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Plant Spotlight: Wintergold Mugo Pine
If you’re looking for some winter interest in your yard, evergreens are a great way to do so. It can be hard to find unique evergreens however! You can find unique evergreens at our local nurseries, but they often go fast and they are limited in quantity. Habit One of these evergreens is the Mugo…
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Emerald Ash Borer: Threat to Our Native Landscape
If you haven’t heard about the Emerald Ash Borer, it is important to be aware of this invasive pest, especially if you own an Ash tree or are concerned with preserving our native natural Kentucky landscape and our Lexington streetscape. Ash Trees in Our Landscape Many varieties of ash trees are native to Kentucky and…
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Butterflies During Wintertime
We almost forget about our colorful friends of summer as we’re lured inside by our furnaces and fireplaces. Where do butterflies go during wintertime? They are still in our gardens! Most of our butterflies hibernate in our gardens throughout winter. They are just hiding out very well. There are some species that do migrate to warmer…
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Frost Creates Beauty in the Winter Garden
One reason of several I love leaving perennials standing during the wintertime is because of the interest they create, especially during frost and snow! The heavy frosts we’ve had in early December created really neat effects in the garden!
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Native Plant Spotlight: Winterberry Holly
This spectacular shrub is a must in the winter garden. Winterberry is a native deciduous holly. This holly does not have the common prickly leaves, but are oval shaped and soft. After its leaves fall, this shrub becomes covered in these amazing red berries that makes it a show stopper. Only the female plants form these…
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Native Plant Spotlight: Poison Ivy Where to find it, how to remove it, how to take care of the rash
Study these photos well… These are photos of the poison ivy leaf. I am amazed at how many people don’t know what poison ivy looks like, and I wish to educate people! I see it everywhere, especially in any lesser maintained areas, even all around Fayette County. I’ve even had it in my own suburban…
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Book Review: ‘Zero Waste Home’ by Be a Johnson
The book, “Zero Waste Home” by Bea Johnson was a recommended book I found on a blog I read about living without excess. Being this type of minimalist, earth-saving book, you may think it would be written by someone who has always lived this way. On the contrast, Bea first tells her story about how…
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12 Tips to Prepare for at Home
It’s always best to be prepared for snow. Here is a checklist to being prepared this winter! Prepare the garden for winter by following these tips from this blog post: Preparing the Garden For Winter
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Landscaping and Planning for A Backyard Wedding
The national average cost of a wedding is about $25,000. Here in central Kentucky the average is between $19,000 (with $31,000 being the high average!) . These astonishing numbers aren’t totally dictated by what a couple plans to spend; it’s mostly directly related to the cost of hiring a business for xyz. The venue usually accounts…
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9 Invasive Shrubs to Avoid in the Landscape
You may have read about 4 Bad Invasive Trees To Avoid in the Landscape a few weeks ago on my blog. This time I’m going to focus on some bad invasive shrubs we should avoid in the landscape. All of these shrubs began their time in America being sold as ornamentals. Many are still sold at…
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Preparing the Garden for Winter
Preparing the garden for winter consists of cleaning up and covering. Although it may seem not much is going on in our garden over the winter months, there is still abundant life going on underground and inside nooks and crannies we can’t see. Properly preparing the garden for winter will ensure a lively one in…
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Fall Cleanup: Leaves & Perennials
Want to save a lot of time and work? Leave those leaves be! And the perennial stems in your garden too. Now, I know it’s considered normal to cut down all the old perennials, grasses, in your yard once they become dried up. It’s also kind of normal to rake up all the leaves in…
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4 Invasive Trees To Avoid in the Landscape
Invasive species are a big threat to our North American ecosystem. Most invasive species have been brought from Asia as ornamental specimens. They not only do nothing for our ‘living landscape’, but they also take over and drown out our native species. These specimens could just be considered statues, because they aren’t contributing to our…
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What is Landscape Design?
What is a Landscape Design? A landscape design at its basic, is a drawn and written down plan of landscape and garden spaces. A design can be created on various scales depending on the project. For example, a city may have an urban plan which may show where new parks or green infrastructure will go.…
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Wild Ones Lexington: 2015 Monarch Waystation Garden Tour
Wild Ones is a national organization that advocates using native plants in the cultivated landscape, increasing natural landscape areas, and education. There is a national chapter and smaller local chapters throughout the nation. The Lexington Chapter of Wild Ones recently held a Monarch Waystation Tour, highlighting 10 monarch waystations in our city. They comprised of…
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American Goldfinches
Watch a video of the pair eating sunflower seeds (watch out for the Spicebush Swallowtail fluttering by!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7rM6K-9Uww In Kentucky we are able to see the North American Goldfinch year round. It has been fun to watch this pair hanging around my yard for the past few weeks. They’re attracted to the bird feeder which…
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Landscape Transformation: Hartland Gardens
Before and after residential design in Lexington, Kentucky. Boxwoods, pussy willow, Japanese maple, and roses were replaced with evergreens, deciduous plants, and perennials, many native species that will prove themselves in the landscape.
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Creating a Native Bee Home
Last weekend we set up a table at Arbor Day at our state Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. Although it was very chilly and rainy out, there was a good turn out and got to talk to a lot of people and other vendors. Our display booth focused on native bees and showcased a native bee home, which…
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Native Plant Spotlight: Dicentra A Spring Blooming Ephemeral
In the spring we often see the plants commonly called Bleeding Hearts in our Kentucky landscape. The common ones we see at a lot plant nurseries are a type from China called, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, so they aren’t even in the genus Dicentra. However, there are a few types of Dicentra Bleeding Hearts native to Kentucky! The…
