Sarasota, FL Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

City of Sarasota landscape plans, required for any development that installs landscaping, must satisfy the plant material and installation standards in Zoning Code Section VII-308. Every plant selected must fit the site's hardiness zone, soil type, moisture and light conditions and, at minimum, meet the 'Florida No. 1' grade set by the state department of agriculture's Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants. Overall, at least 75 percent of required vegetation on a site must be Florida-friendly. For trees specifically, the bar is a straight native count: a minimum of 50 percent of the required canopy and understory trees on any landscape plan must be native to the state of Florida, and up to 30 percent of the canopy-tree requirement can be met with clustered palms instead of true canopy species.

Certain species cannot be used to hit these totals at all: plants listed as controlled or prohibited under Florida Administrative Code Chapter 5B-57, or listed on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's Category I invasive list, may not be planted except as that state rule separately allows. Property owners get credit toward these totals for keeping existing trees: one-for-one credit for healthy canopy trees down to 4 inches DBH, rising to a 4-to-1 credit for trees 24 inches DBH or larger, and a 3-to-1 palm credit for preserving existing native palms.

); wherever the two divisions conflict, the more restrictive one controls. All required landscaping, including mulching and seeding, must be completed and certified in writing by the design landscape architect before the city will issue a certificate of occupancy for the site.