From Sugar Sand to a Pollinator Highway: A Native Oasis in Hobe Sound
Zeus Park, Hobe Sound. A century-old Spanish home, a backyard of pure sugar sand, and 80+ native species later: a pollinator highway with nature paths raked from the site's own sand.
The place
The house is over a hundred years old, one of the original homes where the paid staff who worked on Jupiter Island lived. Spanish style. The owners fell in love with it and have been restoring the inside while keeping the old classic look.
The clients
They're in love with nature and natives. They spend their weekends walking the Hobe Sound scrub trails and Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and they waited until they found someone who actually knew what they were talking about to design their gardens. The vision: little nature paths winding through the yard, with as many wildlife-supporting species as the property could hold.
Before
The backyard was pure sugar sand and weeds, with a few really old sabal palms. The back section was being taken over by Brazilian pepper and snake plants creeping in from a neighboring lot that hadn't been cared for.
The work
We pushed back the invasives, cleared the weeds, and planted over 80 native plant species, along with an herb and seasonal vegetable garden and a small tropical corner where she hangs her hammock. The nature paths are the property's own sugar sand: we just rake them to keep them clear. She wanted it natural, and it is. For the bones of the garden we brought in a field-grown gumbo limbo and a hundred-gallon live oak. Those trees will outlive all of us. This is a garden that's going to be here for generations.
Today, a year and a half in
The yard is absolutely teeming with life. It's a pollinator highway: never-ending butterflies, and the birds followed. Their bedroom looks straight out into the garden, and they get to wake up to it every single day.
Tell me about your yard.
Book a consultation and we'll walk your property together. Let's see what it could become.