Derrynane garden. Kristen Bright Photography

KNOXVILLE -- The public is invited to experience three spectacular private gardens this weekend only at the Dogwood Arts Spring Featured Gardens event, April 9th & 10th. This is the first year that Dogwood Arts has featured Derrynane (in Westmoreland) & Edenwood (in West Knoxville); these striking gardens will join the annual favorite GATOP property for the 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. These gardens require extensive walking and are not handicap accessible; comfortable or hiking shoes are recommended. Since these are private residences, there is limited on-site parking; guests will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis.

Edenwood garden. Kristen Bright Photography

New This Year: Derrynane Garden: Garden design by Jack McCoy
7209 Rutgers Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919 *Street parking only

Derrynane garden. Kristen Bright Photography

● Derrynane Garden, so named after the ancestral home of Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator of Ireland, has been designed to use plants to create outdoor spaces and experiences to be enjoyed in their own unique and wonderful way. Garden rooms and curvy brick pathways offer a beautiful and interesting mixture of plants to stimulate the senses with color, texture, sound and provocative scents. Guests can enjoy a stroll through the Ashe Grove, the Beer Garden, the Elysian Retreat, the Oasis and the stunning Border filled with blooming tulips. This informal and casually elegant garden is sure to inspire. [full garden description available at www.dogwoodarts.com/featuredgardens]

New This Year: Edenwood: Owners Ron & Sarah Cronan
930 Bream Drive, Knoxville, TN 37922

● Within these fenced two acres you’ll find life – plants and animals living, breathing, and working together year after year in this certified National Wildlife Habitat. This mostly-organic garden changes with the seasons, sprouting beauty of different forms 365 days a year. As you stroll through our plot, you’ll encounter a large selection of conifers, Japanese maples, woody plants, perennials, herbs, bulbs, an orchard, a vegetable garden, and greenhouse, and even a homemade chicken coop – be sure to say hello to the ladies: Primrose, Marigold, and Fern. This garden has grown, shifted, and aged with us – creating our own little deeply-rooted sanctuary in the middle of bustling West Knoxville. [full garden description available at www.dogwoodarts.com/featuredgardens]

GATOP garden. Kristen Bright Photography

GATOP (God’s Answer to Our Prayers): Owners Dr. Alan Solomon & Andrea Cartwright 2643 Riverside Drive, Knoxville, TN 37914

● Included in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens, GATOP [God’s Answer To Our Prayers] 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. The marble loaded wagon pulled by two mules is manned by bearded twin brothers, Homer (1) and Homer (2) and adjacent to the wagon repair and blacksmith shop. The site features one of Knoxville’s oldest marble quarries.

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 April 22, 2022. 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.

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.