Master Gardeners provide volunteer service for many Blount County community and civic organizations through projects such as the following (click the blue links below for more information):

• BCMG-Eastern Bluebird Trail
• • A demonstration project of a Eastern Bluebird trail for the community.

• BCMG-SWDC Learning Areas and Demonstration Sites
• • A joint project with BC Soil and Water Conservation Learning Areas & Demonstration Sites.

• Blount County Tennessee Smart Yards
• • Learn how to create healthy, ecologically sound landscapes!
• Habitat for Humanity Partnership
  
• • Blount County Master Gardeners teach new Habitat homeowners about landscaping and gardening.
• Liles Farms: Farm to Table Project  
• • An excellent example of Blount County Master Gardeners working with and for the community.
• Project HOPE
• • BCMG teach middle-school students about STEM topics through gardening.
• BCPL Pollinator Path
• Developing Pollinator garden from Library to Cormac McCarthy circle. Habitat for Butterflies, birds, bats and bees.
• Maryville College Fruit Grove
• Blount County Master Gardeners are pleased to partner with Maryville College in the rehabilitation of the college’s fruit grove. This partnership provides educational opportunities for Maryville College students and Extension Master Gardeners working side by side to prune, maintain, and add new trees to the grove.
• Seed Library
• • Learn more about this seed saving, sharing and collecting service, a BCMG/BCPL collaborative project!
• Shakespeare Garden at Blount County Public Library
• • A gardening partnership with BCPL teaching best gardening practices.
• BCPL Tomato Jam 
• Brought To You In Partnership with: Blount County Library, Blount County Master Gardeners, UTEXTENSION and Blount Co. 4-H. 
• Townsend River Walk Project 
  

• • A long-term collaborative project focused on reintroducing native species along the Little River in Townsend.
• UT Extension Office Demonstration Projects
• • Blount County Extension Office - Landscape office site planning, planting bed preparation and maintaining the grounds and planting display areas surrounding the Extension Office. The first project began in the summer 2022- Front Entrance & Flagpole Bed FIREWISE DEMONSTRATION/EDUCATION planting to teach what being Firewise at home is all about. 

• Boys & Girls Club Youth Gardening - Leadership Blount
• • A gardening partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Alcoa teaching a love of gardening.

                     What is the TN Extension Master Gardener Program? (Clink the link for more information!)

The Blount County Master Gardeners (BCMG) is a service organization dedicated to representing UT in the community. The 20th anniversary is the perfect time to thank the individuals and organizations the BCMG has partnered with to positively impact our community. Certified Extension Master Gardeners are trained by University of Tennessee Extension Service professionals to provide sound, practical, research based information in the areas of residential and consumer horticulture.

Our work in the community has given us the opportunity to teach future gardeners through partnerships with schools and youth programs and to promote environmental stewardship as we visit with new home owners and invite questions at the “Ask a Master Gardener” booth at the Maryville Farmers Market. The demonstration gardens around the Blount County Extension Office, at the Blount County Public Library, and elsewhere around the area showcase that a garden can be beautiful and friendly to birds and other pollinators while accommodating the area’s terrain, climate and environmental challenges. We have been fortunate to work with other community volunteers to plant and harvest produce for area food banks and with the Blount County Public Library to encourage seed saving. 

Blount County has been a wonderful place for the BCMG to call home for the past 20 years. Thank you for allowing the BCMG to be part of your “landscape”. We look forward to another 20 years in Blount County.