The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, one of our stops during the recent Garden Bloggers Fling, offers not only formal gardens, naturalistic gardens, a Professional Landscape Garden, and a bonsai exhibit, to name a few, but miles of trails on hilly terrain and framed views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I strolled through the gardens and came upon this finger-like sculpture. Recognize it? It’s the image from the Asheville Fling banner. The sculpture, by Martin Webster, is called A Hedge Against Extinction.

Hedges there were aplenty, as well as iconic trees, as befits an arboretum.

A beautifully contorted Japanese maple

Iris were in bloom…

…as well as lavender.

I was smitten by these white flowers with pale, freckled faces.

Does anyone know the name? Update: Agrostemma githago ‘Ocean Pearls.’ My thanks to Kaveh for the ID.

This was a surprise: culvert pipe planters, like the ones I’ve got in my own garden. I never expected to see funky, construction-material reuse at a botanic garden. But then again, this is Asheville, where recycled materials adorn the local gardens. These do seem a bit underplanted, however.

My favorite part of our visit was the chance to explore “Wicked Plants: The Exhibit”, a macabre display based on author Amy Stewart‘s Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities.

The exhibit is set up to resemble a decrepit, eerie house, with sinister portraits on the walls, peeling wallpaper, faded Victorian furniture—the works. It was convincingly constructed.

As you explore the various rooms, you can handle the props, like the place settings at this table, which contain questions and clues about killer plants. In one room a corpse (fake, of course) actually lies sprawled on a table, and you soon realize you’re trying to solve a mysterious death by examining the evidence in the room—personal letters, framed newspaper clippings on the walls, and “old” books lying on the tables—to determine what killed her. (Hint: it’s plant related.)

I found it marvelously engaging, satisfyingly creepy, and even educational. The exhibit remains at the North Carolina Arboretum until September 3, and then it will begin touring the country. If you get a chance, go see it. And take the kids—they’ll love the eeriness and hands-on nature of the exhibit.

For a look back at the Biltmore House gardens, click here. Next up, my final post from the Asheville Fling: A stroll through the White Gate Inn’s cottage-style garden.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Blue bottles on blue trees

Blue chairs

Blue flying baby heads

Blue walls

Blue rocks

And ‘Blue Pearl’ poppies, the bluer ones in this group—a new cultivar selected by Christopher Mello, who welcomed nearly 90 garden bloggers into his eclectic, colorful, recycled-art garden on the first day of the Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling earlier this month.

Christopher also invites the public into his garden, particularly with enticing features like his shaggy, circular lawn…

…and corral of shovel heads on rebar stakes…

…which surrounds a gravel pit and a herd of Tonka trucks. What child—of any age—could resist?

There were plenty of pretty flowers and colorful foliage too, especially in shades of pink, purple, and red, like this campanula.

Dusky poppies

Pretty container plantings

And succulents in a recycled metal container

Christopher Mello has a remarkable ability to see possibilities in scrap metal, like this rustic, stylized stream and pond.

A tableau of tiny plants pops up through an old metal grate

Another skull? Oh yes, Asheville’s gardens are teeming with them. It’s a regular boneyard out there.

In Christopher’s no-holds-barred garden, even a dead tree can be the most colorful focal point in sight. He painted this one bright orange and festooned the ends with blue bottles—a twist on the old Southern tradition.

A dainty, chartreuse vine twines its way up, adding additional color.

A new American Gothic? Big thanks to Christopher for sharing his free-spirited garden with us.

For a look back at the Burton Street Community Peace Garden and the Sunny Point Cafe Garden, click here. Next up: A sampling from the Biltmore House gardens.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Wallowing in poppy goodness, the bees and I enjoyed a visit to the Burton Street Community Peace Garden while in Asheville recently for the Garden Bloggers Fling. Look at this girl’s full pollen basket on her legs.

Like slipping into satin sheets

Dusted with pollen

Off to the next one

A bee’s work is never done.

There were also lilies…

…and interesting foliage.

Mostly though, the Burton Street Community Peace Garden is about, well, community, and providing a shared gathering space. Most of the garden is given over to constructions made of recycled junk, and quite a bit of it was created to make a statement about the wastefulness of our throwaway society, or so it seemed to me. Christopher, the chief planner of the Fling, has written a good post about the point of a largely non-plant, junk-art garden, if you’re interested to know why he put it on the itinerary.

Skulls seemed to be a theme in Asheville gardens, as we’d seen quite a few at Wamboldtopia too.

Later that day we were also treated to a visit to a food garden: the Sunny Point Cafe Garden. It’s quite large, and I wondered if they are really able to use all their produce in the restaurant or if they have a lot of surplus.

Sunny P. Bacon greets you at the entrance.

Rows of edibles

Asheville gardens always seem to include a place to gather with friends, and this one is no exception.

Pretty eryngium, or sea holly

In this small bed, even the silverware has sprouted.

Silverware flowers!

For a look back at the whimsical-Goth garden called Wamboldtopia, click here. Next up: The yard-art garden of Christopher Mello.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.