FANN member Jill Ziebell, Find Your Inner Dirt, wins award for landscaping

Jill Ziebell, Find Your Inner Dirt, with the Beverly Fleming Landscaping Award presented to St. Francis Inn, St. Augustine. Photo by Kay Wells.

FANN member Jill Ziebell, owner of Find Your Inner Dirt, is the recipient of the 2018 Beverly Fleming Landscape Award, commercial category, for the landscaping and gardens on St. Francis Inn properties in St. Augustine, Florida. Ziebell designs and maintains gardens and landscaping on all inn properties, which stood out as “exceptional” in the award program’s commercial category, with a “good balance of diversity of species, design concepts and immaculate maintenance.” Certified wildlife habitat supporting birds and pollinators, the gardens are designed for enjoyment by visitors in every season.

Designated as green lodging with the state of Florida, the historic St. Francis Inn (circa 1791), is committed to preserving and perpetuating Florida’s natural environment, a value the inn owners, Joe and Margaret Finnegan, share with the late Beverly Fleming for whom the award was named. Fleming was a nature columnist for the St. Augustine Record, park naturalist for St. Johns County and a founding member and officer of the Florida Native Plant Society. The Beverly Fleming Landscaping Award is sponsored by Native Plant Consulting, also a FANN member, in an effort to promote quality native landscaping in St. Johns County.

In addition to being a member of FANN for over 10 years, Jill is a member of the Florida Native Plant Society, Sea Oats Chapter, and a University of Florida Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. The award includes a plaque, $50 shopping credit from Native Plant Consulting, discount on a paving project from Paved 2 Perfection, a kayak trip or walk program from St. Johns County Parks and Recreation, landscape consultation, fall bouquet, native yaupon tea and full bragging rights!