Bullington Gardens is a local treasure, not far from our home. With the raffle of the Sunset Dahlia quilt that I quilted for them coming up, I thought you’d like to have a virtual visit to the public botanical garden on 12 acres that the fundraiser is for. These photos were taken some time ago, I’ve just not shared them on the blog before now. Bullington Gardens owned and managed by a partnership of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension & Henderson County Public Schools, along with a lot of volunteers.
The mission of the garden is “To connect children and adults with the natural world through science-based horticultural education; to demonstrate the beauty and value of native and ornamental plants through themed public gardens; and to enhance life skills for children and adults with physical or mental challenges through horticultural therapy”.
The property is divided into a number of themed areas. This Therapy Garden is specifically designed for those with limited mobility, incorporating raised beds and a greenhouse.
It is a lovely area to walk around.
Beautiful annuals are planted every year.
It also has a lovely pond in this section.
A large pavilion provides shade for a leisurely lunch or meeting.
Nice walking paths lead the visitor to more gardens. This one had a beautiful clematis in bloom when I was there.
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
From the Bullington website – “Bob Bullington who was a NY City policeman had a true passion for horticulture which he finally pursued full time after retiring when he moved to Hendersonville with his wife Sally and founded Flora Knoll Farms in 1979. He operated the ornamental nursery until his passing in 1989. He had a vision for introducing new and unusual plants in to the nursery trade that included native azaleas, new varieties of mountain laurel and trees from Asia, mature examples of which can be found in the gardens such as a variety of Japanese maples, Tanyosho Japanese red pine, kousa dogwoods, Japanese stewartia, paper bark maple and Japanese pagoda tree. Other specimen plants include a Sargeant’s weeping hemlock, double flowering dogwood, big leaf magnolia and yellowwood.”
A wooden arch leads to the nature trail, a walking path through the forest. It is 1/2-mile long, leading past old growth rhododendrons, azaleas and native forest trees, ending at the Reflection Garden.
It was shady and all green when I was there in the summer.
Leading to the Pollinator Gardens, this fun display shows a caterpillar as you walk towards it…
and changes to a butterfly as you walk away.
There are several garden areas with native perennials.
Lots of pollinators were taking advantage as I took photos. Bees and butterflies were enjoying the floral bounty.
Another display shows a pollinator as you approached…
and fruit as you walked by, demonstrating in a visual way how our food production is tied to our pollinators.
A stand of lavender blooms alongside the brick path.
Soft pink flowers covered this shrub. I think this is another clematis.
Large pink hydrangeas were also in bloom on this visit. Bullington has 12 separate gardens and facilities including a rain garden of wetland plants, an herb garden, shade garden, and their summertime Fairy Trail, a walking trail with little fairy villages and tiny homes dotted into the landscape.
Bullington is known for its Dahlia Gardens with over 400 dahlia plants!
Hundreds of different varieties bloom at different times.
This pink one was stunning in its form and brilliant color. Is is no wonder that their main fundraiser of the year is called Dahlia Days. Unfortunately, that had to be canceled this year.
It made the choice of a quilt for them easy, with the Dahlia panel. This quilt has been hanging at Beginnings for a month, and will be taken down this coming week to delivered to Bullington so they have it for the drawing. Ticket sales for quilt raffle end Sept 30, and the drawing will be held on October 2. You can purchase tickets online at Bullington Raffle Tickets. See more photos of the Sunset Dahlia wall hanging quilt on my Sunset Dahlia Quilt for Bullington Gardens page.
Did you enjoy our virtual garden walk?
From My Carolina Home 
Your quilt is spectacular! I wasn’t aware of these gardens, thank you for sharing them with your readers.
I did enjoy my virtual walk in the garden, You took a lot of good pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful stroll, gorgeous quilt. I’m happy to say I have a couple chances toward it.
Carole, thank you for sharing your pictures of this beautiful spot. It is colourful, and so peaceful. I do love garden spaces
Lynn
I was not aware of these gardens. Such a great mission. This is going on my bucket list as I go by Henderson frequently during the year.
Wow, how pretty! I love to admire gardens, but do not enjoy the work! This was the best of all worlds, I did not have to do the work! I love the fact that they are helping the disabled!
What a beautiful place, hope the quilt raises lots of money!!! That quilt is gorgeous, you did a great job on it!
When my mom was alive I loved being able to take her to places like this in her wheelchair and I could push it somewhat easily so she could be outside and see the gardens up close – I hope your wall hanging raises a bit of money
I live in Pisgah Forest and even though this is pretty close to where I live I never knew it was there until your posting about the raffle. I bought I few tickets so keeping my fingers crossed. Your pictures are lovely. I’m putting this walk on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing and thank you for your donation to a beautiful space!
Absolutely Fabulous. Thank you for sharing with us. And thank you for the donation of the gorgeous quilt.
Love this post. Thank you for sharing. Due this pandemic we are not able to go places like we have done in the past. Love the flowers. Will be putting Bullington Gardens on our to do list.
Love the quilt and the virtual stroll in the beautiful gardens. Thanks for sharing, Carole!
What a wonderful garden. It looks like it was a beautiful day.
Thank you for sharing Carole
I do love seeing the gardens from different parts of the country. What a beautiful place and your photographs were wonderful.
The dahlia quilt is wonderful. The photography shows off the quilting. Thank you for the inspirational post.
Peaceful garden walk. Thank you for sharing and the quilt will be a hit.
What a lovely stroll through those amazing gardens! What a treasure!
Your quilting is just beautiful on that panel. It really comes to life! I hope it brings in a wonderful support for the gardens!
Thank you for the virtual walk through the beautiful gardens. If I had to pick a word I’d say peaceful. I really also liked the displays that changed as you went by them. I will miss the monarchs and honey bees as they leave before the cold of winter. I think your gorgeous quilt should bring in lots of support for the gardens.
While sunny today, it is 47 degrees here just before noon so your virtual tour was much appreciated. Probably the only walk through a garden I will do today.
I loved you my walk thru the garden and I love your Dahlia quilt. Its absolutely gorgeous!!!!!
Such a beautiful place, loved the visit! I enjoy those kinds of places, too. Hope your quilt brings in lots of money for the gardens!
It’s a beautiful garden! I hope I win the quilt but was happy to make the donation.
Love your Dahlia quilt! So many different quilting patterns enhance this panel! I bet this was truly a labor of love!
Bullington gardens has exceptional landscape architecture and the plantings are awesome. I am going to put this on my wish list of places to visit.
So kind of you to share these beautiful delights!
Thanks for the tour of a beautiful garden. Loved all the color!
Love the virtual tour! Thank you for sharing it with us!! I love those zinnias and have some I started from seeds I the spring…they are now over 5’ tall!! They are amazing and continue to bloom through the sweltering heat of South Georgia!! Blessings to you!
That was a lovely visit to the gardens.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful tour! I felt peace just staring at the photos.
I love the tours and your photography is amazing! Thanks for sharing your visits to such amazing nature trails and gardens.
I follow you on FB and just now hearing of the quilt raffle! How does one enter or get a ticket? Thanks for your reply!
Last paragraph in the post, click on the red letters ‘Bullington Raffle Tickets’, it is a link to the ticket sale page at Bullington. Anytime you see lettering in red, it is a link.
What a lovely walking garden. Thank you for sharing with us.
THat is a beautiful garden to visit, thank you for sharing. Your quilt is stunning too.
What a beautiful area. The flowers are stunning.
That sounds like a wonderful place and a wonderful place to stroll about! I enjoyed the photos. That quilt you made is also wonderful (lot of “wonderful” going on in this post) 🙂
The quilt is beautiful! I hope it raises LOTS of money. The garden is lovely also. Thank you for the time you put into all the postings and pictures, I really enjoy seeing another part of the states. I’m particularly jealous of your foxes you showed a few days ago. I have lots of coyotes here in Northern California, and there are foxes around but we just never see them. Happy Days to you!
What a beautiful place to stroll and enjoy! Your quilt is absolutely amazing, wow Carole it is a show stopper!
Jenna
What a beautiful walk through the gardens. Thank you, Carole! A friend of mine (a long-arm quilter) has done several of the dahlia panels and I mush say yours and each and every one of hers has turned out beautifully. Great way to help Bullington Gardens raise some much-needed money.