Bob Bullington who was a NY City policeman had a true passion for horticulture which he finally pursued full time after retiring when he moved to Hendersonville with his wife Sally and founded Flora Knoll Farms in 1979. He operated the ornamental nursery until his passing in 1989. He had a vision for introducing new and unusual plants in to the nursery trade that included native azaleas, new varieties of mountain laurel and trees from Asia, mature examples of which can be found in the gardens such as a variety of Japanese maples, Tanyosho Japanese red pine, kousa dogwoods, Japanese stewartia, paper bark maple and Japanese pagoda tree. Other specimen plants include a Sargent’s weeping hemlock, double flowering dogwood, big leaf magnolia and yellowwood.

After his death, the Bullington property became the Bullington Horticultural Learning Center, owned by the Henderson County Education Foundation (HCEF). In 2021, Bullington Gardens purchased the property. Today Bullington Gardens is a partnership of Henderson County Public Schools and the NC Cooperative Extension. Read more about Bob and his history here.