Piedmont Gardens

Piedmont Gardens

Exploring the gorgeous gardens in North Carolina's Piedmont is a year-round pleasure. For starters, there are lots of them, and they are diverse in size, style, and plant life. Many offer the charm of surprise, as they can be found in little-known places as well as open but unlikely spaces. From April until the first frost in November, for example, wildflowers offer dazzling bursts of color along the roads. Here's a sample of the state's signature gardens, regional treasures, and smaller gardens of note:

Asheboro: In the Uwharries mountains are the city of Asheboro and the North Carolina Zoological Park (4401 Zoo Pkwy. 336/879-7000 or 800/488-0444. www.nczoo.org), home not just to creatures great and small, but also botanicals from the Arctic to the tropics.

Belmont: The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden (6500 S. New Hope Rd., 13 mi west of Charlotte. 704/825-4490. www.stowegarden.org) is known for its painterly display of colors in a vast perennial garden, wildflower meadow, Canal Garden, and other themed areas.

Charlotte: At the Wing Haven Garden & Bird Sanctuary (248 Ridgewood Ave. 704/331-0664. www.winghavengardens.com), 4 acres of formal gardens in one of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods create a serene environment for feathered visitors and others.

Fayetteville: Cape Fear Botanical Garden (536 N. Eastern Blvd., 45 mi east of Aberdeen. 910/486-0221. www.capefearbg.org), at the confluence of the Cape Fear River and Cross Creek, consists of old-growth forest, a laboratory for ornamental horticulture, and a heritage garden with a re-created 19th-century farmstead.

Greensboro: Sandwiched between two busy roads, the Bicentennial Gardens & Bog Garden (Hobbs Rd. and Starmount Farms Dr. 336/373-2199. www.greensborobeautiful.org) flourish almost despite themselves. The garden beds are carefully tended, especially compared to the nearby bog, whose natural setting includes wooden walkways over water and wetlands.

Hillsborough: In its annual paean to America's best private gardens, the Garden Conservancy has hailed historic Hillsborough's Chatwood Garden (1900 Faucette Mill Rd., 12 mi north of Chapel Hill. 919/644-0791), with its camellia collections, walled rose garden, woodland area, and heritage fruit-and-vegetable garden. Tours are by reservation only for groups of five or more.

Raleigh: JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University (4415 Beryl Rd. 919/515-3132. www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum) is primarily a working, research, and teaching garden; it has the most diverse collection of hardy temperate-zone plants in the southeastern United States, a white garden, a 450-foot-long perennial border, and more.