Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden: Persimmon Trail (Blog Hike #309)

Trail: Persimmon Trail
Hike Location: Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Geographic Location: southeast of Gastonia, NC (35.16823, -81.05569)
Length: 0.5 miles

Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Dates Hiked: June 2010, July 2015
Overview: A short hike through a botanical garden’s natural area.

Garden Information: http://www.dsbg.org/
Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=443670
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: South of Charlotte, take I-85 to SR 279 (exit 20).  Exit and go south on SR 279.  Take SR 279 south 10 miles to the signed garden entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the garden, then follow signs for “Visitors” to the Visitor Pavilion parking area, passing several large ponds along the way.

The hike: Only a baby (age wise), Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden comprises 380 acres of former meadows and woodlands.  The garden was established in 1991 by retired textile king Daniel J. Stowe with the purpose of developing a world-class botanical garden in the Charlotte area.  In 1997, ground was broken on the Visitor Pavilion you walk through today, and the garden opened to visitors in December 1999.  The original garden consisted of 8 rooms (or sections), 12 fountains, and the trail described in this blog.
            Over the past 10 years, several other rooms have been added, crowned by the tropical-style Orchid Conservatory in 2008.  Walking through the garden today, you can see that the garden still has room to grow, as the parking lot has room for plenty of additional visitors and the entire grassy area east of the asphalt road remains open for future garden rooms.
            The feature of this blog entry is the 0.5 mile Persimmon Trail, but of course you will want to see the entire garden when you visit.  Start in the Visitor Pavilion and pay the (large by park standards) entrance fee.  Make sure you go all of the way to the Conifer Garden in the rear, passing the interesting Canal and Ribbon Gardens along the way.  Fountains still make-up a highlight of the garden; there is even a fountain you can walk under.
            Even if you do not feel like touring the garden, you can still hike the short Persimmon Trail described here.  The trail starts from the northeast corner of the parking area, so you do not even have to pay the garden entrance fee to hike the trail.  There is also a longer 2.5 mile loop (described elsewhere in this blog) that starts from this same trailhead and circles the entire developed garden but does not provide garden access.

Persimmon Trail trailhead

            From the signed trailhead, the trail immediately enters the forest and descends gradually.  Where the trail forks at an unsigned intersection, angle left to pass the numbered posts in ascending order.  Some small white signs help you identify some of the most common trees and other plants in the forest.  Of particular note is the broadleaf magnolia, the tree with the largest simple leaves.  The specimen at the sign here is quite small, but Gaston County has one of the highest concentrations of this tree in the country.  Look around and you will see several other small broadleaf magnolias.

Hiking through the forest

            At 0.2 miles, the trail comes out behind the large sunny ponds you drove past on the way in.  A flock of Canadian geese was ambling around the pond on my visit.  Although I hiked this trail on a hot summer afternoon, a cloud came over just as I reached this clearing and cooled me off somewhat.  Talk about trail magic!

Geese in pond

            The trail angles right to head away from the pond and back into the forest, soon to pass a large tulip poplar tree.  A sign warns of poison ivy, but the only poison ivy I could find was growing up a tree (not that I tried too hard, mind you).  Still curving right, the trail drops to cross a small stream on a wooden footbridge and then climbs some wooden steps to close the loop.  A left turn will take you back uphill to the trailhead to complete the hike.  That cloud that shaded me before was now giving off low rumbles of thunder, and I made it back through the garden to my car just in time to avoid getting belted by a downpour; more trail magic!