Welcome to Tennessee Gardening Forum! Just wait, you'll know you're a gardening addict when you spend 3 hours a night looking at gardening stuff on the web (at least on days you can't be out doing real gardening).

Unfortunately, there's not really much of a gardening club in Knoxville. The Knoxville Spring and Fall Plant Swaps are about as close as it comes. There is a Knoxville Garden Club (not sure if that's the exact name), but they are more about social stuff than gardening and aren't interested in anyone joining unless they invite you. I inquired once and was very rudely told they might consider inviting me if I was willing to jump through enough hoops. They wouldn't even tell me anything about what they were about until I gave them my life story.

Anyway, I think you will find a lot of really neat people here in this forum. There's some very knowledgeably and dedicated gardeners here. Make sure to catch the Knoxville Spring Plant Swap. Everyone has a blast and you can really load up on all kinds of neat plants. You'll even be able to get stuff you've probably never seen or heard of before.

If you get a chance, tell us more about your garden/gardening plans and let us know if you have particular plant/gardening interests. Also, if you have any questions at all, just ask and someone can surely give you a good answer.

Brandon

Welcome. I have lived here for six years and I also have a love for gardening. I hoped to meet others and I joined a garden club in Maryville- The Sunrise Garden Club. I was maybe like you and had no idea what to expect when I went to the first meeting. I had the thought that maybe they all would be sitting around with their picture hats and gloves sipping tea. Boy, was I wrong. They are dirt diggers just like me. We have all ages and come from all walks of life, but we all just love to garden. The club has great field trips, guest speakers on all kinds of different gardening interests and we do community projects. I know the girls in my club would be happy to have you come to one of our meetings and see just what we are up to. Our club meets the first Monday of the month and if you are interested, please contact me and I will tell you where our next meeting will be.

In addition to the swaps, one of the best resources in Knoxville is the University of Tennessee Trial Gardens. The Friends of the Gardens offer various programs at and about the gardens. I've been a member for a year or so and have really enjoyed the events I've been to.
Friends of the gardens info here:
http://www.friendsoftheutgardens.org/
and UT garden info here:
http://utgardens.tennessee.edu/

You know, I completely forgot about FOG (Friends Of the Garden) at the University of Tennessee Trial Garden. Also, there's the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society. Their website is www.discoveret.org/utas/

Keep an eye on the Knoxville (East Tennessee) Plant Swap's website. There's a page there called ET Plant Events that we try to keep up to date with all the events you'll want to attend (plant sales, hikes, open garden tours, etc.). The page is not current right now, but it will be updated later on. The website can be found at www.knoxplantswap.com/