Shrubbery Issues · · PAGE 29.

September 23, 2016: The shrubbery around the house needs attention as seen in the following images.  There are two types of climbing vines on the front wall behind the hibiscus tree.

This is a wider view of the photo above.  The three glass blocks allow light into the master bath toilet area.  The brown leaves in the top of the hedge are where I trimmed the top of that bush and missed some of the trimmings when I was cleaning up.

From the street view, you can see the hibiscus tree is almost as tall as the top of the house.  There is ONE red flower visible in this photo of the hibiscus tree.  Now that fall is here, it can be pruned back to the height of the rain gutters.

This Google Earth view from June 2011 shows the beginning of the shrubbery.  Something between these two images is what needs to be done.  There are no ferns around the tree philodendrons or the hibiscus tree.  ONLY ONE FERN is seen at front edge of that area.  It has been fruitful and multiplied.  The left side of this image shows the tree that was on the west side of the house before the lightning strike.

Here is another of my photos showing the tree philodendrons seen in the image above.  It shows how the ferns have taken over the open space seen in the image above.  The ferns seen in the lower left of the image below are around the base of the oak tree seen near the front corner of the lot in the Google Earth image below this photo.

This second Google Earth view shows the west side of the house from June 2011 and how the shrubs were "NEW".  There are some ferns at the base of the oak tree in front of the tree philodendrons.  The photo above shows how they have now encircled the base of that oak tree.  The short palm tree located near the three glass blocks that allow light into the master shower is just a few feet high in this image.  It is now well above the gutter.  The large group of tree philodendrons at the left edge of the image is well established.

This view is focused on the tall palm tree and the tree philodendrons near the northwest corner of the lot.  There is another species of palm tree in front of the tall palm that is about 6 or 7 feet high in this image.  Today it is easily about 10 feet high.

Ferns around the large oak tree need to be pulled out.  Jermaine showed me just how easily they can be uprooted.  I will give it a try and show the results a future web update.  I took all these photos the day after his visit on September 22, 2016.

Here is my photo showing the palm tree at the corner of the master bath.  You can see how the ferns have covered every inch of the ground around the palm and the tree philodendrons in that area.

Here is a closer view of the ferns around the philodendrons seen in the image above.  This is part of the reason the word "jungle" has been used regarding the shrubbery.

This is the 10-foot tall palm in front of the tree philodendrons near the NW corner of the log.  The trunk of the tall palm tree is mostly hidden in this image.

These bushes are located on the north side of the Florida room and probably kept anything from hitting the sliding glass doors.  Carol asked me not trim them since they also provide some privacy.  The golf course being closed for several years makes that a moot point as no one plays that green behind the house.  That development project appears to be on hold by the Saint Johns River water management agency.

I took this photo of the bottle brush tree to show how much taller it is from the Google Earth image seen below.  It is seen leaning toward the street in both images.

This image not only shows the tree leaning to the street, but it also shows how everything was trimmed

Last of all are the views of the shrubbery from the front of the house.

And of course, the Google Earth view from June 2011.  The shadow of the tree on the ground also indicates the leaning toward the street.  The bare spots in the "grass" are still there now five years after the image taken by Google Earth.  The word grass was in quotes as it is really a ground cover plant, not sod or grass.