In Jo's Yard - Jo discusses plant characteristics in her blog entries.
Grasses
Shade Plants
Suggestions from Craig Huegel
Trees
State Tree. The sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) is the most widely distributed palm in Florida. It grows in almost any soil and has many uses, including food, medicine, and landscaping. It is important to Florida wildlife.
Presentation by Lisa Dougherty from Boggy Creek Trees.
Shrubs
Ground Cover
Wildflowers
- Wildflowers - web pages links
- Selecting Plants for Pollinators
- Asclepias tuberosa L., Butterfly Milkweed
- Select the Right Milkweed
- Liatris
- Three Native Yuccas and How to Grow Them
- Florida Wildflower
- Minna R. Fernald Collection of Paintings of Florida Wildflowers
Digital Collection Florida Museum of Natural History
Information Sources for Landscaping in Central Florida
Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS). (The Villages chapter members are FNPS members) maintains a database of native plants for landscaping. You can search by location, plant type, plant characteristics and more.
Florida Friendly Landscaping is a database of plants that grow well in Florida, but are assumed not to be invasive (a few have issues). You can search for Central Florida Plants and choose the growing characteristics you desire including if the plant is native. We encourage you to plant natives.
St. John's Water District keeps an online database of water wise plants. You can search by flower color, growth requirements, and other helpful characteristics. So if you want a yellow flower that grows in the sun, give it a try. This is a version of the Florida Friendly Landscaping plant list pared down to plants suitable in northeast Florida.
Natives for Your Neighborhood is a database for southern Florida natives. This resource has detailed information on specific plants. Many of the plants they cover are also good for central Florida, but be aware that the advice given may not fit our area very well. Also be aware that many of the plants that they list will die if we get a hard freeze. Please check with the Florida Native Plant Society site to determine regional suitabilit.
FANN Florida Association of Native Nurseries - Looking to purchase native plants? You can search here for nurseries that sells the Florida grown native plants.
General Information on Plants
If you know the scientific or common name of a plant you can look it up on the Atlas of Florida Plants. The Atlas contains over 4000 native and naturalized plants showing where they have been found, and often with pictures. Naturalized plants are non-natives that can grow on their own in Florida -- they include invasives. The entries will tell you if the species are native, non-native, and if non-native, whether or not they are considered by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council to be invasive.
Missouri Botanic Garden Plant Finder - An excellent resource to over 7,000 plants North American Plants. If the plant is suitable in Florida, their advice is good.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Database - Another excellent resource which includes many Florida natives. If the plant is suitable in Florida, their advice is good.
List of Florida Invasive Plants - This list of plant to NOT grow, is produced by the Florida
Go to our Downloads area to get lists of plants fthat our members recommend for our area.
Plants used in Steve's yard by Al and Joan.
Florida Invasive Plant LIst. These photos were included in the video Transformation of a Residential Turfgrass Lawn into a Central Florida Native Plant Landscape that was shown at the Florida Native Plant Society 2015 Conference in Tallahassee.
