Wow I never thought I'd see comments from this post again that was like 4 years ago. Yes I have plenty of the blue tailed skinks and some are very large, very. I think what the skinks do unless they are using toads tunnels, is make tunnels all through the ground. I think that's why the ground seems almost hollow in that area and I have seen skinks come out of the little holes. I believe I have had voles before but my kind dogs dug up the whole yard to get them and now they are gone. :/ I don't think the skinks are the roses roots that may have been voles but the skinks do a number on the spoil I think. I made chicken wire cages for the other roses along the back fence where I have the skinks problem. I don't kill the skinks, voles yes skinks no. ;)

Well...I appreciate all your responses, and I'm going to assume it's a common garter snake...for my OWN peace of mind...LOL I believe he was so grumpy because of the flash from the camera...it probably scared the bejeezus out of'm. Plus...I'm wondering if it isn't the onset of hibernation time. I mean, afterall, he WAS way down under some pretty hard, clay covered by about 4" of mulch. He was probably sleeping...or getting his last full meal of night crawlers when I uncovered him. *I'm in SE PA, not Florida at the moment. He's gone now and I don't know where...hehehe...but I covered the hole back up with the mulch. BTW: When I let Picture it! automatically tweak the color and brightness levels, the colors of the snake were changed a bit. Here are two pics showing actual color...

Betina Forgot to mention: give it lots of light. It is leaning to one side - I suspect it was growing in relative dark spot and started to lean toward light source. It should start getting 'fatter' stems, darker green and rather upright. This one is same plant but monstrose - but growth pattern should be similar:

"But no one has told me what the difference is between Prunus laurocerasus and Prunus caroliniana. No such clarification was posted. My original question was about identification of a tree. Is there some reason to believe that I have one, rather than the other? " It was properly identified by botanical name by Embothrium. Prior to that, just one of many common names was used for ID however that common name is often applied to both species. Prunus caroliniana is a native species that includes Texas as part of its natural range. It would be very unusual for Prunus laurocerasus to pop up spontaneously in your area but entirely natural for P. caroliniana to do so. It is also more tree-like in habit than Prunus laurocerasus, which is most often grown as a large shrub with no discernible trunk and the leaves present somewhat differently (smooth margins for one and slight serration for the other). As to the negative attributes you list, other than the propensity for P. laurocerasus being invasive in specific areas, they are just not serious enough to worry about.