If you think the UT Gardens are good now, you should have seen them a few years ago. They've added more hardscape, art, and "temporary plants", but have taken out many of the really impressive specimens. BTW, by "temporary plants" I include annuals, little bitty trees that can't possible be left in their current locations as they grow, tropicals that based on the way they take care of things now won't last, etc. They seems to be able to pour unbelievable amounts of money at that garden, but I'm underimpressed by what they end up with.

As for the Knoxville Botanical Garden, it's in the process of being built! It was a nursery (mostly abandoned) a few years ago. The "ticket booth" you saw wouldn't have been a ticket booth at all (maybe a remote checkout/cashregister). They are going about things a little slower than I would have thought they would, with the money and resources at their disposal, but they are making some progress.

Heather, we visited the Knoxville Botanical Garden a few years ago after I read an article about it in the local paper. It just sounded so unique! Like you, we had expected a bit more movement/progress and it felt a little confusing at first trying to get our bearings once we parked and got out. A welcome sign of some sort with "plans for the future" or at least "Work in Progress" on it would have been helpful. We did enjoy ourselves very much though -- I had printed out a map from their web site that included locations and list of trees. It was quite helpful and we loved walking around the large grounds. I have heard that there are many people who are interested in and care about the place, so hopefully there will be more to come at Knoxville Botanical Garden.