How to Design a Tropical Florida Backyard Landscape
One of the major benefits of Florida's subtropical climate is that it allows its residents to enjoy year-round gardening. Although many of the plants common to gardens found in colder zones will also grow in Florida, there is something especially desirable about a Florida yard populated by tropical foliage and blooms. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Remove your lawn. There's nothing terribly tropical about a lawn in a Florida landscape, and they're notoriously difficult to maintain. If you have a lawn that is in good shape and you already have a sprinkler system installed, then at least consider decreasing its size to keep it more manageable. Otherwise, taking out the grass will be your best bet, saving you from having to over-fertilize and over-water to keep it looking healthy. Your wallet will thank you, as will the environment!
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Sketch a basic yard design, marking specific areas in terms of how much daily sunlight they receive. Make a note of which areas tend to be the driest and most difficult to irrigate. This will help you when deciding how and where to group the plants that you select for your landscape.
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Research Florida-friendly plants (either at a nursery, garden center, or on a website such as Floridayards.org--see link below in Resources) and match up their sun and watering requirements to the zones on your landscape sketch. Try to select as many drought-tolerant and native plants as possible. Having a tropical landscape doesn't have to mean using lots of imported tropical plants that need constant watering.
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Pick a ground cover. If it's a sunny area, consider perennial peanut. This low-growing beauty spreads readily and its bright yellow blooms offer an eye-catching contrast to green foundation plants. In shadier areas, Asiatic jasmine is another reliable ground cover that is very hardy. It can be a slow grower, but once established it's a low-maintenance plant that creates a lush, glossy green carpet that requires only an occasional trim to keep it in bounds.
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Choose your specimen trees and shrubs. This is where you can make the biggest tropical splash in your yard. Palm trees are wise investments in a Florida landscape, not only for the obvious tropical flavor they add, but as a way to add monetary value to a property as they mature and grow.
Hibiscus and plumeria plants are often the first choice for those looking to add tropical flowers to their garden, and both are fine choices for sunny areas, but don't forget shell ginger and the vibrant heliconia for more shady areas. Shell ginger's cascading pearly, shell-shaped flowers and Heliconia's dazzling reddish orange flowers give an unmistakably tropical look to any Florida yard.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't concentrate solely on flowers to give you a tropical look. The white bird of paradise is not known as a prolific bloomer, especially when it's young, but its huge leaves atop arching stems are similar to those of banana trees. If you want a hedge with a distinctly tropical air, try planting jatropha. These small trees can easily be trimmed as shrubs and will offer a hedge of iridescent red flower clusters almost year-round. There are drought-tolerant plants that thrive in the nutrient-poor sandy soils of Florida. Sea grape, railroad vine and beach sunflower can give your yard a tropical beach look, and since they grow wild on Florida's beaches, you won't need to worry about amending your garden's soil.
Don't mix the natives in your landscape with thirsty tropicals. Try to group plants that require extra watering together so that you can water quickly and efficiently.
