The J.C. Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed botanical garden, which is administered by NC State staff and students and includes 10 acres of gardens with over 6,000 types of plants. The arboretum frequently hosts events that are available to the public.

Mark Weathington, director of the J.C. Raulston Arboretum, said the arboretum acts as an educational space for learning and research.

“Really, we serve as a living laboratory for a lot of groups, not just for the classes, but also for undergraduate and graduate research,” Weathington said. “The forestry department has used our specimens for breeding more heat and disease tolerant Christmas trees for the North Carolina Christmas tree industry.”

Additionally, Weathington said the gardens are a great spot for students to study or spend time outdoors. General admission to the arboretum is free and the garden is open every day of the week. 

“It’s a beautiful place, it’s free, we’ve got good Wi-Fi through a lot of it, so it’s a good place to get away from your roommate, get away from campus and kind of decompress, either doing work or not doing work out here,” Weathington said. “There’s a lot of nice benches and shady spots.”

Trace Fulbright, a fourth-year studying horticultural science, is one of the many students that work at the J.C. Raulston Arboretum.

“You go today and you go two weeks from now and it’ll be almost like a different place in a lot of regards because nothing is static with plants; nothing is static in a landscape,” Fulbright said. “It’s always changing and you give it two weeks, it’ll look a little different, you give it two more weeks, and now it looks really different.”

The arboretum hosts a myriad of events for community members, but according to Weathington, one of the most popular events is Moonlight in the Garden, which attracts more students than any other event at the arboretum. On Nov. 10-12 and Nov. 17-19, individuals can purchase tickets to enjoy a light installation in the gardens in the evening.

“You come in after dark, and there’s food trucks and bands and fire pits to roast marshmallows and the beautiful gardens,” Weathington said. “It’s a real experience for a lot of the students.”

Weathington said another upcoming event is the Fall for Orchids show, which is sponsored by the Triangle Orchid Society and attracts orchid growers and orchid societies from across the Southeast. The show features various orchid displays and judges from The American Orchid Society. The event is open to the public and will take place Sept. 24-25.

The arboretum hosts free programming every Wednesday at 3 p.m. on Zoom where the staff teaches gardening tips, features in-season plants and lectures on more specific topics intended for students in the horticultural field. These programs are uploaded to their YouTube channel. 

Occasionally, the arboretum hosts workshops, which usually involve creating plant-based decorations as a group. Every December, the arboretum hosts a wreath-making workshop. Additionally, fraternities, sororities and other student groups host their own workshops through the arboretum. 

The arboretum also offers volunteer and job opportunities for students. Many student groups volunteer to help maintain the arboretum as a team-building experience. For more information about volunteering, contact the arboretum’s volunteer manager, Kathryn Wall, at kbwall@ncsu.edu. To learn more about job opportunities, visit the arboretum’s ePack page. 

Weathington said he encourages students to visit J.C. Raulston Arboretum.

“So much of college life can revolve around being indoors and being pretty sedentary,” Weathington said. “Just getting out and working with our other volunteers and staff, spreading mulch and gardening and things like that is a way to break that cycle and not [have] to think so much about the next paper and the next exam.”