More than people expect, and less than the garden centre suggests. Our soil is sandy and fast-draining, the water table is high, and anything within a few blocks of the bay gets salt on the wind. Saw palmetto, muhly grass, coontie, firebush, beach sunflower, sea grape, simpson's stopper, and buttonwood all handle it. Plenty of popular nursery plants are simply the wrong choice here, and we'll tell you which ones before you pay for them.

No. That's the most common worry we hear and it comes from seeing natives used badly. Massed muhly grass with a clean edge and a defined bed line reads as formal as anything else. The design work is what makes it look intentional — the plant list just decides whether it's still alive in three years.

Pinellas County restricts nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer application during the summer rainy months to keep nutrients out of the bay. A conventional lawn tends to struggle through that window; a native or Florida-friendly planting doesn't notice. We build plant lists that work with the rules rather than against them. [Verify current ordinance dates before publishing.]

Storm surge is the hard part, not wind — salt water sitting in a bed will kill plants that survived the wind fine. After a flood event we flush what we can, remove what's gone, and replant with species that tolerate the next one better. We also handle debris, downed trees, sand removal, and demolition when it comes to that.

Both. Installation and hardscape are the bulk of our work, but we mow, edge, trim, and run seasonal clean-ups too — and we'd rather maintain a landscape we planted, because we know what's in it and how it's meant to be cut.

[Placeholder — replace with real ranges once John has completed jobs to price from. A cost band per project type converts extremely well and should not be invented.]