Garden to celebrate 50 years with gala

Chapel Hill – The joint celebration of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the Botanical Garden Foundation’s fiftieth anniversaries will climax on Saturday, October 22, 6 p.m. with a formal, black tie gala. The event will begin with cocktails on the grounds of the Historic DuBose House in Chapel Hill, followed by a presentation and dinner at the neighboring Rizzo Conference Center.

During the event, the Garden will present Tom Earnhardt with the Flora Caroliniana Award, given for “enthusiasm and service to the preservation, restoration, and appreciation of the natural world around us.” This award has not been given for 16 years, and this will only be the fifth time a recipient has been named. Other recipients include Lady Bird Johnson, John K. Terres, William Lanier Hunt and C. Ritchie Bell. The Garden will also honor the following dedicated friends: Thomas Kenan III, Florence Peacock, Harriet Martin and Joan Gillings.

Tom Earnhardt has tirelessly advocated for the natural landscape of North Carolina as the host and producer of Exploring North Carolina on UNC‐TV, as the author of several books, and as a board member for many conservation organizations. Tom is the most recent past president of the Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc., the membership organization that supports the North Carolina Botanical Garden.