Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

Teresa

The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is the best place in North Carolina to visit for holiday lights, really puts Raleigh’s Christmas lights to shame. The entire garden is covered in thousands of glowing lights. There are beautiful colorful walkways and arches for pictures. There was even a section featuring Chinese New Year lanterns.

Alona Lit

One of our favorite nearby gardens! We had been a few times on prior years and last year finally got the annual family membership. It’s definitely worth it to get the annual pass if you plan to come more than once and have a couple children. It pays for itself after the second visit. (Sometimes even the first with more children!) loved the perk of getting to see the holiday lights for free on members day last year! It was beautiful! Our favorites are the conservatory and the butterfly garden when they open from Memorial Day. We also got to participate in the butterfly release in October and that was pretty amazing. Definitely in the top 10 places to see in the Charlotte area.

Will Matthews

Nice place to learn about flora. Has some huge Crape Myrtles and native trees near the gardens. It has places for kids to play and some neat artwork. Fountains are a little over the top. Trail system adjacent to the gardens is one of the best ideas albeit on the lake you do see overly manicured yards with heavy chemical application that drain into the lake. And there is quite a bit of mowed area near the Gardens and around the entrance road which precludes natives from growing. Would be nice to see a community garden.

B Y

So much potential, good bones. But I would agree with other reviews that it appears there is a money or staff issue. Nice plantings that have not been weeded, pruned or refreshed. The arbor is eaten up. Hope it's just covud staffing because it's a beautiful place