WRAL-TV Azalea Gardens

To continue our exploration of parks we went to the magnificent WRAL-TV Azalea Gardens in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina on a cool but sunny April day. We were wowed by the variety of azaleas and other flowers in this small but incredibly beautiful gem in the heart of a busy state capital.

A man in a red sweater stand by a small rock monument that says WRAL-TV Azalea Gardens. — Steve Welcomes You to WRAL’TV Azalea Gardens

Violet colored azalea flowers fill the entire photo. — Just one incredible shade of the intensely colored azaleas

A garden full of fuchsia and red azaleas with green leaves. — Fuchsia and red azaleas abound!

Colorful azaleas as far as you can see with trees and fluffy clouded blue sky. — Azaleas everywhere you look. So magnificent.

To give you some history, the founder of Capitol Broadcasting Company A.J. Fletcher created the gardens as a service to the community and opened to the public in 1959. This was just 3 years after WRAL-TV went on the air as the first VHF station in Raleigh. In his words “It was simply my way of paying a tribute to beauty for beauty’s sake.”

Large azalea bushes with white flowers hanging like grapes with red azaleas in the background. — An interest white azalea variety I had never seen.

Pink and red azaleas with spidery petals. Trees and sky in the distance. — Another fascinating azalea variety.

Deep pink azaleas along with foliage and trees. — And still more riotous color abounds!

A hot pink azalea bush with trees in the background. — A perfect hot pink specimen.

This magnificent garden showcases a huge range of flowering and nonflowering plant materials that are typical in Southern gardens and includes azaleas of every color imaginable, dogwoods, rhododendrons, deciduous azaleas and a new collection of hydrangeas.

A garden with tulips, pansies and yellow azaleas line a lush lawn. — And some tulips and pansies added for good measure.

A large bush with deep green leaves a snowball like white flowers. — Not sure if this is a strange azalea or white hydrangea. But beautiful whatever it is.

Amazing tulips in every color along with intensely colored pansies line the lush grassy lawn.

If you are looking for a bit of serenity, tranquility and beauty beyond measure you should treat yourself often to a stroll though the WRAL-TV Azalea Gardens. And as an added bonus it is free and open dawn to dusk all year long!