Scruffy and Unkempt

A friend and solidly experienced gardener (English, no less - so obviously particularly knowledgable!) who has vacationed near our Florida home, commented that she didn't care for the landscape here - Referring I suspect to the great messiness that surrounds us, the lack of large shade trees perhaps, and nothing in sight resembling a more traditional perennial garden.  

I will grant you that Gertrude Jekyll would mostly likely not enjoy the scenery here.  The sun, heat, and wind are harsh; and many areas are flooded during summer rains and then subjected to merciless drought during other seasons.   Plants along the road take on a silvery cast from the dust during the long dry spells.  Trees fall or lean over during high winds, and continue to grow, misshapen by our standards of upright neatly pruned perfection.  Nature here is a lunatic bonsai master.

There are plenty of tidy gardens, don't get me wrong.  There are rows of Royal Palms , Coccolobas and Hibiscus pruned within an inch of their lives, to be seen around many corners...