Designing for Florida-Friendly Landscape Maintenance

Erin AlvarezCenter for Landscape Conservation and EcologyEnvironmental Horticulture Department

Overview

• The unbreakable bond: Design and Maintenance• Plant Selection: Right Plant, Right Place• Lawns and Bedlines: Keep it together• Examples• You’re on your own!

Designing for Maintenance

• Relationship between design and maintenance• Property values• Landscapes change

Maintenance and Design?

• Interrelated aspects of landscape management

• Similar principles• Good design opens the door to

good maintenance practices• One or the other…or both

Property Values

• Designed landscape increased value up to 42%– Sophisticated vs. Minimal– Plant selection– Plant size

Maintenance and Design

• Good design can solve or prevent problems• Maintenance has the last word

Relative Maintenance Requirements

Turf

Special Care

PlantsBedding Plants

Ground-cover

Shrubs

Trees

Landscape Components

• Right Plant, Right Place!– Mature height AND width– Cultural needs• Soil• Light• Temperature

Landscape Components

• Right Plant, Right Place– Not just cultural needs– Consider habit – Consider form

Landscape Components

• High-input plants in high-impact areas

Lawns and Bedlines

• Right plant, right place!• Proportion• Who’s doing the work?• Turf is not a default option

Surfaces Maintenance Requirements

Turf

Bare soil

GravelStone set in sand

Asphalt

Mortared stone

Concrete

“Impossible” Areas

Lawns and Beds• Bedlines – Watch intersections– Keep angles right or obtuse– Don’t leave your turf lonely

Lawns and Bedlines

• Bedlines – Edging– Mission impossible?

Lawns and Bedlines

Lawns and Bedlines

Lawns and Bedlines

• Minimize unnecessary maintenance– Upkeep– Edging – Mowing

Two lines to edge!

Case Studies!

• Let’s look at a few examples…

Case Studies!

• Now get outside and find your own!…

Thank you!

• Questions?– Contact Erin Alvarez at erinalvarez@ufl.edu