PinellasYard - Our Yard

I. INTRODUCTION
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Our home is in the “we can do better” little City of Dunedin, in Pinellas County, Florida, “the County of Pine Trees”. A magnificent South Florida Slash Pine Tree graces our yard.

http://www.ci.dunedin.fl.us/dunedin/
http://www.pinellascounty.org/locate.htm

Our neighborhood, Fairway Estates, is friendly and well-tended, but has a lot of turfgrass. It was built before stormwater treatment, and drains directly to Curlew Creek, which in turn drains to St. Joseph Sound, our estuary. Summer storms carry any pesticides and excess fertilizer in our yard straight to the Creek and Sound, endangering them and our two wonderful parks between the Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district4/caladesiisland/index.asp
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district4/honeymoonisland/index.asp

Dunedin has reclaimed water, and we are hooked up, but during last Spring’s drought, even the reclaimed water had watering restrictions.

Our yard had plants stuck under the eaves of the house where they got no rain. Our yard had citrus trees and ornamental bushes scattered where they did not form “Xeriscape zones” to conserve sprinkling water, and also, we thought, might not fully complement the house aesthetically.

We thought, “we would like to do better”.

II. A PROGRAM!
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“Certified Florida Yards” helped us. Certified Florida Yards is run by the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program (FYN) of the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service (“County Coop”) and is jointly sponsored by Pinellas County and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. When we called FYN (at telephone 727-582-2110), their expert horticulturalists provided educational brochures before and additional information during a yard certification visit. Certified Florida Yards revolves around the Certified Florida Yard Checklist. Our yard earned “points” for helpful measures, and when these added up to 36 “points”, our yard earned the “Certified Florida Yard” designation, and we got a certificate and small yard sign. The Certified Florida Yard Checklist helped get us organized.

http://coop.co.pinellas.fl.us/fyn/Yard.html

We also got help from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP), Tampa Bay Water, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (Swiftmud).

http://www.tbep.org
http://www.tampabaywater.org/Conservation/Conservation/conserv-intro.htm
http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/watercon/xeris/swfxeris.html

We also got help from the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) and from Beckett Lake Nursery, Westenberger Tree Service, and Wilcox Nursery.

http://www.fnps.org/chapters/pinellas/index.html
http://www.beckettlakenursery.com/history.htm
http://www.wesaveyourtrees.com/
http://www.wilcoxnursery.com/home.html

These are also located for you in the “Links”.

III. BUT WHAT DID WE WANT?
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We really ended up with two lists: our “What We Want List” and the Certified Florida Yard Checklist. Fortunately, the lists mostly overlapped. Unfortunately, that means that parts of what we wrote below, discussing our “What We Want List”, duplicate what we wrote on the “Certified Florida Yard Checklist” page. Fortunately, the Certified Florida Yard Checklist, by providing a framework, helped us complete both lists.

We decided we wanted to…
1. Help by conserving water.
2. Help by reducing pollution.
3. Help by partially reforesting.
4. Avoid infrastructure problems.
5. Avoid neighbor problems.
6. Avoid scaring neighbors.
7. Avoid plants which needed high maintenance.
8. Avoid plants dying from wrong sun conditions.
9. Avoid plants dying from wrong water conditions.
10. Make the yard prettier (for neighbors and us).
11. Increase privacy.
12. Shade the house to lower air conditioning bill.
13. Capture our drainage.
14. Mulch.
15. Reduce pesticide use (and cost).
16. Use reclaimed water (because tap water is 5 times as expensive).
17. Get the sprinklers fixed.
18. Improve habitat, to attract birds, butterflies, and critters.
19. Build website, to teach, to learn.
20. Improve the RESALE VALUE of our home!

IV. HOW WE GOT WHAT WE WANTED ON OUR “WHAT WE WANT LIST”
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1. Help by conserving water:
We discovered that 50% of the domestic water use in Pinellas County is for irrigation, mostly sprinkling of turfgrass lawns. Partially reforesting should help conserve water.

2. Help by reducing pollution:
TBEP determined that the three major problems of seagrass are stormwater pollution, sanitary sewage pollution, and air pollution. Much of the stormwater pollution occurs when summer storms flush pesticides and excess fertilizers from turfgrass yards into downstream creeks, Tampa Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. We discovered that our yard in Fairway Estates drains to Sturbridge Court, just north of our home. Sturbridge Court’s gutter drains to a stormwater inlet, to a pipe, to a ditch, to Curlew Creek, which flows to St. Joseph Sound, an estuary which is part of the Gulf of Mexico’s Intracoastal Waterway. Partially reforesting should help reduce pollution, and protect Curlew Creek and the Gulf of Mexico.

3. Help by reforesting:
We learned that 16% of Pinellas County is single-family subdivisions. We thought that, if every family could partially-reforest half of its yard, that would increase the county’s forest area 8%.

4. Avoid infrastructure problems.
DID NOT plant any trees close to Fairway Drive where they might grow up and interfere with overhead power lines or underground sewer or water lines.

5. Avoid neighbor problems.
Located property lines.

6. Avoid scaring neighbors.
DID NOT let the front yard “grow wild”.
Instead, kept some turfgrass in front yard, and surrounded the new front-yard forestettes with low hedges, to make them look “safely under control”.

7. Avoid plants which need high maintenance.
Chose "drought-tolerant" Florida native plants.

8. Avoid plants dying from wrong sun conditions.
Put most "need direct sun" plants in front (South) yard.
Put most "need shade" plants in back (North) yard.

9. Avoid plants dying from wrong water conditions.
Removed existing plants from under eaves, and located new plants outside the dripline of the roof.
Chose "drought-tolerant" Florida native plants.

10. Make the yard prettier (for neighbors and us).
South front yard (Fairway Drive): front-yard butterfly flower garden, Red Anise bush, Dwarf Fringe tree, Florida Privet tree, and Florida Elm tree.

Front door approach: Coontie Garden.

West side yard (neighbor): Holly tree, Simpson Stopper hedge and Walter Viburnum hedge.

North back yard (Sturbridge Court): Holly tree, Simpson Stopper hedge, Redbud tree, Flatwoods Plum tree, South Florida Slash Pine tree, Wax Myrtle tree, Chickasaw Plum tree, and Walter Viburnum bushes.East side yard (neighbor): Wax Myrtle tree, Chickasaw Plum tree, Marlberry bush.

11. Increase privacy.
South front yard: Summer Haw forestette

West side yard: Walter Viburnum hedge, Holly forestette, Palmetto forestette

North back yard: Simpson stopper hedge, Holly forestette, Palmetto forestette, Nature Trail forestette, Flatwoods Plum forestette.
East: Wax Myrtle, Chickasaw Plum, Walter Viburnums, and Marlberry.

12. Shade house to lower air conditioning bill.
South front yard: Sparkleberry bushes and Florida Elm tree.

West side yard: Walter Viburnum and Flatwoods Plum.

13. Capture our drainage.
South front yard: Modified gutters to redirect roof drainage to yard instead of driveway.

North back yard: Enlarged swale along north property line.

14. Mulch.
Got TONS of free mulch from Pinellas County and local arborists.
DID NOT use cypress mulch, because they are cutting down our Florida native cypress trees to make it.

15. Reduce pesticide use (and cost).
Got rid of everything but Amdro, Roundup, and miscible oils and copper for citrus.
YES, THAT INCLUDED THE PESTICIDES FOR THE ROSE BUSH!

16. Use reclaimed water.
Get it while you can!

17. Fix the sprinklers.
Recalibrated per Certified Florida Yard Checklist. Got more easily adjusted timer.

18. Improve habitat, to attract birds, butterflies, and critters.
Created “forestettes”, each a grouping of native Florida plants which might have grown together here before we cleared the land and built Fairway Estates.

Front yard:
Summer Haw forestette, south of southwest bedroom. Summer Haw tree, with Sparkleberry bushes behind, Highbush Blueberries in front, Firebushes underneath. Surround with Indian Hawthorne hedge to make it look “under control” from Fairway Drive.

Back yard:
Parsley Haw forestette: just west of back patio. Under the magnificent existing South Florida Slash Pine tree, add Parsley Haw tree, and surround with Bluestem Palmettos. Tie in to Walter Viburnum hedge along west side of house.

Flatwoods Plum forestette: just north of back patio. Flatwoods Plum tree, with Coonties and Wild Coffees underneath. Tie to Nature Trail forestette.

Holly forestette: northwest corner. Florida Holly tree, surrounded by Walter’s Viburnums and Simpson Stoppers. Tie to Simpson Stopper hedge.

Simpson Stopper hedge: north property line. Ties Holly forestette at northwest corner to Nature Trail forestette at northeast corner, but also includes swale and Bat City bathouse. Simpson Stoppers, with Beautyberries, Firebushes, Wild Coffees. Almost ties to Redbud tree.

Nature Trail forestette: northeast corner. Existing young Live Oaks, young Palmettos, and older Cherry Laurel. Add South Florida Slash Pine Tree, Bluestem Palmetto, Walter’s Viburnums, Simpson Stopper hedges, Wax Myrtle, Chickasaw Plum, and Beautyberries.

19. Build website.
They say, “if you really want to learn something, teach it”. So we are building this website, with the help of our webmaster Daniel Bornt, at midstudiowest@yahoo.com, to try to teach, so we can learn.

20. Improve the RESALE VALUE of our home!
Well, we don’t know where to find numbers. We think we definitely improved the “curb appeal”. And if we ever have to sell, we hope property appraisers will have to look at very nice homes to find “comparables” with landscaping as nice as our home now has.

V. CERTIFIED FLORIDA YARD CHECKLIST
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To read the rest of the story, click on “FYN Certified Florida Yard Checklist”.

to the "FYN Certified Florida Yard Checklist"

go to PinellasYard Home

Please address questions and comments to:
Author: Early Sorenson, esorenson@tampabay.rr.com or
Webmaster: Dan Bornt, midstudiowest@yahoo.com

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PinellasYard...tips on creating a Certified Florida Yard at "http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/pinellasyard" - website ©2003 by Early McMullen Sorenson
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