From the stark, sculpted beauty of the winter forest to the exuberant masses of summer flowers, Cape Fear Botanical Garden delights the eye, and the heart, year round.  The 77 acre urban forest provides nature trails, a natural amphitheater, steep ravines sheltering unusual plants, and a varied riparian terrain which steps from open pine forest down hardwood slopes to lush riverbank.  Ponds, pools and waterways, lodged like jewels in a brooch, attract birds and other fauna and provide habitat for aquatic plants.

In this stunning natural setting, the Garden’s botanists, designers and gardeners have added structures and plantings to enhance visitor enjoyment.  The Gazebo and Great Lawn, bordered by beds of perennial flowers, host casual visitors as well as wedding parties and group festivities.  The outdoor pavilion may shelter a quiet family picnic or host a kindergarten class during story time.

The many specialty gardens offer inspiration to adventurers who seek fresh ideas for their own gardens, provide a lovely backdrop for a weekend stroll and serve as living classrooms for students, in

elementary school and beyond.  Specialty gardens include the Camellia, Daylily and Shade garden which features hosta, columbine and other plants that require dense amounts of shade.  The Butterfly Stroll, a new addition to the Children's Garden, is a 450 foot, paved walk beside the Cypress pond that showcases over 100 different "butterfly irresistible" plant varieties.  Surrounding the Wyatt Visitors Pavilion Complex are a collection of sustainable oaks, fastigiate ironwoods, fringe trees, parrotias and long leaf pines.  These own-root, clonal trees have superior genetics and display uniform characteristics such as growth habit and leaf color.  Also featured in the landscape are a collection of magnolias and a gingko tree, given to the Garden in 1996 by the US National Arboretum in Washington, DC.

All the herons, egrets, swans, ducks, hawks, and migratory birds that are attracted to the garden have earned us the honor of being on the North Carolina Birding Trail (NCBT). The mission of the NCBT is, “to conserve and enhance North Carolina’s bird habitat by promoting sustainable bird watching activities, economic opportunities and conservation education.”

Here where one trail echoes the laughter of children and another the quiet talk of sauntering adults, one may explore heritage farm life in the Heritage Garden replete with an authentic 1886 farmhouse, period tools, gardens, outbuildings and heritage workshops. 

Visitors to the Botanical Garden find something in bloom all year round. They also discover a place where plants, trees and wildlife indigenous to the Cape Fear River Basin are meticulously preserved – for all to appreciate now, and for generations to come.