Florida's Friendly And Wild

"Living among renowned rivers of song, thousands of bass-filled lakes, and in a state engulfed by world famous beaches, it’s hard to convince people that Florida has water supply issues. Newcomers to the Sunshine State, and even native residents have trouble absorbing this simple fact: we are going to inevitably run out of potable water and it may be sooner than we are prepared for.  Impressing upon people the need to conserve water and change life-long perceptions and bad habits while they live on a beautiful lakes and canals with a lush lawn is not an easy job. Homeowners dream of ideal landscapes: their own garden paradise, thick carpet of dark, green lawn with no weeds, no insect problems, and no disease problems. "

I wrote those words this spring in response to FS-AWWA's request on water conservation and environmental education policies.  How do you teach people that water is a precious commodity and that we need to be good stewards of it?  You don't have to overfertilize, overwater, and overuse pesticides. Well, sometimes you just have to show them so they can visualize themselves being good stewards.

The Green Builder's Vision House 2008 will be a prime example of environmental awareness and good stewardship showcasing the UF/IFAS Florida Yard & Neighborhoods principles to help the builder and new homeowners reduce the impact of development on our resources!

The landscaping design of the Vision House 2008 will utilize the variety of soil and sunlight conditions to feature appropriate flowers, shrubs, and trees with efficient watering techniques.   The front of the home will highlight xeric (dry, sandy) terrain, and as you approach the entrance, the landscaping around the exterior intensifies to a sub-tropical palette with lush, colorful ornamentals (mesic conditions), in and around the koi pond and in  the backyard around the patio and pool areas.

Walking across the swale on a boardwalk out to the dock, you cross an important aspect of water conservation:  prevention of non-source water pollution.  1/3rd of all stormwater run-off in the state of Florida comes from residential homes.   Protecting Lake Apopka is one of Vision House 2008's first concerns.  The swale will prevent any chemical run-off from fertilizer and occasional pesticides from going into the waterbody.

As you head towards the lake, you'll enter the welcoming shade of native shrubs and trees, and tropical bananas surrounding the future gazebo.  Right now, with the summer heat and rain, we are fighting jungle exotic invasives aka "Audrey 2's" that grow overnight, gobbling up our macheted pathway that was hacked the week before. The landscaping for this natural area will create a more native habitat for butterflies, birds, and other lakeshore denizen that work in Nature's cycles to keep the environment balanced.

The Vision House 2008's lakefront will be restored back to optimum health by replanting of native littoral and aquatic plants and trees.  We have adopted a tussock that has taken roothold on our shoreline, well...actually the tussock adopted the Vision House after Hurricane Charlie in 2005.

 

We will be leaving some of the snags on this struggling thicket, but planting cypresses and other native trees to anchor the floating island permanently. Walking the shoreline is an experience when you can feel the top layer of ground bounce as you jump on it. This is normal because of lake fluctuations with 2006's lackluster hurricane season and the drought of winter and spring.

 

Despite all the hammering, banging, and unloading of materials on the Vision House 2008's construction site, Nature continues to keep its eye on the builders, workmen, and inspectors.  The wildlife in the middle of the day is always a surprise and exciting.

One of the wild visitors, that I've seen, making sure that everything is going well on site, has been a beautiful 5' + long yellow rat snake in the majestic neighboring oak tree.

The Florida native rat snake is beneficial in decreasing the rodent population around the shoreline. Surrounding the oak tree, on the ground, in the shrubs, trees, and even on the beams and on the second floor in the Vision House 2008, and more snake fodder, is the temporary bane of my existance, the annoying, good-for-nothing, lubber grasshoppers.

   

On any given day visiting Vision House 2008, you might espy an osprey carrying a fish over the lake, anihingas drying out after fishing, egrets dragging their feet across the water, ibises preening, cardinals and blue jays chirping and flitting between the trees, and stately great blue herons standing so still so that you can snap their best side, you can always get a beautiful photograph.

 

The tussock is a popular avian hang-out.

Ibis                                              

                                                                                                      

Egret

   Anihinga

Here's a Vanessa Atalanta, aalso known as a Red Admiral - a Florida native butterfly feasting on water hemlock.

A huge delight was found this week, when Neta Villalobos-Bell, Seminole County's FYN program assistant and I ventured onto the creaky Gourd Neck Springs community dock and lo, and behold - we espied four brand-new, days old baby gators swimming close to the boat ramp! Walking gingerly so as to not disturb them, or find Mommy Gator, I was able to snap several photographs of the back-to back National Champions in basketball, and this year, the defending National Champions in football, UF Gator mascots! (okay, I had to get that in somewhere) Enjoy the photographs.

Teresa Watkins, UF/IFAS FYN

 

   

Comments

[Roseanne Hunt-Harkin]

Thank you, Teresa Watkins has a wonderful uncerstanding of our eco/aquatic system. She's a talented writer, always interesting as well as a good photographer. I thoroughly enjoyed the article & photos.
Roseanne Hunt-Harkin
Atlantic Beach, Florida

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Not sure what I enjoyed more reading your great post on water conservation or seeing all those great pictures. Wonderful site keep up the great work:-)

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You took all of these pictures yourself? Pretty amazing. Especially the one of the lizards. I could never get that close, I'm terrified of most reptiles.

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