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Creating Florida Friendly Yards to Reduce Our Environmental Impact

Xeriscaped Yard
Wikimedia Commons
Xeriscaped Yard

With so much focus on water issues right now because of the nearly year old red tide bloom that continues to devastate marine wildlife, and the several months old toxic blue-green algae bloom that’s being fed by nutrient-rich releases from Lake Okeechobee, we thought it would be a good time to explore the world of xeriscaping.

One factor in our water woes equation is stormwater runoff containing nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, and this runoff doesn't only come from agricultural fields, but also from homes and businesses. Xeriscaping is using mindful landscaping techniques that reduce the need for fertilizer and water by choosing plants that are native, or properly suited to the natural conditions we find here in Southwest Florida. We're joined by Thomas Becker, he’s a Florida-Friendly Landscaping Education and Training Specialist with the University of Florida IFAS extension office in Port Charlotte. And we’re also joined by Marlene Rodak, she’s Vice President of the Coccoloba chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.

Copyright 2018 WGCU

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.