April is National Native Plant Month, and a great time to consider adding some of Florida’s wonderful native plants to your landscape.  Let us help you create your own living landscape filled with birdsong, butterflies and native bees and more!

Read on for tips on gardening and landscaping with native plants:

Think about your design

• Plan for diversity by planting trees, large and small shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers.  Do you live in a neighborhood of mostly manicured lawns? A great way to create a landscape of beautiful native plants is to display them with a thoughtful and intentional design.  If native plants are presented in a natural but purposeful design, you’ll find neighbors much more likely to accept – and maybe just be influenced to make some changes in their own yards.

Get some design inspiration!

• For design ideas, visit gardens, check out landscape images in books, magazines and online.  You can draw out a simple plan on graph paper. (visit: “Landscape Design: Drawing a Planting Plan”)

Learn as much as you can

• As you learn about native plants which may be unfamiliar to you, don’t hesitate to ask questions!  Visit native plant nurseries.  Talk to others about their experiences growing native plants. Great resources include: Florida Wildflower Foundation, Florida Native Plant Society, and UF/IFAS Extension Gardening Solutions.

Right plant, right place

• Match your plants with the conditions in your yard (size, sun/shade needs, water needs, and soil types).  Learn the natural habitat conditions of the plants you like and try to match those conditions.   Check out the plant’s natural range according to USDA hardiness zone maps.
• Purchase native plants from nurseries that specialize in Florida native plants.
• When installing plants, avoid crowding by spacing them according to their expected mature size. In time, those plants will fill in appropriately.

New landscape 

• Be patient with new beds.  Newly planted areas will attract weeds during the first years.  In time as the soil compacts, weeds will lessen.
• Include plants that bloom in different seasons of the year to provide seasonal interest and to attract a variety of pollinators. (See “Gardening for Pollinators”)
• Include evergreen plants as well as deciduous. Many wonderful and desirable native plants are winter dormant, with an appearance of, well, brown!  Evergreen plants offer winter interest, contrasting with sleeping dormant species!
• Know which plants are dioecious, which means male and female parts are on separate plants (for example native holly species). If you desire berries, you must have at least one of each.
• If your space and/or time is limited, learn which plants grow aggressively That way you won’t be faced with frequent trimming or pruning to keep your plants controlled in size.
• Flowering native plants do spread by seed. This is to be expected (and enjoyed!).  Learn to recognize new seedlings in the spring.  Replant those seedlings and expand your garden or share with friends and family.
• Consider supplementing flowering nectar plants for pollinators by including Florida-Friendly non-native plants (e.g., pentas, zinnias, salvia species)
• If you have a large plant bed, leave space to suggest a path to give you access to the back portion. (You can add pavers or flagstones for a natural path)
• Some dormant plants will completely disappear during their dormant period.  Mark with small markers so you can anticipate in the spring where they will re-emerge.
• Mix slow-growth plants with fast-growth plants. If budget allows, begin with at least one or two sizeable plants (trees or shrubs) for “instant” visual impact.
• Include plants in your design that attract the types of wildlife you desire.  For example, provide flowering plants for pollinators.  Include specific host plants to support butterflies.  To attract birds, plant trees and large shrubs to provide cover, nesting and berries. Provide a water source for all (and keep it fresh).
• Include masses of the same species in your design, which help pollinators locate their desired plants.  Grouping similar plants together in a landscape may be more attractive to the human eye too.
• Learn how your native plants support wildlife during all seasons of the year.  Your winter-dormant stems, branches and fallen leaves provide important habitat for our overwintering native bees, butterflies, moths and other insects. (See “A Winter Wildlife Garden”)
• Small yards can easily include native plants by including appropriate-sized shrubs and wildflowers. Even balconies and small patios can incorporate native plants grown in containers.

Finally, as your native plants grow and mature, be prepared to experience an enjoyment and enthusiasm – even joy – in the vitality of your living landscape. Remember, the more you plant, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you appreciate.  The more you appreciate, the more you treasure and protect.  Happy Gardening!

For more information, contact UF/IFAS Extension Polk County at (863) 519-1041 or visit us online at http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/polk. The Plant Clinic is open Monday-Friday, 9:00 am-4:00 pm to answer your gardening and landscaping questions. Give us a call or email us at polkmg@ifas.ufl.edu.

If you are not in Polk County, Contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Plant Clinic.

The Florida Master Gardener Volunteer Program is a volunteer-driven program that benefits UF/IFAS Extension and the citizens of Florida. The program extends the vision of the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, all the while protecting and sustaining natural resources and environmental systems, enhancing the development of human resources, and improving the quality of human life through the development of knowledge in agricultural, human and natural resources and making that knowledge accessible.

This article was written by Master Gardener Volunteer Molly Griner under supervision of the Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator and Residential Horticulture Extension Agent Anne Yasalonis.

An Equal Opportunity Institution.

1