KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Spring is here and flowers are blooming in Knoxville. To celebrate the season, Dogwood Arts have announced that three trails in the city will be featured.
The Dogwood Trails, Open Gardens and Camera Sites are will open on April 1. Visitors are invited to drive, walk or bike on the trails throughout the month of April. The Open Gardens and Camera Sites are open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.
The Dogwood Trails cover more than 90 miles in 13 neighborhoods throughout the city. There are three trails in North Knoxville, three trails in South Knoxville, two trails in East Knoxville and five trails in West Knoxville.
Along the trails are Open Gardens and Camera sites. In Open Gardens, people are invited to get out of their cars and stroll through the garden. For Camera Sites, people are asked to only take photos and not enter the property.
This year, Dogwood Arts celebrate 68 years of trails by featuring the North Knoxville trails; Fountain City, North Hills and Halls/Timberline.
On Wednesday, March 29 from 5-7 p.m., there will be a ribbon-cutting at Historic Gibbs Drive (2800 Gibbs Drive, Knoxville, TN 37918). The free event will feature live music from the Fountain City Ramblers, food trucks, flower and plant vendors, and activities for the kids provided by the Fountain City Library.
In Fountain City, visitors can see azaleas, perennials, wildflowers and pink and white dogwoods. The trail in the west also offers a “panoramic view from Black Oak Ridge across the city to the distant Smoky Mountains,” according to Dogwood Arts.
Dogwood Arts said visitors to North Hills will see historic homes, over 40 labeled species of trees and more than 400 individual trees in the arboretum. Flowering Dogwoods make up the majority with over 200 trees. Other tree species that can be seen include oak, hickory, maple, redbud, elm, crape myrtle and magnolia.
The Halls/Timberline trail is located in the foothills of the Clinch mountains and it is abundant with native Tennessee flowering dogwood trees. The trail also represents Dogwood Arts’ first trail outside Knoxville’s city limits. The nonprofit’s annual tree-planting campaign which began in 2009, has added hundreds of blooming trees to the trail.
Trail maps can be found online at dogwoodarts.com/trailsandgardens. Printed Trail Guides can be found at Visit Knoxville, all ORNL Federal Credit Union Branches, and the Dogwood Arts office (123 W. Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902). The trails can be navigated by following the pink lines on the roads.
