In a few years, the recently four-laned Mars Hill Road corridor in Oconee County will mature into a green passageway with a blaze of spring and fall colors.
The county has contracted work to plant 761 trees along the roadside and in the medians from the Hog Mountain Road intersection to the Oconee Connector.
The work began in January and is expected to be complete in March.
“We did a planting scheme along the entire road that features a lot of different plants,” said Ken Beall, a landscape architect who was a member of a committee that selected the trees.
“We picked out some because they won’t get over a certain size and in some cases they have a leaf color that nobody has ever seen before and in other cases they have budding in the spring that people have seen but not as much in a streetscape planting,” Beall said.
Once people are exposed to these trees, Beall surmised many will want to purchase them for their yards.
“Probably over 75 percent of the trees were selected and grown in Oconee County,” he said.
The trees include about 50 different species, among them elms, cedars, dogwoods and maples, according to a news release from Oconee County.
Others on the tree selection committee were University of Georgia Professor Emeritus Michael Dirr, Keep Oconee County Beautiful Executive Director Cindy Pritchard and Oconee County Commission Chairman John Daniell.
Beall said he recommended that a drone be used to create a video of the entire stretch of the road to aid in developing a plan for the trees.
Landscaping the highway was a challenge, because the trees couldn’t be too close to a sidewalk, curb or driveway and not under a power line, he said.
The committee had to be selective in choosing what to plant in the medians because something like an oak would not work, according to Beall.
“Oak trees need more room for the roots over time as the trees get larger,” he said.
“Dr. Dirr in particular likes to use oaks, so we have those on the outside edges rather than in the islands,” Beall said.
In statements released from the county, Dirr described the project as the “Mars Hill Corridor Arboretum” and said it will serve as a model for other communities.
Pritchard noted that the green ash tree called the Georgia Gem originated along McNutt’s Creek and was propagated on the West Coast.
Daniell described it as “a parkway that residents can be proud of.”
Beall said the plantings will also improve one area where a large wall had to be installed at an embankment at the Hodges Mill Road intersection.
“We did a lot of plants on the wall at Faith Presbyterian Church because a lot of people consider the wall an eyesore and the church wanted a softer look,” he said.
“When the planting is done, people won’t even notice the wall anymore,” Beall said.