Every year during Knoxville's Dogwood Arts Festival, the Baxter Gardens are open to the public for the entire month of April. It is comprised of 15 gardens, which connect through walking trails or the road. They have a beautiful printed map of the gardens and the paths connecting all the gardens are well kept. There were a lot of flowers that had not bloomed yet, so we did not walk the entire gardens.
The gardens were constructed, beginning in 1992, on the south facing crest of Black Oak Ridge in Fountain City, in North Knoxville. The first garden designed and constructed was The White Garden, modeled after a similar garden at Sissinghurst Castle in England. The English Garden influence is strong throughout the gardens. Another major influence on the design of the gardens has been Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed and built Biltmore Gardens in Asheville, N.C., as well as Central Park in New York City and The Public Gardens in Boston. Olmsted emphasized designing in harmony with the topography of the site, complimenting and respecting what nature has given you.
Baxter Gardens has received thousands of visitors over the years and has been recognized in several garden publications, most notably Southern Living and Garden Design.
The popularity of the gardens has brought new challenges, most notably protecting the gardens from damage from the heavy – and sometimes wayward- foot traffic. Crowds reached 25,000 in April 2021, leaving their impact. Many of our visitors are garden lovers and come to enjoy the plants, the designs, and perhaps get ideas for their own gardens. We love this, and this was exactly why we opened our gardens for the Dogwood Festival initially. We hope you will all continue visiting and enjoying our common love.
Our first stop was the Ellipse. In the Ellipse the first object is a large obelisk with two sets of stone blocks in the ground. The blocks mark the changing position of the earth to the sun over the course of a year, given the earth's tilt on its axis at 23°. This pattern is called an Analemma.
In Astronomy, an Analemma is a diagram showing the position of the sun in the sky, as seen from a fixed position on earth, at the same time of day, over the course of a year. The figure 8 pattern in the ground mark the tip of the shadow of the obelisk cast by the sun over the course of 2018. The pattern closest to the obelisk was marked at 10am every two weeks, and the pattern farther from the obelisk was marked at 4pm every two weeks. The figure 8 pattern is the result of the 23° tilt of the earth on its axis as it travels around the sun through the year, which changes the angle at which sunlight strikes the stationary spot on the earth.
The next part of the Ellipse was the sundial which is designed to accurately mark the time by the shadow of the sun over the steel gnomon, adjusted for the exact location of these gardens on the globe.
The last part of the Ellipse is the Circle of Thought, featuring the busts of some famous thinkers and writers from ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, the American Revolution, and modern times. There is a write up on these busts in Roadside America -- they call it Smarthenge: Circle of Thought.
This huge Eastern Cedar is located in the section entitled The Balustrade.
There are benches to either side of the tree to sit and enjoy the panoramic view.
Way, way in the distance are Mt. Mingus, Cove Mountain, Clingman's Dome, Cold Spring Knob, among others. Also in the Balustrade are four sculptures representing the seasons: Primavera (Spring), Estate (Summer), Autunno (Autumn), and Inverno (Winter).
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| Estate (Summer) |
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| Primavera (Spring) |
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| Autunno (Autumn) |
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| Inverno (Winter) |
Near the Ellipse is the Asian Gardens which are entered through a large bamboo gate. First there is the Lotus Pond. Huge, fragrant lotus blooms open atop five-foot-tall stems in June.
Below the Lotus Pond is the seven-tiered pagoda with Japanese Maples behind it and other flowers. In the corners are Japanese ceremonial wash basins, a praying Buddha, and Daikoku, one of the 7 Japanese gods of abundance.
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| Daikpku, Japanese God of Abundance and Happiness |
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| Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha |
Also in the Japanese Garden is a maze. I decided to give it a whirl while Jim went to sit at the fountain. The maze is composed of 400 columnar yet shrubs. The gate to the maze is patterned after an original antique from China and is made of teak. There is only one route to the center of the maze, where a small Zen fountain and quiet seating area await. It was quite easy to get lost in there, but I did make my wat out.
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| Inside the Maze |
There was also illustrations from the Kama Sutra. The Kama Sutra is an ancient Hindu sexual manual. "Kama" means sensual pleasure and is one of the four goals of Hindu life. "Sutra" means collection or instruction. The four goals of Hindu life are Dhama: virtuous living; Artha: material prosperity; Kama: erotic pleasure; and Moksha: liberation.
The other side from the maze is a model of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan. It is 12,389 feet and is a symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year. It is a well-known symbol of Japan, and it is frequently depicted in art, photography, literature, and poetry.
"Fuji" means "without equal." The mountain, and especially the summit, is considered sacred, and draws thousands of Japanese each year who make the pilgrimage to the top. Legend teaches that one who climbs through the night and witnesses the sunrise from the summit, and calls out three times, "Bonzai, Bonzai, Bonzai," will receive 10,000 years of prosperity. Sunrise in Japanese is "goraiko," and means "the honorable coming of light." The black lava rocks atop this model were brought here from the summit of Mt. Fuji, retrieved on a Baxter family climb in 1999.
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| Bronze sculpture of Hannah |
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| Gazebo |
These go down to the butterfly garden which has lots of plants in it, but are not yet in bloom. I did get one picture of the blue flowers though.
Down the hill from the butterfly garden I found a pond and sculpture of the Young Lovers. The pond has walking stones across it with various large gold fish in it.
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| Young Lovers |
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