What Does Tropical Landscape Design Really Mean in South Florida?
The United States doesn’t boast many areas with tropical climate conditions. However, Miami and the South Florida community happen to be part of these tropical areas.
The weather conditions feel quite tropical due to extreme heat and humidity in the summer months.
Tropical landscape design involves a colorful, lush design, pulsing with life. Although tropical landscaping is desired in many places, South Florida provides a suitable climate and environment to ensure any tropical landscape design flourishes.
For Miami homeowners, a tropical paradise can be yours right outside your door. However, you must devote the time and effort to designing a plan with the perfect balance between beauty and maintenance.
Tropical Pavers
Maintaining a garden in Florida isn’t easy. Our state provides a large amount of rainfall. When it isn’t raining, South Florida provides residents with some of the hottest temperatures in the United States, making many gardens lack survivability.
Luckily with tropical landscape design and gardening, these plants will need a ton of water. Nonetheless, this also means that those choosing pavers for their designs will need to select stones that can withstand the weather and moisture in our area.
Landscaping by Steve Blaum suggests utilizing gravel around the pavers to allow for quick, efficient drainage. Mulch can additionally help keep a tropical garden well-hydrated, keeping essential nutrients near the roots of a plant.
Tropical Plants
When selecting tropical plants, it is important to ensure they receive enough heat, sunlight, and humidity (moisture in the air)l. Florida is an ideal area for installing tropical plants into a landscape. Desert climates like Nevada or Arizona might provide the right amount of sunlight, but the air is often too dry, making it challenging to keep humidity-loving tropical plants alive.
Some of our favorite plants to help create tropical landscape design include:
- Bromeliads
- Colocasia (Elephant Ear)
- Hibiscus
- Palm Trees
- Orchids
- Annual Flowers
- Dahlias
- Snapdragons
- Impatiens
- Petunias
These plantings mentioned above remain easy to care for, and the flowers are brightly-hued, widely available, hearty, and suitable for tropical climates.
Stones
Your tropical garden will likely be abundant with plants. Using rocks as a design element can help to add in some additional texture and drama. Stones additionally help retain heat, an essential component to regulating plant temperatures.
Tropical Decor
Think about a tropical landscape. It is likely colorful and lush. Unfortunately, this can change as homeowners add in sculpture and furniture. To incorporate decor into a tropical landscape design, you should use furnishings and outdoor additions to enhance comfort and aesthetics.
Suitable options for decorating a tropical landscape design include adding representations of tropical birds like flamingos or pelicans and wildlife. Furniture may consist of hammocks and comfy chairs constructed from teak or bamboo with colorful additions to complement the design’s bright colors.
Water Features
Here at Landscaping by Steve Blaum, our team truly loves water features. Incorporating a water feature into a tropical garden design provides the landscape with authenticity.
This is additionally a great way to ensure moisture remains in the air to satiate thirsty tropical plants. They also offer a water source to thirsty pollinators and wildlife that might stop by.
Tropical Landscape Design | Landscaping by Steve Blaum
You, too, can make your garden feel more tropical. In some instances, small additions like outdoor torches, fire dishes, and colorful accent furniture can make all the difference. Nevertheless, our team thrives on helping our South Florida clients make their landscaping dreams a reality.
To learn more about tropical landscape design and how you can make your backyard look like a tropical paradise, reach out to our dedicated team from Landscaping by Steve Blaum today!
