Sunflowers

Free to visit and open 7 days-a-week, from sunrise to sunset.

Park Map
Butterfly on a sunflower in a field of sunflowers

About the Sunflower Fields

May 2025: The sunflower seeds are planted and we anticipate a late-July bloom.

  • The Sunflower Field is free to visit
  • Dix Park is open 7 days a week, from dawn until dusk
  • The Sunflowers usually bloom for two weeks in July. 

Image 1 of 4

  • Golden Finch on a sunflower in a field of sunflowers

    Gold Finch, photography by Bob Karp

  • Family in front of sunflowers
  • Sunflowers
  • Sunflowers

Sunflower Featured Event

Check back for details for this summer's sunflower event. 

See All Events
Picnic at the sunflowers
Dix Park Map

Directions + Parking

The Sunflower Field is free to visit and open 7 days-a-week, from dawn until dusk. Click here for our park map featuring parking lots for this program.

Know Before You Go

We recommend outdoor essentials like sunscreen, hats, bug spray and close-toed shoes.

  • Please stay on the paths in the field so as not to trample the flowers.
  • Picking or cutting the flowers
  • Eating the sunflower seeds - the sunflowers are planted on a former landfill
  • Off-leash pets
  • Outside alcoholic beverages
  • Smoking or vaping
  • Weapons of any kind
  • Littering
  • Drones or other aerial devices. These are welcome on the Big Field only.
  • Setting up freestanding tents or large structures
  • Unauthorized vending or solicitation

Driving

  • Via Western Boulevard: Enter at S. Boylan Avenue or Hunt Drive
  • Via Centennial Parkway: Enter at Blair Drive

Parking

  • Follow event signs
  • See map below for recommended event parking.

Biking or Walking

  • Via Rocky Branch Greenway: Enter at S. Boylan Avenue
  • Via Centennial Bikeway Connector: Enter at Blair Drive

Parking Map

Well behaved, leashed pets are welcome. Keep pets on pathways and picked up after them.

Indoor restrooms are available at The Stone Houses seven days a week from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm

Accessible pathways at the Sunflower Field will lead from parking located at 1700 Umstead Dr. into the picnic area and sunflower field. Please note, due to the condition and grade of the area, there is some uneven ground under the pathway matting and it is not fully ADA accessible.

Parking: Recommended ADA/accessible parking area is near the Magnolia Room at 1700 Umstead Dr. All paved parking lots have ADA parking paces. 

Restrooms: ADA temporary restrooms are located at the Sunflower Field and Magnolia Room. Indoor restrooms are available at The Stone Houses seven days a week from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm and at the Gatekeeper's Cottage Visitor Center, which is open Thursdays & Fridays, 9:00 am - 2:00 pm and Saturdays & Sundays, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.

Currently, portions of Dix Park - including around the sunflower field - have uneven paths and surfaces, and are not fully accessible for all mobility needs. Accessibility is a primary focus for park improvements currently in progress and all planning and development initiative. Learn more about Accessibility at Dix Park. 

Planning a visit to Dix Park and have questions about accessibility? Contact us at info@dixpark.org or 919-996-3255

Professional photographers are welcome to have photo shoots/sessions with clients at the Dix Park Sunflower Field, however, a commercial photography permit is required for City of Raleigh Parks. You can apply for an annual permit directly through the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department. This is a one year permit and covers all City of Raleigh Parks. To apply for the permit, please contact Jennie Saponaro with Raleigh Parks at 919-996-4905 or jennie.saponaro@raleighnc.gov.

Contact us at info@dixpark.org or call 919-996-3255

Fun Facts about the Fields

  • The creation of the 5-acre sunflower field at Dix Park is a City of Raleigh partnership between Raleigh Water and Raleigh Parks.
  • Raleigh Water preps the field in spring and plants the sunflower seeds in May.
  • In 2025, Barnburner Black Oil Sunflower Hybrid seeds were planted.
  • Raleigh Parks waters and maintains the field as the flowers grow.
  • Raleigh Parks also plants wildflowers along the perimeter of the field.
  • The sunflower field serves as a massive pollinator habitat for bees, butterflies and other wildlife.
  • During peak bloom, more than 100,000 people from across the City and around the region visit the sunflowers at Dix Park.
  • After the bloom is over, the sunflowers are left for birds and other wildlife to eat the seeds throughout the fall.
  • In the fall, Raleigh Water clears the field and plants a winter cover crop.

History of Raleigh’s Sunflowers

For years, Raleigh Water planted sunflowers at the Neuse River Resource Recovery Facility fields, which were visible from the Neuse River Greenway.  The sunflowers were harvested to make biofuel for City equipment at the facility. These fields are treated and not open for the public to walk through.

In 2018, the Dix Park team met with folks from Raleigh Water and the Office of Sustainability to talk about planting a new sunflower field at the park.  This idea was a perfect partnership project because it not only created a stunning new garden feature at Dix Park, but also provided a safe area for people to get up close and personal with the sunflowers the City was planting. 

The 5-acre location that was chosen was ideal as it sat atop a rarely trafficked hill of the former landfill surrounded by vegetation. Truly a secret garden. When the surprise sunflower field bloomed it attracted people from around the city, county and throughout the state - totaling around 30,000 visitors. 

For the first few years of the Dix Park sunflowers, Raleigh Water would harvest the seeds to make biofuel during educational programs and demonstrations. Now, the flowers are left for the birds and other wildlife to eat throughout the fall.