From my little of suburbia plot of land, I can safely say that most home-owners today, care very little about the looks of their front yard. I live in the suburbs of Miami, in a mix of working / middle-class neighborhood. The homes in my development are selling between 350k to half a million dollars, all 64 of the houses in my area were built in the early 1990. My neighbors are seating on properties worth a lot of money, but by the looks of the neighborhood, very few people seem to put much efforts into their front yards. I can count with the fingers in my right hand the number of homes with nice front gardens. The rest of the houses are nothing but grass and old shrubs with past expiration dates. Most people cut their grass regularly, but many simply don’t care and let the grass get out of control. My development has no homeowner’s association, so it is every home-owner for himself.
The reason for my bitchy tirade is that all this week I worked in my front yard, trying to shame my neighbors into action, but all I got were nice comments and the usual “when you finish with your garden can you come and work on my” HA HA!!
My house faces west, so the front garden has always been a challenge. With a full dose of sun most of the day, my choices of plants are limited, especially during the hot summer months. I find that some bromeliads, succulents and different potted plants (that I can regularly rotate) do well. As you can see from the photos below, I have a lot of grass, more than I care to have. All our utility lines are buried underground and the first five feet from the sidewalk must be accessible. Last month ATT put a new fiberoptic cable and my powderpuff tree almost become a casualty of bad planning on my part.
We had a severe summer thunderstorm this week, with estimated winds up to 50 miles per hour. Two large branches from my Firebush tree broke. Is upsetting because the tree was full of flowers and is a magnet for bees and butterflies. The good news is that this tree grows fast.
SQUIRREL
We have a new tenant in the garden, an Eastern Gray Squirrel. In the 20 plus years that I have been gardening in this house, this is the first time that I encounter a squirrel in my garden. She already found my birdfeeder and it seems to be helping herself to all the seeds she can eat. If she only eats my birdseeds, she will be welcome. If she goes after my fruit trees, then we have a problem.
I got a 35mm Lomography Art Lens for my birthday and I started to experiment, taking pictures in the garden. The working of this lens is very complicated, it takes time and much repetition to master it. Here are a couple of pictures from my first attempt.
3 comments:
I remember those garden styles of Miami. And I'm still shocked that the home prices are that high after the recession. I guess the bubble returned? It's one of the reasons we left south Florida, we were priced out.
We have multiple squirrels in our yard and they are about to become the death of me! We live in Sarasota County on the west coast of the state and I have over 50 fruit and nut trees in my yard. We have a huge macadamia nut tree in our front yard that produces a huge amount of nuts, yet we have never had even one nut. Why? Because of those stupid squirrels!! They eat them before they even become ripe and all we have left are a multitude of nut shells beneath our tree. Our neighbors across the street, whom we adore, enjoy feeding the squirrels, so I think every squirrel within a mile radius, visits there daily. They don't bother our other fruit trees much, though, thank goodness!
If you enjoy gardening, you could offer your services to your neighbors. I did that and now have several clients with whom I work. You would get paid to pretty up the neighborhood! I have also offered services for free for older folks, planting out their mailbox planters and trimming shrubs. Best wishes!
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