Hello snaylor, " The rabbits come up on the railing of my deck to eat from the rail planters and the other plants (on plant stands!) on my deck. Stargazer lilies chewed to the ground before they are an inch high. Nothing "cute" about bunnies, they are destructive, filthy animals. " Since you have a neighbor, I assume you live in town and an air rifle is not a good idea for controlling the rabbits. A slingshot would probably be legal, but would take some practice. Assuming your deck is in your backyard, fencing the rabbits out of your backyard is probably the best idea. A chicken-wire fence about 3 or 4 feet high might work, provided that your codes permit that. If you have an existing fence, the chicken-wire would just serve to make it rabbit proof. Nothing will keep squirrels out, but as you already know, they can be trapped. Fortunately for me, rabbits don't damage my zinnias. We have several native plants in our rural area that they prefer. ZM

I'll put in a good word for lawns. They are not evil. Grass filters pollution and impurities out of water before the water returns to aquifers. Grass traps dust and other particles from the air and reduces air pollution. It is great for slowing run-off and reducing erosion. A lawn is second only to trees for cooling the air. So people who enjoy lawns (and don't dump a million chemicals on them) are improving the environment. So if you like lawns, have one. If you don't like them, dig up the grass and plant something else. Some valuable things to know when you start gardening: 1. You're going to make mistakes - lots of them. Don't worry about it. You'll eventually move everything anyway. 2. Making compost is really easy. You just need greens (grass clippings) and browns(leaves). In the fall, blow all the leaves onto the lawn and mow it all using the mower bag. Add grass clippings, coffee grounds, manure, more leaves during the year. Nature does the rest. (If you're morally opposed to lawns, you'll have to go beg clippings from neighbors - hypocritical, isn't it?) 3. Find a really good nursery - local if you can - for the backbone of your gardens. When you have more experience, you can fill in from the box stores. Nothing replaces a good nursery to help you get started. 4. Try your hand at propagation. Never too early to try. It gives you something to trade with others, stretches your budget, and it's exciting when it works. 5. Along with everyone else, I agree that good soil makes good gardens. All kinds of ways to improve soil - local gardeners are a great source of info for this. 6. The more gardeners you know, the better your gardens will be, and the more fun you will have gardening.

I would probably take the route of 'implement a florida friendly landscape to eliminate the waste of drinking water and the contamination of our local waterways'. Play up that wetland community you share space with. The HOA can squack as much as they won't but they can't trump FS 720.3075 http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=720.3075&URL=0700-0799/0720/Sections/0720.3075.html If they want 30% 'lawn' in the front, come up with a plan that leaves all the hell strip and the piece next to your driveway to the west in 'lawn' and then use 'lawn' as wide pathways around your front gardens. Oh, and I am fairly certain that they can not restrict you from implementing a florida friendly 'lawn'. My 'lawn' is green stuff that I mow regularly. From the street it looks pretty much just like all the other resource hogs in my subdivision. Except that mine gets no fertilizer or pesticide and very, very seldom any additional irrigation. The secret to my lawn is multi-part. It is NOT monoculture. It started as St. Augustine, overseeded Bahia, plugged Zoysia. Added Mimosa strigrillosa in stubborn spots. Plugged mondo grass in shady spots. Turned really bad spots into fruit tree beds. Dumped loads of tree trimmed chips onto the really, really bad spots and planted root crops. I don't use any pesticides in my front yard, and very little chemical fertilizer. It has taken several years, but the front 'lawn' is looking really nice. The natural order of things has slowly been restored. Part of the reason it has taken longer is because I'm a poor gimp and am doing all the work myself. Now I am curious about what % lawn I have out front. And what % is planting beds. I do know the planting beds > lawn. And another big section of lawn is coming out this year [grin!]. My front yard planting beds are mixed use beds. Edibles, perennials and ornamentals. I even grew heirloom tomatoes in my front planting beds this past fall - spring. My artfully disguised compost bin is in the front side yard. Speaking of compost, one way to look at your 'lawn' is as green manure for your compost bin! I am also working to capture rain in my yard and I like to think that the grass pathways and grass at the concrete edges helps to keep water in my yard and not running off. I am also working on capturing rain runoff INTO grass zones in the yard. Rain water garden type concepts. My general idea is improving water holding capacity of the yard to help improve the crops from the edible bits and parts of the front. I'm rambling I guess. If you go over to the Tropical Fruit forum and hunt up a post from Sunworshiper aka Angela that shows her gardens; you can see she has fruit tree planting bed islands around her front yard. Big islands. Very nicely executed. Veggies and perennials tucked around the fruit trees. Oh, and she lives in an HOA in Ovieda. I am in Lake Mary, but not in a HOA. Our deed restrictions expired 5 years ago. I got to tour Angela's gardens a couple years ago, her gardens have been my inspiration for keeping my front yard edibles below the radar. St Johns Water Management District might be able to give you some advice. It is not a matter of IF, but rather WHEN Seminole County has to start cracking down on water quality the way that the gulf coast area of Florida is currently. http://floridaswater.com/waterwiselandscapes/ Gabby Milch with the Seminole County Extension Office might have some pointers for you. She does the Florida Yards and Neighbors program for Seminole. Also, you might want to send this document along to your HOA. http://fyn.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/CCRs_Sept-20-2010_final.pdf Here is another news article about HOA vs Florida Friendly Lawns (this one is part of the St Johns River Water Management District) http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-11-08/homeowners-citing-little-know-law-win-battle-hoa-plant-florida-friendly Angela is a great resource you should consider tracking down. She is an engineer, and has a wealth of detail about fruit growing tucked away in her head. And she frequently has divisions for trade. You are welcome to come over to our place and look around, but I'm still working on growing up to be like Angela. Plus, my neighborhood is not the same scale as yours and Angela's. But I have Beauty Berry bushes you can take! And sweet potato slips. And Okinawa Spinach. And Callaloo. And Florida Cranberry. And Black Jungle Butter Beans. Yardlong beans. Whipporwill Field Peas. Sorry for all the rambling. Hope this helps you some. I've posted below a link to a 'tour' of my gardens this past winter. ~dianne Here is a link that might be useful: Tour

I grow tunica (petrorhagia) on the top of stone wall, but in an area that is slightly shaded. I also have it in a hot sunny garden. It's got GREAT texture, blooms for a long time, and is trouble free. It drops an occasional seedling, which I love. On the wall, it does cascade. In the sunny area of the wall I've got snow in summer, but I'm planning to replace it with gypsophilia repens, which is MUCH better behaved and has similar silvery foliage. Love my saponaria - great foliage that would contrast well with tunica, as it's robust looking. Did I miss something, of did you not tell us how long the wall is? The number of varieties you want to use would depend on this.