Juniper Level Botanic Garden（JLBG）位于美国北卡罗来纳州罗利市以南的 Juniper 社区（Wake 县），由著名园艺学家 Tony Avent 与夫人 Michelle 于1986年购入一块2.2英亩的废弃沙壤烟草田后建立，是一座集植物迁地保护、科学分类、植物育种和园林展示于一体的私人研究型植物园。园名取自附近历史上长满 Chamaecyparis thyoides（美洲尖叶扁柏）的 Juniper Branch 小溪，以及南方 Level 指溪流间平地的说法。截至目前，JLBG 拥有超过27000个不同的耐寒观赏植物分类群，是世界上规模最大、品种最丰富的私人植物收藏之一，由同址运营的 Plant Delights Nursery 苗圃（每年约50万美元）持续资助。
研究使命与收藏体系
JLBG 的使命是采集、研究、保护、繁育和分享植物，建设更美好的世界。植物园积极推动植物多样性保护，主张植物属于全人类、不应被国家或机构垄断，通过非侵入式的全球植物考察、识别与分类、园艺评价、选育与繁育，把稀有植物分享给全球的研究者、植物园和园艺爱好者。植物园与同址的 Plant Delights Nursery 苗圃同年建立，后者每年从目录销售中提取约50万美元用于 JLBG 的科研、考察、繁育、园区维护与教育推广。苗圃 1991 年起开始发行邮购目录，向全国园艺爱好者提供 JLBG 选育出的新、稀、本土及非主流的多年生植物。
园区建设与主题花园
自1986年以来，JLBG 经历了三次重大扩建，从最初2.2英亩扩大到现在的28英亩。园区建设包括地下灌溉系统、 Grotto 石窟花园（1989-1994，由 Greensboro 的 Gallucci-Halligan 雕塑工作室设计）、林地花园、沼泽花园、岩石花园、西南花园、热带耐寒花园、沉没花园、瀑布、矮松与高山碎石床、莲花池试验区等。2015年开放了 Souto 花园（纪念前邻居 Eddy Souto），解决了园区全日照区域不足的问题。2015-2018年间，植物园与 Jeremy Schmidt 合作建造了号称世界最大的石缝花园（crevice garden），长300英尺，使用近200吨回收混凝土，主要种植旱生及碱性土壤植物，如龙舌兰、仙人掌、Arilbred 鸢尾和得克萨斯州本土的 Penstemon baccharifolius 等。
教育推广与公开参观
JLBG 的核心资助来源是同址的 Plant Delights Nursery 苗圃销售收入。植物园定期举办夏季 Open Garden and Nursery Days 公开参观日（一般6-9月间）、邮购目录、新植物发布、园艺讲座和国际植物考察活动，让公众有机会近距离观察稀有植物的园艺表现。植物园也是 NC State University 的姐妹机构，与 JC Raulston Arboretum 紧密合作，向北卡州立大学师生、植物学研究者、专业苗圃和园艺爱好者提供植物材料和繁殖支持，是美国东南部地区最具影响力的私人研究型植物园之一。
Juniper Level Botanic Garden (JLBG), located in the Juniper community of southern Wake County near Raleigh, North Carolina, is a private research botanic garden founded in 1986 by plantsman Tony Avent and his late wife Michelle Avent, after they purchased a 2.2-acre abandoned sandy loam tobacco field. The garden takes its name from the Juniper Branch creek, once lined with Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), combined with the Southern US term Level meaning flat land between creeks. Today JLBG maintains more than 27,000 different taxa of cold-hardy ornamental plants, making it one of the largest and most diverse plant collections in the world, sustained in large part by the on-site Plant Delights Nursery, which contributes approximately USD 500,000 annually to the garden.
Mission and Research Programs
JLBG’s mission is to collect, study, preserve, propagate, and share plants for a better world. The garden actively promotes botanical diversity and the idea that plants belong to all humankind, conducting non-invasive worldwide plant expeditions, identification and taxonomic study, garden evaluation, breeding, and propagation, and sharing rare plants with researchers, botanic gardens, and gardeners around the world. The on-site Plant Delights Nursery was established the same year as the garden, with its catalog sales (mail-order since 1991) providing the entirety of JLBG’s annual operating funding, covering plant research, exploration, propagation, garden maintenance, and educational outreach.
Garden Development and Thematic Collections
Since 1986, JLBG has expanded three times, growing from 2.2 to 28 acres. Major garden features developed over the years include an underground irrigation system, a hand-dug grotto garden designed by the former Gallucci-Halligan Sculpture Studio of Greensboro and completed in 1994, woodland, bog, rock, southwest, hardy tropical, sunken, and waterfall gardens, alpine scree beds, and geophyte test beds. In 2015 the Souto Garden (named after the late neighbor Eddy Souto) opened, providing the garden’s first substantial full-sun section. Between 2015 and 2018 Jeremy Schmidt designed and built what is believed to be the world’s largest crevice garden, a 300-foot installation using nearly 200 tons of recycled concrete, planted with dryland, alkaline-loving species such as agaves, cacti, Arilbred irises, and Texas native Penstemon baccharifolius.
Education and Public Access
JLBG’s operating funding is provided by the on-site Plant Delights Nursery, which sells rare and unusual perennials to gardeners across the United States. The garden hosts public Open Garden and Nursery Days during the summer months, mail-order catalogs, plant introduction events, horticulture lectures, and international plant exploration trips, giving the public a chance to see rare plants in a garden setting. JLBG is a sister institution of North Carolina State University, with a close partnership with the JC Raulston Arboretum, and is recognized as one of the most influential private research botanic gardens in the Southeastern United States.
Official website: https://www.juniperlevelbotanicgarden.org
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