Page 61 - Wilmington VG 2026

NATURE
Color Code: Wilmington | Carolina Beach | Kure Beach | Wrightsville Beach
The Wilmington area is filled with
fantastic gardens – fragrant, wildly
colorful and abuzz with pollinators
– and places to get into nature.

See the nearly 500-year-old Airlie Oak at
Airlie Gardens!
The New Hanover County Arboretum is
home to seven acres of themed gardens
with native plants.
At Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant
Garden, an accessible boardwalk provides
up-close views of flytraps, pitcherplants
and sundews.
Walk among birds and wildlife at
Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve
on the UNCW campus.
Stroll through Wrightsville Beach’s
Harbor Way Gardens, North Carolina’s only
public garden with Witherspoon roses.
Accessible only by water, Zeke’s Island
Reserve and Masonboro Island
Reserve are oases for birds, turtles
and other wildlife.
Carolina Beach State Park’s Sugarloaf Trail
is three miles through maritime forest, tidal
wetlands and riverside dunes.

Carolina Beach State Park

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