Broward County, FL Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Chapter 39, Article VIII of the Broward County Code governs every landscape plan filed in the unincorporated county, and its native-species mandate runs through several cross-referenced sections rather than one stand-alone rule. Section 39-83(a)(2) sets the baseline: half of all vegetation required by the article, not counting turf, must be native to South Florida and consistent with NatureScape and Florida-Friendly Landscaping principles. For single-family and duplex lots, Section 39-85(c)(3)b tightens the requirement for shrubs specifically, mandating that at least fifty percent of required shrubs come from the native species list in the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Guide; the same section requires shrubs to stand at least eighteen inches tall at planting and caps hedge height at eight feet, dropping to thirty-six inches inside a driveway's sight-distance triangle.

Beyond the native quota, Section 39-85(b)'s table sets a floor of five percent Florida-Friendly Landscaping TM coverage of lot area regardless of parcel size, with turf/groundcover minimums sliding from ten to thirty-five percent as lot size shrinks. prohibited-and-controlled list or the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's Invasive Plant Species list, and any such plant already on site must be removed before a plan is approved. Compliance is checked at the permit-application stage: single-family and duplex owners must submit a landscape plan, or a note on the site plan, identifying the plants selected, their quantity and size, and which ones count toward the Florida-Friendly Landscaping requirement, per Section 39-85(a).

An owner of an already-developed site within the Municipal Services District who cannot fully meet the standard may apply for an administrative adjustment under Section 39-47, but the Director cannot cut any Article VIII requirement below seventy-five percent of what the code demands.