This is my idea of lazy landscaping.....these guys wanted a privacy fence between them and their neighbor, but instead of building one, in Florida all you have to do is plant some Thaumatophyllum bipennatifidum (tree philodendron) and you are all set

And, they are beautiful to look at.

They are nice, but unfortunately here very very overused. In the older neighborhoods every house practically has at least one, and they are huge because they were plants sometimes 30 years ago, and in the newer subdivisions with deed restrictions and HOA's where they give you an 'approved plant list for outdoor landscaping' when you buy your house (censorship at its best) they are of course #1 on the list (along with Sago Palms, Mexican Fan Palms, Jelly Palms, Chinese Windmill Palms, and Agapanthus. No unruly unusual interesting plants allowed LOL. Some sub-D's here do not allow COlocasia to be planted because the green form of COlocasia escuelenta is highly invasive here, so they say no colocasia and that rules out the totally cool ones like Mojito, Elepaio, Black Coral etc as well

OMG, Gina !
Another reason I live far, far away - in the country.

Me too. I prefer to be able to plant whatever I like and not have to get anyone;s permission. And if I go a little too long blowing my leaves, getting my house repainted or whatever, I know I won;t be fined by the day. We live on a private road, on the left side of us toward the Nature Preserve is another private road with just 2 houses one on 5 acres one on 15. To the right of us on the other side of a county mandated 30 ft plant buffer zone (probably so we don;t end up strangling the guys over there) is a large LARGE subdivision made up of homes that cost well over $500,000. They are all zero lot line houses with teeny front yards and next to no back yard (the pool and pool cage takes all the back yard). I know a lady who lives in there, she was the mom of a girl in my daughter's elementary school, and when they moved in part of the agreement they had to sign with the HOA was to abide by the HOA-mandated list of acceptable landscaping plants. She told me that there is also a list of acceptable paint colors, no RV's or boats can be parked where seen from the street, the usual Stepford Wives scenario.

'30 foot plant buffer zone'
Gotta love it.
If I lived nearby, I'd probably army-crawl over there at midnight and dig up lawns and plant invaisives.
I know, I know .... it's just better if I'm not near there.

Ha ha Kate the wild boar do that for us! Actually its sad, one guy had the wild boar destroy his yard to the tune of about $10,000 worth of landscaping, and the HOA told him if he didn't 'fix it' they would levy fines against him

HOAs are tyranny at it's finest. Another great reason to live in rural seclusion. I really don't know why they have been allowed to become as powerful and intrusive as they are.