Wildlife and nature

Animal shelters and rescues

Theater and dance

Rivers, parks and trails

Hunger and food

Schools and learning

Housing and homelessness

Community health

Mental health

Mentoring and foster care

Legal help and rights

Jobs and money help

Atlanta

The Triangle

Everywhere

The Collective Workshop

Royal Animal Refuge

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta

Georgia Advancing Communities Together

Atlanta Writers Club

Cobb Collaborative

Bosleys Place

Jewish Fertility Foundation

Damon Waitt

Michael Kunz

Events

Videos

About

North Carolina Botanical Garden Essentials

Have you ever looked at a big patch of trout lilies and wondered how many there actually were? Here, NCBG research botanist Scott Ward (@newyork_botany) takes to the Piedmont Nature Trails behind the Garden to demonstrate a simple, old-school method plant ecologists still use to estimate the number of plants in an area. Dimpled trout lilies (Erythronium umbilicatum), the most common trout lilies in our area, are blooming now in their large, clonal mats. This species is endemic to the Southeast! If you live in the Triangle area, American trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) are less common, but you can occasionally find them. This species – more common in the Northeast – typically blooms a couple of weeks after the dimpled trout lilies here. A key way to tell them apart is by prying apart the flower to look at the ovary: dimpled trout lilies have a striking dimple (like an innie belly button) at the top, whereas American trout lily ovaries end in a smooth, round, un-dimpled top.

Please remember that glitter is litter as you celebrate graduations, weddings, and everything else this time of year! Last weekend, guests at the Garden used shredded mylar for a photo op, and our staff has spent hours trying to clean it up. Microplastics, including glitter and other small plastics, are terrible for our environment. Instead, use a filter to make your photos look like you used glitter without actually littering. In addition, please don't celebrate by throwing seeds--leave the planting to our highly-skilled gardening staff!

Big news! UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University will unite their herbaria under the management of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Together, the collection will comprise about 1.7 million specimens, making it the third-largest university herbarium in the country after Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley; and the largest in the southeastern United States. Herbaria are collections of preserved plant specimens that serve as irreplaceable scientific archives and enable researchers to study biodiversity, long-term climate shifts, invasive species and other changes in plant life across generations. Find out more on our website: https://ncbg.unc.edu/2026/08/31/unc-chapel-hill-duke-combine-herbaria

Check out a few of the beautiful plants our team has the opportunity to work with in the coastal plain of North Carolina… These photos have been taken by members of our Conservation Department over the past couple months of their field excursions! Cleistesiopsis divaricata (large dragonhead pogonia) — imperiled in NC Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus (tuberosus grass-pink) — vulnerable in NC Hypericum species 2 — endemic to wet pine savannas of NC’s outer coastal plain Sarracenia flava (yellow pitcherplant) Spiranthes eatonii (Eaton’s ladies’-tresses) — globally vulnerable Stenanthium densum (crow-poison) Pogonia ophioglossoides (rose pogonia) — threatened in NC Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) in fruit! — globally imperiled Aletris farinosa (white-tubed colicroot) Cleistesiopsis oricamporum (small dragonhead pogonia) — globally vulnerable Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus (tuberosus grass-pink) (again!) Triantha racemosa (coastal false asphodel) Eurybia paludosa (southern swamp aster) Rhexia alifanus (rose meadowbeauty)

Goldenrods (Solidago) are among our region’s most diverse groups of southeastern wildlfowers, so how can we better identify them? Join Botanist Scott Ward in a multi-video tribute to identifying some of our region’s conspicuous (and not so conspicuous) species. Featured in part one are guides to identifying Pineywoods goldenrod, Silverrod and Southeastern Bold Goldenrod. Stay tuned for more featured species this fall! #Solidago #Goldenrods #Asters #NativePlants #NorthCarolinaBotanicalGarden

The spring ephemerals (and ephemeral-adjacent wildflowers) are coming and going quickly — as is their way! The bloodroot and trout lilies are already mostly past their peak; the trilliums and windflowers are just getting started. Here’s some of what we’ve seen this week. 1: Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis): Technically not a true ephemeral because its leaves last into summer, but its flowers last for only a few days! 2: Little sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum): The first of many in our Mountain Habitat have started to bloom. Also called purple toadshade! 3: Dimpled trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum): Distinguishable from the closely related American trout lily by the dimple (like an innie bellie button) at the top of its ovary, which you can see if you peel back the tepals. 4: Windflower (Thalictrum thalictroides) 5: Sandhills pyxie moss (Pyxidanthera barbulata var. brevifolia): Rescued three years ago from a site in the North Carolina Sandhills slated for clearing. 6: Leatherwood (Dirca palustris): Most of this plants common names (also leatherbark, rope-bark) refer to its use by Indigenous Peoples for cordage. 7: Windflower (Thalictrum thalictroides) 8: Sharp-lobed liverleaf (Hepatica acutiloba) 9: A big patch of bloodroot, already on its way out, in our Mountain Habitat.

There’s nothing like April in Chapel Hill. The Garden is awash with rainbows: red buckeyes, orange Florida flame azaleas, yellow golden ragwort, green EVERYTHING, blue phlox, purple irises. 🌈🌳🌸 Here’s some of what’s been blooming this week: 1: Golden ragwort (Packera aurea) in the foreground; red buckeye and azalea in the background. 2: Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) 3: Rose (Rosa ‘Old Blush’) 4: Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata) 5: Great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) and eastern blue phlox 6: Perfoliate bellowort (Uvularia perfoliata) 7: Azalea and red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) 8: Eastern blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) 9: Florida anise-tree (Illicium floridanum) 10: Northern sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis ssp. perennis) 11: Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) 12: Atamasco lilies (Zephyranthes atamasco) 13: Coastal Plain dwarf iris (Iris verna) 14: Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) 15: Eastern bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) 16: Scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) in front of foamflower 17: Lady Banks rose (Rosa banksiae ‘Alba’) 18: Tall blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis) 19: Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) with ragwort and phlox 20: Coastal doghobble (Leucothoe axillaris) P.S. A note from Emily, outgoing communications & exhibits coordinator: I’ve been managing the Garden’s social media since 2017, but I’m leaving this week for a new role. It has been the honor of a lifetime to get to share the beauty and magic of this incredible place with y’all. Thanks for following along – and stay tuned for lots of exciting things coming from the Garden soon! ❤️

In nutrient-poor environments across the world, plants have evolved unique ways to supplement their diets with insects. Catching the insects is the trick. In the southeastern United States, 5 different types of native carnivorous plants can be found, and in our state of North Carolina, all five can be seen growing in the wild. Join NCBG Research Botanist Scott Ward from the field as he gives a quick run-down of our region’s carnivorous plants. For those looking to see these fascinating plants in action, come visit the garden Tuesday-Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm, where our carnivorous plant beds are cared for meticulously by Horticulture staff year-round. #CarnivorousPlants #NativePlants #NorthCarolinaBotanicalGarden #VenusFlyTraps

Collective

Collections

Account

North Carolina Botanical Garden Essentials