Category: Home Management

big blue sign that says Orange County University of Florida IFAS Extension Education Center with an UF/IFAS logo and an Orange County logo. there are green trees and blue sky in the background.

Fresh Picks: The Month’s Classes

by Chris Weber
March 18, 2026

April is a great time to put knowledge into action. Our April lineup features classes on gardening and sustainability, financial education, and healthy living, along with hands-on opportunities to learn from Extension agents and volunteers. Explore ... READ MORE

Category: 4-H & Youth, AGRICULTURE, Blog Community, Events, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food Safety, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Lawn, Money Matters, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Extension, Water, WORK & LIFE
Tags: Classes, Events, Extension Education, Learning, Ocextension, Orangecountyfl, Ufifasextension
close up photo of green turf grass, showing individuals blades of grass

2/18/26 GI-BMP in Orange County + Sun Spot Safety Lunch with Swag!

by Hannah Eason
January 29, 2026

That is right! Fertilizer is regulated in Florida, including in Orange County and beyond. You are required to learn about it and follow the rules. We want to keep things interesting and beneficial for you, the landscape professionals. This year, ... READ MORE

Category: Events, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Management, Horticulture, Lawn, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Turf, UF/IFAS Extension, Water, Wildlife
Tags: Certified Instructor, CEU, CEUs, Cflandscapes, Class, Classes, Clean Water, Continuing Education, Fertilizer, Fertilizer Class, Fertilizer Training, Gibmp, Grass, Grass Class, Green Industries Best Management Practices, Green Industry, Hwooten, Orange County, Regulated Fertilizer, Train, Trainer, Training, Turf, Turfgrass, Water, Water Glass

Palms: Overview & Resources

by Hannah Eason
September 16, 2025

Palms Overview 1. Select the right palm for the right place. Soil pH matters for certain palms. Native palms are generally better adapted to Florida and provide other benefits, especially for wildlife. 2. Determine if the palm has a crownshaft ... READ MORE

Category: Disaster Preparation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Lawn, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Turf, UF/IFAS Extension, Water, Wildlife
Tags: Agent, Central Florida Gardening, Cflandscapes, Class, Crownshaft, Deficient, Diagnostics, Fertilizer, FFL, Florida, Florida Friendly, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Hwooten, Landscape, Landscapes, Lawn, Lethal Bronzing, Native Palm, Palm, Palms, Prune, Pruning, Pruning Palms, Resorts, Tree

Florida’s Hidden Invaders: Invasive Houseplants

by Clarissa Chairez
August 11, 2025

Welcome back to our Florida’s Hidden Invaders Blog Series where we focus on spreading awareness of invasive species and their impacts. In this section we will focus on houseplants that become invasive if planted in the landscape. For much ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Invasive Species
Tags: Florida Friendly, Florida Gardening, Florida Wildlife, Florida's Hidden Invaders, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Garden, Gardening, Horticulture, Invasive Species, Invasives, Landscape, Landscape Management, Native Plants, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Extension Orange County
dark blue stormy sky with a yellow hurricane season sign

Hurricane Season: Preparing The Inside of Your Home

by Jenny Rodriguez
May 22, 2025

Hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30, but storms can happen any time the weather conditions are right. Anticipating the arrival of a hurricane or any severe storm strikes fear and anxiety in the people in its path for a good reason. ... READ MORE

Category: Disaster Preparation, Home Management, Money Matters, Relationships & Family, UF/IFAS Extension, WORK & LIFE
Tags: Hurricane, Hurricane Preparations, Hurricane Preparedness, Hurricanes, Ocextension
green palms trees against a blue sky

Palms–to prune or not to prune?

by Hannah Eason
October 9, 2024

Let your palms sway! Most palms are well adapted for Florida’s humid sub-tropical climate. Palms have pinnate, palmate, or bipinnate leaves that dance in the wind and drip excess water off their leaf tips. The trunk stands strong like a concrete ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Cflandscapes, Florida Friendly, Heason, Hwooten, Landscape, Landscapes, Lawn And Ornamentals, Ocextension, Ornamentals, Palm, Palm Issues, Palm Maintenance, Palms, Pruning, Pruning Palms

Cooking Safely: How to Prevent Fires in Your Kitchen

by Hillary MacMichael
September 10, 2024

Did you know that unattended cooking remains the leading cause of household fires in the United States and Canada? Here are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure that your kitchen remains safe during cooking: To prevent cooking fires, ... READ MORE

Category: Food Safety, Health & Nutrition, Home Management, UF/IFAS Extension, WORK & LIFE
Tags: Cooking Safety, Family And Consumer Sciences, Fire Prevention, Fire Safety, Home Safety Tips, Kitchen Safety, Ocextension, UF/IFAS Extension Orange County

Basics of Landscaping in Florida–Bilingual Booklet in the UF/IFAS Bookstore

by Hannah Eason
July 25, 2024

Better landscaping practices are good for Florida! Even though Florida has a lot of water resources, there are also a lot of people and industries sucking from the tap...and more keep coming. Long story short, Floridians need to conserve ... READ MORE

Category: AGRICULTURE, Blog Community, Coasts & Marine, Conservation, Disaster Preparation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Lawn, Money Matters, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Turf, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Extension, Water, Wildlife, WORK & LIFE
Tags: Alachua, Alachua Co, Basics Of Landscaping, Best Practice, Best Practices, Big Box, Big Box Stores Selling Plants, Bilingual, BMP, BMPs, Ceu Continuing Education, Cflandscapes, Community Leaders, Community Planners, Crape Myrtle, Cultural Ipm, Elected Officials, Epd, EPDs, FFL, Flooding, Florida, Florida Friendly, Florida-friendly Landscape, Heat, Heat Island, Heat Islands, How To Landscape, Hwooten, IPM, Land Developers, Landscape, Landscape Professionals, Landscaper, Landscapes, Mow, Mowing, Nursery Growers, Orange, Orange Co, Palm, Parks Departments, Planner, Planners, Prune, Pruning, Residents, Seminole, Seminole Co, Spring, Springs, Turf, Uf Ifas Uf Ifas Bookstore, Usda, Water, Water Quality, Water Quantity

Trees, Streets, and Sidewalks

by Hannah Eason
March 26, 2024

From a society standpoint, we are encouraged to think about the greenhouse gas removing qualities of trees, specifically, their ability to take up a lot of carbon dioxide. Running quick numbers, 1 cubic foot of concrete results in about 150 ... READ MORE

Category: Conservation, Disaster Preparation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, HOME LANDSCAPES, Home Management, Horticulture, Lawn, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Arbor, Arboriculture, Buckled Sidewalks, Cflandscapes, Cma, Community Design, Community Managers, Conservation, Enews, Florida-Friendly Landscapes, Heat Island, HOA, Hoas, Homeowners Associations, Horticulture, Hwooten, Isa, Landscape, Landscape Design, Landscapes, Mature Trees, Ocextension, Planners, Shade, Sidewalk Repair, Sidewalks, Tree, Tree Conflicts, Tree Issues, Tree Planning, Tree Removal, Tree Replacement, Trees, Urban Canopy, Urban Forest, Urban Forestry, Urban Forests

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