Sumognat You are on the right path. I live in Delray Beach. The thrips here are 11 months a year. I have discovered the hard way that if you spray chemicals for disease you will have major thrip problems. It kills the beneficial insects that eat the thrips. On the other hand if you don't spray for disease the roses are a diseased mess. So it's a pick your problems situation. I have discovered that if you go with old roses that are disease resistant you can have beautiful roses without disease or without insect damage, atleast it is mimimal. I would highly recommend the china rose, Vincent Godsiff. It stays small and blooms it's head off 12 months a year. My Don Juans, grafted on fortuniana are about the only modern roses that haven't bit the dust with disease. Best of luck.

Yeah Marcia, what's that old Ben Franklin quote ? " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure " ? Smart guy that 'ol Ben. I wasn't even new to Florida as such when those new trees died, - originally moved from New York City to the Upper Keys where I lived for 13 yrs before moving here. But living in the Keys is like living in The Wizard of Oz Land as far as gardening goes. Growing mango trees was so easy there, got complacent, but woke up quickly after moving here ! ( smile ) My 2nd set of mango trees all had Christmass tee lights strung thru them Nov 1st to March 1st. Even had some old sheets to build a small tent over each if it got really bad. Lost no more fruit trees to cold nights after that ! Don't want to sound like I'm complaining tho,..far from it. Was out early ( 7:05 AM ) this morning putting my big garbage bin at the curb and had to pause and take in the scene. Only 58 degrees, - brisk, but I loved it. Sun just peeping over the eastern horizon, casting a warm looking glow to the lawn. But wait, - something different,..NO WIND for a change ! Love being a retiree in SW Florida,...those concrete canyons of NYC are just a faint memory now ! TBTG ! C'mon Mother Nature, try throwing another curve ball at me, will be ready this time ! ( smile )

mike_home: I did email Company D earlier and here is his response: "I can assure you that the 5 ton is correct. A 3.5 ton could do it based on today's building efficiency standards, but your home was built 14 years ago. Those standards were based around 500 Sq ft of living space per ton. The 5 ton will cool and dehumidify your house very efficiently once it is installed properly. A 3.5 ton would not even fill your existing ducts properly to provide adequate air flow." tigerdunes: Since purchasing our home, we have never had consistent temps in all rooms. Some rooms were much warmer than others, especially our upstairs bonus room which was my oldest daughter's room and is now a game room. The temperature difference ranged anywhere between 8-15 degrees higher. We changed to the Honeywell zoning at the guidance of our old AC guy, who is now out of business. I honestly can't say there was any difference in performance probably because we have been air conditioning the attic due to the ductwork (based on Company D's inspection).

The Energy Information Administration collects data from natural gas utilities. There's a report here: https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/ngqs/#?year1=2016&year2=2019&company=Name You can download the information to Excel and filter to get Florida utilities, and ones with residential customers. There are only 38 and most of them seem to be municipal utilities. I don't know Florida well enough to know which are in South Florida. Probably not a problem with municipals, but EIA can be quirky with utility names, as acquisitions and mergers can change a utility's name, but sometimes reporting still happens under a legacy name, just a warning. · BLOUNTSTOWN CITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA GAS CENTURY TOWN OF CHATTAHOOCHEE CITY OF CHIPLEY CITY OF CLEARWATER GAS SYS CRESCENT CITY NAT GAS DEFUNIAK SPRINGS CITY OF FLORALA GAS DEPARTMENT FLORIDA CITY GAS FLORIDA PUBLIC UTILITIES FLORIDA PUBLIC UTILITIES INDIANTOWN FORT PIERCE UTIL AUTH GAINESVILLE REGIONAL UTILITIES GULF BREEZE CITY OF HAVANA TOWN OF JACKSONVILLE BEACH CITY OF JASPER CITY OF JAY TOWN OF LAKE APOPKA NATURAL GAS DISTRICT LAKE CITY CITY OF LEESBURG CITY OF LIVE OAK CITY OF MADISON CITY OF MARIANNA CITY OF MILTON CITY OF OKALOOSA GAS DISTRICT PALATKA GAS AUTHORITY PENSACOLA ENERGY PEOPLES GAS SYS PERRY CITY OF QUINCY CITY OF SEBRING GAS SYSTEM INC ST JOE NAT GAS CO STARKE CITY OF SUNRISE CITY OF TALLAHASSEE MUNICIPAL GAS SYSTEM WILLISTON CITY OF