UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens

North Carolina, United States

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The UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, established in 1966, began as a unique initiative by biology professor Dr. Herbert Hechenbleikner and university founder Bonnie E. Cone, who envisioned a botanical garden serving as a living classroom for students without a formal horticulture program.

The gardens now cover 10 acres of outdoor landscaped areas and include a 4,500-square-foot glasshouse with a teaching classroom and a botanical library. The gardens feature major collections like the Ralph Van Landingham Glen with over 3,500 rhododendrons and azaleas, the Susie Harwood Garden with diverse trees, shrubs, and annuals, and notable tropical and carnivorous plant exhibits inside the McMillan Greenhouse.

Over the decades, the gardens have flourished into a vital resource for education, research, and public enjoyment, continually expanding its plant collections and specialty gardens to offer a diverse horticultural experience accessible to all visitors free of charge.