Wellington, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Wellington's definitions section, LDR § 3.2.2, sets up two related categories: a "prohibited plant species" is one listed in the landscape section of the LDR as demonstrably detrimental to native plants, wildlife, the ecosystem, or public health, safety or welfare, while "invasive non-native plant species" refers specifically to species the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council classifies as Category 1. The operative landscaping rule sits in Section 7.8.1(I): the Village maintains "a list of prohibited species" in the Landscape Manual kept in the Development Regulations Manual (DRM), and every landscape plan, planting plan, or alternative landscape plan (ALP) that Wellington requires or permits must build in "a program to eradicate and prevent the reestablishment of prohibited plant species." The very next subsection, 7.8.1(J), does the same for a separate "controlled species" list, species with planting limitations rather than an outright ban, which "shall not be planted except as provided in the manual." Wellington also treats prohibited plant species differently during land clearing: its clearing-permit exemption for removing "trees, seedlings, runners, suckers, and saplings of prohibited plant species" lets property owners take out listed invasives without the usual vegetation-removal permit that otherwise applies to native tree canopy.

Because the actual species list lives in the incorporated Landscape Manual rather than the LDR text itself, a property owner confirms coverage by checking that manual against the eradication duty in Section 7.8.1.