FL Bee Gardens

Plan your bee garden the Florida-Friendly way!

Plant lists, design and gardening tips, and bee information are at your fingertips with the UF/IFAS Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program’s Bee Gardens mobile web app.

Features click to expand contents

Design My Bee Garden

Q&A format guides you in creating a custom plant list based on your garden’s location and characteristics. Along the way, get expert tips, sample layouts and guidance on plant selection.

Save and Print Plant Lists

Create, save and edit multiple gardens. View your plant lists with a touch as you shop, or create a printable pdf with details on your selected plants.

Browse plant lists and characteristics

90 Florida-Friendly, bee-attracting plants, with color photos and the information you need to choose the right plants: details on light, soil, and water requirements; characteristics such as shape, color, and size; disease and pest issues; Florida native status, and more.

Design and Garden Tips

Guidance from UF/IFAS experts to help you design, plant and maintain an attractive bee garden that follows the principles of Florida-Friendly Landscaping™.

Bee Information

12 Florida bee groups, with color photos and information, including behavior and favored plants.

Use on Any Device

Log into your account on your phone, tablet or computer – the app and your data are available anywhere via internet.

Copyright click to expand contents

Copyright 2020 University of Florida. All rights reserved. The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ (FFL) Program mobile web application is a copyrighted production of UF/IFAS. No part of this production can be copied and reproduced for any purpose without prior written consent of FFL. All rights reserved.

Credits click to expand contents

This mobile web application is a project of the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program and UF/IFAS, funded in part by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) distance education mini-grant program. The plant data for this application came primarily from The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Guide to Plant Selection & Landscape Design, copyright 2010 University of Florida. Primary bee data and photos were provided by Dr. Rachel Mallinger, UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department, along with photo contributions from Heather Kalaman, Shiala Narango, Jon Elmquist, and James Weaver. We would like to acknowledge the following people and programs for contributing to this project: The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program, The Center for Land Use Efficiency, The Department of Environmental Horticulture, Dr. Esen Momol, Dr. Sandra Wilson, Dr. Rachel Mallinger , Dr. Gary Knox, Dr. Gail Hansen, Jen Marvin, Claire Lewis, Wendy Wilber, Kelly Greer, and Mark Tancig. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Jiannong Xin, Serena Yang, and Nikhil Malladi, UF/IFAS Information Technology, for the design and development of the web application and CJ Bain, Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program™, for database development and maintenance.

Thanks to these individuals for donating the use of their photos for this application

Bibliography click to expand contents

Sources for Plant Data

Note: Plant details provided by this app have been compiled from a number of sources, including the references below and the experience of UF/IFAS horticultural experts. Where information could not be verified across multiple sources, plant data will indicate “not known.”

Bell, C. R., & Taylor, B. J. (1998). Florda wild flowers and roadside plants (3rd ed.). Chapel Hill, NC: Laurel Hill Press.

Brickell, C. & Cathey, H. M. (2004). American Horticultural Society A to Z encyclopedia of garden plants (C. Brickell & H. M. Cathey Eds. Revised ed.). New York, NY: DK Publishing

Daniels, J. C. (2000). Your Florida guide to bee gardening: A guide for the deep south (C. Brown Ed.). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Daniels, J. C., & Tekiela, S. (2010). Wildflowers of Florida: Field Guide. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, Inc.

Dehgan, B. (1998). Landscape plants for subtropical climates. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Florida Friendly Landscaping™. (2010). The Florida Friendly Landscaping™ guide to plant selection & landscape design. Gainesville: Florida Friendly Landscaping™.

Florida Native Plant Society Website. Retrieved from http://www.fnps.org/

Floridata Website. Retrieved from http://www.floridata.com/

Gilman, E. F., & Black, R. J. (1999). Your Florida guide to shrubs: selection, establishment and maintenance. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Koeser, A. K., Hasing, G., Friedman, M. H., & Irving, R. B. (2015). Trees: North & central Florida (D. Palmer Ed.). Gainesville: University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Website. Retrieved from https://www.wildflower.org/

MacCubbin, T., & Tasker, G. B. (2002). Florida gardener's guide (Revised ed.). Nashville, TN: Cool Springs Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson.

Nelson, G. (1994). The trees of Florida. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press.

Nelson, G. (2003). Florida's best native landscape Plants: 200 readily available species for homeowners and professionals. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Odenwald, N. G., & Turner, J. R. (2010). Identification, selection, and use of southern plants: for landscape design (4th Revised ed.): Claitor's Law Books and Publishing.

Osorio, R. (2001). A gardener's guide to Florida's native plants. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Park Brown, S., & Schoelhorn, R. K. (2006). Your Florida guide to perennials: Selection, establishment, and maintenance. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

The Missouri Botanical Garden Website. Retrieved from http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service database. Retrieved from https://plants.usda.gov/java/

Watkins, J., & Sheehan, T. (1986). Florida landscape plants (Revised ed.). Gainesville: The University Presses of Florida.

Disclaimer Statement click to expand contents

Introduction
This site is produced by the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program and UF/IFAS.

Disclaimer of Liability
The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program disclaims all warranties regarding this Website, including but not limited to any warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, reliability or fitness for a particular purpose, or any warranty that these pages or the server that makes them available are free from viruses or other harmful elements.

Users of this website who are interested in Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program concepts are encouraged to contact experts at the County Extension Service offices in their local communities to confirm planting and landscaping conditions and techniques.