The Dogwood Arts Festival, select area garden centers, and local tree enthusiasts are teaming up to inspire the public to “dig in for a Bazillion Blooms,” the Festival’s first-ever, county-wide dogwood tree planting program.

The goal of Bazillion Blooms is to reverse a trend of dwindling numbers of dogwood trees through a multifaced effort that involves raising community awareness of care and protection of dogwoods, encouraging neighborhood and individual tree plantings, and spearheading and fund-raising large-scale tree plantings.

The dogwood tree is vital to East Tennessee’s economy, environmental health, and heritage,” said Lisa Duncan, executive director, Dogwood Arts Festival. “It is also a source of community pride and tradition. Our goal with Bazillion Blooms is to make sure our communities have an abundance of healthy, beautiful, blooming trees for generations to come.”

A signature event of Bazillion Blooms is a multimedia public service advertising campaign urging the public to purchase and plant April-blooming and Anthracnose disease-resistant dogwood trees. Anthracnose is a fungus which thrives in wet, damp conditions. The disease has wiped out thousands and thousands of dogwoods across the eastern United States.

The Bazillion Blooms tree sale is going on now and ends with a community-wide dogwood tree planting on Saturday, Dec. 5. Select garden centers have partnered with the Dogwood Arts Festival’s Bazillion Blooms and are selling white blooming dogwood trees cultivated specifically for resistance to Anthracnose. These trees are available in a variety of sizes and prices and can be purchased at the following centers: Ellenburg Landscaping & Nursery, Thress Nursery Gardens, Willow Ridge Garden Center & Landscaping, Mayo Garden Centers, Stanley’s Greenhouses and Saplings.

Trees are also available in pink, but there are no pink cultivars resitant to dogwood anthracnose .

“We encourage everyone to visit the Bazillion Blooms garden center near their home to purchase a tree and help us restore dogwoods to full bloom,” said Duncan, adding that participants can then visit the bazillionblooms.com website and record the planting.

The summer’s relentless rain has created an important “teachable moment” about the need for dogwood trees that are resistant to Anthracnose and/or powdery mildew, said David Vandergriff, a certified arborist and UT extension agent.

“This fall we’ve heard from more homeowners than usual who have lost dogwood trees or have trees in poor condition,” he said. “Many of the problems stem from drought and mildew and fungus diseases, including Anthracnose, which are exacerbated by wet conditions.”

The Dogwood Arts Festival’s Bazillion Blooms advocates the purchase of Anthracnose disease-resistant dogwood cultivars such as "Appalachian Spring." The Appalachian Spring cultivar was developed by University of Tennessee’s Dr. Mark Windham, a plant pathologist, and colleagues Dr. Effin Graham (horticultist) , Dr. Willard Witte (horticulturist), and Dr. Bob Trigiano (plant pathologist).

Proper planting is also key to insuring the long-term health of the dogwood tree. Professional staff from the UT Institute of Agriculture will give planting demonstrations for the public and Bazillion Blooms volunteers on Dec. 5 from 9 a.m. to noon at the UT Gardens off Neyland Drive.

The site will also serve as staging area for the community-wide dogwood tree planting. Volunteers will plant more than 220 dogwood trees that Saturday in locations primarily near and around the Dogwood Trails and garden byways. The trees were purchased with monies raised by Bazillion Blooms fundraising efforts, including tree sales, throughout the year as well as individual donations. People who have ordered trees through the Bazillion Blooms campaign may also pick up their trees from the UT Gardens staging site.

“There are many ways the public can get involved and support the dogwood cause,” Duncan said. “You can make a donation at your local ORNL Federal Credit Union Branch or Mast General Store, and volunteer to take part in our community-wide tree planting Dec. 5. We urge everyone to help us make a difference in the dogwood’s history.”

The Dogwood Arts Festival’s Bazillion Blooms is sponsored by Wells Fargo Home Mortage brokers Lisa Wiles and Jeff Talman and is a collaborative effort between many local groups, including the City of Knoxville, Knox County, UT Institute of Agriculture, local businesses, and agencies.

More information is available at by clicking on the links below, or by calling the Dogwood Arts Festival at 865-637-4561.