This arboretum and botanical garden is southwest of Asheville, North Carolina, within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest of the Pisgah National Forest. Admission is free but there is a nominal parking fee.
In retrospect, we should have gone here in the spring. It was blazing hot but the gardens were worth it. There is a large building at the entrance that houses the bathrooms and gift store. After perusing the store, we headed out to the gardens.
We ran into tons of high schoolers taking their senior pics or maybe it was for their proms? Who knows but we were unsuccessfully trying to dodge them at popular spots.
There was the Olmsted statue area, the quilt garden, the miniature town/train area, the amphitheater, the Japanese garden and a larger building with quilt exhibits and spaces for educational programming.
There was also an area back near the entrance where they were setting up for a wedding which was cool to watch.
This was a nice weekend excursion. It was a short drive and there were so many flowers to photograph so I was in my happy place.
Yeah That Courtney 