I could be Pandanus ... aromatic leaves that is used in Asian cooking like so:
Pandamus for food flavor

Man, oh man, if it is, I WOULD LOVE a plant like that. I have been searching for it for decades!

The leaves don't look exactly like those I see on websites nor do the leaves have any fragrance. However, the previous owner of our house was a baker who baked cakes in the home -- mostly wedding cakes. So, perhaps they are Pandanus and maybe he cultivated them for use in his cakes.

I took a look at your Member Page, pitimpinai -- WOW! That's beautiful!!

I think it might be an Agapanthus, lily of the Nile.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agapanthus, lily of the Nile

I think you might be correct, susanc. This fall I'll transplant one or two to sunny locations and see if they bloom there. Thanks, Jerry

Jerry if it is Agapanthus (which it certainly looks like) it will have thickish sticky sap if you tear a leaf in a thick area.

Dee.

I'm not familiar with agapanthus, but I do have a pandanus (potted, inherited from a friend), and believe me, you will KNOW if it's pandanus (at least, the variety I have)! The leaves are serrated -- SHARPLY serrated, like a row of sharp little teeth. It will literally draw blood if you run your finger along the edge of the leaves ("against" the growth -- tip of leaf back to main stem). It is quite noticeable. My impression of agapanthus is that the leaves are smooth-edged. So that might be one way to tell?

We can rule out Pandanus -- thanks for that info ctlady. And Dee, I tore a couple leaves and they don't have much if any sap nor does the torn area feel sticky to me. I might be expecting stickiness more like tree sap though. The more I look at Agapanthus pics and read about it on the web, the more I'm inclined to believe they are Agapanthus. And although they're not native to this area, from what I see on the Internet they seem to be popular and do well with many gardeners in this area. I just want to see blooms on ours like theirs and that means I'll need to transplant them to an area with sunlight. I've attached a picture of the biggest of the plants looking more down into it which might better help with the ID. Note that it is self propagating via roots that it sends out -- see the baby at 3 O'Clock.

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In your climate, full sun would probably be too much.

Sorry Jerry, I probably haven't described it too well. It is about the consistency of runny craft glue. It doesn't matter anyway. I am pretty certain they are Agapanthus.

They will take all the sun you can throw at them. The only time mine have scorched was when we had about four days in a row of over 45degrees c. (113f.) They were in full blazing sun. They recovered easily over the cooler months.

Thanks rhizo and Ann! I want to create a Florida tropical garden under a couple of huge live oak trees and plant them throughout it. They'll get a bit of direct early morning sun then patches of sunlight off and on throughout the day -- some will get more sunlight than others. They might not ever produce flowers but they've never flowered in the deep shade where they're at now and with them in various places I should learn what sunlight they like best.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this post. As you've probably already figured out I don't know much about flower gardening. I had a nice vegetable garden when we lived in Mississippi a few years ago but the soil and growing conditions were excellent there besides that my next door neighbor was a long time backyard farmer who provided wonderful advice. I tried to grow summer vegetables here but the poor soil (Florida sand), heat and bugs were more than I wanted to deal with. I have had some success with a small winter garden and I plan to continue that. However, I want to try growing flowers and berries for my wife, the birds and butterflies. I'm thrilled that I found these forums and it sure looks like I'll be able to get help I'll be needing from kind folks like I've already met here.

Thanks again, Jerry