RALEIGH, N.C. — As spring fever is hitting many of us this week, a relaxing garden with deep roots is opening back up.

Juniper Level Botanic Garden in Raleigh is only open to the public eight weekends during the year. The garden is opening publicly for the first time in 2023 on Friday, Feb. 24.

“You get that relaxing feeling when you come to the gardens. Everything becomes peaceful," said Tony Avent, owner of Juniper Level Botanic Garden.

For Avent, there’s simply never a bad time to be at the garden.

“So many people in North Carolina focus only on spring. Spring takes no effort. It takes a little bit of effort and plant knowledge to have a garden summer, fall and winter," Avent said.

Avent says maintaining the 28-acre garden is a 24/7 operation.

There are 27,000 types of different plants at Juniper Level.

Avent started selling flowers and plants in the 1960s and says his curiosity grew from there.

“Little OCD and ADD wanted to see what else is out there, cause the world is full of amazing plants," Avent said.

Now, Avent says Juniper sells its plants to the rest of the world - even to places you’d never think of.

“Just had an order from Ukraine. Gardening heals our souls, when you think someone in a country like Ukraine can go online now and order it is an important message," said Avent.“Just had an order from Ukraine. Gardening heals our souls, when you think someone in a country like Ukraine can go online now and order it is an important message," said Avent.

He says preservation is the whole purpose behind this garden, which opened in 1986 and has continued to blossom since.

“It's about preserving the plants and sharing the plants, and that's what treasures are about, things worth preserving," Avent said.

Avent and Juniper Level Botanic Garden are actually in the process of transitioning the garden to N.C. State University. He says the goal is for the garden to continue operating after the endowment as he looks to the future in preserving the thousands of plants at Juniper.