flip my Florida yard is brought to you by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection protecting Florida's environment starts with you what you do in your yard can have an impact on the health of our environment and Water Resources welcome to flip my floor to yard on today's episode we're in the Panhandle flipping a backyard for a young couple with a passion for Florida's environment our flip crew designs a dog safe backyard for our animal loving homeowners I can't wait to introduce our d
ogs to the backyard we showcase ways to reduce storm water runoff we want to beautify it a little bit but also create some functionality down there hopefully maintaining some of that water in a better fashion then we switch into DIY mode for a fun project for attracting Wildlife this is a really simple way to attract Wildlife to your yard and tree frogs love to hide out in here I love Frogs We show you ways to take your rain barrel game up a notch once this rain barrel gets full it's going to co
me down this tube here and Carrie and I have it kind of woven throughout the the bed here our experts share important Landscaping tips how important is that when you're laying these plants out for a landscape well it is it's very important and not even a rainstorm can stop this flip oh rain all this and more on flip my floor to yard [Applause] flipping yards into beautiful florida-friendly landscapes and all in eight hours is really happening who's ready organized chaos experts show us how to us
e Florida friendly Landscaping principles putting the right plant in the right place water efficiently very low maintenance fertilized appropriately all leading up to a dramatic reveal the best surprise of our whole life [Applause] we're here in Pensacola it's a beautiful day it's a beautiful day to flip a yard you got all right that's what I'm talking about let's go meet the homeowners Tim Logan and dogs come on out here are you ready for this yes we are we're here to flip your yard what are yo
u thinking right now I was so excited nervous yes we're the McDonald's Sullivan family I mean honestly we didn't think we were gonna get picked we moved in about a year ago we haven't really done much with it besides put in an irrigation system we put together a video submission and here we are now we want to give back to the Watershed that we enjoy we love living in this neighborhood we walk our dogs pretty much almost every other night that was really important especially considering we were m
oving into a newer development neighborhood that we did our part considering that impact to make sure our yard could have a positive impact on our Waters here that we love to enjoy and part of the reason we moved here so in our backyard right now it's mostly grass on a steep incline we do have some great forested area behind us we'd like our yard to feel more naturally transitioning between the two so we can enjoy things that we see like deer foxes all sorts of birds and frogs and then also some
thing that can hold up to our two rambunctious dogs that's a sturdy yard and also reduces our impact on the environment I really think you're going to like what we're going to do okay so but before you guys take off I want to introduce you to your flip crew you ready yeah this is your flip crew foreign all right off to your car yeah Otis is not ready [Applause] I think we were a little loud for Otis okay you guys know where you're going right okay we'll see you around four o'clock all right all
right all right okay the homeowners are gone let the fun begin bring it in here bring it in here that's too much back it up back it up back it up right there there we go okay the homeowners just left you know what that means we have eight hours to flip this floor to yard who's ready yeah all right go go go go go go go go here we go so you might be asking where did all the grass go well yesterday the crew removed sod around the fence but in the process the heavy machinery driving on the steep slo
pe damaged all the grass in the middle of the backyard that damaged sod has to be replaced with new sod before the flip is complete well welcome to Tim and Logan's backyard as you can see it's a really large space I don't know if you can tell but it is on a massive slope here this is one of the challenges that Andy and his crew are dealing with is trying to landscape with such a steep grade here and it goes right into this retention Wildlife Area back here but check this out the paver crew came
in yesterday and pre-installed a circular paver patio but right now just a whole lot of dirt probably the biggest thing that scares me is the timeline there's a lot of work to be done in a very short amount of time you guys ready to do this thing all right our flip designer Andy Wallace is tasked with taking all this dirt and transforming it into something both beautiful and Florida friendly are you ready for this I'm ready you guys have got a head start on this backyard here and we did we had t
o this slope yeah and now if you can look back here and see what we're dealing with here talk about some as a designer some of the challenges that you face designing for a yard like this Andy that was the number one challenge that we had here was the grade was the slope it makes it difficult on where you can place things you have to be strategic on what you're placing and why so the main goal here was to try to keep as much water as possible on this property before hitting this retainage Wetland
area back here there's a significant slope to this yard they have two dogs and they spend a lot of time outside so they wanted some more usable space but also something nicer to look at well let's look at your design and kind of give us a sense of where we're going today sure the whole goal of this was to create some clusters of like plant material trees shrubs flowers for some impact right yes for some impact not only to look at but also some impact for the environment and help with some of th
is runoff because the idea of that is that you've got water coming off this slope here it's going to hit that bed you've got a lot of plants that need nutrients need food and they're going to suck that up before it gets off to the retention part absolutely exactly that take me around this paver patio here this is looks really nice here yeah we want to obviously give them a space to be able to sit out there and enjoy it it's probably one of the only flat surfaces on this yard so we tried to maxim
ize that as much as possible while creating a nice backdrop of florida-friendly plants and trees well this is really going to be that spot where they can sit and look out and kind of enjoy not only what's in their yard but what's beyond it this yard is really going to have a lot of Florida friendly features when we're done with it that was one obviously the main goal of this is not only plant stuff that does well here but is friendly and helps tie in this outside environment they have a beautifu
l backdrop here so really just trying to accentuate what's already here cars arrive the plants and trees how you doing sir all right you bring you bring it here oh yeah they're here reducing storm water runoff is one of the most important florida-friendly Landscaping principles because storm water pollution is the biggest source of of water quality degradation in the state to address these situations we're looking at a couple of things one is a rain barrel it will take some of the runoff from th
e roof and hold it so it doesn't become storm water runoff they can use it later and then there's a buffer of plants at the base of the fence before you get to the stormwater Pond they can kind of slow down and hold that runoff from becoming a problem further down the road our flip form and Paul Smith has 15 years of landscaping experience in Northwest Florida he offers up some tips for planting a new landscape what's going through your head as you're laying these plants out Paul but a lot of mi
stakes I see is homeowners come in they'll put smaller plants behind bigger plants and in a year down the road you'll see tall forward so you really kind of focus on layering stuff we have taller stuff that's going to grow a little bit higher than the things in front of it so we're kind of tearing up towards the fence here let's talk about plant spacing how important is that when you're laying these plants out for a landscape well it is it's very important because again in about a year from now
you'll start getting really crowded areas and it's harder to maintain so what I normally do is anywhere with a plant that's going to grow three feet wide I'm usually anywhere around three to four feet apart but there is that desire from day one to have this thing look full and colorful so you're saying resist that a little bit just down the road it's just going to be better correct can I move this one yeah move it right there there you go is that good no I played a role in this you know most of
us have heard of storm water infrastructure storm drains Retention Ponds but have you heard of green storm water infrastructure so from storm water management we're trying to change the way that we do development here to explain is Dr Evan bean green storm water infrastructure is intended to basically bring nature-based Solutions into the developed environment so that we capture infiltrate and treat that storm water using the natural biology the natural processes in Plants before that water goes
into our water bodies like the lagoons the rivers the ponds and our oceans you think about it kind of like the dinner plate you take the dinner plate to the sink and you turn on the water that very first amount of water it takes off a lot of those pollutants and washes those down the drain well in this case the drain is a lot of times our water bodies and so if we don't take those pollutants that food that gets washed off then it ends up in that water body one of the the ways that homeowners ca
n address storm water is to follow the florida-friendly Landscaping principle of reducing storm water runoff looking at rain Gardens replacing some of our concrete with permeable Pavements using cisterns or rain barrels to capture some of that roof run off and use that more in the landscape and then finally fertilizing appropriately that prevents us from washing more fertilizers and nutrients off into our water bodies we've seen over the years where some of the ways that we manage storm water th
e pollutants that are coming into those waters are coming from our residential areas water is such a part of our culture and who we are as Floridians we have to be more responsible about how we manage or take care of our landscapes okay let's get back to our flip [Music] we have a lot of frogs in the backyard we can hear them at night frogs are such cool animals and they're great indicators of so much that's happening in our environment and I also have a soft spot for some of our slimy friends t
hat some people don't appreciate I love frogs yes she does so I know that Logan really really really loves frogs and so I came up with a project that would help attract more frogs to their property Logan she is a frog what would you say she is what a frog fan frog fan she loves frogs and it was your idea to kind of make this what are we calling this uh fog Resort frog Hotel a place where frogs feel safe and welcomed kind of take me through what are we doing here and I guess more importantly why
okay this really simple way to attract Wildlife to your yard these are pieces of PVC just regular plumbers PVC and tree frogs love to hide out in here this is actually a method that amphibian biologists use to capture frogs but why would a frog climb in this Carrie so tree frogs are like being kind of vertical there you know this is similar to a tree they're going to be attracted to the moisture inside it so there'll always be at least this amount of water in here because we have a little bit of
a drain right here exactly to be a nice humid environment the frogs can climb in here and then Predators can't get down in there so it's a safe place for them to hang out and stay cool and and not get eaten we're really just kind of attaching this to this piece of two by four that we cut this side I've got a larger hole where I can get the screw through there and I just have a little bit of a pilot hole in the back there to start it out so we don't crack the PVC we go I think that's good right
there yeah looks great voila yeah frog Hotel yeah do it yourself frog Hotel so this will hang on her fence and it will attract frogs so this is one version kind of on the fence tell us about this other version here Carrie so this is kind of the more traditional frog tube or frog hotel that you might see we've got a little bit longer length of PVC cut it at an angle so we'll just put these in the ground and so they'll they'll go up and say this is ground level and they'll just hang out just like
this so the frogs can climb up and hang out and you can look down at them and check on them so a little bit of a 90 elbow at the end there that's right little frog Periscope frog Periscope all right let's get these installed [Music] two hours in things are looking good you can already see our flower beds starting to take shape pavers are hard at it you can hear them cutting pavers in the background very loud so check it on Paul [Music] I noticed her this ground is really tough talk to me about t
his ground that's what it is which is abnormal for this region but you can kind of see I mean we're digging hard trying to get these plants in hard dirt hard work getting these plants in the ground but you guys are up for it right we're up for it man so let's talk about this border here that you're really using to Define these beds how important it is to have a a border like this it is very important the turf we're putting in today is Empire Zoysia and Empire is always just spreads okay and if y
ou do not put some form of barrier on a spreading grass like Zoysia it will encroach into the beds you can put in two different ways you can sink it or you can just kind of lay it on top of the ground today we lay it on top of the ground so you can take a weed eater to it and just weed eat that I see whenever you're doing that I see you got to keep it nice and tight got Andy with a pick and Paul with the shovel what's going on guys tough ground this ground is really hard and Compact and really h
aving trouble digging holes for these plants I think we need some Machinery machinery this is broke let's get another one make some holes [Music] Paul a lot of plants going in this yard let's go through these plants this is a big part of this Florida friendly Landscaping journey is being introduced to new plants learning about them how they work in your landscape I've asked you to pick out three so take me through some of these and kind of why You Picked each one of them so the drift rows the dr
ift Rose is one of my my favorite plants look at that sucker um a lot of Bloom so if if landscapers are trying to to fulfill a garden and have Bloom for five six months of the year the drift Rose is perfect they do have thorns but very minor thorns on them okay they're pretty low growing very easy to maintain clip them back you shape them however you want to but one of my favorites when we talk about a dog friendly yard like what does that really mean if an animal is going to digest something th
ere's going to be some form of irritants if an animal was to eat these leaves you want to do your research you want to make sure that you select a plant that's not a a fatal toxicity to an animal Okay so we've got the rose here now what do we have here this is a liriope so liriope uh people can call it a monkey grass or a Turf Lily and what's kind of confusing with the turf Lily it's not a Turf nor is it a lily monkey grassler ripe grow really well I use these as a filler you can plant them pret
ty close to each other probably about a foot to foot and a half I have two dogs both my animals lay in this grass they do they fluff back up about a day later and they do really great with high traffic animals and then now what do we got here this is beautiful the shishi Camellia um kind of like the staple of the South right the beautiful flowers they bloom late fall winter time so it kind of offsets the the color of your garden so if you want color year round the shishi Camellia is the perfect
option for a winter Bloom so it's kind of blooming while other things maybe in dormant correct awesome so there's gonna be a lot of color in this backyard dog friendly as well dog friendly okay Florida friendly Landscaping is based on non-princibles of how to to live and Landscape your home in a way that works with the existing ecosystem the main push behind the program was to prevent pollution of the water bodies around the state let's check in with Tim and Logan as they explore Blackwater Rive
r State Park this park is best known for the namesake Blackwater River it is a Sandy Bottom river that runs through Santa Rosa County and it's considered the purest water body in our region when visitors come here to the park they're looking to do activities on the water particularly canoeing kayaking tubing and swimming we were exploring the trails at Blackwater River State Park today yeah red like right up underneath yeah that's how you know it's a male bird and we were even adventurous enough
to get our dogs in the water for the first time on a canoe with us [Laughter] stay on one side one of the things we love about the park is obviously the river one of the big draws and I've kayaked on it and it's a gorgeous experience with all the sand bars and we're definitely gonna have to come back together and explore again we aren't sure what's happening back in our yard right now we're a little nervous but mostly excited they're probably uh taking it apart and hopefully putting it back tog
ether thank you it's noon o'clock here and Tim in Logan's backyard and uh we still have a lot to do as you can see we have all of our flower beds defined with our metal barrier we're starting to put down pine straw I think most of our plants are in thank you Mr auger we still have a rain barrel to install and we still have a whole lot of sod to put down on this backyard what's the technique here Ricky just going back and forth getting sand in and out of these cracks you talking about laying pave
rs how important is that sand in between these pavers it's very important the biggest reason would be to interlock them keep them from shifting moving make sure they don't sink keeping that pad nice and level I mean for a homeowner what's the value of going through the time and energy and expense of doing a paver patio like this just giving you something that's a an area that you look forward to going to sitting down at my opinion is better than concrete you don't have to worry about it cracking
shifting with you know the sand soil pavers if it ever moves you can always pick it up and adjust it and re-level Ricky let's walk over here I want to talk about something else you've been working on today here right first off what do we call it let's say we call it a pedestal a pedestal a rain barrel pedestal you know I asked you to build this for me because look I knew that the homeowners wanted a rain barrel when you have a rain barrel you have to have a place to put it the first part was fi
guring out the design after we figured out design digging out dirt putting in our final base that we need compacting it and placing the stones you know to meet that shape cutting them and then coming in with the papers on top to match the paper pad I mean this is really what you're using to assess the height right you want correct just enough high enough there they can turn that faucet and the water will drain in there obviously this is gravity Fed so it needs to be a little higher I appreciate
you taking the time and effort to make what I think is a jam up rain barrel pedestal appreciate it thank you sir thank you all right man Tom Wickman from Florida friendly Landscaping program shares with us some yard maintenance tips on proper pruning anyone with trees in a landscape is going to need to know how to do a three-point cut three-point cut is used to protect the tree from being damaged when you're pruning off limbs so any limb that has a lot of weight on it anything really bigger than
an inch or so you need to be thinking about using a three-point cut number one you're going to come out about six to eight inches from the trunk and you're going to undercut that Branch about halfway then you're going to go out an inch or so from that and go from the top and remove that limb it'll break off right there and it's not going to rip the bark from the trunk that's what we want to be careful about doing once that branch is removed it's time for that third cut okay that third piece of
the three-point cut and we're going to cut just outside of the branch collar that swollen area where that Branch intersects the trunk and that will allow that tree to wall off the engine three and protect it from Decay if you're at all hesitant about how big a limb is or how much weight it may carry maybe you consult a certified Arborist to take care of that limb for you a three-point cut is a simple skill it just takes a little bit of practice but if you master this technique you'll really prot
ect your trees and they'll be able to wall off injury [Music] and now back to our flip [Music] ready for action the rain let up just enough for me and Carrie to install the new rain barrel rain barrels are really great uh easy do-it-yourself features that homeowners can add to their landscape because we get so much rainfall collecting some of that rain water harvesting it in a rain barrel or a cistern is a great way to reduce the amount of storm water runoff from your property it's also a great
way to reuse that water later on if you want to hand water what Kerry is working on over here is what we call a little bit of a over a fill systems you know once this rain barrel gets full and it will get full very quickly we get a lot of rain here right yes so what's going to happen when this water gets here it's going to come down this tube here and Carrie and I have it kind of woven throughout the the bed and Kerry's been putting what just holes just little holes about every foot kind of home
made drip irrigation you ready to see if it works yeah all right let's turn it on see what happens so Carrie it's working yeah it's working great so this relieves pressure it sends the excess water off this way and then we're able to reuse it so it goes right into the root Zone exactly where the plants need it all right let's cover up our poly pipe here with only a few minutes until a homeowner show up it's an all-out Dash to the finish line all right froggies we now have vacancy oh my gosh Andy
we're done right yeah we've got a last couple pieces going down right here last couple pieces going down we got the homeowners they're out there in the front getting ready I'm gonna get the homeowners and I'll meet you here in five minutes you got it this yard is officially flipped they're here well first of all how was your day it was awesome we had a blast exploring well before we start I have to put some glasses on you grab one of those orange slice glasses there there we go coming this way
at this rate we'll get there in about 30 minutes spin spin spin spin spin okay Logan you look ready I'm ready I'm ready Tim are you ready yeah let's do this are you guys ready yeah one two three remove your glasses foreign [Music] [Applause] it's amazing fantastic before Tim and Logan had a typical backyard for a new home development full of thirsty grass today that grass has been replaced with over 200 plants and trees but leaving plenty of functional Turf for Otis and Ari to play on a frog hot
el and bird feeder to attract wildlife a rain barrel to divert and save water and a buffer zone full of water friendly plants and trees to absorb nutrients before it runs into the local Watershed in a short time this yarn will attract bees butterflies birds and yes plenty of frogs it's a florida-friendly landscape it's good for the environment and of course good for Otis and Ari it's amazing yeah we can't believe it I didn't expect all this now we have a Florida friendly landscape we're really e
xcited to share that with our neighbors our friends our family they can also bring that into their own yard and make an impact here's your landscape manual Florida friendly Landscaping everything you need to know I can't wait to introduce our dogs to the backyard gonna allow us to see more wildlife in our yard and have less impact on the pond so pretty little bird feeder nice little hiding spot for our frog friend and little spots for frogs too yes most importantly we hope Tim and Logan enjoy th
eir new Florida friendly landscape and it attracts plenty of wildlife especially frogs well that's our show we hope you're inspired to help Florida's environment by starting in your own yard and remember everyone doing a little well that's a whole lot we're enjoying our new yard our in Otis are enjoying having tons of room to play let me figure in another month or so we'll probably have some new frog friends thank you flipped my Florida yard thank you [Music] flip my Florida yard is brought to y
ou by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection protecting Florida's environment starts with you what you do in your yard can have an impact on the health of our environment and Water Resources [Music]
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