Miss the Dix Park sunflowers? There’s another option blooming right now in Raleigh.
Dix Park isn’t the only sunflower game in town.
Once again, the North Carolina Museum of Art has planted its own sunflower field in the Ann & Jim Goodnight Museum Park, and the flowers are currently in bloom.
Rachel Woods, director of Museum Park Operations, tells us that the flowers will be in bloom until the end of August.
There are actually two sunflower fields at NCMA, said Woods:
▪ The 2.5-acre sunflower field is near the intersection of the Blue Loop and Meadow trails. This field features walk-through paths and is labeled on the Museum Park Map, which can be downloaded from the museum’s website.
▪ The Museum Park’s second sunflower planting is beside the Ellipse.
Both fields have a mix of colorful sunflowers, cosmos and zinnias, Wood said, making for “sunflowers with a stunning backdrop” for all your photos.
But while photo ops are awesome, the fields of flowers serve a second purpose.
“The sunflower fields serve as a massive pollinator habitat for bees and other pollinators,” Wood said. “After the sunflowers stop producing blooms, a variety of birds such as goldfinches, wrens, warblers and even Indigo Buntings forage in the field on the sunflower seed produced from that year’s sunflower planting.”
Museum Park has a trail system that winds through natural areas that are dotted with commissioned works of art. There are paved and unpaved trails throughout the park (cyclists and self-propelled wheeled vehicles are only allowed on paved trails).
Visit the NCMA sunflower fields
▪ The North Carolina Museum of Art is at 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh.
▪ To view a map of the Museum Park, visit ncartmuseum.org/visit/museum-park.
▪ The sunflower field at Dix Park is located off of Hunt Drive, near the historic cemetery and former soccer fields.
This story was originally published August 12, 2022 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Miss the Dix Park sunflowers? There’s another option blooming right now in Raleigh.."
