New Florida-Friendly plant app guides you to the right plants for a sustainable landscape

As you’re finishing your spring planting, you can use a new, free UF/IFAS tool to help select the right native and ornamental plants and turf for a resilient, sustainable Florida landscape.

The UF/IFAS Florida-Friendly Landscaping ™ (FFL) program has just released a new mobile app. It’s called the “FFL Plant Guide,” and it has information on over 450 Florida-friendly plants. The app is available for download at:

In addition to the IOS and Android phone versions, the plant app is also a mobile web application that can be used with a browser on a computer as well as mobile devices. It is accessible at:

The new app provides a convenient, comprehensive guide that anyone in Florida can use to match their yard’s conditions to a diverse range of plants around which they can build a robust, aesthetically pleasing landscape, said FFL program director Esen Momol.

“We are very excited with the finger-tip power the new app provides,” Momol said. “Users can simply type in their zip code and have instant access to a huge variety of plants suited for their area.”

Plants can be sorted by their full-grown size, shape, flower color, sun and shade needs, drought and water tolerance and more. The app also helps the homeowner quickly zero in on the exact plants they have in mind when they visualize the possibilities in their home landscape.

New homeowners or other app users who want some additional guidance on how to arrange their landscape can also turn to the newly updated FFL website, which is full of information and tips on myriad subjects like landscape design, water-saving irrigation methods and plant care, Momol said.

“We have whatever information anyone needs about a sustainable Florida landscape,” said Tom Wichman, statewide coordinator for the Florida-Friendly Landscaping ™ Green Industries Best Management Practices Program. “The new website and app pull together a vast trove of science-based landscaping knowledge that UF/IFAS horticultural specialists and landscape architects have developed over the past 30-plus years.”

Thanks to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — FFL’s program partner since its inception — the new app is free.

FFL reflects UF/IFAS Extension’s mission for public outreach and education. It seeks to put practical landscaping practices into the hands of all current and future Floridians.

“Giving Floridians the Florida-Friendly Landscaping ™ tools they need now will help ensure that future Florida landscapes will be Florida-Friendly landscapes,” Momol said.

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The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.

ifas.ufl.edu | @UF_IFAS

 

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Posted: June 7, 2021


Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Lawn
Tags: App, Drought, Esen Momol, FFL Plant Guide, Florida-friendly Landscaping, Irrigation, Plants, Tom Wichman


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