About the Habitat Patch Kits

Planting & Pickup

Kits will be made available for planting in October 2026 to participants who place pre-orders in spring. Pickiup date(s) / location to be annoucned.  

Please plan to get them in the ground within a few days of pickup for best results. Preparing your site in advance is strongly recommended! 

Kits Include

Every kit includes:

• Small Kits: 10 each of perennial grass / flower (herbaceous perennial) plants, plug size; 10 each shrubs and / or trees (woody plants)

• Large kits:  25 each of perennial grass / flower (herbaceous perennial) plants, plug size; 25 each shrubs and / or trees (woody plants)

Trees and shrubs will be bare root and packed in damp wood shavings. They will be from one to about four years in age. They are easy to plant and will have no plastic packaging. 

• Printed planting instuctions 

• A printed tag for each plant. 

The tags will indicate:  common name, scientific name and the forest level so that you can manage a planting pattern and keep track of each plant. 

• A printable notebook to bring your plans into the next generation or home owner. 

The notebook contains room for your planning process, planting map, notes about maintenance you’ve carried out and citizen science worksheets. Additionally, it includes information on: site choice and preparation; a planting guide; protection recommendations; water, mulch and pruning recommendations and notes; 1st year and longer-term management tips, and a list of trees that came with your kit including details on fruit/nut bearing timing, growth patterns and, if applicable, hedge management guidelines.

We'll send care reminders and instructions for preparing your site throughout the months!

Illustrative example of what might be included in a small kit - please note that exact contents will depend on nursery availability & site conditions: 

Canopy/midsory trees (3)

oak e.g. red, black, white

river birch

northern pecan

Understory trees (3)

flowering dogwood

redbud

American plum

Shrubs (4) 

virginia rose

ninebark

hazelnut

pussywillow

Herrbaceous perennials (10)

3x tall grass, e.g. switch grass or little bluestem 

joe pye 

cutleaf coneflower

some kind of goldenrod

iris versacolor

red beebalm

orange coneflower

lanceleaf coreopsis 

A Local Community Project

The Lexington Habitat Patches Project has been created by LexCAN (Lexington Climate Action Network), It grew out of a pocket forest initiative ecological restoration concept. "Habitat Patches" aims to match implementation and scale with residential needs in both the short and long term.