When my husband and I relocated to Florida about 8 years ago, we were delighted to see fruit trees in our backyard. We had a sweet ruby red grapefruit and an exquisite orange tree, and added a key lime tree within the first year. How wonderful it was for us to get up in the morning and go pick our breakfast! Our guests also loved the idea and couldn't get enough pictures standing in front of the trees holding the luscious fruit.

Flash forward 8 years - we are again delighted but now it is because we do NOT have fruit trees in our backyard. The trouble with the trees after the blossom scent goes away is that they grow fruit! How dumb am I, you say. Well, guess what? As any Floridian will tell you (and I can now say after 8 years I am a Floridian) cleaning up after the fruit trees is a pain in the rump. Fruit trees are messy. The wind and rain cause fruit to fall to the ground. If you don't get it picked up right away, it rots and smells. Once the honeymoon period is over, most of the time fruit tree owners don't even eat the stuff anymore so it goes into the compost or trash. And then there's the "visitors".

The visitors are fruit rats and they are plentiful. They don't bother people because they don't want to be bothered. They just want to eat the fruit. So they do and then knock it to the ground to add to the rest of the fruit on the ground. Sound like an endless cycle? It is. That's why we are very happy to no longer have fruit trees.

The reason I decided to write about this is that my sister is buying a winter place down here not far from us and guess what? There's a grapefruit tree in the backyard. The neighbor is already complaining about the fruit falling on the ground and the presence of fruit rats. So, my sister and brother-in-law have decided that when they settle on the place they plan to cut down the tree and replace it with some type of shrubbery. Smart thinking. In the meantime, my advice to the neighbor is "if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen" or "since no one is living in the residence currently and you're right next door, go pick up the dang fruit!" The other, and better, option is to call one of the local food banks and get them to pick the fruit. They'll be happy to do it and many people who need something to eat will be happy as well. Happy Florida gardening. Oh, by the way, let me plug my sister's new web site mindwormsetc. Dee is just getting it started, and I think you'll enjoy it. Let me know.