Spring arrives in Wrightsville Beach with the first warm breeze after winter, longer days and flowers popping up everywhere. Before you know it, the island is alive with color, and a day spent in the sun feels just right.
Stroll alongside native blooms at Harbor Way Gardens, wander the breezy waterfront grounds at Trailborn Surf & Sound or hop over the bridge to Airlie Gardens to catch azaleas and spring bulbs bursting into color. It’s the kind of season best enjoyed slowly and with sand between your toes.
This guide is for first-timers and those who return season after season – here’s where to find the best spring blooms in Wrightsville Beach.
1. Harbor Way Gardens
Located on the western side of Wrightsville Beach Park, Harbor Way Gardens is full of native plants and spring flowers, including one of North Carolina’s only public displays of Witherspoon Roses. Created and maintained for more than 20 years by the Harbor Island Garden Club, the space also features the vibrant Plant It Pink Garden in honor of breast cancer survivors. Take a stroll along the gravel pathways, relax on shaded butterfly benches and listen to the soothing sounds of the sculptural water feature.
If you’re visiting between April and May, don’t miss the annual Art in the Harbor Way Gardens show, featuring locally made paintings, a plant sale and a meet-and-greet with the Seaside Honeybees beekeepers – plus food and coffee trucks.
2. Trailborn Surf & Sound
The gardens and open lawns at Trailborn Surf & Sound are filled with native plants like purslane, honeysuckle, bee balm and echinacea. Play a game on the lawn or relax by the firepit in the outdoor lounge areas. For lunch or an early dinner, try La Duna Paradiso for coastal Italian fare with a view of the gardens, or bring your own picnic basket to fill up with goodies from Robert's Grocery.
3. Airlie Gardens
Just over the bridge, Airlie Gardens is a must-see in spring. From March to mid-April, more than 100,000 azaleas and spring bulbs bloom throughout the grounds. Wander the paths around the gardens and lake, and don’t miss historic highlights like the camellia gardens, which are over a century old, and Mount Lebanon Chapel, the oldest religious structure in New Hanover County.
Get advance tickets for the annual Blooms & Brews event in late March, featuring seasonal drinks and live music, or register for an Airlie Gardens History Tour on the first or third Saturday of the month. From July to December, explore the gardens’ annual outdoor art exhibit, which features 10 oversized animal sculptures decorated by local artists. This year’s theme, “unFROGettable,” is all about frogs!
Then, visit the garden’s smallest (and cutest!) visitors at the Butterfly House (open June through September) and the Pollinator Garden, where bees, hummingbirds and other native pollinators are busy at work. You can also watch for birds, turtles and even alligators from the jasmine-covered pergola overlooking Airlie Lake.
4. Cape Fear Garden Club's Azalea Garden Tour
If you’re visiting during the North Carolina Azalea Festival (early April), the Azalea Garden Tour is a must. This self-guided experience takes you through 11 private gardens near Wrightsville Beach, including Airlie Gardens, all filled with azaleas and seasonal flowers at their best. Be sure to get tickets ahead of time at this link.
5. Blooms in Nearby Wilmington
For even more spring color, take a quick drive to Wilmington. At the New Hanover County Arboretum, get enchanted by Japanese maples in the authentic Japanese garden, enjoy a water garden with lilies and koi, and smell the flowering trees lining the shaded walkways. The Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden offers a chance to see native Venus flytraps and pitcher plants in bloom, while Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve showcases native wildflowers and cypress trees right next to the UNC-Wilmington campus.
You can also explore gardens at Wilmington’s historic homes, including the Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens, where Colonial-era grounds feature terraced rose gardens, plus an orchard with fig and pomegranate trees. See Victorian-era medicinal gardens at the Latimer House Museum, browse the herb garden at Bellamy Mansion Museum of History & Design Arts or check out the 34th Annual Herb & Garden Fair in early April at the sprawling Poplar Grove Plantation.
Check out this blog for more info about Wilmington’s spring blooms!
