NATIVE plants are accustomed to growing in Florida without help from people. How do we “help” a big green lawn? We water it, mow it and use chemicals to feed it. We might use more chemicals to kill bugs and leafy plants as well. Using all that water and all those chemicals is bad for your watershed. You can reduce the need for water, FERTILIZER, HERBICIDES, PESTICIDES and maintenance if you pick the right plants and put them in the right place in your yard.
What does “right place” mean to a plant? If you were a plant, here’s what would be important to you:
- The type of soil you were growing in.
- Whether you were in the sunshine or the shade.
- How wet your soil was.
So you need to look at your yard as if you were a plant. Once you know the places in your yard, you can choose plants that match them.
Tips
- Don’t pick too many plants that need a lot of water or care.
- Grass is OK if you use it, but you might not need a whole yard full. Remember, you shouldn’t need to keep your grass green in the dry season. Replacing some of your lawn with mulch or beds of plants will use less water.
- Some plants are bad for Florida. They come from other parts of the world, and we call them INVASIVE because they invade natural areas, steal water and crowd out NATIVE species. Make sure your yard doesn’t include any of these intruders and if it does, get rid of them!