Tag: Landscape Design Lexington Kentucky
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Yew Dell Gardens Hummingbird Festival
Yew Dell gardens is just northeast of Louisville, about an hour and a half away from Lexington. Every August they have a small hummingbird festival with some speakers and other activities. I hadn’t been to Yew Dell before, so I thought it would be the perfect time to go since I love hummingbirds! Yew Dell…
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Is Mosquito Spraying Affecting our Pollinators?
The following article was written for Wild Ones Lexington newsletter September 2016 We seem to be seeing an increasing amount of advertising for mosquito spraying services in our area. We are also noticing lower numbers of pollinators, especially butterflies. While populations of our pollinators are suffering due to many factors, could the chemicals used to kill…
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Raising Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies
Raising caterpillars to butterflies isn’t something I’ve done before, but I finally did a little research on how to go about it. About a week ago we saw a Spicebush Swallowtail flying around our 2 Spicebush shrubs. We knew it was laying eggs on the shrubs! We looked, and there they were on the underside…
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The Robber Fly
Once you start planting a garden, you start witnessing fun things, especially when you plant native plants, edible plants, and pollinator loving annuals (all without pesticides on them of course!). As I was looking at the flowers on my hanging basket, I saw this guy fly up and land. Its giant green eyes were nearly…
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Carter Caves State Park
A few weeks ago I took a small vacation to Carter Caves, a Kentucky state park located in Olive Hill, just east of Morehead. When looking for a place to go a couple months ago, I chose Carter Caves because there was so much to do there! One of the best things they have to…
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Invasive Species Series: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush is a flowering shrub lots of people think of when they think of creating a butterfly garden. I admit, their flowers are pretty! They do attract butterflies! But… There are a lot more beneficial plants you can use in a butterfly garden than a butterfly bush. Butterfly Bush is not a native plant,…
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Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden
Hummingbirds are amazing creatures! They have long beaks, are tiny, and flutter their wings 60 to 90 times per second! They are even more amazing birds because of their migration pattern. In fall, the hummingbirds from Kentucky travel south down to Florida along the Gulf coast. They spend about a week here and gain about…
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What Is a Host Plant?
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about pollinators and native plants, which is awesome! Awareness in anything is the first step in creating change to those things which no longer serve us. Our pollinators are very important to our ecosystem, they’re the building block to our food chain and pollinate our food and flowers! A…
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Beneficial Insects in the Garden
A healthy garden begins with a diversity of native plants, good soil full of organic matter, and not using pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. If you have a vegetable garden, you probably have experienced some type of pest eating your food. Planting native plants and annuals near your vegetable garden can attract many beneficial insects that…
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Monarch Waystations: Certify Your Garden
What is it about butterflies that we love? Their colors and patterns are striking, they fly elegantly in the air and drink nectar from colorful flowers. Not only do they bring a lot of joy, pollinators are an important part of our ecosystem. They pollinate flowers and food, and they are a building block of the food…
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How a Gardener Can Help You
When clients come to me for help they often express they just want to enjoy their garden and landscape and not have to work on it all the time. I completely understand, it’s hard to enjoy your garden when the only time spent in it is pulling weeds or stressing over what to exactly do.…
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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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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…