[merrymini]

I had a heck of a time finding a landscaper who would do what I wanted. I removed about 20 to 25 percent of my lawn adjacent to my house and planted a native, drought resistant, butterfly garden. I love it. Most landscapers want to do the same thing, stone walls, palm trees etc. I used Scott Kerner Landscaping. He is local and also put in a drip irrigation system for the plants. Love it. Do a lot of research before you plant using on line images and information. i mixed native with non native and the villages does that too. The plantings that were around my house are everywhere. They use the same plantings all the time. Look at flower color, drought resistance, height and texture. There is also a native plant place in Groveland called Green Isle. I hope to remove all my grass at some point except my husband would have a fit. You can replace grass with sod replacement ground covers and it is okay because it is allowed by Florida statute. Get approvals for all the work, easy, I did it myself.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Mciccolella

I had a heck of a time finding a landscaper who would do what I wanted. I removed about 20 to 25 percent of my lawn adjacent to my house and planted a native, drought resistant, butterfly garden. I love it. Most landscapers want to do the same thing, stone walls, palm trees etc. I used Scott Kerner Landscaping. He is local and also put in a drip irrigation system for the plants. Love it. Do a lot of research before you plant using on line images and information. i mixed native with non native and the villages does that too. The plantings that were around my house are everywhere. They use the same plantings all the time. Look at flower color, drought resistance, height and texture. There is also a native plant place in Groveland called Green Isle. I hope to remove all my grass at some point except my husband would have a fit. You can replace grass with sod replacement ground covers and it is okay because it is allowed by Florida statute. Get approvals for all the work, easy, I did it myself.

Pictures?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by RWhitburn

Talk with Steve Turnipseed who is President of the Florida Native Plant Society in The Villages. The club meets the 4th Friday of every month at 1:30 in the Big Cypress Rec center. Lots of informative people there including members who have "gone native" with beautiful results. Check out two recent projects on Foggy Brook Loop in Village of St Charles. Both were done by Green Isle Gardens out of Groveland. Owner of Green Isle is Mark Godts - he grows all of his own native plants without pesticides on his 8+ acres and is so knowledgeable, as is Steve Turnipseed. Green Isles - Florida native plants, Green Isle Gardens Groveland, FL Home I look forward to doing my yard next year and saving $$$ on irrigation, pesticides, fertilizer, and mowing!

Steve Turnipseed president of Florida Native Plants. We could be forgiven for thinking you were funning on us. But that is his name. Makes you wonder about stuff.

[EnglishJW]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Pictures?

If this link works, it will have a bunch of photos showing Mary's garden. Jack English | Facebook

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by EnglishJW

If this link works, it will have a bunch of photos showing Mary's garden. Jack English | Facebook

These pictures are absolutely beautiful. I was going to ask you both over for dessert, but then I remembered you would have to see my potted tomato plant which is in intensive care. I think it needs last rites.

I paid fifteen dollars for that tomato plant and so far after a lot of changing the soil, moving it around to get optimum sun, watering it too little, then watering it too much, we have had three tomatoes. Do the math.

Your Florida Friendly yard is just elegant and the plants are spectacular. I am learning here. It isn't too late.

[perkfarm]

Do you have some pics you can share ? Would it be possible to drive by and see what you have done ? Thanks

[T-325]

Jack..The photos are wonderful... and better yet when you click on the picture the name of the plant pops up. I had the shrubs in front of my house pulled up and am in the planning stage so this is very helpful. A big thank you to you and Mary.

[Carl in Tampa]

Jack, all the photos are great. I especially like the pictures of the caterpillars eating the sacrificial leaves on the butterfly bush.

When my wife was alive we had all kinds of bushes that were especially good for attracting butterflies in our yard. It was as if they just bloomed butterflies.

Once we even had a pupa attached to the doorknob on our front door. We put a sign on the door telling people not to touch the knob until the butterfly emerged.

Thanks for the photos.

[EnglishJW]

We are glad people have enjoyed the photos of Mary's garden. It is, as she says, a work in progress. The garden is a combination of Florida native and Florida friendly. For example, we have two crape myrtles which we love. They are not native to Florida. In addition, if you actually see our house, we tried to save every plant that The Villages had supplied. We did this primarily by moving them to other places around the house. Mary's goal was to encourage butterflies with a large combination of both host and nectar plants. At the moment, that seems to be working very well as we have many Monarch caterpillars on our tropical milkweed (but none on our native milkweed) as well as a growing number of Gulf Fritillary caterpillars on our passion flowers. The are many other creatures like bees, wasps, lady bugs, aphids, anoles, rabbits and more. While we have planted a number of things specifically to attract hummingbirds, we haven't seen even one. The same is true for Bluebirds. I will periodically add photos to the album with the link in a prior post. If you want to stop by, send me a private message. Mary loves to talk about the garden and she can answer many questions that I really cannot.