City of Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero will join the North Hills Garden Club on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019 at 4 p.m. as it celebrates the opening of the North Hills Arboretum.  

During the event, Mayor Rogero will help cut the ribbon on a new Tennessee pink marble arboretum sign located at the North Hills neighborhood entrance at the intersection of Washington Pike and N. Hills Blvd. The event will take place rain or shine. 

North Hills neighborhood is now home to a level-1 arboretum with several hundred trees located throughout its boulevards and park. With help from a City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation challenge grant last spring, the North Hills Garden Club worked with the city’s Urban Forestry Program to tag 40 trees of distinct species with interactive labels that list each tree’s common name, scientific name, and family name along with a QR scan code that links to a detailed Plants Map database. The club also installed five natural stone benches on the boulevards to provide resting points for residents and visitors exploring the arboretum. This project not only enhances Knoxville’s urban forest canopy but also provides educational and outdoor recreation opportunities in the North Knoxville community.

The club has enlisted a local metal artist to install the marble arboretum sign in a decorative iron frame designed and fabricated in Knoxville. The local iron shop is also making new frames for neighborhood signs throughout the arboretum. 

This fall, with help from another City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation challenge grant, the North Hills Garden Club will expand its arboretum with 60 additional tree labels and 12 new plantings of tree species that are currently under represented in the neighborhood’s boulevards. 

For more information on the North Hills Garden Club visit the club’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NorthHillsGardenClub or website at http://northhillsgardenclub.wixsite.com/nhgc.