Tag: Landscape Design Lexington Kentucky
-
4 Elements of a Long-Lasting Retaining Wall
Retaining walls do more than just hold back soil — they create functional, beautiful spaces in the landscape. But not all retaining walls are built to last. Whether you’re dealing with hills, erosion, or just looking to elevate your outdoor design, it’s important to understand what makes a wall durable over time. A professionally installed…
-
Choosing the Right Garden Furniture for Your Outdoor Space
When it comes to creating an inviting outdoor retreat, garden furniture plays a pivotal role. From relaxation to entertaining, the right pieces can transform your yard into a comfortable, stylish oasis. Here’s what to consider when choosing garden furniture, including types, materials, sizing, and styles. EARTHeim has recently teamed up with Crate & Barrel to…
-
A New Garden for a Historic Home (& video)
This historic home received a new landscape makeover, complete with an updated pergola, a custom built arbor, custom wood privacy trellis, a pond with a waterfall, stepping stones, and many new native plants. This garden became a certified Wildlife Habitat and certified Monarch Waystation too. We also solved some drainage issues on the site. All…
-
A Serene Landscape Design & Installation (& video)
This serene landscape design was installed in 2023. This video shows post installation, in the fall. After this installation, we also installed over 30 trees on the property! The gardens around this newly built home included a front yard garden with native plants, sweetbay magnolias, boulders, and a paver walkway. In the backyard, we installed…
-
Native Plant Rain Garden & Creekbed Rainwater Diversion French Drain
This property has had extensive drainage work due to a lot of underlying bedrock near the surface. This is not uncommon in our inner Bluegrass region of Kentucky. We often hit rocks when digging gardens and excavating. This area is unusual in that there are large slabs of bedrock sometimes not even 6″ below surface…
-
Midway Historic Home
THE GARDEN DESIGN INSTALLATION The garden at this historical home was give a new landscape update this late summer. We removed the old roses and boxwoods and installed a whole new native plant landscape. A garden bed planted near the corner of the property was added for several functions. First, it will help mitigate storm…
-
EARTHeim News: 2019 Accomplishments
2019 was a busy year for EARTHeim! Here are some things EARTHeim was a part of this past year. OLLI ‘Gardening for the Living Landscape’ Since 2015, I’ve taught a 6 week gardening course for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute which is a senior’s community education program through the University of Kentucky. I plan to…
-
Snow Day for the Birds
With all the snow and very cold temperates this January we’ve had, my bird feeders have been full of birds looking for some good nutrition to keep them warm! Please remember: Do Not feed birds any form of bread. It starves them to death by filling them up with food that offers no nutrition. They…
-
The Winter Garden As Habitat for Beneficial Insects
It may not seem like it, but gardens are still full of life even in winter and fall. Most if it is hibernating, but if you look close enough you can find evidence. I got out in my garden last November and played detective, finding a few fun things in the garden. This lady bug…
-
Early Fall Garden Harvest
With cold weather approaching, I took some last days of t-shirt weather and did some tidying up in the garden. I completely advocate being a ‘lazy’ gardener when it comes fall time to create winter wildlife habitat. There are some things I do before winter gets here though and it mainly has to do with…
-
Bulb Planting Season
It’s a month into fall and that means there’s one last chance to get spring bulbs planted in Kentucky! November is nearing and so are chances of frost, so we have a couple of weeks left to get bulbs in the ground. This year for my own garden I picked out some snowdrops and a…
-
How to Save Tomato Seeds to Plant Next Year
Some plants are easier to save seed than others. Tomato seed is easy to collect, but there are a few more steps to getting viable seed than just allowing the seed to try. Just follow these simple steps and you’ll be saving seed in no time! Why Save Seed? Although it’s a lot of fun…
-
Crows, Blackbirds, & Ravens
What’s that black bird over there? There are several species of birds that have all black feathers. Crows are a familiar bird that can be found nearly everywhere in America. They are a very adaptable bird, which allows them to live in various environments. It may be one reason why humans have given crows some type of…
-
Effects of Light Pollution on Wildlife
It was an October night, I was standing outside on the second floor of a motel looking out to the ocean of Myrtle Beach. Out there I saw true darkness, but it was still hard to see the complete darkness for the glare of a motel light. Bugs and moths were buzzing all around it.…
-
Native Plant Series: Butterfly Milkweed
Butterfly Milkweed has been listed as plant of the year 2017 by the Perennial Plant Association. I’m not surprised, this ‘weed’ is a beauty. Despite it’s name, it doesn’t act weedy in the garden, so don’t be afraid to add it to your landscape. It’s just starting to bloom here in Kentucky, with its orange…
-
Kentucky Heirloom Green Beans & Tomatoes: Berea Sustainable Agriculture Center
I love growing green beans; they produce a lot of food in a small space. If you don’t have a vegetable garden, they’re easy to grow even in an ornamental garden bed on a nice looking trellis, and it’s unlikely anyone would even realize you’re growing food. By growing your own beans, you’ll be getting…
-
Easy Composting with Coffee Grounds & Eggshells
If you’ve thought about composting, but have been apprehensive to try it, there a couple of very easy ways to improve your soil (for free!) without having a compost heap. (Although composting is very easy, easier than dealing with stinky trash!) These easy things simply begin with two magic things… These two specifically don’t necessarily need to…
-
Feeding Birds in Winter
If you enjoy birding as much as I do, you must also enjoy feeding and watching birds in the winter. Birds stand out in the landscape of leafless trees and white snow, making them easier to watch. They’re likely spending a lot more time at your feeders trying to stay fat to keep warm all winter. There…
-
Birding with Cats: The #1 Killer of Birds in the World
Have outdoor cats, but love birding? You and I are in the same boat. Sylvester the cat and Tweety the bird aren’t just a cliche in the animal world. Cats can kill between 1.4- 3.7 Billion birds annually in the continental US This number tells us that bird deaths due to cats is a serious issue.…
-
How to Make Insecticidal Soap for Houseplants
Every winter spider mites seem to get worse on my indoor plants. However it’s easy and inexpensive to keep them at bay! You can make a simple insecticidal soap that will kill only soft-bodied insects such as spider mites, aphids, and mealybugs. In my home, my Croton and Arrowhead plants fall victim to spider mites.…