Sustainable Residential Landscapes in Florida: Controlled Comparison of Traditional versus Florida-Friendly Landscaping

Abstract

A comparison of water use and maintenance effort was made between traditional and Florida-Friendly Landscaping (FFL). Traditional Florida landscapes are generally turf dominated with minimal shrubbery, all indiscriminately irrigated using single-zone, large-rotor sprinklers. Conversely, FFL landscapes feature reduced turf cover, substantial areas with mulched ornamental beds, and zoned irrigation that includes microirrigation and smart controllers. This study used three identically sized landscape replicates (each 455 m2; 4,900 ft2), with half of each landscaped in a traditional Florida manner using 75% turf, and the other half using an FFL landscape that reduced turf extent to 25% but incorporated groundcovers and mulched beds. During a 12-month establishment period, the FFL landscape used 69.7% less irrigation water than the traditional landscape, and 83.9% less water in a 34-month postestablishment period. Substantial postestablishment water savings were realized by simply turning off the microirrigation to the ornamental beds and visually inspecting for drought stress. After establishment, the average maintenance labor was similar in both landscape types; however, the time spent mowing or hand weeding between the two landscape types was nearly reciprocal.