Learn about Gardens in East Tennessee in new book featuring Kelly Norrell's Photography!

This book has been a five-year labor of love, and we are so excited that it is finally here!

East Tennessee Garden Stories: Sharing Knowledge, Celebrating Heritage, and Building Community is a book about people, their love of gardening, and what we can learn from them. Here’s just a few of the stories:

• A minister who gave up the pulpit to serve the community with an urban farm

• A poet whose garden is her greatest teacher

• A rescue squad on a mission to save native plants

• A garden historian and a group of students preserving antebellum crops

• A master gardener who goes beyond the typical hosta and ferns of woodland gardens, growing magical ephemerals like trillium

In an interview, Kelly talks about what she learned from this project:

"I learned that gardens are hotbeds for community. People fall in love with gardening, and children and animals become happy when their humans are working the soil. Gardens unite neighborhoods and the cranky people who live there. I learned that many skills are needed in gardens, so that engineers, cooks, artists, scholars, blacksmiths, children, and adults of all ages are necessary. I learned that we can literally rebuild the soil through composting, mulching, and careful planting... Most important, I discovered anyone can learn how to garden.