Saumya

Designed By: Owner and Change of Greenery

Installed By: Change of Greenery

Started: 2019

Percentage of Native Plants: 75%

Amount of Sun and Shade: Mixed sun/shade

Unique Features and Animals: Our backyard includes a steep slope, so we’ve used sunshine mimosa to help stabilize the worst areas. The “freedom” yard includes numerous varieties of mow-able native groundcovers. And we have protected our neighboring gopher tortoise as much as possible by including plenty of loose organic material at the back of our property.

We regularly see scrub jays, cardinals, blue jays, sparrows, finches, doves, swallowtail butterflies, hairstreak butterflies, armadillos, possums, squirrels, raccoons, gopher tortoises, zebra longwings, yellow & clouded sulphur butterflies, moths, orb weavers, mason bees, sweat bees, wasps, monarchs, dragonflies, hawks, vultures, rabbits, and snakes. Before we installed our fence, we had visits from deer and bobcats.

Landscape Description: Our driving goal with our native and edible landscaping has been to improve our environment, especially for insects & animals. Our biggest obstacles were that we were working with the terrible landscaping choices made by the builder, had to design within the limitations of an HOA and needed to make choices that worked with mobility & budget constraints. So we chose to design in a tiered manner which allowed successive sets of improvements, such as nitrogen-fixing plants and optimizing breeding animal cover, over the last 7 years. Our current landscape includes an almost completely native front yard (only three non-native/edible plantings) with meadow-style beds reducing the area occupied by the HOA-required Saint Augustine grass. The backyard is completely organic, with a “freedom” lawn leading to a downwards slope covered in a mixture of plants. We use a minimum of irrigation and try to maintain the soil biome with pine bark mulch & compost. One important point is that we have added more than the usual amount of hardscape to our property which includes ADA-compliant walkways capable of supporting motorized wheelchairs and a screened patio with a 14’x10’ raised bed garden & outdoor living spaces designed for maximum accessibility. We believe that overall, we have tried to make choices focused on supporting the ample wildlife around us while not antagonizing our human community.

Challenges: Everything! We had to work around problems with drainage, standing water, extremely poor soil health, massive amounts of Saint Augustine grass, invasive plants from an unmaintained neighboring property, erosion and accessibility. The standing water and drainage issues were addressed with water-intensive plants, native grasses and redirecting water paths. We dealt with poor soil health with plenty of compost, pine bark mulch and nitrogen-fixing plants. The grass and invasive plant situation was handled by removing as much as possible in successive attempts that continue today. And the accessibility required smart design choices to provide as much comfort as possible.

Certifications: “Gopher Tortoise Friendly Yard” from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Parking Restrictions: Gated community with street parking available. Driveway (2 spots) will remain open for accessibility transport vehicles (wheelchairs & motorized wheelchairs) or for accessibility drop-off.