Courtney Willis and Brittney Whipple
December 5th, 2025
The Kids Keep Blount Beautiful is a grant-funded education and beautification program that provides City of Alcoa, City of Maryville, and Blount County schools with native plants to enhance and improve their property. The program gives students the opportunity to participate in a planting project that beautifies their school with the goal of increasing their sense of community pride, care for the environment, and knowledge of native trees.
The 2025 project was funded by Accenture’s Eco Employee Resource Group, and grant
funds were used to purchase native plants that beautify school properties, create outdoor learning spaces, establish wildlife habitats, and address environmental factors such as lack of shade and improper drainage.
Natives Planted
Once beneficiary schools were selected, Keep Blount Beautiful (KBB) conducted site visits, developed a site plan based on the schools’ needs, ordered the native plants and necessary supplies, and finally conducted planting days with each school.
During the 2025 planting season, KBB and participating schools planted a total of 18 trees, 2 shrubs, 72 flowers, and 100 stick plants between Sam Houston Elementary School, Prospect Elementary School, and Clayton Bradley Academy. The trees included October Glory maple, Appalachian spring dogwood, white oak, red bud, paw paw, and tulip poplar. KBB also planted two beauty berry shrubs, many coneflowers and daylilies outside school entrances, and dogwood stick plants along Pistol Creek.
The new trees started out large (about 10 feet tall), so the students had to dig large holes! Adult staff and volunteers assisted with a mattock, and the students removed the loosened dirt with shovels. Once the hole was large enough, students helped to add soil conditioner to the existing dirt and loosen the root ball to prepare each tree for planting. After a good mulching, they looked great and almost ready to enter dormancy.
Characteristics
The height of each tree planted varies. The October Glory maple can reach heights of up to 50 feet. The Appalachian dogwood, on the other hand, will only reach a max height of around 20 feet. The white oak, over time, can reach a towering height of 100 feet, while the red bud will reach a max height of roughly 30 feet. The paw paw is a relatively smaller tree of the group and will grow to about 20 feet at full maturity. Finally, the Tennessee state tree, known as the tulip poplar, will also reach a staggering height of 100 feet.
All of the trees planted will bear flowers, fruit, or both. In early spring, the October Glory maple will produce clusters of small red flowers before the leaves emerge. Then, it will produce red-winged seeds called samaras, which are the tree’s fruit. In the fall, the October Glory maple will boast fiery red leaves that will be among the last to fall.
The Appalachian dogwood is known for its stunning white or pinkish blooms that it acquires in the springtime. They will also produce a small red fruit that resembles a cranberry.
The white oak has drooping yellowish-green blooms that appear in the spring and are known as catkins that will eventually release pollen to small reddish-green female flowers. The fruit that a White Oak produces is the acorn.
In the spring, the red bud will bear beautiful clusters of bright pink and purple pea-like blooms that appear before the tree’s leaves emerge. Their fruit is described as a flattened, brown pod that will mature through late summer and even remain on the tree through the winter.
The paw paw will bear flowers that are small, cup-shaped, and purplish-red in color. They will also appear in early spring before the leaves emerge. These flowers will then develop into large, edible, oblong fruits in late summer to early fall that are often described as a custard-like blend between a mango and banana with other tropical notes.
The tulip poplar will develop stunning flowers that are large, tulip-shaped, and green/yellow with orange at their base. These flowers will then turn into a cone-like cluster of winged seeds, which over time will develop into winged fruits that fall to the ground. In the fall, the tulip poplar’s leaves will turn a beautiful golden yellow.
Wildlife and Ecological Benefits
Planting native trees does wonders for the wildlife that utilize them. The new trees will attract local wildlife for things like shelter, food, pollinator support, and nesting sites.These trees will each play a specific role in their ecosystem and help support a flourishing natural environment at each of these schools.
The addition of these trees will not only bring benefits to the school, but to the surrounding environment; each of the trees are native to East Tennessee and will thrive in their new homes without disturbing the natural ecosystem they were planted in. By planting native trees, we can further support the natural environment by improving air quality, reducing storm water runoff, assisting with soil stability, maintaining ecosystem resilience, and more. It is incredibly important to plant native trees (and avoid planting invasive trees) to support the biodiversity and beauty of our East Tennessee ecosystem.
