Once you have identified the plant community or conditions of your property and the ways your property design needs to function for your needs and desires, make lists of plants you may want included in your design and start with rough outlines of traffic flow and uses on the property.
You are investing in the landscape and drawing wildlife to view, so you want to have view lines from windows and spaces in the landscape to interact and enjoy your investment! Voids in the landscape plantings can also have its’ own aesthetic value. Sitting areas and appropriate art pieces throughout areas of the landscape provide humanizing warmth and personality to a property. This will help to develop pathways for egress through your property with possible stop-off points or vignettes for sitting areas in the landscape. Note the natural flow of how foot traffic naturally moves through your property.
Are there view lines you want to maintain or buffer and block? Will you want to reserve spaces for kitchen gardening, a play area, nectar gardening, water features, parking, patios, or a comfortable area in the landscape for repose or wildlife viewing. Preliminary consideration is needed to identify the ways your property will be used. Before you start, it is a good idea to know the ordinances and rules in place for your location. Adopting some traditional guidelines of landscape design will help you to develop a more pleasing landscape end result that will be appreciated by you and your neighbors. Too much randomness does not necessarily reflect the order seen in nature or comfort the innate human need for uniformity and control as well as help comply with community landscape ordinances or HOA rules. Styling can vary greatly in interpretation from formal to total randomness. The Xeric Landscape guide and other resources such as Florida Wildflowers in their Natural Communities by Walter Taylor list plants appropriate for Florida’s major plant community classifications.ĭesigning a natural landscape becomes a meld of art and nature. You may want to view maps such as the one seen in Xeric Landscaping with Florida Native Plants published by the FANN organization (formerly AFNN) to make this determination. Relic mature trees and plants seen growing in your immediate location may be indicators of the original habitat. A good basis to plant selections is to determine, as best as possible, the original plant community that your property occupied, acknowledging that natural conditions such as soil, drainage, ph, or other factors have often been altered by fill and other disturbances. Native landscaping relies on the principle of ‘Right Plant, Right Place’. A more natural landscape model will provide its’ owner with the best possibilities for aesthetics, improved maintenance regiments, and an incredible life giving dynamic to enjoy. It may be as easy as replacing high input lawn areas or shifting your mindset to attract, conserve and sustain wildlife and provide a sense of place, the ‘REAL FLORIDA’. Native landscaping as a sustainable practice provides for lower maintenance with reduced inputs such as pruning, fertilizer, water, and pesticide use.