UT Gardens to Host 2025 Art in the Gardens Exhibit
Grand Opening Scheduled for Friday, June 6
The University of Tennessee Gardens, Knoxville, is anticipating an influx of rabbits at the opening of its 2025 Art in the Gardens exhibit. The opening event will take place on Friday, June 6, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. EDT and is part of Knoxville’s First Friday arts celebration. The event and the exhibit are free and open to the public.
This year’s theme is Bunny Tales: A Garden Art Exhibit. Now in its eighth year, this project is designed to promote community participation and artist collaboration with the UT Gardens. This fun and whimsical event serves to raise awareness about the need to protect wildlife as urban development encroaches on their habitat. It also serves as a fundraiser to support the UT Gardens and its mission to be a community resource for education, research and outreach on environmental stewardship, plant evaluation, and landscape aesthetics.
Approximately 45 local artists have painted, decorated or embellished three-dimensional rabbit cutouts that are about 2’ x 2’. This year there are two styles – a leaping bunny and a sitting bunny. Placed throughout the gardens, the cutouts will be on display during the summer for all to enjoy. Additionally, rabbit facts will be displayed to enhance the visitor’s experience. Again, this year, a concurrent children’s exhibit will also be on display. Local children participated by decorating either a bunny head or a carrot silhouette. These pieces are displayed on the wall within the children’s garden.
An exciting online auction of all adult and children’s pieces will be held in late September, and all proceeds will directly benefit the UT Gardens, Knoxville. So, hippity-hoppity to the gardens and choose your favorite.
The UT Gardens, Knoxville, feature more than 1,000 woody plants under long-term observation and 2,000 varieties of herbaceous plants evaluated annually. The gardens function as an outdoor laboratory, teaching and research facility, and public garden, sharing their beauty with more than 50,000 visitors yearly. Established in 1983 by the UT Institute of Agriculture Department of Plant Sciences, the Gardens are recognized as an official All American Selections (AAS) test site for evaluating new plants for the ornamental market, an American Conifer Association and a American Hosta Society reference garden, a Tennessee certified arboretum, and a valuable resource for home gardeners and landscape professionals. The UT Gardens, Knoxville, is one of three UT Gardens statewide, that together form the State Botanical Garden of Tennessee. Learn more about each site at utgardens.tennessee.edu.
A part of the UT Institute of Agriculture, the UT Gardens, Knoxville, is located at 2518 Jacob Drive, just off Neyland Drive behind the UT Veterinary Medical Center on the UTIA campus. From I-40 take Exit 386B onto Highway 129 (Alcoa Highway south toward the airport). From Highway 129 take the exit for Highway 158 (Neyland Drive). Turn left onto Neyland Drive at end of exit ramp. Turn left onto Joe Johnson Drive and right at the next light onto Chapman Drive. Free visitor parking is available directly across from the entrance to the gardens.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research, and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.
