At one time, this was to be a butterfly garden,
but it became too shady; the railroad ties bordering it rotted,
so we had them removed, too . . .
Despite my two-page list of instructions,
which no one seems to have bothered to read,
the tree at this corner was cut down.
I was livid, until a week or two later, when the fence company called
to tell us the county wants this made into a 45-degree angle section,
rather than the previous 90-degree angle,
so that the driveway (on the other side of this truck) is not obscured.
The crape myrtles (in the ferns) received a much-needed trim . . .
It looks terrible, BUT it is done this way every year,
and the blossoms are lovely. My plan is to have several of them
along the outside of the fence, in various shades
of pink, purple and fuschia,
interspersed with Bougainvillea, also pink, purple and fuschia.
I am hoping the Bougainvilleas will grow over the fence,
in nice contrast to the white of the fence. With so much more sun,
this should be doable.
The two clumps of pampas grass put forth
flower clusters that last quite a long time.
Out thru this double gate, we can see how everything was cleared out of this area;
the drought had pretty much killed the bushes that lined this area . . .
Along here is where the Crape Myrtles & Bougainvillea will be planted.
As we no longer have to hide the old fence,
a more minimalist landscaping is more appropriate
than all the bushes we had planted to hide it.
Now that you have seen the entire fence,
you can understand why I had so many bushes planted to hide it.
Also, I let them grown as tall as they wanted,
to obscure our view of the houses across the street
and to give ourselves more privacy.
I cringe every time I drive by this; I'm sure everyone else does, too.
Luckily, we haven't an HOA, so no worries about someone trying to fine us.
The other side of the double gate,
needed so the lawn service can get its riding lawnmower in the back yard . . .
The palm tree grew in our front yard from a seed from a tree across the street;
I had it transplanted to here; it is only four years old!
Plant growth in the tropics is phenomenal.
It is unfortunate that this area had to be cleared, too;
the ferns will regrow, but the bushes that were pulled out
will have to be replaced.
When, and if, we recover from this financial blow
(neither our home insurance or FEMA will assist us,
as each has a deductible of $10,000, and only covers the fence itself,
not the prep nor the landscaping. Maybe I should start a GoFundMe),
we plan to paint the house. Probably pink with raspberry trim,
as I had our previous house done; there's no HOA to tell us we can't.
(There is a house in Tarpon Woods
that was painted purple & lavender last year;
I spoke with the owner, who told me that several people
have knocked on her door and asked, "WHY?"
I would reply, "WHY NOT?")
As for the aforementioned uncaring aspect of Floriduh:
I refer you to these two news articles:
1 February 2025
Pasco County says it can't pump water
from communities still flooded after Milton
HERE
AND
6 January 2025
Mosquito-borne illness still posing danger
Dengue cases appear in Moon Lake area of New Port Richey
(New Port Richey is in Pasco County)
HERE
This is the same county that I mentioned previously
as telling its citizens that it would no longer be picking up
detritus from H. Helene & H. Milton;
they'd have to schlep it all to the landfill sites themselves.
(Speaking of which; the site I've been showing pics of
is STILL working to clear everything out.
They will probably finish doing so just in time
for the start of the 2025 Hurricane Season on 1 June.)
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