How well do you know the NC Botanical Garden?

The North Carolina Botanical Garden is full of beautiful flora native to the U.S. Southeast. Colorful and vast, the garden is more than its fragrant blooms. From forest restoration to seed banks, its impact is felt locally and far beyond Chapel Hill.

Here are 10 things to learn, do and appreciate:

Coker Arboretum (Dan Sears/UNC-Chapel Hill)

1. Officially founded in 1966 with the opening of the first nature trail, the main garden has added many locations, some of which are much older.

“We’re a satellite network of gardens, natural areas, parks and preserves encompassing over 1,200 acres, including Battle Park, Mason Farm Biological Preserve and the Carolina Community Garden,” said Damon Waitt, garden director. “The oldest location, Coker Arboretum, was founded in 1903 by UNC’s first botany professor, Dr. William Chambers Coker.”

2. In a short walk, you can simulate going from the mountains to the coast.

“Imagine that you’ve been shrunk down and inserted into a diorama project that you used to make in school,” said Daniel Stern, director of horticulture. “Over just two acres, you can walk through a small footprint of the mountains into the Piedmont, into the Sandhills and then the coastal plains. They’re all very different ecosystems, and each one has its own unique aesthetic and palette of plants.”

Venus flytrap (submitted photo)

3. The garden hosts the most diverse collection of carnivorous plants in the Southeast. 

Pitcher plants, Venus flytraps and the spindly, sticky sundews are just a few of the more than a dozen species that feast on small insects.

4. You can pick up free seeds and purchase plants.

Get a packet to grow this year’s Wildflower of the Year and choose local plant species for your home garden at daily or spring plant sales.

2025 Wildflower of the Year (submitted photo)

5. The garden has one of the oldest therapeutic horticulture programs in the country.

“A trained facilitator uses plants and nature-based activities to work towards the health and well-being goals of the participants,” said Emilee Weaver, therapeutic horticulture program manager. “It’s a very effective treatment because it’s motivating, and also really fun.” Weaver recently traveled overseas to help those affected by ongoing conflicts.

6. Garden staff safeguard rare and threatened plant species from extinction.

“We research how to introduce new, stronger populations to their native environments in North Carolina and throughout the Southeast,” said Mike Kunz, director of conservation programs. “We also manage a rare plant seed bank to collect seeds from wild populations of rare species and store that genetic material here at the garden.”

Paul Green Cabin (submitted photo)

7. You can learn about the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Chapel Hill native Paul Green in his former home.

The garden was chosen as the preservation site for the historic Paul Green Cabin after Green’s death in 1984.

Community garden (Dan Sears)

8. You can pick fresh produce from one of the Botanical Garden’s nine Edible Campus UNC garden sites.

Carolina Community Garden also grows food for the University’s housekeepers to use. Sign up to volunteer for one of the garden’s workdays.

Herbarium (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

9. The herbarium stores more than 800,000 plant specimens.

The process of pressing, drying and mounting a plant on a piece of paper dates to the 1500s. The UNC-Chapel Hill Herbarium, inconspicuously located in Coker Hall, houses the largest collection of these specimens in the Southeast.

“We have specimens that are over 200 years old,” said Alan Weakley, herbarium director. “Once these specimens are dried and preserved, they pretty much last indefinitely. We can study and measure them. We can rehydrate a flower to make it 3D again or extract DNA from a specimen to sequence it and study its evolution.”

Herb House (submitted photo)

10. Kids can visit a fairy garden, search for butterflies and take part in a scavenger hunt.

The garden is chock-full of family-friendly activities and special events. Little ones can enjoy a story in the garden’s quaint, fragrant and air-conditioned Herb House, play and dig in the Children’s Wonder Garden and attend weekend events and camps.