The native dune vegetation of northeast Florida and coastal Georgia
We have prepared a catalog of the sand dune native plants found in northeast Florida and coastal Georgia. These native coastal dune plants have evolved over thousands of years to thrive in the harsh conditions offered here including intense heat, occasional drought, salt water inundation and regular high winds. Our area’s native birds, pollinators and wildlife have evolved along with the plants to use them as a source of food and shelter creating a unique beach and dune ecosystem found nowhere else in the world.
Sand dune native plants’ evolutionary design provides them with beautiful blooms, fruits and leaves which are adapted to survive these harsh conditions and support the life around them, but what can’t be observed above ground is what makes them essential to natural dune restoration. That is their remarkably deep root systems which help anchor sand dunes in place when those dunes are being scraped away at by the powerful wind and wave energy of coastal storms.
Dune Science Group has compiled this list of sand dune native plants to help customers and the public gain more appreciation for the native vegetation that can, and do, make our natural sand dunes so vibrant and strong. Dune Science Group works exclusively with family-owned Green Season Nursery in Parrish, Florida, to source our plants which are never treated with pesticides, insecticides, herbicides or the other poisons often applied to big-box store plants.
While we include traditional sea oats and American beach grass in our customized native plant installations for dune restorations projects, a healthy sand dune ecosystem features a wide variety of species growing to a wide variety of heights and widths. We regularly plant sea purslane, railroad vine, scarlet salvia, prickly pear, beach elder, beach morning glory, seaside goldenrod and dune sunflowers, along with numerous other species, to create vibrant, colorful coastal dune habitats that both protect protect property and promote a diversity of life.
