Blog: City Blog

Bare Root System, Partners and Volunteers Make Planting of 62 Trees Possible

Volunteers planted trees this past Saturday, Dec. 3, in in the right-of-way on Anniversary Lane, bringing both aesthetic appeal and functionality to the Silver Leaf Habitat Neighborhood in East Knoxville.

Silver Leaf neighborhood has less than five percent canopy cover, which these new trees will help to improve as they mature.

Kasey Krouse, the City’s Urban Forester, said this project was made possible by a partnership between the City of Knoxville, Trees Knoxville, the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum, Habitat for Humanity and Earthadelic.

“Our partners and volunteers significantly reduced the cost of the trees’ installment,” said Krouse. “It’s exciting to have this kind of support for trees as they relate to neighborhood improvement.”

The 62 trees were fortified through a “Missouri gravel bed” root-growing system over the summer at the Knoxville Botanical Garden.

Krouse said these bare root trees are more cost-effective and grow much more efficiently than trees purchased with large root balls, reducing the cost of the tree to $14.50 per tree compared to the average price of $92.00 per tree with root balls.

The gravel bed trees also make transportation of the trees much easier, which weigh five pounds each compared to the 200-pound trees with root balls.

Earthadelic helped to reduce labor expenses for the tree plantings by pre-digging holes with an auger.

The trees were planted this past weekend by more than 70 volunteers from the Knoxville Utilities Board, local tree care companies, Habitat for Humanity, and the University of Tennessee as well as local individuals.

Street trees come with many practical aspects: They provide shade that reduces energy expenses, encourage traffic calming, increase property values, improve air quality, and serve as filters for stormwater systems.

“In addition to their functionality, they help bring an aesthetic identity to a community,” said Krouse. “There are many streets and neighborhoods named after a type of tree planted in the vicinity, for example.”

The tree species planted Saturday included bald cypress, eastern redbud, London plane, American sweetgum, and tulip poplar. Krouse said now that the trees are planted in the street’s right-of-way on Anniversary Lane, they are public assets and will be periodically maintained by the City.

A recent City inventory of all trees on public property helped officials to strategize future tree plantings, which included Anniversary Lane. Using this inventory, City officials developed an interactive map, through which information can be obtained on individual public trees in Knoxville. The map also allows residents to report maintenance issues through email. To view this map, visit www.knoxvilletn.gov/trees.

Posted by On 05 December, 2016 at 5:28 PM