Zone 10a in Florida. Have about 2500-3000SF here. Around 400 of that will be a gravel path and fire pit. Planning on filling most of it in with sod right now, probably Bahia as it’s native and doesn’t require irrigation apart from establishing. I still want to mix in plenty of native plants, especially in the heavily shaded areas.
However I’ve been pretty against “monoculture” which this technically wont be. But the idea of laying sod feels like I’m caving. Would love some feedback on any ideas on filling this area. We still love entertaining and outside games with friends so we do need some sort of space to allow this. Sod might just be the best route for this area. Important to note that I currently have no plans for installing irrigation apart from setting up rain barrels from my gutters for some gravity fed watering if deemed necessary.
by inexperiencedwiseman
3 Comments
You should post in r/nativeplantgardening
Use the sod if that’s what you wanna do but Bahia isn’t native it was introduced to Florida like a century ago and is now widespread.
You certainly can go for it if you want but there’s no need to go crazy with planting natives everywhere right out of the gate. Slow and steady wins the race. If I were you I’d ultimately end up replacing most of that Bahia with flowerbeds, shrubs, other trees, and native grasses and keep the sod mostly as paths between the native stuff (I’m doing this with my lawn in New England, no idea what turf grass I have).
Nothing wrong with a little lawn just use it as an area rug not as wall to wall carpeting.
Seed misc. wildflowers. Replace as you plant.