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Choosing Core Plants for a Florida Yard
A stronger Florida yard is usually built around a small core before it expands into rarer or more conditional species.
This page is about choosing that core.
What a Core Plant Should Do
A core plant should usually offer one or more of these:
- structural value
- reliable recovery
- support for the rest of the system
- repeated usefulness in multiple yard styles
- easier maintenance than the average specialty plant
Strong Core Roles From This Site
Structure tree
Support and biomass
Moisture-favored production
Groundcover and weed suppression
Edge and visual order
Build the Yard Around Roles First
Ask the simpler question first:
What roles does the yard still need?
That usually leads to better choices than asking which unusual plant you should try next.
Where This Page Fits
Use this page between broad strategy and individual plant profiles.
It is especially useful after reading: