Orlando lakeside gardening

[redbeard917]

I am renting a room at this house in Orlando, FL and have been given wide leeway to make changes in the yard. The previous owners had introduced a very tropical look but weren't fully up to date on the maintenance. So there are dozens of camphor and Brazilian pepper seedlings of various ages in the beds for example. But they had a cool tropical aesthetic, with live oaks massively underplanted with things like bromeliads, peace lilies, tongue ferns, vines, etc. So I don't want to change the theme, but I'm adding a bit more color in a certain area in the form of Firebush (Hamelia), Firespike (Odontonema), Brazilian red cloak (Megaskepasma), Panama rose (Rondeletia), etc, and these will also screen the neighbor's yard which is a collection of junk vehicles.

The homeowner doesn't like palms but I used a few along the property line because I feel they will be unobtrusive and add to the tropical theme. So from Tropic Shade Nursery I got these treepots of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana "Illawarra" and Ptychosperma elegans. I hope they like water because the soil there is quite damp, especially for the Ptycho, which is closer to the lake. I also added a Chamaedorea cataractum and Hedychium ginger to this area.

[redbeard917]

Here is the source of the palms, and also Megaskepasma.

[kinzyjr]

Lots of retaining wall blocks to use too.

[redbeard917]

Those are actually on the neighbor's property.