Please Note: The Gardens of Sunshine Hollow are not supported by any City, County, State or Federal money. We are entirely dependent on Admission Fees, Plant sales and Gift Shop Sales. Your admission fee, purchases and donations make it possible for us to continue to create and maintain the Gardens.

Sunshine Hollow and the Gardens have been a work in progress for over 30 years. The Gardens are the life's work of Dave and Vicki Rhyne and have resulted from years of planning, planting and mostly just hard work to transform a wilderness into a wonderful garden. The property was purchased in 1973. No one had lived on the property since the forties and it was a wilderness without a road or any other improvement. The Hollow is now the home of Dave and Vicki Rhyne. It has been in a constant state of change as roads, trails, lakes, shrubs, and flower beds have been added over the years. In 1984 when they began collecting and growing daylilies and Hosta a new era began. Their fascination with these perennials would soon grow into a collection of over 1000 named daylily cultivars and seedlings along with 250 varieties of Hosta. The great improvements and expansion of the Gardens required for hosting the tour for the American Hemerocallis Society's National Convention in 1995 brought the Gardens to a new stage in their development and inspired the Rhynes to want to do even more. Since 1995, the installation of new flower beds, new trails, new memorial and honorary gardens, the addition of new perennial themes such as Dahlias, Cannas, Iris and many others plus complimenting these plants with thousands of annuals, hanging baskets and planters has brought the Garden to its new level. This new philosophy incorporates the vision of a garden that is in color from Spring to Frost and beyond. The Gardens display many all time favorite perennial groups along with new and exciting annuals and perennials. The addition of "Lunch in the Gardens" which began in 2003 lets the visitor have another experience during their visit. Plant sales at the Gardens are important for supporting its maintenance and expansion. In the future they hope to offer more plant varieties to the visitor for their own garden as well as growing advice. Sunshine Hollow Gardens is still and will always be a work in progress........

Dave Rhyne, a Maryville, Tennessee native, had been an avid gardener since he owned his first home with a garden spot. Being a frequent reader of "How to Books" and with some experience gained from his father and grandfather he quickly learned the art of growing things. Being a graduate of Duke Forestry School, a Forester for 22 years and designing and developing fifty miles of hiking trails for Bowater Paper Company didn't hurt either. In 1967 and 1968 after living near Washington, D.C. for two years while in the U. S. Army and then in the "suburbs" for a few more he wanted a place where he wouldn't have to look at or worry about what his neighbors did. When the "Hollow" was purchased in 1973 no one had lived there since the 1940's and it was a wilderness without a road or any other improvement. The Cherokee Indians were removed from this area of Tennessee in the early 1800's. Beginning in the early 1900's the site was inhabited by residents who had no car, no phone, no electricity, and no plumbing with only a road that was passable by wagon. The family had enough garden ground to grow their own food, a few cows to forage in the forest and enough corn to make their own whiskey. From what we can gather, they spent most of their time doing a little farming, making music and judging from the Moonshine Still sites on the place selling a little corn liquor on the side. When Dave first began working on the "Hollow" in the winter of 1973, he concentrated on getting a one half mile driveway built into his future home site, then the following year the dam was built for a two acre spring fed lake. In 1975 came a home and vegetable garden. To do this he cleared about three acres in the center of the "Hollow". This area later became the core of the "Gardens". His first garden plot was amended over the years with sand, chicken litter, pine bark and sawdust until the clay soil became almost loamy and would grow just about anything from prize tomatoes to fresh asparagus and grapes or beautiful Roses.

Vicki Breneman and Dave Rhyne met in 1982 at Church where both sang in Choir. Vicki, originally from Memphis, Tennessee completed her training at the Veterinary School of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She was in its second graduating class in 1980. Her first veterinarian position was in Cleveland, Tennessee where she also began going to Church at First United Methodist. Her mother was an avid gardener who loved growing vegetables, flowers and Roses. Vicki's mother Evelyn came from a family who lived on and farmed about 45 acres in North West Tennessee during the Depression years. She rode her father's shoulders while he plowed and helped pick cotton in the fields. She escaped from that life to become an Air Force Nurse in the late forties. Not long after Dave and Vicki met they found that they shared many of the same goals in life and the same work ethic. Shortly thereafter work began in earnest on the gardens of the "Hollow". Vicki shared Dave's love of flowers and the first addition of three flower beds took place along their yard and above the vegetable garden. Each Spring they would plant various annuals in the three beds. One fall in order to save money, they decided to try some perennials rather than planting all annuals. Tulips, daffodils and Bearded Iris were planted in two of the beds. Mice and Voles had a field day that winter with the bulbs and just as unfortunately the Iris rotted because Dave always mulched all plants heavily and at that time he didn't know that Iris do not like mulch. So their first experience with perennials was not a good one.

While Dave was talking about gardening to a friend at work, she mentioned that her mother-in-law (Orpha Kyker) grew daylilies and Hosta and how easy they were to care for and how beautiful they were. She also knew Gary and Ann Vaughn in Cleveland, Tennessee who grew daylilies and suggested that we should visit to find out more about them. Of course at that time they didn't know what a daylily or Hosta looked like but their friend insisted that they were easy to grow and would save money in the long run. Well, Dave and Vicki made one mistake-they decided to visit both Gardens. Small problem - no bloom? When they visited the Vaughn's in October that year, they wanted to get a head start on next year even though it was too late to plant most perennials. Against his advice, Dave had Gary pick out 10 of his favorite varieties for $50.00. These were planted in one of the beds and mulched heavily. Two weeks later there was a hard freeze! They figured that their experiment was doomed to failure. The following Spring brought a pleasant surprise. Every one of the daylilies emerged. When they began to bloom in early summer it was like Christmas every day. Since they hadn't seen the flowers in bloom before, when the flower scapes emerged they anticipated what the next would look like. In just those 10 plants the daylilies spectrum of color and beauty were demonstrated and like so many people before them, the "Daylily Bug" bit and they were hooked. This was the beginning of their daylily collection which started with ten plants and now averages around one thousand cultivars. They began collecting from all the daylily growers they met. Since daylilies multiply so well and produce offspring, they began selling plants to support their habit. 

The next year they visited the Kyker's garden in Athens, Tennessee. Orpha and Clyde were already in their seventies, but they had the most beautiful display of Hosta, daylilies and other flowers in the area. After seeing the beauty of the Hostas growing in their wooded area and the great variations in leaf colors, leaf sizes and textures the Hosta collector's bug also bit, not in the least because when you live in the middle of 160 acres of forest there is always a little room for shade loving plants. Their collection which began with a handful of plants now numbers around two hundred and fifty cultivars and is expected to grow to about 500 cultivars.

When you expand a collection from ten of a variety to 1000 you are obligated to have a place to grow the plants. Problem, when you live in a "Hollow" (Our Definition: Steep Valley with no Flat Ground) to make a flower bed has a different meaning to us than to "flatlanders". Here the bed has to be carved or terraced out of the hillside and a walking trail has to be built alongside it. Luckily, Dave spent much of his career as a forester designing and building trails for Bowater Paper Company in "Pocket Wilderness Areas" on their forest land. So it just came natural to Him. After over thirty years of hard work almost eight miles of roads and trails have been established in the "Hollow". All of it enables the visitor to see the "Gardens" and "Forest" up close and personal.

In the mid-eighties Dave and Vicki joined both the National associations for Hosta and Daylilies as well as local clubs interested in promoting both species. In 1990 their local clubs in Knoxville and Chattanooga wanted to sponsor the National Convention Meeting and Tour of the American Hemerocallis Society. When they were asked to be one of six tour gardens for the Convention, they dedicated themselves to make their garden the best that it could be. New daylily beds and trails were added and an entire 2 acre Hosta garden was created surrounding a new 4000 square foot pavilion where lunches and dinners could be catered. The Convention came in 1995 and Vicki and family fed 750 people over two days.  

Dave had always had two wishes for the "Hollow": 1.) To be a good steward of the land and 2.) A desire to make a place for people to come visit and enjoy as much as he does. He just didn't know exactly what direction that should take. After feeding and greeting 750 people from all over the United States on the Convention tour, Dave and Vicki sensed that what they would like to do would be to create a "Garden" that would draw people from all over the Country. Not a formal garden, not an English garden, not a garden that was just a big field of flowers but a garden that would appeal to the different senses of the visitor. A garden that would use the natural setting to the best advantage and give the viewer a three dimensional feel as he or she moved from one place to another. A garden that would offer treats for all the senses. A garden with fragrance of Rose and Phlox, with the harmonic sounds of wind chimes, of melodic birds and rushing water, with sections of Sun and Shade, with movement of Butterflies and foliage in the breeze. To appeal to one of man's other great senses "Lunch" at the Gardens of Sunshine Hollow has become a tradition. There is something about partaking of a meal in a beautiful garden setting that brings back a picture of the Garden of Eden (No, not the apple!).

Since 1995 it has been full speed ahead for "The Gardens of Sunshine Hollow". Many accomplishments have been achieved. A new bakery/kitchen has been built for baking Pecan Fruitcakes and Woozy Cakes as well as for serving lunch during the Garden season and catering wedding receptions and other groups that visit. Over the last several years all flower beds were completely renovated and redone with the new garden theme of "Flowers from Spring to Fall". This has been accomplished with the addition of hundreds of perennials and thousands of annuals for color outside of the traditional daylily bloom season. Beds have being expanded into other areas and completely around the two acre lake. Hundreds of hanging baskets and planters now add beauty to the Gardens. A new Dahlia garden has been installed which displays over one hundred varieties of this beautiful flower. Miniature Dahlias are also used in various hanging baskets and planters. Five Rose gardens with over one hundred cultivars add wonderful fragrance and beauty to the area. Hundreds of groundcover Roses and carefree "Knockout" roses also add color to banks and beds. Twenty five varieties of Cannas are placed at various sunny locations through the beds for late Summer color. The huge dinner plate size flowers of Southern Hibiscus is also being used for late Summer color. Hosta, Ferns and other shade loving plants are displayed in the two acre "Margaret Rhyne Shade Garden" as well as along the one half mile "Fred Rhyne Nature Trail". For visitors who like to hike the "Hollow Ridge Road" which travels about two and one half miles around the ridge tops is complete. A new interior trail named "Dave's Trail" runs two miles through the interior of the Hollow and allows the visitor to see hundreds of wild and domestic azaleas in the Spring and Butterfly Bushes in the Summer and Fall. Plans are to add hundreds of Hellebores "Lenten Roses" to the trail sides for bloom in late Winter and Spring. More future development is envisioned as roadsides are opened up and new areas are created for flowers and shrubs, other points of interest and water features.

The Gardens contain several special Memorial and Honorary gardens dedicated to friends and family. The Kyker Garden which honors two of our favorite flower people, Orpha and Clyde Kyker is now complete. Their home garden was always a joy to visit. It encompassed both Shade and Sun and was full of Hosta, daylilies and other perennials and annuals in a beautiful pine woods setting. The Kyker Memorial garden contains a large collection of Hosta, long blooming daylilies, other perennials, and shrubs such as red twig and yellow twig dogwood. It is the garden located on your left just after you enter the driveway into the Hollow. The area immediately across the driveway honors Hazel and Everett Dougherty. Both in their 90's, they have been hybridizing for over 30 years and are good friends. This garden features 75 of their registered cultivars and especially the cultivar "Dave Rhyne" which was named for yours truly. The Margaret Whitehead Rhyne Shade Garden honors Dave's ninety one year old mother who was also a gardener and flower lover. The area displays over one hundred varieties of Hosta, many ferns, native shrubs, display pots of annuals and many "Garden Critters" - whimsical creatures made from various tools and painted in bright colors. The Jim and Doris Burns Rose Garden honors musical friends of the Rhynes. The Burns have enriched many lives with their music, friendship and accomplishments. Over fifty varieties of Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, Shrub and English Roses are found here. The Fred Lee Rhyne Nature trail is dedicated to Dave's father who was an accomplished gardener and great source of help in developing the Hollow. It displays native plants, Hosta, Ferns and other perennials along the half mile trail.

The production of plants for the visitor to purchase has now changed from digging from the field for individual customers to the propagation of thousands of plants in pots at Sunshine Hollow Nursery for the customer to buy and take home for immediate garden beauty. Plant sales which were made mostly bare root are now made primarily in pots. This makes it easy for the visitor to see and take home what they like. A new sales area has been created which displays the plants alphabetically making it easier to find a particular variety. The Hollow now contains almost 20,000 square feet of hot house space and pot beds for over wintering plants and more will be added for water plants in the future. A 4500 square foot merchandising green house should be operational in the Summer of 2007. Bare Root field grown plants are still available to the customer who lives outside the visitation area of the Gardens. Two acres of field production supplies plants for mail order purchase as well as liners for potting. Not only daylilies and Hosta are available but perennials such as Grasses, Ferns, Phlox, Peonies, Southern Hibiscus and Lenten Roses. By 2007 the Gardens will be offering hanging baskets, Roses and other unusual plants.

When you build it, will they come? That is the question. Almost all the major gardens we know about resulted from two sources: 1.) Wealthy patrons who created the gardens for themselves or for their wives or in memory of mothers or other family or friends (Examples: Butchart, Sarah Duke, Longwood, Biltmore, Callaway) and 2.) Gardens created or supported by Federal, State or Local governments through Universities or other entities (Examples: Nashville's Cheekwood, Memphis Botanical, U. T. Trial Gardens and many others). Most of these gardens are supported by public funds or private endowments. In our case we are trying to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps so to speak. The funds to support "The Gardens of Sunshine Hollow" come entirely from Plant Sales, Admissions Ticket Sales, Lunch Sales and Gift Shop Sales. 

One of the Garden's Goals is to select the best perennials and annuals based on not only beauty but other plant qualities such as vigor, re-bloom and hardiness. The Garden was also designed to show the average gardener what can be grown in this geographic area and what it will look like as a mature plant. Dave or Vicki are always available to ask questions on plant varieties, growing techniques, weeding techniques, plant pests, plant division, irrigation and many other garden questions. Growing tips on various perennials are available at the Gardens. Dave and Vicki are not hybridizers of new Daylilies, Roses, Dahlias or Hosta, but envision their goal as selecting the best from those that are introduced by others based not only on beauty but other plant qualities such as vigor, re-bloom and hardiness. Displaying these varieties to the public creates interest in growing them. At the same time they try to educate the gardener on how to grow plants at their best.

As you can see, collecting Flowers of all kinds has become a passion and one thing has led to another. Now the concept of a garden for all to enjoy has became a reality. Lots of hard work and money has transformed an otherwise rugged and valueless hollow into a place of beauty and solitude.

Sunshine Hollow Gardens is still and will always be a work in progress........