The public is invited to experience two spectacular private gardens this weekend only at the Dogwood Arts Spring Featured Gardens event. These remarkable properties exhibit the best that spring has to offer with extensive plant collections, breathtaking views, and one-of-a-kind outdoor sculpture collections. Tours are self-guided, although Master Gardeners and Dogwood Arts staff will be on-site to answer questions. A $5 cash donation per garden is suggested. Although this event is outdoors, masks will be required at all times and social distancing between parties will be enforced, per the property owner’s request.

Artists on Location: As a part of the Knoxville Museum of Art’s Artist on Location event, professional artists will be painting outdoors in and around the Knoxville area through Friday, April 23rd. We are honored to have artists on location painting in these beautiful gardens throughout the weekend. The public is invited to watch these artists in action as they capture on canvas a wide variety of subject matter, from urban street scenes to pastoral garden settings.

Anderson Estate; image courtesy of Dogwood Arts

Anderson Estate: Owners Fred & Sandra Anderson
2723 Smallwood Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920​
• Set on a hilltop overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains, Anderson Estate is a plant collectors paradise. This young, but ever-expanding garden features an extensive hosta collection with over 500 varieties and includes a wide assortment of azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, conifers and a native plant display garden. The ‘kitchen garden’ includes 11 raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, berries, and is home to four bee colonies. The property also includes a cemetery from the 1800s, an Enchanted Forest, and a professionally landscaped frog haven with a bubbling brook and waterfall.

GATOP (God’s Answer to Our Prayers): Owners Dr. Alan Solomon & Andrea Cartwright 2
541 Riverside Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914
• Included in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens, this garden features many hundreds of botanical specimens such as conifers and hollies, extensive displays of wildflowers, perennials, and ground covers, as well as numerous water features and large marble outcroppings. Complimenting this unusual garden are stainless-steel, iron, bronze and stone sculptures. This site also features one of Knoxville’s oldest marble quarries. A marble-loaded wagon pulled by two stone mule sculptures sits adjacent to a newly built blacksmith shop.

Both gardens require extensive walking and are not handicap accessible; comfortable or hiking shoes recommended. Since these are private residences, there is limited on-site parking; guests will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis. Staff and volunteers will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms each day before the event. Dogwood Arts, presented by ORNL Federal Credit Union, is a 501(c)3 organization with a mission to promote and celebrate our region’s art, culture, and natural beauty.

Hours:
Saturday, April 17th: 10am-5pm
Sunday, April 18th: 12pm-5pm

*Masks required and social distancing enforced
Please note that several of the gardens require extensive walking; comfortable or hiking shoes recommended.
$5 Suggested donation per garden