At the Spring Fever in The Garden in Winter Garden this year, I met Irwin Grossman, a wonderful, enthusiastic retiree, who wanted me to come see his backyard. He had an impressive rock landscape with dry river bed running through it and couldn't wait to show it off. I can understand why - it is a backyard worthy of superlatives. It is an incredible amount of stone with Japanese rock garden theme. Mr. Grossman's rockscape appeals to his need for very low water use and maintenance. Despite all the rocks, liners, artificial turf, and the lack of plants, Mr. Grossman still needs a maintenance schedule to spray herbicides for the tough weeds that invariably emerge.
While for me personally, I would like to see more shade, a water feature like a waterfall or small creek, and more plants to soften the rocks, I can appreciate the homeowner's effort, quality of work and materials, and see the beauty in the planted rugged and smooth stones. Mr. Grossman's landscape theme is called "Safe Haven" and was designed by Mr. Paul Verlander, Landscape Architecture LLC.
Central Florida communities that use a lot of water seem to be blaming it all on the turfgrass. In a Lake Sentinel article this weekend, one Leesburg couple using 30,000 gallons of water a month on their landscape decided to overhaul their entire yard and replace it with rocks, mulch, and supposedly "drought-tolerant" landscaping. But was it necessary?
That term drought-tolerant is getting really old and the misperceptions of turfgrass being the culprit is just downright wrong. All plants are drought-tolerant in the right locations and turfgrass needing a lot of water is not true. St. Augustinegrass only needs between 1" and 1.5" of water a week during the summertime if it doesn't get rainfall and only needs that amount once every ten to fourteen days in the cooler winter season. That anyone uses 30,000 gallons on their lawn is the fault of the homeowner, an inefficient irrigation system, and a poorly designed landscape. If you have a rock, mulch, and "drought-tolerant" plants, depending on the size of your yard, even 10,000 gallons is too much! Your landscape should be able to survive and thrive on rainfall alone after establishment.
Its up to the cities and counties that are approving landscape plans and irrigation systems to allow only the correct landscapes with efficient irrigation. Homeowners working with builders or buying new homes need to demand and insist on a certified Florida Water Star landscape and irrigation system. Then the responsibility falls on the homeowner to maintain his landscape and watering system correctly to ensure that it works efficiently.
Rocks are not the keystones to water efficiency and can actually increase the amount of water that installed plants in a rock garden need. The heat around the home will be greater. Using no tufgrass is going to lead to more stormwater pollution of our water bodies. I repeat: There is nothing wrong with turfgrass.
Heck, this is Florida! This is not Arizona and we can have beautiful landscapes with lots of flowers, shrubs, palms, and yes, Virginia, even turfgrass and not have a high water bill or overuse our ample water supply. Florida receives abundant rainfall and with observant care, our irrigation systems should only be used as a supplement when we don't have rain. Depending on the size of your lawn and your landscape plants, using 10.000 gallons of water or less should be easily achievable.
Before anyone installs a landscape that is all rocks, mulch, and no turf, do your research, contact your County Extension office and find out the facts about waterwise landscaping. You will be very surprised to learn that its probably not your grass's fault that you have a high water bill or high maintenance landscape.
The Vision House 2008 in Montverde, Florida uses only non-potable water from a HOOT system and a 7,000 gallon cistern. It is a great example of Florida-friendly landscaping. Low maintenance and low water use.
UPDATE: Lake Frances Estates HOA has tabled the Florida-friendly landscaping complaint for the time being. It seems the HOA's covenants don't restrict Ms. O'Connors ability to have a natural landscaping. We'll be watching to see what happens and that the neighborhood harassment ceases.
UPDATE: Lauren Ritchie and Mo O'Connor will be guests on "In Your Backyard" this morning at 11:15am. Don't miss it! If you're not in the radio listening area, you can listen to "In Your Backyard" on http://www.wlbe.org/.
UPDATE: I drove by Ms. O'Connor's landscaped yard and it's wonderfully low maintenance and very water-friendly. It looks beautiful and I know that the shady lot is cooler than the some of the huge dead and weedy turf lawns in the rest of the community.
Lauren Ritchie's editorial on Lake Frances Estates HOA's squabble in the Orlando Sentinel certainly showcases that fences make good neighbors and Florida-friendly isn't always friendly.
Mo O' Connor's landscaping has stirred retirees out of their comfort zone and into legal action. For six years she has been retro-designing her Lake County landscape to be more eco-friendly, in other words, less maintenance, less water consuming, and no chemical applications. From Richie's photo, her landscape looks cool in Florida's summer, and easy care. Cranky critics of the landscape say the care-free, natural landscaping encourages snakes and rats. Helloooooooo?!?!!??! This is Florida, home to Silver Springs, where Ross Allen's Serpentarium, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon reside. Florida has over 44 native snake species.
Note to Northerners: Anacondas are not native to Florida.
Repeat after me: "Snakes are your friend." Having black snakes and racers in your yard will stop you from having rodents. Especially if you have an abundance of citrus trees and lakes close by. Snakes benefit by keeping the rodent population controlled. Get rid of the snakes and you will have rats. Lots of them. Lake Frances Estates residents thinking that they don't have snakes living in their yards in a lake-front community makes me wonder how they have survived in Florida. Ireland is the only location in the world that doesn't have snakes, and yes, I know it's an euphemism for pagans, but it's also because of the Ice Age and land isolation.
Florida has seen increasing amount of unnecessary water use (particularly in non-native communities of snowbirds) on St. Augustinegrass lawns since the 1990's. Scare tactics of Gestapo-like HOAs threatening lawsuits to any resident who cannot keep their lawn green since the 2005 state legislation seems to be falling on deaf ears. Florida homeowners know that the law, for the most part, is on their side. While this law does not exempt homeowners from having landscapes that are completely gravel, cemented entirely, or ugly, unmowed, and weedy front yards, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But less turf, more ornamentals, groundcovers, and shade trees are a good alternative to the high maintenance landscapes that can waste up to 200,000 gallons of water per lawn a month.
Mo O' Connor's yen for easy care yard or the Lake Frances Estates HOA's attitude is not unusual. Zellwood Station's HOA board was inundated with complaints about resident Barbara Tubb's Florida Friendly landscape. Uneasy neighbors cited fire hazard with the pine straw mulch. I spoke to the HOA committee and they tabled the charges. Five years later, there hasn't been a fire in this mobile home park.
Florida-friendly landscaping can be attractive, beneficial to wildlife, and protect our natural resources. It's not to be feared. Silver Springs was a world renowned tourist attraction for its natural beauty long before Walt Disney World put Central Florida on the map.
Embracing the natural aesthetics of Florida landscaping is one of our best policies that will help preserve our state's natural resources for future generations.
