Each year the N.C. State Fair is home to one of the most impressive and immersive flower gardens and shows you can find! Tucked away next to Heritage Circle, the flower show and gardens show off some of the state’s best cut flowers in competition and gives fairgoers a serene space to enjoy the natural beauty.
“This is a whole different world compared to the rest of the fair,” said flower show superintendent, Dan Danford. “When you look at it out there, it’s noise, it’s light, it’s food, it’s candy, it’s all that stuff. You come in here, and you’re suddenly in a whole different world. It’s so calm, the flowers, all the plantings, the gardens, the pathways.”
During the week fairgoers will get the chance to see three different cut flower competitions, that way no matter what day of the week you choose to come to the fair the flowers will always be fresh. For Dan, the dahlias are one of the must-see flowers of the show, or as he puts it “showstoppers.”
The beautiful cut-flowers can be found in full bloom inside the flower show building, a newly constructed building purpose-built to house the flower show. If you look closely, you can notice that the building is constructed out of repurposed wood from tobacco barns across the state that was obtained by Commissioner Troxler before being repurposed.
Just outside the building sits one of the crown jewels of the entire state fair, the Mum tree. Every year Dan decides on a new design for the tree and the mums that surround it, and this year he’s really gone outside the box. Utilizing not only the color of the mums, but the physical height of each plant too, he has arranged them in a wave-like pattern to mimic the rolling of waves onto a beach. In years past the tree has seen designs such as stripes, color blast or “Mumbo.”
The beauty of the Mum tree isn’t the only breathtaking part about it either, Dan said almost every year there is a marriage proposal in front of the tree and this year is no different.
“So, our staff helps take pictures, and yesterday we had a wedding proposal at the Mum tree,” he said. “We pretty much have one at least every year. I mean, it’s iconic, and it’s a really nice, pretty spot to do it.”
Barney Barnhart was taking photos for fairgoers in front of the Mum tree and said he’s seen times where the line just to get a photo for it sprawls outside the flower show area.
Another great part of the garden is the sensory area where flowers are not only able to be viewed but touched and smelled as well. Plants range from eucalyptus to basil, rosemary, mint and many more. The idea behind it was to make a space for people to experience the flower show in different ways, especially when the competition area has rules to not touch the flowers.
“Everything in the flower show, when you’re going up and down the aisles, and you’re looking at stuff, you’re going to see, do not touch, do not touch. The sensory garden, we want you to touch the stuff,” he said. “So, when I installed that, I wanted people to see in a eucalyptus and smell it too so you can get close to it. I wanted them to see basil, but also touch it and smell it.”
Part of what Dan has done with the flower show is to try to make sure it includes something interesting to everyone. Any person regardless of their gardening experience can enter in the show, outdoor garden areas showcase the work of local groups like FFA Chapters, flower beds are designed like suits in a card deck and so much more. Even when fairgoers are at the flower show it might take a second trip through to spot all the fun and interesting parts.
“There’s a lot of stuff out here for them to see, not just cut flowers or house plants, but the gardens, the competition gardens, the sensory garden, the big red chair or the mum tree,” Dan said. “We try to create a lot of neat things for them to see, something for everyone.”