Hendersonville, TN Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

Hendersonville's landscape standards require live plant material — trees, shrubs, ground cover, and grass — to satisfy required landscape areas including street trees (one per 35 linear feet of property abutting a street), bufferyards, screening of parking and service areas, and parking-lot interior landscaping. Screening requirements specifically reference 'a solid wood or masonry fence to a height of no less than 6 feet, and/or a dense evergreen hedge' and require that 'existing vegetation shall be preserved whenever possible.' These standards are oriented to live plant material, and artificial turf is generally not accepted to satisfy required landscape, screening, or bufferyard areas because it does not provide the stormwater, shade, or ecological functions the standards aim to achieve. On a single-family residential lot outside required landscape areas, the City does not regulate the choice between sod, mulch, or artificial turf, and no permit is required for installation. Tennessee provides no statewide artificial-turf rule. HOAs in Hendersonville subdivisions (e.g., Bluegrass Country Club, Indian Lake Estates, Walton Ferry) often impose CC&R restrictions on synthetic turf; HOA disputes are resolved through the HOA's architectural review committee and civil court, not the City.