The plants you see here are from left to right: Lignum Vitae, Bahama Strongbark with Firebush behind it, Pineland Acacia and a bed of Beach Creeper with a small Slash Pine in front. The Fogfruit and Mimosa have filled in nicely and the Silver, Key Thatch and Buccaneer palms have tripled in size.
This is the start of a really nice planting. I added Lignum Vitae, Slash Pine and Paradise Trees later. The plants here include Sea lavender, Key Lily, Firebush, Bahama Strongbark, Cinnecord, Silver Palms, Mexican Alvaradoa, Buccaneer Palms and groundcovers including: Coontie, Mimosa, Fogfruit, Quailberry and Seaside Joyweed.
The entire L shaped front swale is full of Dune Sunflower. This needs once a year mowing of the old plants, fertilization of seedlings that come up in April and fresh mulch between the plants
Although the Christmas Palms aren’t native, leaving them did no harm. The plants include Torchwood, Necklace Pod, Bahama Strongbark, Fog Fruit, Silk Grass, Key Lily and Firebush. The front of the house is planted with Jamaica Caper, Bahama Wild Coffee and other plants that are easy to keep low.
There is a Lignum Vitae with Quailberry and coonties to the right of the front door, not visible from this picture.
This is the old location of the Boca Raton Community Garden located behind the city library. Thanks to the hard work from several volunteers, this has turned into a real gem.
The plants include: Firebush, Coral Honeysuckle, Corky Passionvine, Torchwood, Hercules Club, Redbay, Salvia, mimosa, Sea lavender, Fogfruit and many other species.
This planting is 100 feet west of the intracoastal waterway in Lantana Florida. This is a mixture of wind and salt tolerant Sea Lavender, Red Salvia, Beach Elder, Beach Verbena, Southern Beebalm, Seaside Goldenrod, Beach Creeper and Sand Cordgrass.
Bob West side of Intracoastal at Six Months
Ugly Cardboard Palms were removed from this site: a beach on the west side of the intracoastal, and replaced with Silver Sea Oxeye Daisies. These have yellow flowers and thistle sized seeds that feed buntings and other seed eating birds.
This is a very difficult site to plant due to the strong winds blowing salt air and water onto these plants in the fall. Silver Sea Oxeye Daisies naturally grow in this exact location with mangroves as neighbors.
Bob Front of Drive at Three Months
After just three months, the entranceway is full of color provided by Firebush and Dune Sunflower.
This is the front of a multi million dollar home on the intracoastal in Lantana. The plant on the front right is a Lignum Vitae and the palms are Key Thatch. Ground covers include twinflower, spiderwort and quailberry. The back right is a Satinleaf and the shrubs along the wall are Bitterbush on the left and Bahama Coffee on the right.
Florida-Friendly Landscaping
Statute, F.S. 373.185 and the threat of F.S. 720.305 that homeowners face when their landscaping plans
are rejected by an HOA board
The Florida-Friendly landscaping statute F.S. 373.185, Click Here clearly states that you have the right to landscape your yard with Florida Friendly Plants. If you look at Florida Statute 720.3075 and go to 4a, you will see what appears to be more protection for the homeowner landscaping with native plants. Click Here
Please check below link for a thorough discussion about this law and the risks you take when going against your HOA, Click Here. And for a look at the Florida Friendly Landscaping Program offered by the University of Florida, Click Here.
In this link, Click Here, you will find many of your questions answered by Kathy Malone and others who work for the University of Florida IFAS.
Homeowner and condominium associations have restrictive covenants governing the aesthetic appearance of home landscapes. There is often a fine and all costs to you and those incurred by the association if you lose in court. You are at the mercy of an uninformed judge.
Your association should have a list of approved plants including many native species. It is unfortunate that the use of any native plant isn’t your right and that you may be limited to only a few species by your HOA.
Rules regarding the placement of plants, their heights and the amount of sod required can be frustrating when you are trying to be creative. Although, these may prevent an uninformed homeowner from just laying down artificial turf or mulch, “to conserve water.”
I have personally been frustrated over the years by the limit of shrub height, often based on the maximum height of the plant if not maintained, and the requirement that trees be under 35 feet tall. Try clippers dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry.
All of the non native shrubs commonly used will get at least twenty to fifty feet tall if not maintained. Think ficus, podocarpus, dwarf schefflera, areca palms and even the green island ficus groundcover. Just for your information, native live oak makes a nice hedge if clipped.
The limitations that I find acceptable include requiring hedges to be placed far enough onto your property that you can maintain them and not require your neighbor to as well. Tall hedges on the north side of your property may need to be kept below eight feet so that they don’t shade your neighbor’s property.
Safety issues include views to the street or sidewalk from the driveway. Plant roots may invade septic drain fields and may find their way into a home plumbing system and clog various drains. Keep Ficus species away from the house.
It is unnecessary to remove trees lining a road or walkway. Their roots can now be managed in various ways. Many “Tree Cities” have solved this problem.
The solution to many of the problems encountered by a hostile HOA is to create an administrative process where statutorily appointed and trained specialists settle disputes as to whether a landscape practice is Florida-friendly and safe.
Aesthetics should be decided by the homeowner only. A yard full of non native weeds, of course, is not acceptable. A wildflower meadow of native plants is acceptable, even when allowed to go to seed.
Individuals from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) faculty or extension agent, Water Management District and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) scientists would act as hearing officers for a small or no fee to the homeowner or HOA. Please see third link above for more detail.
This would take the financial burden off of homeowners and their communities when disputes arise and also encourage more creativity. Native landscapes are more beautiful than the tired look of the last forty years and are becoming widely accepted.
I am pleasantly surprised by the sincerely encouraging comments by the neighbors of my customers and feel that the time for native landscapes is now.
Our native butterfly sage is buzzing with bees and swirling with butterflies. Four mockingbirds take turns feeding on the red berries and two brown thrashers sift through the leaf litter for insects; all within view from our patio.
Flowers and fruit are important for wildlife, yet insects and spiders are the main diet of young, growing birds and most adult birds. Many species of native insects eat the leaves, buds and seeds of our native plants while few have gotten past the chemical defenses of introduced exotics.
There are thousands of caterpillars and other insects and spiders hiding in most large native trees. During the nesting season it is important to have these trees to supply the insect food for our next generation of birds. Insects contain twice the protein of beef.
Exotic plants are sold as pest free. They arrived here from various countries without the insects that feed on them. If one of these foreign insects is accidentally imported, like the ficus white fly, it becomes a serious pest because it has arrived without any of its natural predators.
These insects are not fed upon by our birds either. Without seed eating insects, the thousands of seeds that many exotics produce have a good chance of spreading to other yards and natural areas when birds eat their berries and carry them off.
With more caterpillars, grasshoppers stinkbugs, and other insects eating your native plants you would think that they would be ripped to shreds and become ugly.
Yet, it is rare to notice up to ten percent damage to the leaves of a plant. Fear not, the damage is usually much less. The imported weevils from Asia are what you are noticing scalloping the edges of your plant leaves.
When planting for wildlife, consider plants that actually get a few “pests.” Oaks, maples, pines, Florida elm, sweetgum, gumbo limbo, wild tamarind and redbay are just a few trees that are loaded with insects and attract many birds seeking food for their young.
Song bird populations are declining at the rate of one percent a year and have already plummeted fifty percent since the 1960’s. This is because our lawns have replaced their natural habitat.
Good news is that the damage is reversible. We have over 40 million acres of lawn in the United States, or eight New Jerseys, that can be returned to forest.
Most of our natural areas are small islands. It is possible to connect these preserves to one another by planting the same species of plants in our yards as are found in the local preserves.
Now birds and other wildlife can move about and spread their genes to new populations, eliminating the problems caused by inbreeding.
Visit a local natural area and make a note of what grows there and decide which species you like. Buy some of these trees and plant them in your yard. Then later blend in native shrubs and wildflowers.
When you notice the birds using your yard, you will become hooked and never look back to the lawn you left behind.