Philadelphia, PA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

§ 14-704(5)(a) applies the waterfront setback to every lot sharing a boundary with a watercourse shown on the Water Department's Hydrology Maps, for purposes that include restoring drinking-water sources, maintaining stream base flow, stabilizing stream banks, restoring riparian habitat, and reducing erosion and sedimentation. 4) carves out landscaping: new plantings there must be drawn from the native and non-invasive planting list published in the Philadelphia Stormwater Management Guidance Manual, and once installed they count toward the minimum landscape area already owed under § 14-705 (Landscape and Trees) rather than being an extra requirement on top of it.

1) sets the citywide baseline: trees, shrubs, grasses, perennials and groundcover installed in any required landscaped area must be selected from the list of appropriate plantings maintained by the City Planning Commission, with a narrow carve-out letting Tree Replacement Requirement plantings under § 14-705(1)(g) draw instead from a list maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation. b) exempts portions of a lot used for stream-bed, flood-plain or forest restoration, or wetland or meadow creation, from the on-site landscape and tree rules entirely. Along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, § 14-704(5)(c) opens the setback to additional marine, industrial and utility uses, but the native-planting duty for any landscaping installed there is unchanged.