North Carolina Botanical Garden – A Marvel of Nature
If you are visiting Chapel Hill with your family (and you aren’t one of these instructors of fake schools!), North Carolina Botanical Garden is one of the places that you must visit. As they say on their website, this is the place where they are trying to enhance the relationship between humans and plants. This garden is small, but it is a marvel of conservation. What you will see here is an exact replication of the plants that you find in North Carolina, in their full glory and splendor. But as your will see when you get to the botanical garden, there is actually much more to it than meets the eye.
Most eye catching features
The North Carolina Botanical Garden is no doubt a marvel of Mother Nature and it is hard to choose one spot in it and call it the best. To be fair, you will have to see everything and shoot a few pictures too. Here are some features you must not miss:
- The bird life in this garden is varied and endearing. As your nostrils get assailed by a beautiful arsenal from the mix-pot of natural perfumes exuded by the plant life, do catch a few songs from the birds too. See whether you can identify tufted titmice, Downy woodpecker, grackle, Carolina wren or the Carolina chickadee.
- Throughout the garden,
but placed in the most intermittent and hard-to-miss points is sculpture works that are both beautiful and thought-provoking. Every year, the NCBG holds an exhibition where famous sculptors like Patrick Dougherty come to exhibit their work. Expect anything from wood, concrete, ceramic, steel and a lot of stick work sculpture. - See the gallery displays with amazing works of art depicting the native plants of North Carolina and buy some if you find anything for sale. You may find sculpture for sale too – anything to support this wonderful community-reliant venture.
- There are many nature trails twisting and winding throughout the garden. If you would just like to mix and mingle with the bird, plant and insect-life, just hit the trails and empty your mind of the office stress. Nature heals! The trails come with unforgettable names like Oak Hickory, Streamside Trail, Piedmon and so on.
- If you have children, there are plenty of children activities happening at any time. The NCBG is a good way to get your kids introduced to plant conservation as they enjoy themselves.
- If you would like to buy a few souvenirs, you will be spoilt for choice. They have a gift shop but you can also find out whether they have wild geraniums, native vines, pitcher plants and other wild flowers for sale. Take a little of the NCBG home!
- Enjoy a learning experience that you will never forget. In fact, the NCBG is owned by the University of North Carolina and by the time you get out, you will have learned a lot about botanical gardening and plant conservation.
- You can also visit the UNC Herbarium with its more than 800,000 plant specimens used for study. The herbarium is used for the study of new weeds, plants that are poisonous to livestock, pets and people, medicinal plants and so on.
The North Carolina Botanical Garden is about 20 minutes drive away in Chapel Hill. It is a great destination for family as well as individual outings. Whether you are a baby boomer granny, a biker, a kid or a teenager, you will love this place. The best visiting times are summer, autumn and spring.
Hi! The city of Chapel Hill is known for its mild climate, cordial community, economic development, amenities and peaceful life style. The city is ideally located and is precisely three hours from the Blue Ridge Mountains and three hours from the Atlantic Ocean. The city is a mix blend of rich history and youthful exuberance. The famous Money Magazine listed the city on the top as far as living is concerned.