Fewer flowers appear to be in the future for Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
Flowers are an enormous part of the aesthetic appeal in The Villages. Maintenance assessment fees collected from residents by their individual community development districts pay for the landscaping in the common areas and the changing out of the flowers four times per year.
Take a drive south of State Road 44 and you’ll notice there are fewer flowers and more Florida Friendly, drought-resistance plants. It’s the Developer’s recognition that water is a precious resource and a healthy environment requires fewer non-native flowers and more plants considered Florida Friendly.
Florida-Friendly Landscaping means using low-maintenance plants and environmentally sustainable practices, including water conservation as well as reducing fertilization and pest control needs. Generally, the use of flowering plants increases water usage, fertilization and pest control needs.
Residents have not always welcomed this nod to Mother Earth:
• The Developer put in drought-resistant plants at the entrance to the Village of Osceola Hills. A resident objected because there were no flowers and the Community Improvement Council got involved and persuaded the Project Wide Advisory Committee to spend $12,000 to plant flowers and install the irrigation needed to quench their thirst. PWAC is funded by residents south of County Road 466.
• Earlier this year, residents of the Phillips Villas in Community Development District 4 voiced their disapproval with drought-resistance plants at the entrance to their villa community. A resident approached the CDD 4 Board with white presentation poster board, mounted with photos of some flower-rich landscaping displays at entrances elsewhere in The Villages, including the Village of Rio Grande and the Village of Harmeswood of Belle Aire. She and others indicated they wanted a similar display at the entrance to the Phillips Villas. The Phillips and Soulliere Villas were built a few years ago and thus fell under the new thinking of the Developer, leaning toward Florida Friendly Landscaping. The Phillips Villa residents did not get their flowers.
When the new First Responders Recreation Center is built in CDD 4, it will have Florida Friendly Landscaping, which may raise the eyebrows of residents, who are accustomed to the lush, flowery landscaping that is found at recreation centers north of State Road 44.
There are no plans to do away with the flower beds already in existence in The Villages. The change-out of flowers four times per year will continue as it has for many years.