Native plants create 'sense of place' in your yard

While many other residents of Anna Maria Island are content to enjoy their golden years fishing or relaxing on the beach, Mike Miller, a 70-ish retired industrial designer, is busy planning and installing landscapes.

In addition to his own projects, Miller collaborates with others in the landscape industry to promote and spread the word about "sense of place" landscaping. It's an idea he eloquently describes on his website, http://perfectisland.us/, and in talks around the state.

The idea is to landscape exclusively with native plants, and more specifically, with plants that would have been found in the locale before it was extensively altered by settlers.

He advocates the use of native plants not because they tend to be better adapted to local conditions than non-natives (which they are) or provide habitat for wildlife (which they do), but because they create a distinct sense of place.

Just as cities across the country tend to look alike because they have the same fast-food chains and big-box stores, man-made landscapes within broad regions tend to look alike. That's because the nurseries stock, and landscapers use, a relatively small set of popular ornamental plants.

For example, in recent years many Mexican fan palms (Washingtonia robusta ) and date palms (Phoenix dactylifera ) have been planted along streets and at the entrances of commercial and residential developments throughout Florida. These palms have also been extensively planted in other states with mild climates, such as Texas, Arizona, and California. So now, in certain areas of the city it may be difficult to distinguish Tampa from Houston, Phoenix, or Los Angeles.

Establishing a sense of place is impossible if the landscape is full of exotics, Miller says.

"If you own a house at the beach and pave the driveway with bricks, then surround it with palms from Egypt, Jamaica, Madagascar and South Africa, there will not be any sense of place," he says. "There will be a sense of the nursery.

"You will not be living on the island; you will be living at an outpost of EPCOT - a tiny, self-contained amusement park."

Miller is not opposed to having some non-natives -- exotics -- around the house, but suggests the following guidelines:

•Grow only the most beautiful and interesting exotics.

•Grow only exotics that cannot spread volunteers into the native landscape and become a pest.

•Grow exotics close to the house, preferably gathered near front, side, and rear doors so they can receive the extra monitoring and maintenance they usually require.

•Grow as many as possible in a collection of beautiful pots. Many will grow better in pots with the right soil instead of Florida sand. And in pots, they will function more as extensions of the house rather than part of the landscape.

Miller says a person honors and celebrates his or her own identity and character - his personal sense of life - with his house, its interior, and the indoor and outdoor accessories.

A person honors and celebrates the identity and character of the land he chooses to live on - its sense of place - with the landscape.