Florida-Friendly Landscaping™: Simple Practices, Big Impact! FFL protects the state’s natural resources while allowing individual expression and encouraging beautiful landscapes! Developed by the University of Florida's Institute of ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Changing up your plant palette selection is a good way to explore new plants and spruce up your landscape. One candidate that might appeal to you is called the baby sun rose. How can you resist a plant with a name like that? Low-growing, ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
While junipers can be a nice feature in the landscape, many that would be commonly used up north just do not do well in our Southwest Florida climate in regard to pest and environment pressures. The native juniper, the red cedar is a ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
Some plants have a number of uses across a broad spectrum – Bahia grass as an example where it is used both in pastures and as a landscape turf. Another crossover plant in the same vein is the turf alternative called perennial peanuts. ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Lawn
Our office is often asked what type of groundcovers are best to plant or is there even a turfgrass alternative. While several come to mind, one popular choice is called sunshine mimosa. Sunshine mimosa is a great native groundcover and ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Lawn
Growing up in Tennessee, my backyard was a large expanse of woods right off a concrete patio. In areas that received sunshine, one of my favorite plants was a groundcover called thrift, Phlox subulata. Each spring, pink flowers brightened ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping
I you have seen a dwarf chenille plant; you can easily understand why the word “chenille” is French for caterpillar. This colorful groundcover plant is covered with up to two-inch-long red to pink fluffy caterpillar-like flowers arrayed ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Lawns planted with turfgrass can require a lot of maintenance. Bahia grass is a drought-tolerant turfgrass with minimal pest and disease problems and a low nitrogen requirement. St. Augustinegrass has a high demand for water and fertilizer and ... READ MORE
Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Another plant up for your consideration for this coming summer is called the fan flower or Scaevola aemula. Not to be confused with the Beach Naupaka or Scaevola taccada – a local invasive plant found in many local coastal areas - the ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
Two universal truths about lawns – there is no perfect grass, they all have their advantages and disadvantages, and lawns go from order to disorder over a period of time unless you step in and make corrections while they are small. St. ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes, Lawn