The irrigation system no longer waters the parking lot or shoots streams beyond the parking lot wall.

Four-inch-wide green ribbons of grass running around planting areas no longer have to be cut. The birds and butterflies show up instead of the lawn service that condo association president Tom Russsell calls "mow, blow and go." Naturescaping, a movement that's gaining momentum in Broward County, has turned Riverside Place condominium from a money sinkhole to a refreshing sanctuary for birds, butterflies and people.

Russell, a real estate exchange consultant, is from Cleveland. He lived in Chicago for a decade, then Denver, where he became familiar with the water-saving landscaping called xeriscaping.

Then he moved to Florida.

He was delighted to find a 1,200-square-foot condo at Riverside Place at Southeast 20th Street and Old Dixie Highway on the south branch of the Middle River in Wilton Manors. But he was appalled at the $450 monthly water bill for the condominium and the $600-a-month bill that he and 16 other residents paid for noisy lawn mowers and leaf blowers. The shrubs were kept so tightly pruned, said Russell, that it wasn't until the landscape was redone that bougainvillea flowered. And the irrigation system was left to fend for itself, which explains why the walls were being watered.

Hurricane Frances, which knocked over some trees, including one that was infested with ants, offered an opportunity for change.

Russell went to the Internet and Googled "natural plants." He found several landscape designers, but was won over by Carol Whitaker because of her vision, he said.

Whitaker, who is a self-taught garden designer, began working in her own yard 15 years ago when she lived in Homestead. She called her first company Romantic Gardens, but gave it up when it ultimately caused a split in her marriage. She moved to Broward County and began working for the Sun-Sentinel, then decided she wanted to go back into the landscape business.

Now, she operates Dragonfliz Landscape, specializing in gardens that use native vegetation and butterfly-attracting plants as the basic building blocks, and maintains plants in their natural shapes.

"Shaved hedges can't produce flowers," Whitaker says. "Without flowers, no fruit is produced. Butterflies and other wildlife don't receive sustenance from a landscape, even one with native plants, if the plants are severely pruned."

Riverside Place was redone before Christmas. The plants are small, saving the condo association money by allowing them to grow in. Plants that were not problematic were allowed to remain; others, such as ixoras suffering from nutrient deficiency, were removed.

Working with a tight budget of $23,000, Whitaker got a crew to remove damaged trees and shrubs, and then set about planting. If residents were fond of the plants from the previous palette, they were incorporated.

Grass no longer exists at Riverside Place. And while it's too early to determine how much less water will be used because the plants must be watered regularly the first month, there will be no more monthly maintenance charge. Whitaker will maintain the landscape on a quarterly basis.

"I used what I love and added what residents like," said Whitaker.

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