Pretty Little Bug Repellent!

  While I love plants and love to garden, I have a bad tendency to let things grow to wild abandon.  Keeping bushes and shrubs trimmed in nice shapes and keeping plants within the boundaries of the garden are all fine and dandy for those who live a controlled life.  I do not.  I am sort of wild and free so why should the plants around me be confined?  Yes, I do trim thing when it is most helpful for the growth of a plant but other than that, I let them do what they want to do.  Sometimes, this gets out of hand.  For instance, the grapefruit trees are pushing 30 some odd feet in height and that makes it a bit difficult to pick the fruit. Perhaps those should have been pruned but it is far too late for that now.  I do love to see plants growing to their utmost even if that means they take over the place.

  
  Down behind the citrus grove near the canebrake, there has been a small lantana growing for a number of years.  Since the bush was not in the way and since I adore the tiny, multicolored blooms, I let it do its own thing.  For years, it stayed pretty much self contained.  I would mow around it and that was just about the most care it received.  This year, however, when I was fertilizing the citrus trees, I threw a large handful of fertilizer into the midst of the lantana bush.  Uh, oh!  It must have needed that extra nourishment as now it has decided to reward me.  The bush has tripled in size and is covered with the orange, pink and yellow blooms!  It sprawls across the ground in huge mounds!

  Am I upset with the new found Goliath sized shrub that threatens to overtake a lemon tree in the next few weeks?  Not in the least.  Since that particular lemon tree has yet to bear any fruit in the ten years we have had it, I have threatened to remove it anyway.  The lantana may as well fill up the space with its happy blooms and dozens of visiting butterflies!  As an added bonus, it is a proven fact that these lovely plants repel mosquitoes! (Since I found out that fact, I am seriously thinking of letting the lantana just take over the entire yard!  Flowers...good.  Mosquitoes...bad!)