Lexington, KY Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's general nuisance ordinance, Sec. 12-2 of the Code of Ordinances, normally bars any weeds or grass over ten inches tall on a property. But the same section spells out that 'native plantings for the purpose of intentional naturalization' fall outside that rule. The code lists the qualifying purposes broadly: growing food or fiber, aesthetic landscaping, attracting or supporting pollinators, controlling soil loss or erosion, managing stormwater, conserving water, or improving soil health. Crucially, the ordinance draws a hard line between naturalization and neglect.

It states that 'naturalization does not include vegetation abandonment, which is defined as the lack of premises management,' and lists site preparation, planting and ongoing maintenance as the management activities that keep a native planting in the exempt category. 8839, can still treat an untended lot as a nuisance under the same section. The exemption also carries a species limit: naturalized gardens can't include any plant categorized as a level-one threat by the Kentucky Exotic Plant Pest Council, tying the native-planting allowance directly to the state's own invasive-species list rather than leaving it to local discretion.