The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is easily one of our most popular gardens. On any given day, a teen may be photographed in her billowing white ball gown or families may be posing. Benches are tucked all through the garden and, popular though it is, there always seems to be a quiet, shady spot to rest.

It was created in 2016 in memory of Andie Ray, an entrepreneur who helped spearhead downtown Knoxville’s revitalization. She was known for her flowing dresses, broad-brimmed hats and love of writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, whose novel Vagabondia and Knoxville home inspired the name of Ray’s dress shop. Burnett’s most famous novel is The Secret Garden, which may have been inspired by her teen years in Knoxville.

The almost one-acre Secret Garden begins with an herb garden with stunning ‘Coronation Gold’ Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), ‘Provence’ Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia), ‘Hill Hardy’ Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and many others. A wooden door, always open, leads to garden rooms that flow down the hillside. The paved, meandering path is designed to ADA specifications, making the Secret Garden wheelchair accessible– something not always achieved with our historic, inherited landscapes. Our trademark rock walls anchor the site along with tall, dark evergreen hedges of Leyland Cypress, Arborvitae, and Cherry Laurel. Artwork such as a giant robin’s egg in a nest, a metal book face down on a boulder and a Little Free Library make this garden seem truly enchanted.

The garden is a generous gift from Andie’s parents, Richard and Jane Ray, in memory of Andie’s life and loves.

Thank you to Cindy Moffett for her work capturing our garden spaces so wonderfully in words.