Florida-Friendly Landscaping and Environmental Best Practices
What this domain tests
This domain tests the nine Florida-Friendly Landscaping principles, the statutes that protect them, the fertilizer and stormwater rules that follow from them, and the water savings you can defend to a client or an HOA.
The nine principles
- Right plant, right place; water efficiently; fertilize appropriately; mulch; attract wildlife; manage yard pests responsibly; recycle yard waste; reduce stormwater runoff; protect the waterfront.
- Legal backing: s. 373.185, F.S., requires local governments to allow Florida-Friendly landscaping, and s. 720.3075(4), F.S., bars deed restrictions and HOAs from prohibiting it, though associations may still enforce maintenance and buffer requirements.
- GI-BMP training (about eight hours plus an exam, valid four years) is required for commercial fertilizer applicators under s. 482.1562, F.S.
- Common local rules: a 10-ft fertilizer-free zone from water bodies and impervious surfaces, deflector shields, no application when heavy rain is forecast, sweeping granules off pavement, and summer blackout periods.
- Stormwater: clippings and fertilizer that reach a storm drain go straight to a lake or estuary; MS4 permits make that a regulated discharge, not just litter.
Worked example
A 2,500 sq ft lawn is irrigated at 0.75 inch per week. One inch of water over one square foot is about 0.623 gallons, so weekly use is 2,500 x 0.75 x 0.623 = 1,168 gallons, or about 60,700 gallons a year. Converting half the lawn to mulched beds on drip at roughly 40% of turf water use cuts that half from 30,350 to about 12,150 gallons. Total drops to near 42,500, a saving of roughly 18,000 gallons a year, plus the mowing and fertilizer that area no longer needs.
Traps
- Believing Florida-Friendly means no fertilizer and no maintenance; it means appropriate inputs.
- Telling a client an HOA can forbid a Florida-Friendly yard.
- Treating native and Florida-Friendly as synonyms.
- Applying fertilizer to saturated soil or ahead of a forecast storm.
- Blowing clippings and debris into storm drains or water bodies.