Landscapes moved faster than the oil paints could dry. Every scene I set up my outdoor easel to paint, disappeared by the following weekend. Michelangelo never had to grapple with razed landscape. I did. South Florida in the late 1980s was being stripped, leveled and denuded.
So I started my own landscape. The house I picked was less than 1/4 acre.
It had a homeowners association, not a condo. The difference has to do with personal choices made to the external home property. Condos are notoriously inflexible to homeowner’s individual choices. Somehow, I believe there is an inconsistency between the U.S. Constitution which provides citizens with the right to pursue individual happiness whilst condo laws are full of break-your-arm rules if not complied with.
But even homeowner associations have rules which are laced with expensive fines. For example, when I first began planting native flora, the managing company sent me a letter telling me I have weeds in my yard. They ordered me to remove them.
I sent them back a letter in ‘teacher form’. It was a mild scolding without bold or capital letters. This letter described the need for native flora, the receipts of the costs and the intent of the plantings for saving on fertilizing, heating costs all the while increasing beauty.
The third letter of this series was from them. “Keep them inside a border”. So I picked up some wrought iron scallops and stuck them around the front of my new plants.
My native Floridian garden was launched.