Sea Oats, Mulch, and a Little Piece of Heaven

Sometimes, a place just feels "right" - for me, one of those places is Beach Place Guesthouses in Cocoa Beach. I was reminded of this when I stopped by there the other day to chat with innkeepers Hernando and Joseph. The grounds are landscaped with "Florida native" plants, and I snapped this photo of sea oats waiting to be planted. The sea oat has roots that go far down in the sand, and that makes it an important dune stabilizer. This plant is so critical to our beach habitat that the Brevard County Natural Resources Management Office and Keep Brevard Beautiful, Inc. collaborated to bring beachside residents the 6th Annual Bargain Sea Oats Sale. Pickup day for the plants was February 7, and friend Paula Berntson from the Natural Resources Office Environmental Programs reports The sea oats sale was again a great success. We had 45 residents and 3 cities purchase and plant 18,432 sea oats.

The County also sponsors a native plant give-away program for beachfront residents. Some of the plants available are beach elder, native inkberry, sea grapes, and silver saw palmetto. For more information, call Paula at (321) 633-2016 ext. 52431.

Speaking of native plants, I got an interesting email the other day from Kari Ruder, owner of Naturewise, a terrific Florida native plant nursery. Kari helps folks create sustainable, Florida-friendly landscapes, and one of these days, we'll talk about her heirloom vegetable plants. Anyway, Kari is pre-selling FloriMulch, a highly insect-resistant mulch made from the exotic invasive Melalueca tree. These trees invade our wetlands and displace native plants and wildlife, so turning them into useful mulch is a great use for them! Order and pre-payment deadline is March 7. When you visit her web site to learn more about the mulch and her products and services, be sure to sign up for her monthly newsletter. It is beautifully done.

Getting back to Beach Place Guesthouses - where else can you cook your pizza by the ocean in pizza oven designed in the style of Antoni Gaudi and eat it on the deck shown below!

(I typically talk about critters and the environment, not places and businesses, and these folks are not paying me to talk about them - I just admire good things done well, and Naturewise and Beach Place Guesthouses are first-rate!)