Comments | badkarma_one: We may have snakes....

badkarma_one

We may have snakes....

Oct 16, 2009 14:14

We got our monthly bill from the guy who cuts our grass in Florida. There are vines growing in the shrubs (icky, nondescript shrubs that do nothing for the look of the house) around the front door and around the AC unit near the garage door. Apparently, they provide a nice little habitat for 'snakes and other creatures', according to Mesnel (our ( Read more... )

snakes, florida house, home maintenance

Comments 4

Geckos are inevitanle in FL... jubal51394 October 17 2009, 00:24:47 UTC

And they're valuable for the amount of insects they consume. They're the "good guys". Leave 'em be!

Good idea to clear out the brush! And the river rock idea rocks!!!!

You're on a roll, I think. *S*

Re: Geckos are inevitanle in FL... badkarma_one October 17 2009, 11:12:00 UTC

I know -- and I think they're adorable. They remind me of the chameleons (anoles) I had when I was a kid. My husband will just have to get used to them.

Mesnel is going to look at the area today and he'll give us a price. The shrubs are those standard cheap landscaping options builders put in -- they do nothing for the house.

And we're going back and forth about the river rock -- we may just put fortuniana-budded miniature roses in -- or not. Right now, we'll just spread mulch in the area (which will be easier to move if we decide we don't want it than river rock will), and figure out what we want to do once we get down there.

Re: Geckos are inevitanle in FL... jubal51394 October 17 2009, 15:49:24 UTC

Eoses are a huge challenge in FL. The humidity gives you so much mold and spot stuff. If I were going back I;d be thinking Camelias. Amaryllis does amazing there too.

Re: Geckos are inevitanle in FL... badkarma_one October 18 2009, 01:21:08 UTC

We're rose junkies -- we have over 200 of them on our property here. We're used to dealing with blackspot -- NJ has horrible conditions for blackspot, so we're used to spraying for it. You need to plant roses that have been budded to Fortuniana rootstock -- ownroots don't do well and roses budded to multiflora and Dr. Huey rootstock won't survive the nematodes in the soil (though I hear that a lot of miniature roses do just fine on their own roots). And I hear that roses budded to Fortuniana grow into monsters.