UT Gardens

                                        Above water lily in bloom @ UT Gardens

 UT Gardens

Sunday May 7, 2023

Kenny & Dana Koogler 

UT Garden Pix Here 

   I somehow managed to get this blog written out of order.  I should have checked more carefully the dates the photos were taken.  It doesn't really matter.  It is a just a brief write up of a pleasant day.

   I was at a loss for what I wanted to do on a given day.  I finally settled on going to Stanley's Greenhouse then  out to eat at Calhoun's on the River in Knoxville and a stroll around UT Gardens.   I had a long list of Knoxville area businesses and parks I wanted to check out. You have to put feet on those and actually GO there in order to start working your way down the list. 

We visited Stanley's Greenhouse. I brought my camera, but when I saw how crowded it was going to be I decided that was a bad idea.   I was going to need to focus on getting around in there.  Buy whatever plants I wanted and get out.     I wasn't going to test folks patience with me and my camera snapping pictures.    I enjoyed a visit to Stanley's, but would go back on a week day as opposed to a weekend.  It is a popular place and they were covered up.   I got lots of beautiful plants and flowers. Kenny enjoyed it as much as I did!  I am the gardener in the family, but he was intrigued by all the different ferns and shrubs.  He even likes colorful flowers.  He was the one who suggested we put out hardy hibiscus last Summer.   I wasn't too sure how that was going to go, but it was a wise choice.   

Below is one of the first scenes we were met with upon entering. 

Petunias galore! 

             We arrived at Calhoun's and got seated immediately.   We had a nice lunch and it was great that we were so close to UT Gardens.   I was thrilled to see the place again after more than a decade.  I should be ashamed of myself for taking so long to get back there.   

         We had a lovely exercise stroll around the whole place.  It was not crowded. It was just enough people to be fun.  Families and couples. It was a relaxed atmosphere.   It was not sketchy at all.  I would feel quite safe coming here alone.    

          They have several cattle watering tanks set up as wetland gardens.  It is pretty nifty!

Above:   watering tanks as wetland gardens.  Very nice! 

Below:  a close up of the lovely red water lily blooms

Below: A larger look at the plaza area 

Below:  Some colorful art in the courtyard. It is surrounded by purple queen.  This plant does really well in Tennessee and tends to survive the Winter outdoors in the ground.  

Below:  A scene near the gazebo. 

Above:  Russian sage, coral pink roses. 

Below is a closer look at this rose bush

Below:  A close up of a rose that reminds me of my cousin Monty Conner.  He had a Joseph's Coat rose bush.  It was this color.   Shades of yellow, pink, coral, intermingled.  I know he is in Heaven now enjoying gardening and is healthy once again! 

  The rose garden here was my favorite of all.   They had it looking fantastic!  So many pretty varieties and all of them healthy. 

Above: I do not know the name of this rose.  It was hard to get the names even when they were labeled. It was hard to tell which name went with which rose bush.   What I like is the form of this one. It is an old fashioned rose. This is the shape of roses prior to all the cultivation that has doubled and tripled the petals.   This is a single or more natural form rose.  

Below is a larger look at the various colors around the rose garden.  

Below:  I loved this scene of red and white rose bushes side by side.  

It reminds me of War of the Roses or Snow White and Rose Red, the fairy tale.  I have always been a bookworm since I could read.  One of my favorite books was The Black Arrow: A Tale of Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson.   I also loved the movie War of the Roses starring Michael Douglass Jr. and Kathleen Turner.  It was a dramatic comedy/tragedy.   

Below: Water feature at the gardens.  

Below: a wider view of the columns and water features at the gardens

Below:  loads of pink roses ! 

Below:  monarch butterfly bench

Below: Walking path and a particularly pretty vignette

Below:  Some variety of Iris I am unfamiliar with though it was stunning! 

Below:  blooming pitcher plants

Below:  Yellow pitcher plants 

Below: Kenny and some other patrons enjoying the boardwalk through the wetlands portion of the gardens.  

Below:  I'm not sure what to call this wooden feature. I just liked it and the irises in bloom of all the varied colors! 

Below:  A close up bloom of a cultivated form of sweet shrub.  It is really spectacular! 

  If you have never visited the UT Gardens I suggest you take it in sometime. If you click the title at the top of this blog entry it is the link to information on the place. It is free and open almost all the time. 

I want to check out the UT Discovery Gardens in Crossville sometime. I still have yet to visit there!