2 weeks ago

Celebrating Summer! Congratulations, June & July Yard of the Month Winners!

Keep Denton Beautiful started the 2020 Yard of the Month season awarding the winning yard for the Yard of the Month program through a public vote on our Facebook page. In July, we transitioned back to our typical process - leaving door hangers to notify residents of their nomination and awarding one yard as their district's winner.

In these summertime yards, you'll find a wide variety of native species. These Texas natives can hold their own in the heat with minimal need for supplemental watering. Environmentally friendly and beautiful- seems like a win-win to us!

Just a few of the plants you'll find:

918 N. Elm St. - boxwood, hollies, lorpetulum, spirea, & Variegated Loripe
2528 Jamestown Ln. - Gulf Muhly grass, phlox, Mexican petunia,Texas rock rose, Gaura, & Yucca

1613 Amherst Dr. - salvia, lilies, coneflowers, creeping phlox, Turk's cap, and a Live Oak tree
715 Gober. St - blue agave, elephant ears, marigolds, sweet potato plants, cedar tree
1333 Cambridge Ln. - Echinacea, pink coneflowers, lamb's ear, Hosta, ferns, Redbud and Acer trees
414 Parkway St. - Impatiens, boxwood, hollies, Vinca major, Dwarf Nandina, oak & crepe myrtle trees

June Winning Yards

Leigh Hilton Estate Planning Landscaping

918 N. Elm St. - Leigh Hilton Estate Planning Attorneys

2528 Jamestown Ln.

July Winning Yards

1613 Amherst St.

715 Gober St.

1333 Cambridge Ln.

414 Parkway St. - Denton Chamber of Commerce

1 month ago

Happy Pollinator Week!

Here at KDB we are excited to celebrate our City’s pollinators! Thirteen years ago, the U.S. Senate designated one week in June to be National Pollinator Week. Since then, the week recognizing the importance of these hardworking fauna in our ecosystems has become an international celebration.

The City of Denton Sustainability Division has worked hard to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and the City became a certified a Monarch City USA in 2016 and a Bee City USA in 2018. If you are wondering how you can help contribute to a pollinator friendly environment, Sarah Luxton, Sustainability Coordinator recommends, "A great way to support pollinators is to plant native species." For more information, visit the City’s Pollinator Awareness page.

Fun Fact: About 75% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollinators with over 200,000 species of animals acting as pollinators. Of those, about 1,000 are hummingbirds, bats, and small mammals. The rest are insects such as beetles, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies, and moths.
(Pollinator Partnership, Pollination Fast Facts, www.pollinator.org)

Photo Credits:
- Bug Hotel, courtesy Sarah Luxton, City of Denton Sustainability Division
- Winecup, courtesy Beverly McClure, Yard of the Month Judge
- Yard of the Month winning yard

3 months ago

Congratulations to May 2020 Yards of the Month!

Socially Distanced Yard of the Month

To minimize contact between volunteer judges and the community, the Yard of the Month program has gone virtual. While KDB typically awards several residential yards across the city, until further notice, KDB will award one people's choice residential yard winner.

Volunteer judges surveyed nominated yards to ensure qualification and photos of each yard were posted on Facebook for a weeklong public voting period. Thank you to everyone who voted for their favorite yard!

Congratulations to May's winning yards!

701 Seville Street
Steve and Joanne Spurgin garden for the enjoyment it brings, and hope people will take an interest in gardening and nature too. When selecting what to grow, the couple keeps water consumption needs low, focus on native plants to attract pollinators, and try to find unique species to add. They also mix in vegetables and herbs, including dill and fennel, which also attract butterflies. The Spurgin’s have filled their yard with over 200 plant species! A few plants you will find are lantana, milkweed, daylilies, tomatoes, and parsley. Bluebonnets also grow in the couple’s yard. Although there is debate on when to spread bluebonnet seeds, the Spurgin’s distribute the seeds in the spring when the plant produces it and wait to see what happens. We are excited to see where the flowers will pop up next spring!

TWU
Congratulations to our May Business Yard of the Month, the Bettye Myers Butterfly Garden on the Texas Woman’s University campus. Designated as a Monarch Waystation, the butterfly garden boasts a lovely variety of flowers, including coneflowers (bachelor buttons), poppies, evening primrose, larkspur, phlox, gerbera daisy, and cornflowers. Find Phase II of this garden by the Little Chapel in-the-Woods and enjoy the Carroll Abbott Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a section of the garden dedicated to the memory of Carroll Abbott. He and Dr. Blagg-Huey, former TWU President, chaired the committee who initiated the Native Plant Society of Texas.