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Palm Beach CountyLandscaping
Residential street of tile-roofed stucco homes with brick-paver driveways, trimmed shrubs, lawns, and small palms

Boca Raton, Florida · 33432, 33431, 33496, 33434, 33498, 33486

Estate Landscaping in Boca Raton

Mizner-era streets, Intracoastal yacht-club estates and large west Boca communities, each with its own exposure and, depending on the address, its own set of rules.

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Boca Raton's garden history starts with Addison Mizner, who in 1925 announced Spanish-style houses in the subdivision now called Old Floresta. Its narrow, tree-lined streets and dense planting led the city to name it Boca Raton's first historic district in 1990. A generation later, Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club rose on polo fields beside the Boca Raton Hotel, funded by Arvida stock Arthur Vining Davis began selling in 1958, and it became the city's first planned unit development.

Those two places mark the range a Boca program has to cover. Mizner-style houses want shade canopy and clipped hedges scaled to stucco and barrel tile. Waterfront lots in Royal Palm and The Sanctuary deal with docks, seawalls and salt air off the Intracoastal. Farther west, Boca West is an unincorporated community in Palm Beach County rather than part of the city, so the rules on its lawns and common grounds come from the county, not City Hall.

The properties

Properties range from historic single-family houses on small Old Floresta lots to deep-water estates on Royal Palm's canals, gated waterfront homes in The Sanctuary, and country club communities with extensive shared grounds. That mix matters under city code. Chapter 27, the vegetation chapter, does not apply to trees inside the property lines of single-family homes, owner-occupied duplexes or enclosed townhouse courtyards. For other regulated trees, the city requires mitigation inch for inch, which makes tree work in association common areas a permitting exercise.

On the ground

What landscapes in Boca Raton contend with

  • Seagrape trimming and nesting turtles

    Gumbo Limbo Nature Center's review of the 2021 season found that 68 percent of turtle crawls ended without a nest where seagrapes had been trimmed in north Boca, lowering the dune and exposing the beach to light and A1A traffic. Light also drew most hatchlings toward the dune at 89 nests. On beachfront lots, seagrape height is treated as part of the lighting plan.

  • Rugose spiraling whitefly on hedges

    Rugose spiraling whitefly arrived in Florida in 2009 and Palm Beach is among the counties with the heaviest ornamental damage, per UF/IFAS. Signs are egg spirals on leaf undersides, white wax, sticky honeydew and black sooty mold on lower foliage and hardscape. A parasitic wasp has since reduced pressure considerably, so programs scout first and treat only where populations outrun the wasp.

  • Ganoderma in mature palm plantings

    Ganoderma butt rot, caused by a soilborne fungus, can infect any palm and has no cure or preventive treatment. In royal palms, wilt appears only after roughly 85 percent of the trunk cross-section is dead. UF/IFAS advises removing an infected palm soon after conks appear, grinding out as much stump and root as possible, and not replanting a palm in the same spot without precautions.

Local rules

What Boca Raton requires

Summaries for planning. The linked source is the authority; rules change.

  • City irrigation restrictions

    Inside city limits, landscape watering between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m., Saturday through Thursday, is limited to three days a week, with days set by whether the address ends in an odd or even number. On parcels under five acres, irrigation may not run longer than four hours on any given day. Controllers are programmed to the city's published day chart.

    Source

  • Florida Friendly Fertilizer Ordinance 5469

    Effective December 31, 2018, the ordinance requires no-phosphate fertilizer unless a soil test shows a need, bars application during flood, tropical storm or hurricane watches and warnings or with two inches of rain forecast, and keeps fertilizer 10 feet from water bodies. Commercial applicators show completion of Green Industries BMP training through the city business tax receipt.

    Source

  • Tree rules and right-of-way permits

    Chapter 27 exempts trees on single-family lots from city tree permits, but work in the city right-of-way, including the swale in front of a house, needs an engineering right-of-way permit, and synthetic turf is not allowed there. Root pruning within six feet of a trunk or two-thirds of the dripline requires an ISA Certified Arborist report first.

    Source

Services in Boca Raton

Landscaping in Boca Raton: questions

Do I need a city permit to remove a tree on my single-family lot?

Within city limits, generally no. Chapter 27 does not apply to trees inside the property lines of single-family homes, owner-occupied two-family homes or enclosed townhouse courtyards. Work in the right-of-way still needs an engineering permit. Homes in Boca West and other unincorporated areas follow county rules, and community association approvals may apply either way.

What fertilizer can be used in Boca Raton?

Under Ordinance 5469, fertilizer must be no-phosphate, meaning under 0.5 percent phosphate and a zero in the middle of the N-P-K numbers, unless an approved soil test shows a deficiency. St. Augustine lawns are capped at 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per application in spring and summer, with no more than 0.7 pounds readily available.

Which days can my irrigation run?

Three days a week between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m., Saturday through Thursday, with the days assigned by an odd or even address under the city water restriction ordinance. On lots under five acres, a cycle cannot run past four hours. The city publishes the day chart on its water conservation page.

Does Boca Raton regulate beachfront lighting for turtles?

Yes. The state wildlife agency lists Boca Raton's sea turtle lighting rules in Chapter 23, Article IV, Division 7 of the city code, adopted in 1986 and updated in 1996 and 2002. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center's sea turtle staff review and verify the city's nesting data each season, and their reports have tied trimmed seagrape and beach lighting to nesting losses.

Nearby estate towns

Sources for this page
  • Mizner announced Old Floresta houses in 1925; Spanish-style architecture, tree-lined streets, lush landscaping; city's first historic district in 1990: markers.flheritage.com
  • Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club replaced polo fields beside the hotel, funded by Arvida stock sales from 1958; first PUD in Boca Raton: education.pbchistory.org
  • The Sanctuary is a gated waterfront community in Boca Raton (33431): www.bexrealty.com
  • Boca West is an unincorporated community in Palm Beach County: en.wikipedia.org
  • Chapter 27 does not apply to trees on single-family, owner-occupied two-family or townhouse courtyards; inch-for-inch mitigation; right-of-way permit; no synthetic turf in ROW; root pruning arborist report: myboca.us
  • Irrigation limited to 3 days a week between 4pm and 10am Saturday through Thursday by odd/even address; 4-hour cap on parcels under 5 acres; ordinance at Sec. 17-57: myboca.us
  • Ordinance 5469 effective Dec 31, 2018; no-phosphate; weather restrictions; 10-foot water setback; St. Augustine 2 lbs N per application, 0.7 lbs readily available; GI-BMP via business tax receipt: www.myboca.us
  • 2021 Boca nesting review: 68% false crawls where seagrapes trimmed in north Boca; 89 nests with hatchlings drawn toward dune; season March 1 to October 31: myboca.us
  • Boca Raton sea turtle lighting ordinance at Chapter 23, Article IV, Division 7 (1986/1996/2002): myfwc.com
  • Gumbo Limbo staff review and verify Boca Raton nesting data; reports link trimmed seagrape and light to nesting losses: myboca.us
  • Rugose spiraling whitefly first recorded in Florida 2009; heavy damage in Palm Beach County; signs: edis.ifas.ufl.edu
  • Parasitic wasp Encarsia noyesi has reduced rugose spiraling whitefly: edis.ifas.ufl.edu
  • Ganoderma butt rot: soilborne fungus, all palms hosts, no cure or prevention, remove after conks, grind stump, do not replant without precautions: edis.ifas.ufl.edu
  • Royal palm wilts after about 85% of trunk cross-section killed by Ganoderma: edis.ifas.ufl.edu
  • Atlantic hurricane season June 1 to November 30: www.nhc.noaa.gov

Property assessment

Request an assessment in Boca Raton

  1. 01Tell us about the propertyTown, property type and what you'd like looked after. Two minutes.
  2. 02A partner walks the groundsTurf, beds, palms, irrigation and drainage, with you, your manager or staff.
  3. 03You receive a written programScope, visit schedule and price in writing, before any work begins.

Prefer to talk it through? (561) 319-1104

Request a Property Assessment

A walk-through of your grounds, then a written program. No cost to request.

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