For more than 30 years, the North Carolina Arboretum has been cultivating connections between people, plants and places amid a 434-acre public garden. The Arboretum is located within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest just south of Asheville and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 393. Surrounded and crisscrossed by forested coves and meandering creeks in the botanically diverse Southern Appalachian Mountains, The North Carolina Arboretum is set in one of the most beautiful natural settings in America.
The Arboretum was established as an affiliate of the University of North Carolina System by the State General Assembly in 1986, nearly a century after Frederick law Olmsted, the Father of American Landscape Architecture, first envisioned a research arboretum as part of his legacy and plan for George Vanderbilt at Biltmore Estate.
26,959
children reached through school visits and programs last year
65
acres of cultivated gardens, including the Bonsai Exhibition Garden and the National Native Azalea Collection accredited by the Plant Collections Network
2,000
samples collected of native seeds and endophytes