- April 19, 2024
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Arborist Chuck Lippi showed the room full of landscapers, landscape architects and arborists a picture of a tree in distress, its blond roots knotted tight around each other like braided hair.
The trick to saving it, he said, wasn’t just to break up the root ball — the roots would just keep growing in circles — but to shave it back to a point before the roots make their sideways bend.
Then, he said, when they regrow, they’ll grow in straight.
That practical tip was one of many shared with about 30 landscapers and landscape architects attending the Palm Coast-sponsored workshop at the Palm Coast Community Center.
City landscape architect Bill Butler said Palm Coast may begin holding the sessions more regularly. It helps landscapers help keep the city green, and it’s an opportunity for the city to make sure they know city code regulations, and why the regulations exist.
“You get better compliance if somebody understands why the regulation is there, instead of just because the city says so,” he said.
Better compliance from landscapers helps both homeowners and the city, he said.
When landscapers do something they’re not supposed to do, homeowners are often the ones who get caught with a violation and stuck with the fee.
The information taught in the workshops also helps landscapers explain things to customers, F & S Hardscaping and Lawncare landscaper Reginald Went said. He also learned about some city permitting requirements that aren’t widely known. For example, owners of lots larger than the standard quarter acre need a permit to change out one kind of sprinkler head for another.
Permits are also required for sodding if the amount of sod exceeds a pallet — roughly enough to cover 450 square feet.
The full city code is available online. To view it, go to www.palmcoastgov.com, click the “government” tab on the left side, and select “City Code and Ordinances" in the dropdown list. Landscaping and irrigation are covered in chapter 11 of the Palm Coast Unified Land Development Code.
