Survivors: Ten Plants that will Tolerate Coastal Flooding

As we start the process of restoring our landscapes, the Holmes Beach Parks and Beautification Commission is encouraging property owners to plant not only Florida-friendly natives but also plants that are extremely salt-tolerant and suited to our coastal environment. Based on observations of landscape damage as well as recommendations from the Florida Native Plant Society and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), the Parks and Beautification Commission recommends the following trees, shrubs, grasses, ground cover and wildflowers.

All of the below plants are available at Sweet Bay Nursery in Parrish or Florida Native Plants Nursery in Sarasota. For a more comprehensive list of salt-tolerant coastal plants, see The Florida Native Plant Society (www.fnps.org) Salt Tolerant Plants for your Coastal Landscape and the UF/IFAS Salt-Tolerant Plants for Florida. 

(https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/00/17/13/00001/EP01200.pdf

Check out the Black Olive next to the Island Library on Marina Avenue. It’s standing strong with most of its leaves intact. The City has planted a new Black Olive, courtesy of former Commissioner Pat Morton, at the Key Royale and Marina intersection.

You can find these trees in the Island Libraryparking lot. This is a beautiful tree, especially in spring and summer when orange blossoms are at their peak.

Buttonwoods, both silver and green, can either be pruned to grow as trees or trimmed to be shrubs. Some of the buttonwoods on the island sustained broken branches, but most remained sturdy and vibrant despite the beating they took. You will see a row of silver buttonwood shrubs as you turn from Gulf north onto Marina, along the Keyes Marina waterfront.

Like buttonwoods, sea grapes can grow roughly 25 feet tall or be trimmed to serve as a hedge or windbreak. A large sea grape is located next to the black olive tree at the library.

Instead of a hedge, think about planting a row of sea oats. They can grow up to 8 feet tall and look beautiful swaying in the wind. You will find sea oats all along the dunes at the beach.

Also known as beach morning glory, you can spot this plant growing on the beach sand dunes, especially when its pink flowers are in bloom. This makes an excellent ground cover for parts of the lawn that don’t get a lot of foot traffic.

Also known as powderpuff, consider planting this instead of turf grass. It grows low to the ground and can be mowed or walked on without causing any damage. Best of all, it has beautiful puffy pink flowers. You can check out this plant at the Holmes Beach butterfly garden next to City Hall.

Also a great substitute for turf grass, this low growing plant produces small lavender flowers that are a favorite of our native bees and butterflies. This can also be found in the Holmes Beach butterfly garden.

This beautiful yellow/orange flower growing in and around the butterfly garden is not really salt tolerant. But, while the plant will likely die during an inundation, its seeds will survive and produce an abundant crop of new flowers after the flood. You can find blanket flowers thriving at the butterfly garden as well as the Key Royale and Marina intersection.

While most island residents and businesses survived Hurricane’s Helene and Milton, our landscapes were not so fortunate. Many plants favored by home owners and landscapers for their quick growth or flowering beauty were not resilient to the inundation and high winds that we faced in September and October last year.

This hearty plant, also located in the butterfly garden, produces tall shoots of bright yellow blooms. It not only thrived during the recent hurricanes, but also spread throughout the garden.