PERFECT ISLAND
It's not about a place -- it's about an idea.
It is about the task of perfecting the everyday experience of our own habitat.
While this idea applies equally to inhabitants and their lands everywhere, it
will be explored in the pages of this web site in the confines of one local
region, the barrier islands along the southwest Gulf coast of Florida.
•   HOME   •    IDEA   •    PLANTS   •    GALLERY   •    MODELS   •    BOOKS   •    ACTION   •    LINKS   •    SOURCES   •    LAWS   •
Anna Maria Island, Cortez Village, Longboat Key, and Siesta Key aerial
Welcome
• A WORD FROM THE WEBMASTER •
This site provides comprehensive information on landscaping with the plants specifically native to Florida's west coast barrier islands and mainland bay shorelines, especially the Anna Maria Island communities, City of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, as well as the islands of Longboat Key, Lido Key, and Siesta Key
Current Features
NEW!  •  A GALLERY OF MY 100% NATIVE ISLAND STYLE LANDSCAPE DESIGNS  •  NEW!
•  PINE AVENUE MERCHANTS COMMUNITY GARDENS ~ FLORIDA SUMMER TOLERANT VEGETABLES  •
•  SLIDE SHOW: A STREETWATER RUNOFF PERCOLATION POND BECOMES A NATIVE BAYSHORE PARK  •
•  SLIDE SHOW: BARRIER ISLAND PLANTS AND NATIVE LANDSCAPES  •
• SPEECH TO THE 2009 FLORIDA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY STATE CONFERENCE & 140 SLIDES •
• 250 SAND : REPLACING TURF GRASS LAWNS AND HARDSCAPE IN NATIVE LANDSCAPING •
• REPLACING AUSTRALIAN PINES WITH NATIVE TREES •
Section Guide
• IDEA • • PLANTS • • GALLERY •

Here you will find the base on which this site is built. A light and easy essay that will challenge your thinking about every garden, lawn, or landscape you have ever had or seen on our islands.

A listing of just about every plant native to these barrier islands, arranged in sets by the zones which are their natural locations on these islands, and with adjacent links to photos for each.

Photos of my transformation of ordinary island properties into what Mother Nature could have put here if no one had ever come and if when we did come we just slipped our homes into the clearings.

• MODELS • • BOOKS • • ACTION •
Aerial and on site photos of public grounds and private buildings where most or all exotic vegetation has been replaced with plant species specifically native to these local barrier islands.

Listed here are the best books available about native plants of Florida, both the amply illustrated paperbacks and the hardcover scientific kind. Pricing and Amazon links are also included.

So you like the IDEA and are eager to contribute. But you can't weed with that back and those knees. And being the poorest millionaire on the island, what on earth can you do? Read this list!
• LINKS • • SOURCES • • LAWS •

Connections to the world of information on native island flora. Retail native nursery sites, a wholesale native nursery finder, USF's Plant Atlas, various Organizations, and the site of Florida's DEP.

Everything you will need to recreate an island's nature. Trees and plants, irrigation systems, surfacing mixtures of sand and shell, and/or a designer for your landscape, island home or interior.

What are riparian rights? What and where is the CCCL line? What landscaping needs a DEP ok outside that line? How may I trim my mangroves? Why is a beach front seagrape regulated?

IF YOU NEED INFORMATION, HELP OR ASSISTANCE OF ANY KIND
PERFECTING YOUR OWN ISLAND HABITAT--PLEASE CONTACT ME:

email address
© 2004-2017 Michael Clendenin Miller    
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