Juno Beach Fish House for great food

Most of the time I am skeptical of the restaurant business.  Particularly those specializing in seafood.  The idea of making a place "authentic" has always been a strange idea to me.

About 25 years ago, I went to have dinner at the Oyster Shanty in Tampa.  To give it the "authentic" feel you ate off newspapers and polyurethene covered tables.  When the menu came, the cost was $ 7.95 for 1/4 lb. of shrimp (remember this is 25 years ago!).  Shrimp are harvested right in Tampa Bay.  I remember cautioning my wife that this was $ 32/lb...for shrimp!  So, we ate carefully and enjoyed ourselves although I think eating seafood is somehow more "authentic" if you get really, really messy and pay a lot for this privilege.  We laughed when the people at the next table got their bill and let out a string of expletives at the amount of the bill.  When we got to the register, the owner called the waitress over to verify the small amount as correct.

In Juno Beach, we have a great seafood restaurant with an interesting history.  Located at the corner of Donald Ross Road and US One, the building was originally a Howard Johnson's (remember them with the orange roofs?)  It closed and about 15 years ago another seafood restaurant decided it was a good location, which it is.  So, with great fanfare they opened their doors.  But there was one problem.  The food was bad and nearly everyone got sick on opening night, including one of my employees at the time.  I don't think they were ever open again.  Years passed and since it is still a good location, The Juno Beach Fish House opened.

I eat here often, love the food, the service if great and the people are friendly. And you don't have to eat off newspapers.  The location is still just one block off the beach road.  And they have this greatl mural on the side of the building.

If you live in or are visiting Jupiter, Tequesta, Juno Beach or Palm Beach Gardens be sure and stop by and try the food.  You will be satisfied, clean and then go take a walk along the beaches.

Is this a great place to live?  You bet!  Find out more over at www.youtube.com/richardsites or  you can get the latest real estate information at www.CoastalFloridaRealEstate.net and then send it all along to your friends.

Palm Beach County Property Taxes? No thanks, I'll pass on those

Recently, some friends who are leading a high-tech, nomadic lifestyle stopped at the house. (You can follow their adventures at http://www.technomadia.com/ and more on them later).  During their 3 day stay at the house we discussed the nomadic lifestyle and with the Internet you can take your business right on the road with you.  This is the goal of my friend Dave.  Be sure and link over to his blog).

The nomadic lifestyle has many different lifestyles and types of people.  Dave follow the blog postings of working CPA's who live on the road.  My friends above are Burning Man participants and their friends are more the creative types than the accountant type.  There is a third category of nomad, that is those that live aboard boats.  During my life in South Florida I have met many sailboat residents. 

The residents of boats are usually thinner or ectomorphic which is the result of, or required to, live aboard a boat since you are continually climbing around, on or under, or beneath things.  One big advantage of living aboard a boat is the lack of property taxes.  The boat above is anchored in the small creek near the Town of Jupiter's Riverwalk.  Originally, the Intracoastal Waterway was a meandering, small river until the Corp. of Engineers "fixed" it...like they did the Kississimme River.  They dug one, wide, straight path....BINGO, problem solved.  PS:  The K. River fixed didn't work and you the taxpayer got stuck with a many millions of dollars bill to "restore" it.

So, the boat above is sharing the same waterway views as the Jupiter Yacht Club in the background.  Except that the condo residents have property taxes that are about 2% of the purchase price.  Translated, most of the residents paid around $ 1,000,000 for the units so they have a tax bill of around $ 20,000...more or less. 

Here's another shot showing a second sailboat. All of these folks shop at the same Publix, use the same Library, and use the same roads, one just doesn't have to pay property taxes and doesn't care about the housing market.  When they decide they have had enough of Jupiter, they can just pull the anchor and leave.

And this is not limited to sailboats.  Look at these motor vessels.

There is one drawback....there is no approval process for new neighbors.  Anybody with wings can drop in and join the party!!  All they ask for is some dead fish.

Is Jupiter a great place to live?  You bet it is!

Follow the Coastal Florida Lifestyle at my You Tube Channel or hop over to my website for the latest in real estate information http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/

Jupiter Farms: How to stretch water

The other day as I watered my garden, I was reflecting on a time when a watermelon farmer told me how to stretch water.

In 1976, I moved to Gainesville, FL and went to work for the West family who were expanding from growing watermelons to growing interior foliage plants.  They built some greenhouses and hired a Manager/Salesman named Pete B. to sell the products.  I was hired as the grower in the greenhouses and Pete went out and made the rounds finding customers and selling plants.

One day while Pete was out on his rounds, I was talking to Mr. West about why he was running the sprinklers on the watermelons when it had just rained.  He told me it was best to water right after the rain since the ground was wet and it would "stretch the water".  I thought this was a clever idea and it stuck with me.  It is not wise to dispute what crafty old farmers tell you.

I stayed on at West Farms Nursery during 1977 and one day found a kitten who had been attacked by an animal.  Mr. West picked up the vet bills, the cat lost his tail but came to live with me with the name of Bub.  And then on August 16, 1977 Pete returned from his rounds with the news that Elvis had died.  All in all the West Farms experience was a great one.

Jupiter Farms, Backyard chickens: Araucana vs. Sex-link

Several years ago, I sold a house here in Jupiter Farms.  And although I found a home for their horse, and the children's swingset, and a black rabbit, I couldn't find a home for the chickens.  Since they had a nice coop, all the feed and cans to keep it in and a few birds I said if they could deliver it all I would take over.  That's how I got into the backyard chicken business.  My dog, Buddy thought the birds were great to chase and I had to work to convince him that chasing the birds was off limits.  During the 5 years I have had birds, I have learned a lot about them (although not as much as my friend Dave because he likes to read the fine print more than I do) and since I have had lots of birds have learned many different varieties.

The bird is the foreground is an Araucana.  The black one is a Sex Link.

The Araucana was given to me and lays eggs like the one below.

The black bird is our newest.

She will share the cat's food with them and lays eggs like the one below.

Side by side the eggs look like this.

Having backyard chickens is a great deal of fun and so is the variety in the eggs.  Each bird lays a slightly different one and they are all recognizable.  I used to have 3 Leghorns that laid big, white eggs.  After having your own eggs, it's hard to eat the commercial eggs that come from the chicken mills.

You can find out more about the Coastal Florida Lifestyle over at www.youtube.com/richardsites and on my website http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/.  Enjoy and then send to your friends.

Jupiter Florida, what is that really tall palm on Center Street?

Living in Jupiter for the last 20 years has given me the opportunity to pick out some of the special trees we have in the area.  One of these is an especially tall palm on Center Street.  This palm, and several others near the base of the Jupiter Lighthouse are the palm Washingtonia Filifera.

Washingtonia filifera (filifera - Latin "thread-bearing"), common names Desert Fan Palm, American Cotton palm, Arizona Fan Palm, or California Fan Palm) is a palm native to the desert oases of Central, southern and southwestern Arizona, southern Nevada, extreme northwest Mexico and the inland deserts of Southern California and can live from 80 to 250 years or more. The genus name honors George Washington, the first President of the United States.

The fruit of the fan palm was used by Native Americans. It was eaten raw, cooked, or ground into flour for cakes. The Cahuilla tribe used the leaves to make sandals, thatch roofs, and for making baskets. The fan palm was a valuable resource and the stems were used to make utensils for cooking.

It is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree. (It is not as widely cultivated as the Mexican Fan Palm Washingtonia robusta - a close cousin which is grown throughout the lower elevations of Nevada, California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and extreme southwestern Utah. W. filifera is one of the hardiest of Coryphoidiae palms, and repeatedly survives dips into the teens and even several inches of snow, making it a favorite of cold-hardy palm enthusiasts.

It's a shame that this tree is not more widely cultivated since it's soaring height makes for spectacular trees.

Be sure and check the archives for other posts of interest and then send them along to your friends.  You can find more at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ and www.youtube.com/richardsites.



The less hardy cousin W. robusta needs slightly milder winters and may be visibly damaged at 20 degrees Fahrenheit and is also more amenable to humidity making it more favored along the Gulf Coast, in states such as Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, and the Mediterranean region.

Jupiter Farms, rain and another cold night

This afternoon the leading edge of another cold front swept through the area bringing with it heavy showers.  This is great since it washes so much of the pine pollen off everything (see my pine pollen post).  And since this is the latest in a series of heavy rains this winter (normally our dry season), we have a better chance to going into spring and summer with adequate amount of water.

As the weather changed, I found the view below in my Jupiter Farms backyard.

I have had to keep my chickens in their pen during the day to protect them from a rash of attacks by predators.  A few minutes the light changed and here is scene.  And it's getting really cold, really fast!

The area in the center of the picture is our garden, where the mustard greens have begun to bolt.  I let them go and if they set seed we may have volunteer plants next year.

If you like the Coastal Florida Lifestyle you see here, check out the videos on my You Tube Channel and my real estate website at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/.  Enjoy them then pass along to your friends.

Jupiter Beaches, next clean-up day March 6

Friends of Jupiter Beach continue the “clean & dog-friendly beach” campaign with a volunteer cleanup on Saturday, March 6. This cleanup is co-sponsored by Ocean Magic Surf Shop of Jupiter (www.oceanmagicsurf.com ) the DogSmith, Rachel Williams (www.dogsmith.com )and Sandy Paws Surfer Girl, Maggie Poetz (www.sandypawssurfergirl.com ).

Volunteers gather at 8am SHARP at the Anita Lankler Pavilion in Ocean Cay Park, off Marcinski Road and US Hwy 1. They divide into teams, clean the 2 1/2 mile stretch of dog-friendly from Marcinski Road to the south end of Carlin Park, and return by 9:20am for a complimentary continental breakfast. Some teams walk to the cleanup areas, most teams drive to the designated spots. Beach cleanups are SHINE ONLY; if weather is iffy, volunteers should call the FJB message line at 561-748-8140 by 7:15am to listen for a possible cancellation message.

School community service hours are awarded for students arriving by 8am. There is no need for individuals to register in advance but organized groups must leave a message on the FJB phone line, 561 – 748 – 8140.

FJB has been organizing beach cleanups on the first Saturday of the month since 1994. In 2006, the group began weighing the collected garbage (rather than simply counting the garbage bags), and the cumulative total of trash and recyclables removed from the beach is over 22,000 pounds. That is 11 tons!

THE FOLLOWING BEACH CLEANUP is SATURDAY, SATURDAY, APRIL 3 SPONSORED BY CSNGLOBAL.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.friendsofjupiterbeach.com/.

Frenchman's Creek Beach and Country Club, Palm Beach Gardens

On the northern side of Palm Beach Gardens,  and across Donald Ross Road from The Bear's Club and The Ritz Carlton lies the gracious Frenchman's Creek Beach and Country Club.  Although this area is known for it's country clubs like Admirals Cove, Jonathan's Landing, Frenchman's Reserve, BallenIsles and Mirasol, Frenchman's Creek is in a very special class.

From Wikipedia:  Frenchman's Creek Beach and Country Club a residents-only, year round residential country club community set on 700 acres of land. The community is comprised of 606 Florida luxury homes - 188 custom / million dollar estate homes, 90 villa homes, 291 patio homes and 37 town homes. Ninety-five (95) of these homes are located on deep water canals offering boating and yachting activities. Eleven (11) homes are located outside the confines of the main community with intra-coastal water access, adjacent to the public marina. Home prices range from $750,000 to over $5 million.

One of the things that makes the Club so special is that it was built at a time when more land could be used for the common enjoyment which is unlike the Clubs of today.  What this means is the Club has a feel of casual elegance that is not found in the newer clubs.  The shot above is the waterfall and pond at the main entrance.

This shot was taken at the guard house.  Another distinctive feature of the club is the very mature landscape as evidenced by the oaks above.  Oaks like these cannot be bought and need years to develop.

This is the spacious main boulevard leading from the entrance up to the clubhouse.  I've included it just to show the scale of the public space.

Here is a shot looking back from the clubhouse to the driving range with it's covered practice area.

Here are some interior shots of the clubhouse lobby.

The two other features that distinguish the club from the others nearby are the Beach Club in Juno Beach and the concierge level of service. (I have some pictures of it and will update soon.)  The idea is this.  You can live in town, enjoy the club and still have luxurious access to the beach complete with pool and dining.  As a concierge style club, like the Ritz Carlton, all  of your personal preferences are attended to.  The other clubs do not offer this level of service.

Here are some pictures of the Beach Club.

Frenchman's Creek stands at the top of the fine clubs in this area.

Is this a great place to live?  You bet it is!  You can find out more by visiting my website at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ and the real estate blog attached to the site.  I also maintain a blog on the Coastal Florida Lifestyle and post lifestyle videos at my You Tube Channel.

Jupiter Farms winter sunset

Here is Jupiter Farms, we have some of our most beautiful sunsets in the winter months.  Coming home I was driving into this sunset and took these 2 pictures.  Posted them just because I wanted to share.  Enjoy.

This view is heading west on Indiantown Road.

Check these other spots out: http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/, and www.youtube.com/richardsites

Spring Training comes to Roger Dean Stadium

Spring training has opened here in Jupiter for the Florida Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Of course, one of the biggest stories is the return of Mark McGwire as batting coach. 

According to Hank Aaron, "I've said this and I'll say it again, over and over again, this is the most forgiving country in the world. If you come through and tell the truth, then you're going to be forgiven. "The kid with the Yankees, (Andy) Pettitte, came out and it was a week of news and after that it was over. We all make mistakes. If they ever did enhancing drugs, whatever they did, they should come clean and be able to sleep at night."

I have a vivid memory of seeing McGwire play because on third base was Cal Ripken. 

I was sitting just a few rows up from third base, which of course was a prime target area when McGwire was at the plate.  Rene Laschman was the third base coach and he moved way off the base to keep from getting hit with the ball.

Anyway, McGwire ripped one right down the line faster than I could follow it with my eyes. 

When I caught up to it, Cal Ripken was lying on the ground with the ball in his glove.  He was so fast and on top of that ball I couldn't believe it.  After the game he sat for what seemed like hours signing balls for little kids.

Is Jupiter a great place to live?  You bet it is.

Videos of Jupiter are available on my You Tube Channel and you can follow the real estate market here in Jupiter and Tequesta at my Coastal Florida Real Estate website.

Pill mills, Jupiter puts a moratorium on pain clinics

The latest scourge to surface are the pain management clinics that dispense seemingly endless supplies of habit forming drugs.  Now, joining other municipalities, Jupiter has put a moratorium on them.

A moratorium on new pain clinics that dispense powerful prescription drugs such as OxyContin received tentative approval by the town council.  If passed on final reading on March 2, new applications or approval of new clinics could not be approved until the town adopts new regulations on pain clinics.

There are about 10 pain clinics in Jupiter. The clinics, which will remain open, have not been a problem, said Police Chief Frank Kitzerow.  "We want to be proactive. We want to have regulations in place so we can enforce compliance," said Kitzerow.

Officials charge unscrupulous clinics illegally dispense the powerful drugs to patients who sell them on the street. Pain clinic supporters say a few dishonest clinics are tainting the entire industry. 

Rush Limbaugh, a noted Palm Beach resident,  got addicted to these pain killers and had to go to rehab to get off them.  So you can see the Town Council is working to protect the quality of life we have here in Jupiter.

Want to know more about Jupiter?  Take a look at my videos on my You Tube Channel and you can get the latest updates on the real estate market at my Coastal Florida Real Estate website.  Take a look around then send them to your friends.



North Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach and Palm Beach County have approved restrictions on pain clinics. Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth and Riviera Beach are all this week considering bans on the clinics.

No tomatoes? Blame the cold weather

I have been posting on the severe cold weather we have had here in Jupiter.  Plants and trees particularly hard hit have been the tropical varieties.  Those tougher plants or the ones originating in colder climates have fared much better.

In a recent post I discussed backyard gardening here in Jupiter Farms.  My garden was damaged and we picked a lot of the veggies and gave them to friends rather than have them frozen and ruined.  Now, I find out I am not alone.  In the Palm Beach Post there was an article on the lack of tomatoes everywhere.

Quoting from their article, "This was an unforeseen circumstance and if we can absorb the costs on our end, we want to help our customers as much as possible,' said Kim Jaeger, South Florida spokeswoman for Publix, which has increased prices to consumers by less than a dime since last year.

Supply problems are likely to continue until Florida's tomato production returns to normal levels, which may not be until late March or early April.

Even those fields that growers in Homestead and Palm Beach County were able to salvage are not producing at anywhere near the normal levels. Continued cold weather is slowing the growth cycle of new tomatoes.

Florida tomato production for the period since the freeze is off about 70 percent, compared with the same period last year, said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.

"Tomatoes are relatively scarce,' said Brown, whose group represents the majority of the state's tomato growers.

I'm sure that getting produce from Mexico is not on the top of anyone's list and the increased interest in growing your own, backyard gardening, backyard chickens and anything else that can help decrease your dependence on others.

Like what you read here?  There's more on my You Tube Channel.  And since I am a Realtor, I maintain a website at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ and a real estate blog you can access from the Home page.  Take a look and send along to your friends.

Hurricane scale tweaked just a little

In Florida, each summer we face the prospect of the upcoming hurricane season which begins June 1.  Since 2004 when Frances and Jean came ashore, everyone has been keenly aware of this season.  When we also faced Katrina, Ivan, Rita and Wilma people began to think that hurricanes striking the coast was common, although it is not.  When measuring a hurricane's strength the most common scale is the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Hurricane Ivan

Hurricane forecasters said today they are tweaking the Saffir-Simpson Scale and will no longer tie specific storm surge and flooding impacts to categories.  The National Hurricane Center said today in a release that it changed the scale because storm surges and flooding depend on several factors, including a storm’s strength, size, movement and barometric pressure, as well as the depth of water close to shore and the lay of the land along the coast. 

“As a result, storm surge values can be significantly outside the ranges suggested in the original scale,” the center said. 

For example, the center said, Hurricane Ike in 2008 was a very large storm that made landfall on the upper Texas coast as a Category 2 with a peak storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. Hurricane Charley struck Southwest Florida in 2004 as a Category 4 , but produced a peak storm surge of just 6 to 7 feet.

Storm surge forecasts will continue to be included in hurricane advisories; they’ll be shown in terms of height above ground level.

You can learn more about the Coastal Florida Lifestyle on this blog or watch videos by visiting my You Tube channel at www.youtube.com/richardsites.  My real estate website is http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ so take a look then send along to your friends.

Jupiter Yacht Club, yachts, sailboats, condos & shops

On north U.S. One in Jupiter, just south of Indiantown Road, and part of the Town of Jupiter's new development Riverwalk, is the waterfront community of Jupiter Yacht Club.

The community concept is very interesting.  JYC is a waterfront complex of high end condominiums wrapped around a series of docks for yachts and sailboats and with retail shops and restaurants added to the mix.

JYC is only about 1 mile from our beautiful and free beaches and a little south of Jupiter Island.

Some of the gated condominum buildings are located on the mainland side and one building in located on the point of land which separates the marina from the Intracoastal Waterway.

JYC forms an integral part of the new Riverwalk complex connecting the northern end to the more leisurely southern end.

The condominium units go all the way through the buildings from east to west.  There are also boat slips for sale, they are treated as condominiums too.

To find out more about the Jupiter Yacht Club and the fabulous town of Jupiter be sure and check my website at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ or the blog attached to it where I update the real estate market specifically.  If you are interested in videos of this area, cruise over to my You Tube Channel.  You will certainly find something appealing and remember to send along to a friend.

Fewer people behind on home loans

The Florida Association of Realtors released this information this morning:

The end of the foreclosure crisis is finally in sight. For the first time in almost three years, the number of homeowners falling behind on their loans is declining. The drop means the number of people losing their homes will start to fall. But some pain from the crisis is sure to persist. Because millions of people are already in foreclosure, deeply discounted houses will put pressure on home prices for years.

“Housing is on a path to recovery,” said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. “It’s going to be a very long, gradual process.”

In high-foreclosure cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, homes have lost roughly half their values from their peaks. (Read my Case Study on my blog http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/). But a report Friday from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed Nevada, Arizona and Florida had some of the biggest declines in new delinquencies.

The figures probably mark “the beginning of the end” of the crisis, said Jay Brinkmann, the trade group’s chief economist.

However, more than 15 percent of homeowners with a mortgage have missed at least one payment or are in foreclosure, a record. Worse, nearly half of all delinquent borrowers were at least three months behind on their payments, up from a typical level of less than 20 percent.

“The bad news is that we still have a big problem,” Brinkmann said. “The good news is it looks like it may not get much bigger.”

Check out the other Coastal Florida news at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ or maybe you like videos on You Tube Go to my You Tube Channel.  Be sure and pass these along to friends.

Burmese Python on America's Most Wanted list

9 1/2 foot Burmese Python

Last night, I was watching a show on the Burmese Python problem in Everglades National Park.  Not only are there tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of them, they are multiplying rapidly and competing with the native animals for food.  Their diet is the same as alligators and are native, harmless snakes.  That is until these snakes get huge...and they do get huge.  They can grow to 20 feet long and weigh several hundred  pounds.  They can and will eat birds, rabbits, snakes, adult deer and anything else they can catch.

State wildlife officials have created a special python hunting season to try to stop the spread of the nonnative snakes throughout the Everglades.

The season is open for Burmese and Indian pythons, African rock pythons, green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.  Thousands of the nonnative Burmese pythons are believed to be in the region, upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem.

Wildlife officials on Monday trained a group of hunters on how to identify, stalk, capture and remove the reptiles.

The problem is so out of hand that the experts now predict the snakes will expand their territory beyond the Park and eventually into residential areas....where small children and family pets might be on the menu.

So with a problem of staggering proportions on your hands, what might a really good solution be?

First, charge $ 26 for a python or nuisance snake hunting permit.

Second, open the season for just 6 weeks.

This is classic governmental thinking.  Here's my solution.  First, don't charge anyone anything.  Hey,on a 200 lb. snake there is a lot of meat for a family.  My dad used to shoot small birds during the Great Depression to feed his family. Second, eliminate the season.  Are you saying that if you kill a Burmese Python during the closed season you could get a fine?  Where do these wildlife officials come up with this kind of logic?

Maybe we should post them on America's Most Wanted. John Walsh seems to do a good job of helping to track down killers.

Be sure and check out my real estate website over at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ or see Coastal Florida Lifestyle videos at my You Tube Channel.  Then, be sure and send to your friends.

Severe cold damage to coconut palms in Jupiter

This year, we have had one of the most brutually cold winters on record.  While we are much warmer than  other places it has been one of the longest, coldest winters I can ever remember.  My dad, who also grew up in South Florida, agrees that he can't remember when it was this cold for this long.

Last week, one of Jupiter's most stately clusters of coconut palms was showing tremendous damage to the fronds.  I have admired these palms for years due to their height and majestic beauty so I was sad to see such damage (although the trees in my yard are showing this damage as well).  I knew these trees were being innoculated for Lethal Yellowing (which is almost competely contained) and have looked great because of this treatment for years so I was puzzled.  I studied the trees and then continued to Dubois Park where Palm Beach County has installed dozens of palms.  What I found was the ground covered with dead fronds and the County trimming more off the trees.  I know these lower fronds are important to the proper health of the trees so dropping them is certainly a cause for concern. However, we usually see cold damage only after the weather warms up.  My sons were saying our garden came through the cold OK, but I told them you won't see the damage until it warms up.  Now that it has warmed up...some, all the tropical plants in my yard are either completely defoliated or killed back sharply.  Anyway, back to the palms.

In the early 90's, I was fortunate to cross paths with and become a business acquaintance of Richard Maxwell, owner of King Tree Service  in West Palm Beach.   From the time I met him, I was impressed with his genuine concern for the health of trees, commitment to doing the right thing, integrity with clients and willingness to share information for the good of all and the trees.  He is probably one of the leading authorities on Lethal Yellowing and has been for years.  Both Jupiter Island and Lost Tree Village (in North Palm Beach) have employed him for years to help protect these beautiful palms with fantastic results.

So, we discussed the trees posted in the blog last week.  Fortunately for all of us here in Jupiter, Tequesta and Jupiter Island this is not a lethal yellowing issue as I mistakenly thought.  These are victims of the severe cold.  He was aware of these particular trees (as he is aware of most of the great trees in the area) and told me of the over 10,000 trees they protect on Jupiter Island only 3 have been lost to the disease in the last several years.  Tetracycline is still the best protection available to protect the palms.  This is great news!

When I was growing up in Miami, trees like those mentioned were everywhere but within  a few short years had been nearly wiped out.  We are lucky to have this antibiotic available.

While talking with Richard, he mentioned another growing (no pun intended) problem on the West Coast of Florida call TPPD, or Texas Phoenix Palm Decline which has spread from Texas.  One of  the issues with this disease is that it effects our native Sabal Palm.   Usually, native plants are resistant to localized threats, but when problems come from afar (like the Burmese Python problem) in the Everglades, its hard to stop them or even arrest the spread.

In the movie "A Few Good Men", Jack Nicholson says to Tom Cruise something to the effect of "You can sleep well at night because guys like me are guarding you".  If you are a Homeowner's Association, single property owner or Town Manager and have coconut palms, you can sleep well at night if you let King Tree Service guard your trees.

There's more on the Coastal Florida Lifestyle at: Coastal Florida Real Estate or my You Tube Channel.  Enjoy then pass along to your friends and before you leave this page be sure to subscribe to the blog.

Jupiter beaches resident, the Spanish bayonet

All along the Southeast Florida coast and in some other generally hostile environement, our Spanish Bayonet (Yucca aloifolia) thrives.

 Spanish bayonet is native to coastal areas, including sand dunes, shell mounds and shorelines, from North Carolina to Mexico and in the West Indies. It is widely cultivated and naturalized throughout much of the southern US. 

Use Spanish bayonet as an accent behind beds and borders. Plant them in a cluster in a sunny corner of the landscape where they will have room to tumble over and start new plants from offshoots. Place Spanish bayonet in the background, where people and pets won't be skewered! Spanish bayonet may be the ultimate in "security plants" - it can be planted beneath windows and other access points where its fiercely pointed leaves will prevent passage of all interlopers human and otherwise!

Like all members the larger family of Lilies, Spanish Bayonets shoot up an impressive flower spike.

Although the plants require nothing in the way of care, they must be planted away from people because of the dangers the points on the leaves pose.  Sometimes they are used as barrier plantings since nobody gets through these plants without getting stuck!  If you have the room at your Jupiter home or live in Jupiter Farms, you might enjoy these plants and there dramatic flower spikes.  But if you get stuck, don't say I didn't warn you.

Looking for a home in this area?  Unlike many Realtors, I have lived here 21 years and can show you the best values, locations and opportunities.  You can contact me at rsites@bellsouth.net or if you like Skype, you can find me at rsites.  Of course, there is always the phone at 561-762-4073.  

If you want to search the MLS for a home yourself, you can see all homes for sale with every picture in real time at Coastal Florida Real Estate.  And before you leave be sure to subscribe to this blog.



Richard Sites, Realtor



Chinese Fan Palm seed clusters

This time of year, many of our palms are still holding the seeds and dropping them one by one.  Palms are slow to germinate so many times the seeds have percolated deep into the soil before they sprout making them hard to remove.  Our native sabal palm is particularly difficult to remove.

One of the most commonly used palms is the Chinese Fan Palm (Livistonia Chinensis).  They are commonly used as a screen since they are thick and slow growing and because of the ornamental, highly glossy, palmate leaves.

When they produce seeds, they too are quite ornamental.  Take a look at this cluster in the picture below.

To learn more about the fabulous life we enjoy here in Jupiter, Tequesta, Juno Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, follow this blog or hop on over to my website and take a look at the real estate info:  my Coastal Florida website or the videos I've posted at my You Tube channel.  Then send them along to friends.  Or if you need more information on Florida Gardening click more information please.