Knoxville Botanical Garden, Tennessee

Just minutes outside of the city in an unassuming residential neighborhood, you’d never find the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum if you weren’t looking for it. This garden packs a wealth of history, beginning prior to Tennessee statehood in 1786. Once the Howell Nursery, the family farm sold fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. It was here that the pink flowering dogwood was discovered. Here was the first patent on a crepe myrtle. The Howell Nursery is the oldest continuously operated business in Tennessee, selling plants for over 217 years before it eventually closed in 2001 – to be immortalized as a garden for the public.

The beautiful stone terraces and buildings come from Joe Howell in the 1940s, who studied landscape design.

His work is positively enchanting. There are walking trails featuring a bamboo forest, dawn redwood grove, and a Kentucky coffee tree.

This is a smaller garden, a great place to come with your kids who will undoubtedly find exciting elements.

If you check the calendar for events you will see there are programs for vegetable gardening, landscape design, and health – also specifically for children, Story Thyme in the Garden.