Events
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.
Spring Plant Sale – April 17th & 18th, 2026
We hold a plant sale in the spring with plants from several local nurseries and member donated plants. We typically have plants from:
- East Fork Nursery
- Riverdale Nursery
- Tennessee Naturescapes
- La Fave Forest Farm
Tennessee Naturescapes is an all-native plant nursery. East Fork Nursery and Riverdale Nursery are wholesale nurseries, so the plant sale is an opportunity to purchase hard to find plants including native deciduous azaleas that are hard to find. La Fave Forest Farm specializes in hybridized American Chestnut trees.
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.
