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A Remarkable
Garden The Juniper Level Botanic Garden is part
Myth Busters, part Twilight Zone, and part
Willy Wonka. Just imagine it, and you will see.
BY CHRISTINE R. GONZALEZ
A
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JUNIPER LEVEL BOTANIC GARDEN
S plantsman and founder Tony Avent explains, Juniper Level
Botanic Garden is a 28-acre idea, research station, and
conservation garden. He started the garden on two acres
of loamy tobacco land just south of Raleigh in 1988. He and
his now-deceased wife Michelle bought adjoining property
and grew the garden.
Avent is a bit like Willy Wonka in that he isn’t constrained by a limited imag-ination.
Many gardeners, he says, should look and think beyond what they see
their neighbors doing and should expand their plant and garden borders.
“People have no earthly idea what they can do if you just let your mind
get out of the way. We want people to come and see what 27,000 types
of different plants look like,” says Avent, who gifted the garden to his alma
mater, NC State, four years ago.
It is free but only open to the public eight weekends each year, or
by special appointment. The 2022 open dates began the weekend of
February 25-27 and continue March 4-6, April 29-May 1, May 6-8, with
four other dates later in the year.
The Avents totally changed the topography of the property by moving
600 dump truck loads of soil from one end to another to clear the way for
over a dozen greenhouses. The relocated soil was used to create berms
and build a 20-foot “mountain” in the rambling garden. They also had a
waterfall and pond placed on the property.
The garden is relaxed and free flowing without a lot of traditional design.
It features distinct sections, including a bog, a grotto, Southwest succulents,
hardy tropicals, a crevice garden, and several perennial and mixed borders.
Visual appeal is certainly part of the reason to drive a couple of hours
from New Hanover County for a visit, but there’s more to it than that.
“Our mission is a little different than most places you will find. It is
about collecting the plants, studying, sharing, and about conserving
the plants,” Avent says. “Throughout history, humanity has shared plant
germplasm. That’s how we eat. Most of our medicines come from plants,
so preserving plants is huge.”
2014 9241 grotto from south to north in winter toned.jpg
Clockwise from above: Lush greens of farfugium and phlox divaricata fill
the Juniper Level Botanic Garden’s woodland. JLBG founder Tony Avent
sits in the bog area among several types of pitcher plants. Franklinia
alatamaha, known as the Ben Franklin tree, produces fragrant white
flowers. A 300-foot crevice garden, built with repurposed concrete, was
completed in 2019. A waterfall flows over rock in the grotto garden.
14 march 2022
WBM