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Dr. Susan Hamilton (left, front) leads a tour of the UT Gardens. Hamilton is Garden director and a featured speaker at this year's Blooms Days. Download this photo (2.1 MB)

Big, bold, and beautiful blooms are in store June 24 and 25, when the Friends of the UT Gardens presents the fourth annual Blooms Days Garden Festival and Marketplace in the University of Tennessee Gardens on the Knoxville agriculture campus on Neyland Drive.

Festival highlights will include workshops hosted by local experts and University of Tennessee faculty, staff and students. The workshops will cover topics on flower and vegetable gardening, lawns and landscaping, even floral photography and beekeeping!

The marketplace will feature unique crafts and gardening goods from a variety of vendors, as well as specialty plants selected exclusively for the event.

Kids of all ages will be able to visit the Insect Zoo and explore the Butterfly House. Other kids' activities include make-and-take projects, face painting and storytime.

There will also be live music both days. On Saturday, The Travellers, a Celtic music band, will perform from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the Tennessee Valley Ensemble will perform from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30. The New Lost Weasel Concern will play on Sunday from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.

Also on Sunday, the festival will feature a live broadcast of The Garden Girls radio show aired by WNOX-FM 100.3 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Buddy's Bar-BQ will offer lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily, while ice cream and soft drinks will be available all day.

Advance tickets may be purchased online or at several local garden centers for $8. Adult admission at the door is $10, $9 for seniors 65 and over, and children 12 and under get in free. All proceeds will benefit the UT Gardens through the Friends of the UT Gardens.

The UT Gardens is one of only 35 All American Selection trial gardens nationwide and home to more than 2,000 species of herbaceous and woody plants. The gardens serve as an outdoor laboratory and classroom providing Tennessee's booming nursery and landscape industry as well as homeowners with information about plant performance in this region's growing environment.

The Blooms Days Festival is a yearly fundraising event brought to you by the Friends of the UT Gardens and the Knoxville News-Sentinel in cooperation with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station. Additional major sponsors include WNOX-FM 100.3, WBIR-TV 10, WUOT-FM 91.9, and UT Federal Credit Union.

For more information about Blooms Days or to purchase tickets online, visit http://bloomsdays.tennessee.edu/ or e-mail bloomsdays@utk.edu . You may also call (865) 525-4555.

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Contact: Carolyn Corley or Patricia McDaniels, (865) 974-7141