Planning to Paving – Garden & Driveway Design in Florida
In Florida, garden and driveway design set the tone for curb appeal – from palm landscaping to paver installations.
One of the last big jobs on the new build was the garden design. We wanted an outdoor area that would suit the coastal climate, be low-maintenance, heat-resistant and naturally beautiful. The result is a garden with a mix of palm trees, evergreen shrubs and lawn, framed by a paved driveway with a walkway up to the front door. The irrigation system ensures that everything stays nice and green.
The garden in Florida can be quite simple with 2 shade trees and a few other plants according to the city’s specifications. Before a house is approved and receives the so-called CO, the garden must be laid out according to code. This has the advantage that new buildings don’t look unattractive for ages without a green space, as is usual in Germany, until the builders have a budget to spare. We didn’t want a standard garden, but a palm-fringed, flowering garden design with hedges for privacy.
We love gardening, but in Florida it’s almost impossible to do so during the summer months because it’s too hot. In addition, self-cleaning palm trees should save money later on. We paid particular attention to this when choosing the palm trees. We didn’t want a fence. It’s always at risk during storms. But years later, we had one installed after all, as you will find out.
Garden design & plant selection
Our garden design concept
Let’s start with the trenches for the 5-zone irrigation.
The small Clusia hedge
Palm-lined canal wall
Self-cleaning palms
Plants for the front garden
lay before the lawn
We took a lot of time for the garden design and planning and simulated it beforehand in an architecture program. We got suggestions, ideas, tips, inspiration and other information from photos and videos on the Internet, from tours of Cape Coral and from the experts at the gardening companies.
The results are impressive. Even though we had to increase our budget for this project due to the sheer number of palm trees, our garden planning was well worth it. Over the coming years, we continued to expand the garden design with an outdoor seating area for Adirondack-style garden furniture, for example, and completely redesigned the lanai after our cage was demolished by Hurricane Ian.
Driveway & sidewalk made of concrete paving
Preparation for the driveway
Driveway paved
Walkway to the house entrance
House entrance paved
Pattern of different sized paving stones
Facade faced with quartz stone
The driveway runs from the street at a right angle to the garage door, followed by the sidewalk, which echoes the lines of the façade. It leads in a slight bend to the house entrance. Palm trees and low foundation planting (salt and sun tolerant) with ornamental plants and flowers frame the front garden to the left and right.
The beds in our dream garden were initially filled with black bark mulch to keep the soil moist and prevent weeds from growing. We later replaced this with white quartz stones, which look much nicer.
The turf consists of Florida Sod, a very resistant coarse turf specially developed for the climatic conditions in Florida. The grass was laid using large pieces of ready-made turf. A sprinkler system is quite common and is also required for large plots of land. Various sprinklers were distributed in the lawn and beds to cover the water requirements.
The paved driveway is designed with two full-width lanes – convenient for two vehicles and for maneuvering. The paving is laid with a slope away from the building, which is important for the heavy rainfall that is common in summer. The sidewalk is level throughout, pleasantly wide and runs flush into the entrance.
The structure is tried and tested in Florida: excavation to load-bearing sand, gravel compacted in layers, bedding sand, laying stones, fixing edges, vibrating, washing in polymeric jointing sand. This ensures that the surface retains its shape – even in heat and rain.
Experiences that are worth money
At the back you can see how the lawn is watered.
The little Royal Poinziana shade tree
We have dispensed with a garden path.
We later gained this experience with our garden and gradually adapted it accordingly: I love hibiscus and had some planted. But flowers and ornamental plants make little sense. They are too infested with pests and diseases to enjoy them. Laying foil under bark mulch or stones is totally affordable. Otherwise the weeds will overtake you more than in European areas and especially in the summer months.
Later, we also added some potted plants and replanted the patio with larger plants. This gave the pool and lanai a frame, which the cage had taken over before it was destroyed by the hurricane. Because the price of rebuilding it was three times as high as when we built it, and because the insurance companies wouldn’t cover this extension, we decided not to rebuild it. We have not regretted it. However, we had to build a fence around the pool so that no child could drown in it if they got lost. We also created a small kitchen garden for herbs in a raised bed.
Incidentally, you don’t need a cage any more than anywhere else. Especially in Cape Coral, it is standard equipment. These cages are less common in sophisticated Naples. The feeling is much better without one and the mosquitoes, which are no longer so plentiful, can be kept at bay in other ways. The fresh breeze is also much more pleasant than the muggy air that builds up under the cage.
