Knox County has no rule requiring native plants in home yards, but its zoning ordinance requires native shade trees in new parking lots and along streets in certain developments. Home gardeners choose freely.
For an ordinary residence, Knox County does not mandate native landscaping. However, the zoning ordinance's landscaping standards for qualifying new development do require native trees: interior parking-lot islands and terminal islands must contain a native shade tree, and street frontages in some zones must be planted with native shade trees. These rules govern commercial and multi-unit site plans, not private yards. Homeowners are free to plant native or non-native species; the county neither requires natives nor bans ornamentals for residences.
No penalty for a homeowner's plant choices. A developer omitting required native plantings on an approved site plan can be denied approval or cited under the zoning ordinance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Knox County parks are open sunrise to sunset unless otherwise posted or for a permitted event. Being in a county park after hours is prohibited. Loud or ampl...
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Knox County's Zoning Ordinance requires outdoor lighting be shielded and directed away from residential lot lines, and bars operations producing intense glar...
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Knox County has no formal dark-sky ordinance, but its Zoning Ordinance requires outdoor lighting for parking, storage, display, or security to be shielded an...
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Knox County has no separate garage-sale-sign category; such signs are regulated as temporary signs. They cannot be fixed to poles, trees, fences, or anything...
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In unincorporated Knox County, a political candidate sign may be posted without a building permit, but it cannot exceed 32 square feet, cannot be displayed f...
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The Knox County Zoning Ordinance has no separate tiny-home category. A tiny home is treated as a dwelling, and the ordinance allows only one house per lot in...
See how Knox County's native plants rules stack up against other locations.
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