Coastal Landscaping Ideas for Your New St. Petersburg Custom Home

When building a new custom home in St. Petersburg or anywhere in Pinellas County, landscaping isn’t just a finishing touch; it’s part of how your home lives. A well-designed coastal landscape can soften modern architecture, create privacy around a pool or lanai, and make your outdoor spaces feel like an everyday retreat.

But in coastal Florida, salt spray, sandy soils, high sun, sudden downpours, and wind can turn pretty plants into a high-maintenance headache if they’re not chosen and placed thoughtfully. The good news: the right palette of coastal-tough plants can look lush while staying practical in our climate. 

Our WinWay Homes custom home designers and landscape professionals specialize in designing outdoor spaces that live larger, stay comfortable, and hold up to salt, sun, and summer weather. 

Below are a few design-forward coastal landscaping ideas from our outdoor design professionals, plus tips for coordinating your landscaping with your new custom home.

The Right Plants in the Right Place for Your St. Pete Home

So you’ve finally arrived at that stage in the home-building process where you get to make your landscaping choices. But before you fall in love with a plant at the nursery, take a moment to consider what type of plants work for the area’s climate. 

Because St. Petersburg sits in a warm growing region, you have a wide range of tropical and subtropical choices. But our area can experience some chilly winter evenings. The USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map can help you determine which perennials work best in your area’s “zone” for specific weather conditions, such as exposure to sun, wind, and salt air. The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (UF/IFAS) also offers planting guidance, including which plants are more tolerant of salty air and soil.

You can use these guides to share ideas with the landscaper to design a resilient and beautiful landscape around your new home and outdoor living areas. Your plant “zones” might include:

• High exposure: The Gulf/Bay side is a high-exposure zone, often associated with open corners, roofline wind tunnels, and areas that get salt spray.
• Medium exposure: These are more protected zones, such as side yards, areas behind walls and fences, and inner courtyard spaces.
• Low exposure: Low exposure areas include screened lanais, covered patios, and sheltered pockets near your new home.

Pro Tip: Your landscaping should be designed around your unique lot and lifestyle (not just your St. Pete climate zone). At WinWay Homes, our home design and landscape professionals can help you plan outdoor living spaces that perform well on the Gulf Coast.

Intentional Coastal Landscaping Ideas

Need some botanical inspiration? Houzz’s coastal landscaping gallery is a helpful place to browse combinations of hardscapes, plant layers, lighting, and outdoor rooms. 

Below are just a few outdoor design moves to get you started.

1: Build your landscape with “rooms,” edges, and sightlines.

Instead of scattering plants evenly across the yard, think in zones that match how you’ll use the space:

• Start with a welcoming front entry moment with clean lines and durable foundation plantings.
• Create a pool, spa, and patio resort zone with landscaping for privacy, shade, and texture (and that are low-mess).
  For example, our WinWay Homes landscape professionals can work with our sister company, WinWay Pools, to create the ultimate spa-forward backyard space for your new home.
• Don’t forget plants for your service zone, such as trash or utility screening that still looks polished.
• And of course, you’ll want a garden or gathering zone, with plants that add a little softness and color for relaxing in your outdoor living space.

This approach pairs especially well with modern coastal architecture, because you’re designing the outdoors with the same intention as your floor plan.

2: Choose resilient layers: canopy + screen + mid-layer + groundcover.

Just as a new custom home has many design layers, coastal landscapes can have multiple layers to make your outdoor space feel “finished,” including:

• Canopy/feature trees for scale and shade.
• Screens/hedges for privacy and wind filtering.
• Mid-layer shrubs for structure.
• Groundcovers and grasses for low-maintenance softness.
• Accent plants for sculptural interest.

Layered plant choices can also help your landscape recover visually after storms; if one plant takes a hit, the whole yard doesn’t look bare.

Don’t forget storm resiliency for your new home: In addition to your landscaping, your new home design must be able to withstand St. Pete’s salty, windy conditions. As custom home builders in St. Petersburg, WinWay Homes integrates storm-resiliency into our new home designs: impact windows, a sealed, well-detailed roof, and impact-rated doors. The result? You get a home that looks effortless, lives comfortably, and stands up to our climate.

3: Use plant textures like a design material.

In coastal settings, texture often outperforms flowers for long-term curb appeal. Consider selecting plants such as:

• Clumping grasses that sway in the breeze.
• Broad-leaf tropical shapes for drama.
• Tight hedges for crisp architecture.
• Groundcovers that knit everything together.

This approach creates a textured landscape that reads “coastal” even when nothing is blooming.

A Plant Palette That Thrives in St. Petersburg Salt Air

Every St. Petersburg home construction site is different, so your new home builder should have the landscaping know-how to determine which plants are appropriate for your climate exposure level. But if you’re starting your landscape wish list, the UF/IFAS suggests beach sunflowers, blanket flowers (gaillardia), and seaside goldenrod as wind- and salt-tolerant options that bring color to coastal landscapes.

You also want the right combination of plants to complement your new home exterior, without overwhelming your outdoor space. These might include:

• Grasses for movement and modern coastal style: Ornamental grasses are visually soft, are generally low-maintenance, and handle wind well when properly sited. (They’re also excellent for framing pools and walkways with a clean, modern look.)
• Shrubs and small trees for privacy screens: These are especially effective for privacy around pools, spas, and second-story outdoor spaces. Salt-tolerant screens can create that private resort feeling without forcing plants that don’t work for your build site.
• Dune-inspired natives for a natural coastal look: Coastal dune plant palettes can be both beautiful and site-appropriate (especially for sandy soils and high sun).

Important note: Some dune plants are protected or regulated in certain contexts, so ask your landscaper to help guide you toward appropriate selections.  

How Landscaping Connects to Custom Home Building in Pinellas County

Custom landscaping works best when it’s planned alongside your new home’s exterior and outdoor living layout — not after the fact. For example, WinWay Homes often designs homes and landscaping around outdoor living features like lanais and outdoor kitchens, where comfort, shade, and durable coastal materials matter. When the landscape is coordinated early in the construction process, you can:

• Keep key sightlines open from living spaces.
• Add privacy exactly where you need it, without blocking coastal breezes.
• Make sure planting beds don’t conflict with drainage paths.
• Align landscape “rooms” with how you’ll actually use your patios, pool deck, and gathering spaces.

And if your home is elevated (common in many Pinellas County coastal builds), your landscape can also help your home feel grounded and intentional, with layered plantings, structured walkways, and clean transitions between the grade and entry points. WinWay Homes specifically focuses on elevated custom homes designed for Pinellas County’s coastal realities.

Build Coastal-Smart From the Ground Up

A beautiful coastal landscape isn’t about forcing plants to survive; it’s about choosing botanicals and materials that thrive in St. Petersburg’s coastal conditions, then designing them to fit the way you live outdoors.

If you’re planning a new build and want a team that understands how architecture, elevation, outdoor living, and landscape sightlines should work together, contact our WinWay Homes team on our website or call us at 727-342-7876. Or visit our gallery to see how we build fully custom and elevated homes in St. Petersburg and across Pinellas County.

And when your project includes a pool and outdoor entertaining spaces, coordination with WinWay Pools can help ensure your landscape plan complements the full outdoor experience — from the deck edge to the planting beds to the privacy layers.