Native Shoreline Plants — Florida's First Defense

The plants along our waterways are just as important as what's in the water. A 35-foot native plant buffer along a waterway can filter out over 80% of nitrogen and phosphorus from yard runoff before it reaches the water. Native plant roots can extend 6 to 15 feet deep, anchoring soil 10 times more effectively than turf grass and protecting shorelines from wave erosion and storms. Native shoreline plantings create critical habitat corridors connecting upland and aquatic ecosystems for birds, mammals, reptiles, and pollinators. And a single acre of native riparian buffer provides an estimated $25,000 per year in free filtration services — the kind of work Florida spends billions on for water treatment. In this lesson, we'll learn about upland buffer plants, saltmarsh and brackish edge plants, the invasive plants threatening our shorelines, living shorelines, the Florida-Friendly Landscaping program, and what you can do right now.