Events
Spring Plant Sale – April 17th & 18th, 2026
READY SET PLANT! UT Arboretum Spring Plant Sale Weekend is April 17-18!
The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society’s 57th Spring Plant Sale will take place on Friday, April 17th and Saturday, April 18th. The Society’s “Members Only” sale will be on Friday evening, April 17th from 4-7 p.m. The public sale will be held on Saturday, April 18th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the UT Arboretum at 901 S. Illinois Ave. (Hwy. 62) in Oak Ridge.
Society memberships or membership renewals may be purchased on-site on Friday evening for this “early bird” shopping opportunity. By joining UTAS on Friday night, people can enjoy the membership benefit of having the first pick of our beautiful selection of plants, some of which sell out that evening. Checks, cash and credit cards will be accepted. You may also join UTAS online before the sale.
The four vendors for the sale are Tennessee Naturescapes from Clinton, Riverdale Nursery from Knoxville, East Fork Nursery from Sevierville and Le Fave Forest Farm. Tennessee Naturescapes is an all-native plant nursery and will be offering a varied selection of all native shrubs, small trees, grasses, and perennials. Riverdale Nursery will feature a variety of harder to find shrubs and small trees for landscaping, perennials, annuals, and vines as well as culinary herbs, vegetable starts, berries and brambles. East Fork Nursery of Sevierville, one of the premier native azalea growers in the country, will be bringing a wide selection of those azaleas and also offers an array of unusual conifers. Le Fave Forest farms will have hybrid American Chestnut saplings in various sizes. These four vendors offer something for everyone!
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Save the Date: UTAS 11TH Annual Butterfly Festival will be Saturday August 29, 2026, 10am-1pm
The UT Arboretum Society Butterfly Festival is a cooperative educational endeavor to provide opportunities for the public to learn about how they can protect our pollinators from the UT Insect Zoo, two butterfly tents, lectures, and children’s art activities.
BUG CAMP is co-sponsored by the UT Arboretum Society, the UT Arboretum and Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center, UT Herbert College of Agriculture and UT Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
Bug Camp 2026! Our children’s summer camp program, BUG CAMP, is a three-day camp held in June each year. At BUG CAMP, the campers will get up close and personal with insects. They will learn why we can’t live without insects and about the value of different insects. They will explore the good, the bad and the “buggly” of our relationship with the insect world. Rising 3rd- 5th graders are eligible to attend, but we do make exceptions based on space available. BUG CAMP is limited to 16 campers.
Each participant will have an opportunity to take home and “host” an insect if they choose during the session. Bugs are good, bugs are fun! At BUG CAMP we learn many reasons to love bugs as we explore insects through bug crafts, nature walks, science activities and the UT Insect Zoo! Contact Michelle Campanis at mcampani@utk.edu for additional information. We are full for 2026 and have a wait-list.
