The old adage "if you want something done right, do it yourself" rings very true here. I like the yellow stakes idea. Even if the mow/blow guys can't read, surely they know their colors - do not touch!!! The yard man who does the landscape care where I work clips the formosa azaleas like hedges - even after August when they have set their buds for next spring. I told my boss but he still does it, and there were no flowers this year. Duh! You grow up in Florida and don't know azaleas aren't hedges??? I've had my neighbor's "20-year old handyman/gardener" spray RU in the wind (my whole front yard of roses was downwind) and say "my uncle says it only kills grass". There's no cure for stupid. The builder of our subdivision (34 lots) did not want an HOA but after erecting a nice entrance sign for the subd name was told by the city that doing so required him to have an association (?!?!). So he went the minimally invasive route of a POA - Property Owners Association. In Florida anyway a POA may or may not apply even the few rules they have which are only meant to protect property values NOT dictate house color, yard plantings, etc. Our rules do say we must have grass in the front yard, but the board has not enforced that against me. :)) Invariably, there are errors in communication - especially between men and women (I won't say more, but I don't understand what's so hard about LISTENING). Funny thing - my bosses DH is a very verbal, non-mechanical, lawyer-educated but non practicing man who repeats EVERYTHING he says at least twice. At first I found it kind of aggravating, but then I came to appreciate the second chance to "get" his instructions and now wish everyone would "tell me twice". I'm more and more grateful for the toughness of OGRs. I hope hoovb's HOA Mons Tillier is on its way to recovery, and I hope luxrosa's 12" tall teas survived. I will be hugely impressed if they do. Sherry

If your African violets take too much of your time, then you are giving them way too much attention. Honestly, I barely acknowledge mine and they are gorgeous year round. I think too many people want African violets to seem like they need special care. They don't. I have dropped, crushed, over-watered, under-watered, drenched in hot sunlight, left in the dark, and failed to re-pot my African violets for years at a time. They still reward me with blooms whether or not I deserve it. I have heat intolerance from multiple sclerosis, so I keep my apartment cool (most would say COLD) year round. I drop everything, including the African violets. I might take the dust off their leaves once a year. In the winter I hardly ever turn on the heat, so it's normally at 45-55 degrees; I tell people I keep it warm enough in the winter so the African violets don't freeze. In the summer the temperature cannot go higher than 70 degrees or lose my right leg, right hand and most of my cognitive abilities; at times the air conditioner has the apartment down to 60 degrees all day. I don't provide them with any special lighting. I water them when I am physically able to lift the jug. I always add food to the water, because with my short-term memory loss can never worry about a feeding schedule. I have mine in pots with holes in the bottom sitting on top of a tray of aquarium stones. If the stones look dry, I water the stones. My African violets LOVE living here! They have healthy foliage and gorgeous flowers. In the wild, no one fusses over them. They get gnawed on and stepped on. African violets acclimate very well to many different conditions. They survived before people came along to take care of them. It's a shame to get rid of plants you have cared for. Just stick them somewhere and forget about them. If they look like they are wilted, water them.

If the heavy soil is killing the flowers buy lighter soil and dump it on top, without mixing it with the existing soil, plant in that. Or choose adapted flowers. You will have to do the same with shrubs, if the kinds you want don't like clay soils they won't be any happier with the existing soil than the flowers were. Is there a hedge, wall or solid fence behind the border, as in the above photo? If not you should install such or plant evergreen shrubs behind, informally arranged, as well as at corners or ends to in either case form a sort of stage for the smaller plants (groundcovers and dwarf shrubs, if no herbaceous plants are to be used). In the well-designed mixed border deciduous shrubs serve primarily to form transitions between the bulkiness of evergreen kinds and the lightness of non-woody plants. Flowering climbers like clematis and roses can be trained on fences, walls or hedges, to include them in the planting, as well as large deciduous shrubs like lilacs that provide no summer interest otherwise.

He explains most things in weather patterns and does not jump to alarmist positions arbitrarily. Due to this , people dislike him.. He actually bridges the gap between the two camps if you listen to him. He sees water vapor as much more a climate modulator than Carbon. After a series of super el niños, the base line temperature drop between them has climbed because so much water vapor has been injected into the atmosphere. That is his explanation. He is very interested to see if this coming el nino will have a reduced baseline after that is lower or higher. He also studies patterns and uses analog years and historical observations going back over a hundred years to explain much of what people jump to the climate change umbrella. I like to watch him because he sticks to science and patterns. He runs a paid weather service because he is often correct. Investors and industry use him a lot. I never used an emoticon and I have remained civil.