Ken, every time I see a photo of your plumeria garden, I show it to my hubby. As usual, he would say, I like that but being a non-plant person, it is a task for him that he doesn't enjoy doing. Would not let me hire anyone too!

I have to say the HOA landscapers n this neighborhood do an excellent job with the exception of the pruning. Part of it is the shrubs were not planted in appropriate places to begin with and after 21 years, they look pretty bad. They have been cut back to fit in places they should not have been in to start with. I am going to ask them not to touch the shrubs and either tackle them myself or hire someone who knows what they are doing to get them in shape or remove some of them. A local nurseryman suggested I try the method of removing one third of the shrub a year for 3 years to get it back in shape. Maybe I will try it.

Gigi, as you probably know, what I do is a labor of love. Your husband is like the vast majority of folks down here. I guess you either love gardening or hate it. It's also about the only exercise I get.

We have a hedge-row behind our house, Alice, (and the other six houses that have backyards adjacent to our neighborhood park). These hedges are probably 15 years old. I and my next door neighbor have taken it upon ourselves to fertilize them as well as apply fungicide to control leaf spotting. The hedges are all uneven though. Some areas are as tall as 12' and others are only about 8'. I've asked our POA to have them trimmed and have told them to have the trimming done to get those hedges more uniform in height. I've explained to the landscapers as well as to the POA that the rule of thumb allows for 1/3 of the hedge height/width can be trimmed without injury to the plants. None of them believe me. The landscapers simply trim a foot off those 12' hedges, doing absolutely nothing to even out the height. I'll keep working on this and sooner or later, they will do as I ask. I don't give up easily.

Reminds me of Lawn Care Svcs that 'Prune' Crepe Myrtils ..{sigh} They just decapitate the trees..

we call it "Crepe Murder"

Yep in Mississippi, we called those folks "Crepe Butchers". We have the same mentality down here in Vero Beach. The palms are all pruned heavily, removing far too many green fronds. That's done so that pruning is less frequent. So it's a business model rather than a horticultural model.

Btw, we do have a 2024 thread! I was just happily reading along in both threads, then scratched my head....

The thread "What else do we grow and see in 2024" in Orchids forum