University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans this week appointed Drake Fowler as the new executive director of The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. 

The North Carolina Arboretum is heralding spring’s arrival with the return of “Bloom with a View,” May 4-19. 

The Western North Carolina Orchid Society (WNCOS) and The North Carolina Arboretum will host the 23rd Asheville Orchid Festival entitled “House of Orchids.” 

Birders and bird lovers worldwide are encouraged to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 16-19, with several local events offered to mark the weekend. 

Registration for Spring Break Camp at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, with Discovery Camp registration following suit at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14. 

Registration opens soon for several upcoming outdoor education opportunities at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. 

Drake Fowler, deputy executive director at The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, has been named president of the N.C. Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architect. He will serve a one-year term leading the organization.

Fowler joined the Arboretum during 2015 as chief operations officer and chief financial officer and assumed his current post in 2019. He has been instrumental in the recent $2 million renovation and expansion of parking; overseeing the design and implementation of the $1.2 Willow Pond project that is a stormwater management, education and conservation initiative that protects the rare mole salamander; and programming of future improvements at the Arboretum’s Parkway entrance.  

Check out Winter Lights at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville with a group leaving from the Waynesville Recreation Department at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12. 

Dubbed ‘Asheville’s brightest holiday tradition,’ Winter Lights opens Friday, Nov. 17, with the brilliant display open daily 6-10 p.m. through Sunday, Dec. 31, at the N.C. Arboretum. 

Tickets are now on sale for Winter Lights, an open-air walk-through light show of more than 1 million lights running Nov. 17-Dec. 31 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville.