How Orlando Handles Invasive Plant Rules: A Practical Guide
Orlando maintains 147 local ordinances across all categories, and 2 of those deal specifically with invasive plant rules. Here is a breakdown of what the city actually requires, what is prohibited, and where Orlando falls on the strict-to-permissive spectrum compared to other cities.
Front Yard Gardens
Orlando's residential landscaping code expressly permits front-yard vegetable gardens, allowing turfgrass, annuals and vegetable gardens on up to 60% of the pervious front and street-side yard, as long as edge treatments and a 3-month cultivation rule are met.
Key details: Max turf/garden share of front yard: 60% of pervious area. Min shrub/groundcover share: 40% of pervious area. Fallow limit before replanting: 3 months. Fence edge treatment height: 3 to 4 feet. Planter box setback: 18 inches from ROW.
A front-yard garden exceeding the 60% turf/annual/vegetable allotment, placed in the right-of-way, left fallow past three months without replanting, or lacking a required edge treatment is a landscaping code violation enforceable by the Code Enforcement Board under Chapter 5, and can hold up a Certificate of Occupancy on new development.
Prohibited Species
Orlando's landscape code bars installing any plant listed as a Category I invasive exotic species by the Florida Invasive Species Council or under Fla. Stat. § 581.091, and requires existing Category I plants to be removed from the site entirely.
Key details: Banned tier: FISC Category I invasive exotics. State cross-reference: Fla. Stat. § 581.091. Existing plants: Must be removed from site. Category II treatment: Allowed but no worksheet points. State rule cross-ref: FAC Chapter 5B-57.
Installing a Category I invasive exotic species, or a plant barred under Fla. Stat. § 581.091 or FAC Chapter 5B-57, on a landscape plan is a code violation; failing to remove existing Category I plants from a site as required by § 60.225(a)(2) is likewise enforceable through the Code Enforcement Board under Chapter 5.
This is not one of those rules that cities tend to ignore. Orlando actively enforces its prohibited species requirements.
The Bottom Line
Orlando's invasive plant rules rules are a mixed bag. Some areas are strict, others are relaxed, and the details matter. The best approach is to check the specific rule that applies to your situation rather than assuming Orlando is broadly strict or permissive.
Keep in mind that Orlando can amend these rules at any council meeting. For the most current version of any rule mentioned here, check the specific ordinance page, where we track updates as they happen.