Book and EDIS Publications
Books generally falls into two categories- those that are commissioned and written for a particular client and those written for the general public. Pattern books are the most common and include landscape plans and plant lists for typical residential landscapes or stormwater facility examples for managing stormwater problems in residential communities. Two books that are currently in the works are a book about urban ecology and a Florida-Friendly landscape style guide.
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Urban Ecology for Citizens and Planners
Ideal for city residents, developers, designers, and officials looking for ways to bring urban environments into harmony with the natural world and make cities more sustainable, Urban Ecology for Citizens and Planners offers a wealth of information and examples that will answer fundamental scientific questions, guide green initiatives, and inform environmental policies and decision-making processes.
This book provides an overview of the synergistic relationships between humans and nature that shape the ecology of urban green spaces. It also emphasizes the social and cultural value of nature in cities for human health and well-being. Chapters describe the basic science of natural components and ecosystems in urban areas and explore the idea of biophilic urbanism, the philosophy of building nature into the framework of cities. To illustrate these topics, chapters include projects, case studies, expert insights, and successful citizen science programs from urban areas around the world.
Authors Gail Hansen and Joseli Macedo argue that citizens have increasingly important roles to play in the environmental future of the cities they live in. A valuable resource for real-world solutions, this volume encourages citizens and planners to actively engage and collaborate in improving their communities and quality of life.
“We are now well into this first urban century and the importance of understanding the ecology of cities is ever more apparent. Hansen and Macedo provide a timely, valuable guide for citizens and planners to apply ecological knowledge in the shaping of our cities. Such wisdom is essential for our health and wellbeing as well of that of other species.”—Frederick Steiner, author of Making Plans: How to Engage with Landscape, Design, and the Urban Environment
“Citizens and planners all need an understanding of urban ecology. Our futures all depend on it. This book offers a clear, practical, and deep understanding that will help in our various journeys to creating beautiful, inclusive, sustainable cities.”—Peter Newman AO, Curtin University
“This book provides actual solutions for helping cities become more resilient in the face of climate change, sea level rise, and pollution. In addition, it details how city residents can play an important role as citizen scientists.”—Ginny Stibolt, coauthor of Climate-Wise Landscaping: Practical Actions for a Sustainable Future
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Florida Friendly Landscaping Pattern Book
This 71-page book is available at the UF IFAS bookstore. The book serves as a guide to finding the right plants for your part of Florida and the right place in your yard for planting them. The lushly illustrated guide offers landscape plans and comprehensive lists of native and Florida-friendly plants suitable for each of Florida’s USDA hardiness zones, as well as sections on plant groups, irrigation, and helpful landscape design tips.
Cover: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Pattern Book
This book was written in cooperation with the Florida-Friendly Landscaping program to provide landscape design tips and plant lists for different regions of Florida. Authors include Gail Hansen, PhD, Kelly Perez, MLA, and Esen Momol, PhD.
Page 1: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Pattern Book
This sample page from the book (page 1), gives an overview of the Florida-Friendly landscaping principles and a step-by-step guide on how to use the book.
Page 17: Florida-Friendly Landscaping Pattern Book
Page 17 is an example of the book features. This page is for Front Entry designs and includes desired landscape characteristics for a front entry pathway with design tips, a photo of a typical problem with plants by walkways, and an example planting plan with plant suggestions for the front yard, including the entryway.
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Sullivan Ranch Guide to Stormwater Facilities
Control and Management of Stormwater: Sullivan Ranch
This 32-page document illustrates 24 different strategies and techniques for capturing, moving and controlling stormwater in housing developments. Each strategy addresses typical flooding and erosion problems with illustrations and photos of structures and landscape solutions. The book can be used by developers, designers, homeowners with 3 levels of flooding problems and three levels of installation difficulty and costs with solutions for do-it-yourself homeowners and drainage professionals. The book was written with Florida-Friendly staff members in cooperation with the Sullivan Ranch Homeowners Association.
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Tampa Bay Water and Water Star Pattern Book
Residential Landscape Design Pattern Book, Planting Plans and Plant Schedules for Tampa Bay Area
The pattern book is a 29-page document with 13 different landscape designs and plant lists for typical residential lot layouts. The book was funded and written with the help of three landscape architecture students for Tampa Bay Water and the Florida Water Star program for use by developers, home builders, landscape architects, and homeowners as a basic “pattern” for designing drought tolerant landscapes for different lot types. Each plan has three cost options; low, medium, and high, based on the number of plants used. The plant lists are for central Florida USDA hardiness zones 9A and 9B and 10A and 10B.
Residential Landscape Design Pattern Book
This book was commissioned by Tampa Bay Water and Florida Water Star to provide developers with example planting plans and plant lists for sustainable, water-conserving landscapes for residential developments.
Sample Page: Tampa Bay Water Utilities Landscape Pattern Book front yard plan
This page sample shows a planting plan for a front yard with a side entry garage. Each plant symbol is labeled with numbers and plan options are shown for low cost, medium cost, and high cost based on the number of plants used.
Sample Page: Tampa Bay Water Utilities Landscape Pattern Book, plant list
The plant schedules list the plants included on the planting plans for USDA Hardiness Zones 9A-9B and 10A-10B. This example is for the front yard with side entry garage planting plan.
Tampa Bay Water Utilities Landscape Pattern Book.pdf
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The Villages Native Plant Landscape Planting Plans
This 41-page landscape pattern book has 6 different native plant designs for small lots in the Villages retirement community in central Florida. The plans are for 3 different lot types with a high diversity and low diversity plan for each type. Each lot also has 2 plant lists, and design tips for different plant groups. The book was developed in collaboration with Steve Turnipseed and the Florida Native Plant Society to encourage homeowners to adopt an all-native plant palette for their yards to help conserve water and provide wildlife habitat.
The cover of the native plant landscaping plans book includes an image from one of the planting plans and the logos of the Florida Native Plant Society and UF IFAS extension.
Students in the advanced landscape design class gather in front of Steve Turnipseed’s house to take a tour of his native plant yard for inspiration and to learn more about native plants. From left to right- Jen Marvin, Brooke Bedford, Jiang Zheng, Paula Brito, Sophia Gibaldi, William West, Gail Hansen, and Steve Turnipseed.
The Villages Native Plant Landscape Planting Plans.pdf
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EDIS Publications
EDIS publications are available through UF IFAS extension in a downloadable pdf format. I currently have 74 publications available on EDIS, including a series of 16 documents on landscape design, four landscape pattern books, a series of 11 documents on landscape construction materials, and 32 updated shrub fact sheets. Topics also include teaching gardens, stormwater pond plants, strategies for working with HOAs and edible landscaping.