North Carolina Aboreteum

The North Carolina Arboretum is adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 393 inside Pisgah National Forest near Asheville. Parking fees are the only charge for visiting. We thought the fee of $8/car was fair when divided by the number of people in the vehicle. In our case that was 5 so we basically paid $1.60 each to visit this 434 acre public garden. Commercial vehicles and buses pay more for parking. According to the website, parking is free the first Tuesday of every month.

This place is magnificent. We visited in late May for S's birthday because she's very interested in plants. The main thing she wanted to see was the quilt garden.




The Bonsai Collection fascinated the girls. The Mountain Laurel pictured below was the overall favorite.



You really don’t want to forget your camera when you visit the North Carolina Arboretum. There are terrific places to pose the kids for photos…assuming they cooperate. We got some wonderful pictures of the girls during the few hours we were there. The whole place is gorgeous and there are benches everywhere.






The North Carolina Arboretum offers more than 10 miles of hiking and biking trails. We didn’t take any of the trails on our first visit since we had combined the Arboretum with our visit to The Western North Carolina Nature Center. (You can find my review of the Nature Center here.)

There are Discovery Day Packs available for loan from the Baker Exhibit Center and Education Center. You’ll need to leave a drivers license or Arboretum Membership Card with them while you use the day pack. Packs are free to borrow and include a notebook, binoculars, insect net, magnifying jar, seasonal activity and kid’s guide to discovering the arboretum. We didn’t use one on our visit but I wanted to point out the availability. There’s also an interactive learning space on the ground level of the Education Center.

Although it has been 5 months since our visit, S still talks about the NC Arboretum. I think she wants to spend her birthday there again in 2011.