The North Carolina Arboretum

Whether it’s a meadow covered in spring wildflowers, a forest teeming with colorful blooms of the rhododendron, or a grove of towering hemlocks, the Smoky Mountain landscape is defined by an incredible array of plant life. But visitors to the region don’t have to scale every mountaintop for a glimpse of the diverse fauna. The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville brings it all together.

Sprawling over 434 acres that were once part of the Pisgah National Forest, the Arboretum features rows of cultivated gardens that are uniquely Appalachian, including the Heritage and Quilt gardens. Even the nationally renowned Bonsai Garden has a distinctly mountain twist.

“Early on, we made a concerted philosophical stand that says the Arboretum is about celebrating the Southern Appalachian culture,” said Arboretum Director George Briggs.

Thanks in large part to Briggs’ leadership, the Arboretum has become much more than a place to stop and smell the flowers. Social responsibility is a major part of the Arboretum’s mission, and it’s becoming a leading voice on conservation and economic development in the region.  

“The vision of what an arboretum can and should be is not set in stone,” said Arthur Joura, curator of the Bonsai Garden. “The work that George has done here is expanding those horizons and opening up new possibilities for the role that a public garden plays in the community.”

An idea takes root

In the early 1900s, the site of the N.C. Arboretum was a part of George Vanderbilt’s vast Biltmore Estate. The man who designed Biltmore’s famous gardens — renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — was the first to envision having an arboretum on the property. Olmstead died before realizing his dream, and it would be years before the idea took root. 

Vanderbilt sold the tract of land to the federal government, and in 1925, the Bent Creek Experimental Forest was established. Scientists still use the research facility to demonstrate and develop sound forestry practices.

In 1986, the U.S. Forest Service carved out part of Bent Creek and sold the land to the state of North Carolina with the aim of creating an arboretum. The University of North Carolina system was put in charge of overseeing the proposed facility.

Briggs chuckles a little as he recounts the Arboretum’s humble beginnings — when he arrived in 1988, it was little more than a donated trailer in the middle of the woods. 

The first garden was planted at the site in 1991, and thanks to Briggs’ vision, the N.C. Arboretum has kept growing ever since. Today, the Arboretum welcomes thousands of visitors, who come each year to marvel at the diverse collection of native mountain plants and to learn about the rich culture of the Appalachians.

A craft tradition

The Arboretum is much more than a plant collection. Research, education and conservation are some of its other missions, but the 65 acres of public gardens remain the core attraction. Each provides a different perspective into mountain culture.

Among the largest, and newest, is the 20,000-square-foot Heritage Garden. Mountain artists have long used the dogwoods, irises and other native plants found here to weave, dye and carve their wares, creating a multi-million-dollar industry that is a major economic driver in the region.

“In its true essence, the garden celebrates the cultural history of North Carolina and the Southern Appalachian region specifically through plants that are used as crafts,” said Alison Arnold, director of horticulture at the Arboretum.

Through the garden’s exhibits, visitors learn surprising uses for trees, bushes and shrubs often found right in their own backyards.

“I don’t think people are aware that a lot of different plants used for these products are in everybody’s garden,” Arnold said.

The garden highlights plants used in four traditional Appalachian art mediums. For example, paper can be made out of the thin, green leaves of an iris flower. The yellow petals of a black-eyed Susan, as well as the hulls of black walnuts, are used to make dye.  Early settlers to the area fashioned coarse broomcorn grass into brooms. The vines of a honeysuckle bush can be woven into a basket.

Yet another Appalachian craft is honored in the Arboretum’s Quilt Garden, which blooms each spring into a different, traditional quilting pattern.

Bonsai with a twist

The N.C. Arboretum’s most renowned garden doesn’t honor a traditional mountain craft — rather, it gives an Appalachian twist to the ancient Japanese art of bonsai. The collection features miniature, living versions of native mountain plants and has earned national recognition for its unique approach. It’s the only exhibit in the country that gives bonsai a regional, rather than Asian, flair. 

It all started in 1991, when a long-time bonsai grower offered the Arboretum her sizeable collection, made up of traditional bonsai plants like Japanese maple and juniper. The Arboretum had never considered starting a bonsai garden but decided to accept the donation.

“We were open to it because at that point, the Arboretum was still very new, and truthfully, not a whole lot was here for people to see,” said Arthur Joura, curator of the Bonsai Garden. “So we were actively looking for things that would make it worth the public’s while to come and visit.”

But there was one problem — the Japanese-themed collection wasn’t in keeping with the Arboretum’s emphasis on plants from the Southern Appalachians.  

“One day, (Director George Briggs) approached me and said ‘Look, you have to help me explain this,’” Joura recalled. “People are starting to ask me why the Arboretum has a collection of Japanese plants, and you have to help me explain to them how this fits in with our overall mission of expressing the flora and culture of the Southern Appalachians.”

So Joura set to work figuring out how to make the Bonsai applicable to the region.

“We knew we didn’t want it to be an Asian-identified thing — it had to connect with our region and what the Arboretum is all about,” said Joura.  “I went to work on finding ways to identify it in that fashion, and what that led to was a stripping away of all the Asian connotations.”

Joura concluded that he could switch develop bonsaia from plants native to the mountain region, and provide a unique and interesting way for people to learn about Appalachian plants.

“I realized it could be a vehicle of talking about nature, and it didn’t have to be nature from Japan — it could be nature from your backyard,” he said. 

Joura began using native plant material to create miniature replicas of trees common to the region. His approach differed from traditional bonsai, which meticulously grooms plants to grow in ways they don’t in nature. For example, a Japanese maple grown in a traditional bonsai fashion has its limbs trained to droop downward, while the limbs of those found in nature point in various directions.

“We’re following a more naturalistic example, observing trees in nature and modeling the shapes of our trees on that example,” said Joura.

Bonsai in the collection look strikingly similar to plants found in nature. One traditional tray landscape scene, a common way to display bonsai, depicts Mt. Mitchell — complete with a dead hemlock tree that looks exactly like many in the region that have been felled by the wooly adelgid, an insect infestation. In another tray depicting Roan Mountain, an azalea sprouts miniature blossoms that look just like rhododendron blooms.

Joura said visitors often recognize both scenes without reading the plaque that describes them.

“For people who have been there, the connection is immediate,” he said.

Joura has even used the scene of the dead hemlock as an educational tool.

“It’s a vehicle for expressing the environmental problems that high elevations are facing,” he said.

The Appalachian-themed bonsai collection is a constant source of amazement for visitors who’ve never seen anything like it.

“I really like working with native plants, because it’s such a useful vehicle for shaking people out of their preconceived ideas and giving them an opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes,” said Joura.  “If they come in here and see we have a flowering dogwood in our collection, that stops a lot of people in their tracks.”

The Arboretum’s collection continues to be the sole regionally themed bonsai collection in the country.

“If you go to these other places that have collections, what you’ll find without exception is that they present it as an Asian horticultural art,” Joura said. “They all embrace that identification. They absolutely do not have a regional theme. That is something that is unique to this place.”

Other species on display at the bonsai exhibit include American hornbeam, Eastern red cedar, and white pine. The total number of plants in the collection reaches well into the hundreds, many of which are donations the Arboretum has received over the years.

The full collection goes on display at the end of April.  

More than a garden

The N.C. Arboretum also has a major research component, whether it’s finding new uses for native plants or working to conserve them.

At the Bent Creek Institute, founded as an outgrowth of the Arboretum, scientists are studying the medical properties of native plants. Natural cures are nothing new to the region. The Cherokee Indians who lived in the area were well aware that plants could cure everything from a toothache to a poison ivy rash.  

Now, Bent Creek scientists are figuring out how to turn an old mountain practice into a lucrative and sustainable industry. They’re currently examining 12 regional medicinal plants for their cancer-fighting properties. Researchers are also examining ways to tap into nature for products like dietary supplements. China is a leading importer of natural products to the United States. Since the industry is largely unregulated, there’s often no way to tell if a product actually contains the type or amount of substance that’s written on the label. Bent Creek scientists run tests on imported natural products to determine whether they match up with their label. If they can show that the products that currently dominate the market aren’t consistent, plants that come from the Appalachians may be more desirable.

Of course, using plants as an economic development tool is contingent upon their continued survival, especially when the region’s fauna face a significant threat from climate change.  

A warming average temperature has already pushed the world’s climate zone northward, affecting both the length of the growing season as well as the types of plants that can be cultivated in an environment. Scientists also predict more extreme cold snaps due to climate change, which could deal a potentially devastating blow to plant life. The phenomenon threatens the very existence of botanical gardens like the Arboretum.

“A lot of major gardens are becoming more focused on this because plant life is one of the early victims of climate change,” Briggs said.  

The Arboretum is particularly well situated since the World Data Center for Meteorology, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is located in Asheville. The center is a hub for weather and climate information compiled by scientists all over the world.

“We’re sitting in a natural laboratory positioned adjacent to one of the primary federal resources to deal with this issue,” Briggs said. “The research potential is pretty important.”

On the Right Path

Most people don’t use the term “visionary” to describe just anyone. But it’s a word heard again and again when people talk about North Carolina Arboretum Director George Briggs.

Briggs has served as the Arboretum’s sole director since it was established. In the 22 years he’s been at the helm, Briggs has redefined the role of a botanical garden and brought the Arboretum to a level of national recognition. He’s worked tirelessly not just for the plants of the Southern Appalachians, but on behalf of the culture as a whole.

“He came here when this was nothing but an old bank trailer parked in the middle of 426 acres of trees,” said Arthur Joura, the curator of the Arboretum’s renowned Bonsai Garden.  

Briggs nearly missed out on a career as a landscape architect.  Horticulture had always fascinated him, but instead, he embarked on two other career paths he felt were more practical — earning degrees in both business and law.  

But shortly after law school, Briggs finally gave in to his passion for plants and went back for yet another degree, this time in landscape architecture.

Briggs attended the University of Virginia for his graduate studies and was profoundly influenced by some of the ideas of the university’s founding father, Thomas Jefferson.  Briggs began to wrap his head around a totally new concept of landscaping. It was much more than nurseries and plants, he discovered.

“I became influenced by Thomas Jefferson and the ethic of planning and landscape architecture,” Briggs recalled. “It opened my eyes to a whole different world — landscape architecture as both a profession and a regional influence.”

Briggs served a stint as director of an arboretum in Lincoln, Neb. before accepting the position in North Carolina in 1988. Briggs worked to create a facility that stood out from the rest.

“From the very beginning, he looked at this place much differently than botanical gardens are often looked at,” says Alison Arnold, the Arboretum’s director of horticulture. “He knew this place needed to be different.”

Briggs takes a holistic view on conservation. To him, the acres of gardens at the Arboretum are more than just a pretty sight. They’re also a way to foster an understanding and appreciation for Appalachian culture. Research at the Arboretum focuses on turning plants into tools for economic development and improving life in the region. And under Briggs, the Arboretum plays yet another role as a place where the effects of climate change can be studied in an effort to preserve native plant life. 

“He has kind of a visionary quality in terms of how he looks at this place and how it’s supposed to be,” said Joura. “If he didn’t have that, he probably wouldn’t have been open to the idea of a bonsai garden.”

It was Briggs’ unconventional thinking, said Joura, that helped foster the Arboretum’s Bonsai Garden. Today, the collection is the country’s only bonsai garden with a local rather than Asian design. It’s one of the Arboretum’s biggest successes.

Under Briggs’ direction, the Arboretum continues to break ground in many areas — from  its research to rotating science and art exhibits.

For Briggs, the possibilities are endless.

“The further it goes, the higher I get with adrenaline,” he said. “It has so much potential in so many directions. There’s no ceiling on what this place can become.”