Hi

You sound like me lol Being a hopeless collector was a disaster I had a very mature landscape when I started so had to remove things from the start.

Also I can't resist seeds now who has enough room for a hundred palms lol

Hurricane Jeanne completely relandscaped for me so started completely over They are maturing so going vertical and I like the trees and are manageable except for one Brazilian plume tree has a lot of strange habits

worst is growing aroung 10 feet a year lol Getting near removal but wanted to see ONE flower!! One of it's weirdest habits is eating lizards have been unable to find any info on this even though it's very common in it's range

It is fun to watch the squirrels run up the trunk and getting stuck!!lol So far none permanently unlike lizards Birds avoid the tree except for woodpeckers they actually drilled a hole in the side raising two broods

Seem totally immune to the resin gary

Lol, I hope to get like this one day.

I have one for you gary: the lipstick tree. It is growing out of control even though I hack on it often. It has very cool seed pods and there for seeds. For the first to years I was thinking I was in the clear about sprouting seeds but not so fast! Yes I am now getting seedlings. I never see this tree anywhere but quite common in warmer climates.

Bromeliads are the first to go. I had thousands of them. Mostly Neo. Martin and Neo. Fireball. Over the past 4 years, I've given away hundreds to neighbors and tossed nearly a thousand in the trash. I still have several large colonies, but they're small enough to keep them under control.

Pathways are my primary concern and I'll spare no plant to keep them open. Fortunately, the low palms and trees are now over 25 feet tall, so branches and fronds are no longer a problem. But low stuff, no matter what species, gets chopped as often as necessary to keep the pathways clear.

The second area of "unlandscaping" (to use your term) involves pests. I've chopped back dozens of Crotons where scale got out of control. I removed two Fiddlewood trees that were bug factories. Snow-on-the-mountain was full of caterpillars that chewed it back once too often, so it's gone. It reaches a point in the garden where you can either use an excess of chemicals or start wearing a Hazmat suit.

You eventually reach a point where the garden is "stable". It still requires daily maintenance, but your plant mix will become one with your ability to keep it under control.

Laura, you said it well: "I have ADD in my garden".

I can relate to a lot of the comments.:) The garden for me is a never ending project but as I grow older, I also like to keep it to a manageable size. Problem plants have to go, zero tolerance for disease or bug infested. I do a little spaces at the time, finish one side and go to another, pathways are very important too.

Recently I visited a gardening friend close by that has about 50 acres, while the view is beautiful, caring by myself for such a place would be an enormous task, I would not know where to start, there is so much to do.

Silvia

I was absolutely pathological! In my quest to have a "Ooooh! What's THAT plant?" garden, I wanted one of everything, and what I ended up with was a royal mess. I still fight that tendency, and now with very limited space, I have to fight it even more. Now I just want a "That's pretty!" garden with a few really easy plants that look good and take very little care.

dirtygardener

Sounds fantastic!!! Are there such plants ??lol I usually find that "very little care " ends up as "invasive to the extreme "lol

My last restructuring the philosophy is "Evergreen and everblooming preferably with blue flowers" lol On a more practicle note I've added "Learn to love those that you can't control" lol gary

I had a jungle with it's own rain forest! I can't do that much any more, so I've been taking out some of the plants and trees too. I am hoping to make it something I can more easily manage. Some of the plants that reseed to much had to go, like the white dombeya, even some of the trees while pretty in bloom just made too many seedlings. I had 5 different bananas and my husband doesn't even eat them, so there is only 3 left now.

garyfl - the way things are dying, I'd say I have hit the "not so easy to care for" level. My poor tropicals have been dragged around the state so much that they are seriously struggling to survive. I may lose my purple epidendrum, and my Thanksgiving cactus, and my pink epiphyllum that was absolutely gorgeous is now down to one small leaf that isn't looking too hopeful. A few others aren't looking so great either. What was easy to grow in SW FL seems to be impossible to grow up here. So yeah, I'm looking for things to grow here that do well and are relatively carefree.

Yup, I was a complusive plant hoarder too. But fortunately a couple of moves have pared things way back. I have to remove some things I inherited with this house as soon as it cools (the bananas are the first to go!). But I am keeping all the things that go rampant over night (gingers, heliconia's, bromeliads, etc) in POTS this time.

Hi

Remember reading a quote from noted landscaper Gertrude Jekyll in reply to "how do I create a garden "??

"Easy. Plant a whole bunch of things and then start hacking the garden out"

Certainly have found that to be true !! lol

Seems to me no matter what type of garden or landscape you choose at least 80 percent is management. Now there must be some way of making that the most enjoyable part of it?? To me the MOST enjoyable part is tracking down the plants haggling over the price ,tracking down the true IDS

Now that's fun ."hacking " not so much !! lol gary

Gary, you are a smart gardener and I always learn something from you. Keep up with the good sense of humor!

I was talking to my neighbor and he asked me, do you want some starfruit? and I said I was going to ask you the same thing,lol. Then he said, that tree is a nuisance!

Silvia

Silvia

I have the same opinion about starfruit Runaway the most productive fruit tree I've ever grown No bugs ,no diseases even the squirrels leave it alone will hang on the tree for weeks without rotting.

My only complaints are that it's WAY over productive and the "Dwarf" tree is over 25 feet tall even with removing the crown 3 times . Just yeaterday a neighbor yelled at me "NO we don't want any starfuit!!"" and I hadn't even asked !!!

Have you found any good recipes for them ?? They make great pie and tarts .but how many can you eat lol A neighbor suggested puree but found no good easy way to peel them and the texture sucks lol

gary

Gary, when the starfruit competes with my other fruit trees it is no match. Like you said in baking they are good but we all have to monitor the sugar intake otherwise there can be a problem. You can juice them and strained them like a lemonade, but I would rather have a Meyer lemon lemonade, you can also make wine but I have so many good wine bottles at home. I think my starfruit tree is forever dwarf because I had it in a pot for few years and have been cutting down, it is maybe 4 ft and loaded. My neighbor tree is getting very tall in just a couple of years. I told him that it should only be planted one starfruit tree per neighborhood and then we could all share a little bit. I just don't understand why it is so expensive at the stores. It does make a good decoration when cut for drinks or food.

Silvia

Hi

I'll bet it would make great wine but with all that sugar would probably be straight alchohol??lol My citrus were all cut down by the state even ground up the roots for citrus scab so replaced and they all have citrus greening lol

Citrus are runaway the most useful fruit. Guess I'll never be a tropical person still much prefer an apple or pear of table grapes lol

My guess as to why they are so expensive at the store is bruising?? They must be tough to ship. I wish I could sell mine for what they're getting I could get that cozy retreat on the French riviera??lol

Will be interesting to see what happens in the fruit market ?? Not only all the diseases making the rounds but the drought in California ?? Note in several places the water is worth more than the crop!! Certainly no down trend in prices?? gary

Hi

With all this rain that we are getting, a lot of the plants are going to unlandscape themselves.:)

Gary, I think starfruits don't bruise that easily like a fig, they can be picked not fully ripe also but they are not that popular.

We will have to wait and see about the citrus industry here and the diseases, I still have the lemons and limes that are producing well for me for now.

In the fruit department I have my favorites based on flavor, nutrition and uses and I can still remember a good apple just picked from a tree up north...

Silvia