Knoxville -- Skeeter Hill

The woodland setting with tall trees and naturalized plantings of daffodils preceded the gray shingle house built in 1957 on the property known as Skeeter Hill. The 100 by 200 foot garden features native plants, including bloodroot, trout lilies, Jack-in-the pulpit, trillium, wood poppies, and maidenhair, cinnamon and sensitive ferns.The owners designed and built winding brick paths and terraces, paths laid with stepping stones, a stone pond, and a French country style potting shed in their walled cottage garden. The three notched gates also were designed by the owners, as was a three-foot diameter copper birdbath fitted to the stump of a fallen oak tree.

The garden is a habitat for birds, with native shrubs and trees providing food and housing, along with birdhouses and birdbaths. Mature shrubs and trees cast shade, so flowering plants such as Casa Blanca lilies, camellias, and hellebores are in shades of white. Azaleas add color in the spring. Many dogwood trees on the property have died from anthracnose.

French country style mixes with more formal, brick-walled planted beds in this garden.

Persons associated with the garden include Emma Rice (former owner of land, 1926-1945); Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Albers (former owners, 1946-1956); Ernest Newton (brick and stone work designer, 1957-1970); Margaret Newton (garden designer and horticulturist, 1957-present).