Plant Sale
Fall Plant Sale at Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum
Fill out your garden this fall with offerings from the Garden's Fall Plant Sale. Every purchase directly supports our work to keep Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum
We are still adding to our inventory, so check back regularly!
Taking place in conjunction with our Fall Festival on Sunday, October 18, 1-5 PM, the sale features a wonderful variety of perennials propagated at the Garden by our horticulture team, along with selections from local partners and growers, including native perennials, ornamental shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants.
Fall is one of the best times to plant, since cooler temperatures and autumn rains help roots establish before winter. Some of this year’s offerings include:
Native shade plantings
American Spikenard, Aralia racemosa ~ A little known shade-loving native. Size of a shrub, but actually a perennial. Creates great contrast between summer and winter landscape.
Pawpaw, Asimina triloba ~ The largest fruit native to North America, and a well-loved native fruit tree
Wild Ginger, Asarum canadensis ~ An excellent, under-utilized native ground cover. Naturalizes if there is enough moisture, but easy to control spread.
Hot, Dry, and Native
New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus ~ Rare and highly sought after native flowering shrub. Tolerates heat and drought, though does not tolerate clay, poor draining soils. Not too large, so good for small spaces (2-3' tall and wide)
Black Mountain Splitbeard Bluestem, Andropogon ternarius 'Black Mountain' ~ Native, warm-season perennial bunchgrass prized for its striking silvery-white seed heads and brilliant autumn foliage. Provides food for birds and small mammals, and serves as a host plant for native butterflies and skippers. Features narrow blue-green or purplish leaves that turn vivid shades of orange, red, and copper in the fall, and the way it catches the low setting sun in late summer is nothing short of breathtaking and magical
Clustered Mountain Mint, Pycnathemum muticum ~ This plant is durable, beautiful, extrememly drought tolerant, and will be covered with a cloud of pollinators when in bloom. It will spread, but is nowhere near as aggressive as typical mints. Very easy to control its spread. A perfect plant for that problem area that you've been wondering what to do with.
Remarkable conifers
Horstmann Blue Atlas Cedar, Cedrus atlantica 'Horstmann' ~ Powdery icy-blue foliage that stands out strikingly in any garden. Smaller than many full sized conifers, so may work in smaller gardens.
Weeping Blue Alaskan Cedar, Cupressus nootkatensis 'Glauca Pendula' ~ Known for its cascading, soft blue-green branches and graceful, statuesque silhouette. Adds a ton of character without taking up a ton of real estate
Compact Fernspray Hinoki Cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Filicoides' ~ Perfect for those who love the regalness of large conifers, but have a small space. The fern-like branches rise upwards, almost like tongues of green fire
Brighten up your shady spot: Brightly colored plantings can turn a drab corner of your garden into one of its most interesting.
Lemon Love Heuchera, Heuchera x 'Lemon Love' ~ A lemony yellow variant of classic Coral Bells. If the amount of sun is right, it will get red-tinged leaves in the fall.
Leavenworth's Sedge, Carex leavenworthii ~ Lovely flowing, fine-textured groundcover, matrix planting, or great for fronting a bed. Highly adaptable to various well-drained soils, including clay, sand, and rocky ground. Prefers medium moisture but is notably drought-tolerant once established compared to other sedges. May work well as an eco-friendly lawn alternative
Sunshine Florida Anise, Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine' ~ A stunning plant to brighten up any shady spot you have. If you have a shade garden, and want to bring a little interest, a little pop, look no further than this plant.
Dogwoods: Four standouts for spring flowers, fall color, and winter interest, from a compact shrub to a showy, disease-resistant tree.
Constellation Dogwood, Cornus x rutcan ~ A hybrid between our native Flowering Dogwood and the well-known Asian Kousa Dogwood. Like its Kousa parent, it flowers after it leafs out, but the blooming is so prolific that the white flowers often hide the leaves completely at peak display. Extremely disease resistant.
Garden Glow™ Dogwood, Cornus hesseyii 'Garden Glow' ~ Rare shrub-form dogwood that grows 4-5' tall and wide. Vivid chartreuse-yellow leaves pop in the summer, complemented by dainty white flowers through the season. The foliage turns burgundy-red in fall, then drops in winter to reveal gorgeous red twigs.
Cherokee Brave Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida 'Cherokee Brave' ~ One of the deepest red-pink dogwood flowers around. Brilliant autumn display of burgundy leaves complemented by bright red fruit.
Little Poncho Kousa Dogwood, Cornus kousa 'Little Poncho' ~ Perfect if you want a dogwood but have a smaller space. This Kousa cultivar tops out at 10' x 10'.
Fall Color: Three standouts that scream "sweater weather," adding color and interest late into the year and feeding pollinators when most other plants have finished flowering or gone dormant.
October Skies Aromatic Aster, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies' ~ This nativar stays tidier than the straight species Aromatic Aster, making it more versatile in your garden. Known for its particularly rich sky-blue to lavender-blue, daisy-like petals with bright yellow centers.
Golden Sunset® Indian Grass, Sorghastrum nutans 'MNYG318153' ~ A stunning ornamental grass with seed heads that get up to 10-12" in length!
Iron Butterfly Ironweed, Vernonia lettermannii 'Iron Butterfly' ~ Drought tolerant and known for its thread-like emerald foliage and vibrant purple-violet blooms in late summer. The ironweed you see growing on roadsides and in highway ditches is usually too big and unruly for most gardeners, but this compact cultivar grows up to 36" tall and wide.
Pollinator Favorites: Five trees and shrubs that pollinators will thank you for, from a compact native tree to a fragrant spring-blooming shrub.
Serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance' ~ A well-beloved, low-maintenance native tree. Ours are pruned to a tree form, so they make a great addition to any landscape, especially if you want a native tree but don't have a ton of space. Showy white flowers give way to delicious purple fruit. You'll have to fight the birds for them. Fairly tolerant of a wide range of conditions.
Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum ~ Cascading summer blooms and brilliant fall foliage. Highly prized by honeybees for producing a rare, world-renowned gourmet sourwood honey.
Basswood, Tilia americana ~ A pollinator show like no other! When in bloom, this native is covered in bees, wasps, flies, and all manner of buzzing insects. But it's not just a treat for the pollinators. This tree is one of the most under-appreciated sweetly fragrant trees out there.
Flamethrower Redbud, Cercis canadensis 'NC2016-2' ~ This cultivar of our native redbud has grown in popularity since its introduction in 2019, and it's easy to see why. Brilliant, head-turning color changes occur simultaneously on each branch.
Korean Spice Viburnum, Viburnum carlesii ~ Not a native, but well loved by pollinators and people. Fantastically fragrant, it's one of the most fragrant spring-blooming shrubs you can get. The visual display is wonderful as well, and the early blooms help herald the return of spring.
Unusual Finds: Four remarkable specimens for the plant aficionado looking for something special to spark conversation at their next garden party.
Howell's Dwarf Tigertail Spruce, Picea bicolor 'Howell's Dwarf' ~ As the species name implies, this spruce is known for its two-colored needles, with bright, silver-blue undersides and green tops. A tint of yellow appears on the most exposed surfaces. This cultivar is considered the most colorful of all the P. bicolor.
Mariken Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken' ~ The majesty and charm of a ginkgo, but in a smaller package. This shrub form of the Ginkgo tree tops out at 8' x 8'. It is a male cultivar, so no smelly fruit!
Mountain Gordlinia, x Gordlinia grandiflora ~ A hybrid between two native trees, the Franklin tree and the Loblolly Bay. Hybrids are typically between two species within a genus, but this one is between two genera! Stunning, fragrant white flowers measure 5" across.
Zig Zag® Redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Seirb' ~ A spectacular display of the geometry found in nature. Whatever image the name conjures, seeing it in person will be weirder still! Despite its unusual form, you can treat it just like a regular redbud, and it still gives the stunning spring display.
And more!…