When I bought my fairly large property I wondered why there were so few plants growing there-quite barren. I thought this is semi tropical so it should be quite lush and interesting. The first season I let the gardener that came with the property do the watering and gardening. Then I understood. Virtually all he did was water (in a pecular manner) and since my soil has a lot of clay the plant roots drown/rotted in the soggy soil. The gardener knew very little about plants even though he had worked next door for years where his father had been the gardener for over 30 years. Likewise that property is pretty barren. The only thing that does well there is the grass which he waters to such excess that it drains onto my property. My gardener has since been restricted to digging big holes when needed, using the lawnmower (but not the grass trimmer as he cuts the bark on trees I have planted), raking and sweeping the decks and cutting down high palm palapas.