In the mid-1990s, UT professors of entomology and plant pathology Robert Trigiano and Mark Windham discovered a single dogwood anthracnose-resistant tree in Catoctin National Park near Camp David. They cultivated saplings from the tree and developed the Appalachian Spring Dogwood, which is resistant to anthracnose. That cultivar was available for sale in 1999. In 2002 the professors patented three Appalachian dogwood varieties that are resistant to powdery mildew and began work on enlarging the size of blossoms on the flowering trees. In 2006 they established the firm Creative Agricultural Technologies to manage licensing and marketing of the Appalachian varieties and other agricultural products developed at UT. The original Appalachian Spring cultivar was developed by a UT AgResearch research team that included Dr. Mark Windham, Dr. Effin Graham, Dr. Willard Witte, and Dr. Bob Trigiano.