Okay, y’all, I know it isn’t Spring anymore.  And I’ve been terrible about showing you new places to walk in Knoxville lately, for one thing because I haven’t been doing as much walking this year, and for another, I’m behind in my blogging.  Way behind.
But y’all don’t want to wait for next year to see these pretty pictures.  Nor do you want to wait that long to go walking at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, a lesser known treasure that more people should be taking advantage of.

These gardens are over 200 years in the making, because the Howell family who originally owned this land operated it first as a an orchard and later as a nursery.  It was, in fact, the longest continuously run business in East Tennessee.  You should go read more about its fascinating history on the website above.  And you should appreciate how very, very fortunate we all are that its 40 some acres have been set aside for us to enjoy instead of being sold to developers.
There are several trails to walk on but you may not get a lot of exercise unless you walk it all twice, because I guarantee the first time you are going to be stopping a lot to look at things, smell them, and take pictures of them.

The gardens are enhanced and complemented by beautiful stonework.








These gardens are not just beautiful, they are also useful:  they are providing a venue for teaching children about gardening and for growing food for people in the community.




In addition to flowering bushes, trees, and perennials, the gardens showcase fabulous views.



But more than anything else it’s about the plants.  So many plants.  The awesome thing about the KBGA is that it should present a feast for the eyes in every season, and the feast will be different.  Here is a taste of springtime for you:














Now that I’ve virtually revisited the gardens, I’m excited to see what grows there in the summer time!  If I do, I will come back and let you know.