Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1905460)

We were always in the northeast area, Parkville, White Marsh or Abingdon. I did work for a couple of years at a company just off I-97 right next to BWI, it was a business park and I didn't really see much else. Before the company moved there, they were located off West Patapsco Ave, not the greatest area but I found a really good sub shop in Arbutus I would go for lunch.

When we moved in 2011 we bought new, so we had the choice of Pennecamp, Buttonwood, St.James or Tamarind Grove depending on the type home we wanted and at what time. We went with a masonry CYV for immediate sale, so we ended up in Tamarind Grove near Sterling Hgts Rec Center. What village did you move to?

Originally Posted by Choro&Swing (Post 1905277)

So what is left? Grass and rocks? Is there any tree you recommend! Crepe Myrtle is beautiful, but it can be messy, too. There are neighbors down the street from me who have papaya trees. Those are interesting, but I don’t know if they ever ripen. There are live oaks and pines right behind my property, on the golf course. I love them. Pruning? Raking? Blowing? Weeds? Fertilizing? Mowing? That’s what the yard guys do. I’m retired.

Originally Posted by bobdeb (Post 1904808)

Just my opinion, however, I do have some experience with the following.

These are some things I highly recommend you Do Not plant in your yard in The Villages. Please add whatever else you feel is appropriate.

1. Live Oak. Well, you may not have a choice here as one may already exist on your property. I love oak trees, and the shade they offer is welcomed from the heat of the sun.

However, you be forever dealing with relentless and testy little leaves and acorns that are difficult to control and clean up. They will ruin your lawn.

Personally, I would resist buying a home that already had an oak tree in the yard. And your nearby neighbor's live oak tree will also add to your endless yardwork.

They grow slowly but will eventually become enormous and offer yet more leaves and acorns.

2. Magnolia trees. These also grow very large and add to your relentless yard work. The flowers are lovely but I'm not a big fan of the huge leaves.

3. Citrus trees. Don't do it. It's tempting I know. Citrus trees take more care than one might imagine. So many of these grow unattended. There may be exceptions with some folks but the fruit will be beyond your ability to process or give away. It will fall and rot and attrack rats. And, in turn, the rats will attract snakes. Fruit trees are especially problematic for snow birds to manage.

The upside is that many citrus trees are quite attractive and the scent of the blossoms is exquisite.

4. Palm trees. I have four sylvester (king) palms, one pindo and one European fan.

The king and queen palms will grow beyond your ability to prune yourself. You will have to hire a crew annually to do that for you. Also, all palms have incredibly nasty thorns. You could lose an eye if not careful. The immature leaves are sharp spikes. Queen palm pods are extremely heavy and they will fall. The fruit from the king palms is significant to clean up.

European fan palms are full of needle like black slivers.

Face it, these trees evolved to protect themselves. It's tempting but don't plant palm trees. You'll thank me some day.

5. Anything else with nasty thorns unless you want a barrier between your home and your neighbors.

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1905298)

Here's what landscaping can do for property. This is the home I sold in 2011 in the Baltimore suburbs to move to TV. I bought the home new in '98 and over the 13 years I bought some shrubs every spring when I bought new bags of mulch, and did all the landscaping myself. The tree in the middle was the only thing I saved from the original builder's landscaping.

https://scontent-mia3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...a8&oe=60576354

Since I sold the home about ten years ago, it has been resold three times. The most recent seller posted this photo on zillow. They basically removed everything but the tree.

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/fp/7...1536_1152.webp

Originally Posted by bobdeb (Post 1905507)

What to plant?

After 11 years in TV I'm still no expert but I've had wonderful results with small leaf azaleas. Not sure why small leaf is so much better but they are over the larger leaf varieties.

Gardenias are lovely plants. Can't get them to flower much. Suggestions welcomed.

Originally Posted by quietpine (Post 1905132)

There is a live oak tree behind our house. It’s on TV property but is close enough to shed its leaves on our yard. That happens once a year. It’s a nuisance for about a month but our lawn service removes them when they mow. But the majestic tree is beautiful to look at from the lanai, it provides shade in the back yard, blocks the sun and during storms becomes a wind screen. So yes, the leaves are a bother but the tree gives more than it takes and that is a good measure.

Originally Posted by Maryland Girl (Post 1905489)

We came down in Nov., 2011 for a lifestyle preview and impulsively bought a lot in Buttonwood. After we returned home, we realized what we really wanted was an expanded CYV, which we didn't think existed at that time. In Dec., 2011, I happened to go onto TV website and new CYV's in Edgewater Bungalows were up for sale. While on the phone with our realtor, who was driving through the Bungalows, I said the only house we really wanted was an expanded, two-car garage one that had sold. He kept saying, "but that house is sold." I know I was frustrating him no end, but then he got really quiet and finally said, "I don't think the sale of that house is going through." He then said he would get in the queue and try to get it for us. A couple of days later, he called and said the house was ours. He said a man from Georgia had bought it without his wife seeing it and she had said no way was she going to buy a house she had not seen. Well, that is how we ended up in our CYV. We had two doggies when we moved down so our large yard was a good thing for them. They have since both died. Anyway, that is the saga of how we came to live in our CYV, which we like and enjoy to this day.

I know there are a lot of business parks around BWI now and we know Arbutus well. Linthicum started as a farming community and has a lot of history attached to it. When we moved there in 1976, it was just a sleepy small town community. Over the years, the airport, Baltimore City and the Light Rail have put a lot of pressure on it. So many of the small businesses have been sold and small shopping plazas have sprung up with new businesses in them. We probably would have stayed if not for the snow and ice and the interior stairs. Now how we ended up in TV is another story altogether.

Originally Posted by bobdeb (Post 1904808)

Just my opinion, however, I do have some experience with the following.

These are some things I highly recommend you Do Not plant in your yard in The Villages. Please add whatever else you feel is appropriate.

1. Live Oak. Well, you may not have a choice here as one may already exist on your property. I love oak trees, and the shade they offer is welcomed from the heat of the sun.

However, you be forever dealing with relentless and testy little leaves and acorns that are difficult to control and clean up. They will ruin your lawn.

Personally, I would resist buying a home that already had an oak tree in the yard. And your nearby neighbor's live oak tree will also add to your endless yardwork.

They grow slowly but will eventually become enormous and offer yet more leaves and acorns.

2. Magnolia trees. These also grow very large and add to your relentless yard work. The flowers are lovely but I'm not a big fan of the huge leaves.

3. Citrus trees. Don't do it. It's tempting I know. Citrus trees take more care than one might imagine. So many of these grow unattended. There may be exceptions with some folks but the fruit will be beyond your ability to process or give away. It will fall and rot and attrack rats. And, in turn, the rats will attract snakes. Fruit trees are especially problematic for snow birds to manage.

The upside is that many citrus trees are quite attractive and the scent of the blossoms is exquisite.

4. Palm trees. I have four sylvester (king) palms, one pindo and one European fan.

The king and queen palms will grow beyond your ability to prune yourself. You will have to hire a crew annually to do that for you. Also, all palms have incredibly nasty thorns. You could lose an eye if not careful. The immature leaves are sharp spikes. Queen palm pods are extremely heavy and they will fall. The fruit from the king palms is significant to clean up.

European fan palms are full of needle like black slivers.

Face it, these trees evolved to protect themselves. It's tempting but don't plant palm trees. You'll thank me some day.

5. Anything else with nasty thorns unless you want a barrier between your home and your neighbors.

Originally Posted by Bjeanj (Post 1905458)

I had to look that up. Those are striking!

Originally Posted by ckbenjamin (Post 1905080)

Where were you 8 1/2 years ago? I wish I'd never planted palms. What a mess! Can't wait till they are dead and gone but then I might be before they are.

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1905530)

We came in April of 2011 on a LSV for 7 days and stayed in the real nice cottage homes on the east side of LSL sales office, at the base of the Morse Bridge. I remember seeing those Edgewater Bungalows for sale on the internet, my budget was $185K so that eliminated them. Although I remember some went in the low 2's and I probably could of stretched the budget, but decided not to. I wish we did have a 2 car garage, I had a Camaro for a short while, but one of the reasons I got rid of it was because it was so a tight fit with the golf cart.

We closed July 5th of 2011, we arrived in late June but because of 4th of July Holiday we couldn't close beforehand, all the dates were already taken. We didn't have a lot of notice, we sold our home the morning after we listed it, in less than 18 hours. We had been here 3 weeks earlier on our LSV, so rather than make another trip, we bought our villa sight-unseen ourselves. The photos had not been put on the website yet. So our salesman drove over that night and took photos and emailed them to us.

So we stayed at the Holiday Inn at SS for about a week waiting to close. I actually like our location just below Buttonwood. We're 3-1/2 miles to LSL and 3-1/2 miles to Brownwood. We were going to BW five days a week to MVP, so this was convenient, we've cut it back to just 2 or 3 days a week now. My wife likes Zumba and I do the treadmill and weights. To me, the two best squares are both very close and I have 7 championship golf courses within 20 minutes by cart and Glenview is 25 minutes.

I grew up in Florida (St. Petersburg), I was born in Baltimore but my parents moved to Florida when I was in the 4th grade. However, in '89 I went back to Baltimore to visit and ended up getting married and staying for the next 22 years.

Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 1905191)

The point is read before you buy. Most any plant will have pluses and minuses. The catch all line is the right plant in the right place. We are all guilty. You go to the garden center or the box store and they all look great in the pot ready to be sold to you.

Mistakes? I am growing blueberries. Our soil ph is 7-8 and they need 4.5-5. For success you will need to grow them in pots-really big pots. Read that as heavy.
Truth they produce tons of fruit. The birds? I figure they are welcome to say 10%
First couple of years they took half. A sign that if they want to take more than 10% they should pay part of the expense. Seems they can't read. A few years they did leave me 10%. Now it is a race and they are either getting fast or I am getting slower.

I am an ex-northerner. At least up north the birds wait for the blueberries to ripen before stealing them. Up north the birds always left me more than enough. Florida birds have no class. They will eat them green and do not care to leave me any for my labor.

Originally Posted by tvbound (Post 1905950)

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. While we won't have a choice in the plants and landscaping of the used home we eventually purchase, it has certainly been educational on what might end up being removed and what to plant in the future.

Originally Posted by quietpine (Post 1905132)

There is a live oak tree behind our house. It’s on TV property but is close enough to shed its leaves on our yard. That happens once a year. It’s a nuisance for about a month but our lawn service removes them when they mow. But the majestic tree is beautiful to look at from the lanai, it provides shade in the back yard, blocks the sun and during storms becomes a wind screen. So yes, the leaves are a bother but the tree gives more than it takes and that is a good measure.

Originally Posted by matandch (Post 1905112)

Depends on the individual. I like trees and all they do for the environment. Plus I’m still in pretty good health and am not averse to doing work. Yard work is good exercise that in the long run might contribute to a longer life.

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1905394)

Yes, we sold our home to the new Wegman's manager. They were a couple from NY, one managed Hunt Valley Wegmans and the other was assistant manager of the one that was still under construction in Abingdon at the time. I lived just about across the street from the new Wegmans, we were in Constant Friendship. When go west on 24 from I-95 toward Bel Air, they were the homes on the right that you would see the back of. We went back in 2013 on the Autotrain and we finally got to shop at the new Wegmans. I don't know if you can tell, but the cap in my avatar is a Ravens hat.

Originally Posted by Rosebud2020 (Post 1905370)

Originally Posted by JerseyGurl (Post 1905099)

Hi all, new to FL and TV. So what would you suggest planting in a small area for privacy? The landscaper suggested 2 Bougainville. After reading your comments I told him definitely not. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Rosebud2020 (Post 1905346)