Those blooming daffodils: Driven woman pushes Pellissippi Parkway petals
by Dick Byrd, published in The Daily Times 4/2/2011
It is spring flower time in East Tennessee. And that means it is also blooming daffodil time along much of Pellissippi Parkway/Interstate 140 in Knox and Blount counties.
The woman behind the flowers says 1.7 million daffodil bulbs have been planted along the Parkway in the past 22 years. While most of the daffodils are along the three-quarters of the Parkway in Knox County, at least 3,000 daffodils are blooming in Blount County at the Topside Road interchange.
All of those daffodils and the nearby blooming redbud trees are the work of one driven woman, Maria Compere of Knoxville. She is involved with a group called the Knoxville Green Association and some years back also formed the Pellissippi Beautification Committee.
The Green Association provides daffodil bulbs, among many projects. The Pellissippi Committee has been directly involved in beautification along the Parkway now for more than 20 years.
Evidence of the committee’s work can be seen along Pellissippi Parkway from Oak Ridge South to Topside Road. It was just this winter that 3,000 daffodil bulbs were planted at Topside in Blount County. Compere sought and received cooperation from the city of Alcoa in the Blount effort. Alcoa paid for the bulbs, and Compere got correctional inmates to plant them.
Alcoa Assistant Planner Jeremy Pearson has been the point person so far in the early effort in Blount County. He says it is just a start — only a portion of an ongoing effort by the city to beautify the roadways.
Efforts have also been taken to beautify Hall Road, but current planning for road improvements along with the sputtering economy have slowed right-of-way planting, Pearson said. He added that any group or organization interested in taking up the challenge of helping make roadways in Blount County prettier should contact the Tennessee Department of Transportation for permission and assistance.
TDOT spares daffodils
TDOT Regional Transportation Director Steve Borden said he is delighted with Compere’s commitment to the Pellissippi Parkway. He and his staff are very particular to make sure, for instance, that their grass-mowing program doesn’t cut down the daffodils along the roadway during their blooming season, but only on the scheduled “second mowing” of late spring.
There was a dust-up of sorts two years ago when charges surfaced of possible mowing of all blooming daffodils, but Borden says his men only cut those blooming plants when they have migrated into the 10- to 15-foot “sight and safety” roadside.
He, too, said he loves the beauty the planting program has allowed, but added people should enjoy the beauty while actually driving along the road and not by stopping, parking, getting out of their cars and photographing the daffodils and redbud trees. He noted it is unsafe and against the law.
Daffodil thieves warned
Compere said she heard of someone recently stealing daffodil bulbs from along the exit ramp from the Parkway at Topside Road. She said anyone seeing that happening should “take the license tag number and notify” her so she can write them a “strong letter.”
The website of the American Daffodil Society notes that the flowering season for daffodils lasts from six weeks to six months, depending on location. Here in East Tennessee, the lifespan of such blooms is more on the six-week side of the ledger.
To see spring at its finest, consider a drive soon along Pellissippi Parkway, enjoying the view of the daffodils and those beautiful redbud trees — from inside your car, of course.
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