A Weed Awakening

There are several good things about living a nomadic life. And there are the downsides. And on these, Florida is still a steep learning curve. Having lost our trusty landscaper (no, no, everyone here has landscapers - it's American for someone who mows the grass for you), we omitted to specify to the new ones that, as well as cutting the grass while we were away for the summer, we would also like them to keep on top of the weeds. It didn't even occur to us. And we had no idea, absolutely no idea, what a gargantuan weed fun fest the hot, wet Florida summer is. You couldn't even see the garden perennials for weeds. And these mysterious tree-like things had grown to a height of 5 or so feet in six months. Can that be physically possible?

Yes it can.

Well we have learned our lesson. 

That's only a tiny part of my efforts over the past few days.  The local hardware megastore gleefully makes a fortune from these brown paper bags and at the moment I am single-handedly keeping them in business. The City (what we would call the council)  now won't take away your garden refuse if it's in black bin bags. Oh no. You have to have the pc brown paper bags. or you can tie the stuff up in tidy bundles. Just wait till you try and make tidy bundles.
  It's had an interesting effect on our garden wildlife. One positive thing is that the hibiscus, while looking annoyed and begraggled, haven't been eaten by the rabbits because the rabbits probably couldn't find them.
  Charlie the mocking bird who usually hangs out on the cable above, was complaining loudly that the bird bath was dry. For a time I was convinced the bird bath had been stolen as it was completely masked by the triffid in pic 2.
  But the strangest encounter was when I started sweeping the patio, I heard a rustling sound from the big ornamental bush that sits, inconveniently, right in the middle. I thought it was a bird but no, the next thing was that a lithe black snake emerged from half way up the bush, giving me a what-the-heck-do-you-think-you're-doing look. Tongue darting in and out and all, just about level with my head. By the time I got the camera he'd scarpered of course. At least you're safe with the black ones. It's the stripy ones that get complicated. Like Florida.