Jan 14
After finally finishing my Ph.D. I pulled up to the house (before the fancy driveway and the carport) and looked at the plants in the yard. They all looked the same. Upon closer inspection, I realized everything looked the same because they were covered with an invasive vine. I walked into the house and asked Jim, “Hey, how long have those plants been covered in vines?” “About four years. Still, it would be another 10 or more years before I cleared enough debris out of my work life to make room for seeing clearly. In the last renovation, when the big driveway was installed, a huge potential planting area was created. We hired a landscaper and I shared my idea with him. I wanted Florida natives In the entire area, half to be shell and palmetto and Bismarck, the other half to be Live Oak and Bird of Paradise and mulch. Both sides would have Coonties. The planting area was defined by rocks. Outside, the groundcover would be Confederate Jasmine. I wanted to show my water hog irrigating neighbors that you could have a beautiful landscape without the fertilizers and pesticides and irrigation. It started out like this…..