Botanical Gardens at Asheville
The French Broad River Garden Club Foundation, Zone VII
1970 Founders Fund Winner
Situated on a 10-acre property on the grounds of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the Botanical Gardens at Asheville exists to preserve and promote native plant species and habitats of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It also aims to increase public awareness of this region’s unique botanical diversity by maintaining gardens for the enjoyment of the public and by providing educational programs and research resources for the community.
In 1970, the tenth anniversary of the opening of the botanical gardens, The French Broad River Garden Club won the Founders Fund award to construct and plant a rock garden. Members chose a southeastern slope already dotted with natural rocks and two small springs to create their garden. Rare natives from the coast to the most westerly mountain top were sought and incorporated into terrain designed by nationally noted landscape architect Doan Ogden. Among the specimens used were the rare Shortia galacifolia (Acony Bell) which had been close to extinction and Magnolia macrophylla (Big Leaf Magnolia) which boasts the largest simple leaf and single flower of any native plant in North America.
Today, visitors flock to the area established by this Founders Fund Award throughout the late spring and early summer to see blooms of Spigelia marilanica (Indian Pink) fill this great spot of the garden.
