte

Brody Discovery Garden.There are five miles of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the gardens to explore. There is also a Terrace Cafe for dining and seasonal plant sales. Dogs are permitted.

North Carolina spring days are too beautiful to miss with our crisp blue skies, cool breezes and colorful shows of blooms. If you’ve been wanting to explore more garden plants to add to your home collection, a public garden tour will provide you with an up-close view of all those new additions you’ve been pining over, and will likely add a few more to your wish list. Don’t miss out on our state’s plentiful public gardens to explore.

Her — June 2018 29