How to Design a Tropical Florida Backyard Landscape

Remove your lawn. There's nothing terribly tropical about a lawn in a Florida landscape, and they're notoriously difficult to maintain. If you have a lawn that is in good shape and you already have a sprinkler system installed, then at least consider decreasing its size to keep it more manageable. Otherwise, taking out the grass will be your best bet, saving you from having to over-fertilize and over-water to keep it looking healthy. Your wallet will thank you, as will the environment!

Sketch a basic yard design, marking specific areas in terms of how much daily sunlight they receive. Make a note of which areas tend to be the driest and most difficult to irrigate. This will help you when deciding how and where to group the plants that you select for your landscape.

Research Florida-friendly plants (either at a nursery, garden center, or on a website such as Floridayards.org--see link below in Resources) and match up their sun and watering requirements to the zones on your landscape sketch. Try to select as many drought-tolerant and native plants as possible. Having a tropical landscape doesn't have to mean using lots of imported tropical plants that need constant watering.

Pick a ground cover. If it's a sunny area, consider perennial peanut. This low-growing beauty spreads readily and its bright yellow blooms offer an eye-catching contrast to green foundation plants. In shadier areas, Asiatic jasmine is another reliable ground cover that is very hardy. It can be a slow grower, but once established it's a low-maintenance plant that creates a lush, glossy green carpet that requires only an occasional trim to keep it in bounds.

Choose your specimen trees and shrubs. This is where you can make the biggest tropical splash in your yard. Palm trees are wise investments in a Florida landscape, not only for the obvious tropical flavor they add, but as a way to add monetary value to a property as they mature and grow.
Hibiscus and plumeria plants are often the first choice for those looking to add tropical flowers to their garden, and both are fine choices for sunny areas, but don't forget shell ginger and the vibrant heliconia for more shady areas. Shell ginger's cascading pearly, shell-shaped flowers and Heliconia's dazzling reddish orange flowers give an unmistakably tropical look to any Florida yard.