Hey Y'all, so glad you're here!
Dang, did you see that storm that rolled through last night! WOW! Speaking of storms, today we are talking about landscapes and hurricanes...and for those of you new to south Florida, welcome, bienvenidos, and bienvenue. If you are not familiar with south Florida weather, well heck you're in for a grand surprise, cause it's unpredictably predictable or predictably unpredictable, take your pick. But what you can be sure of is...at some point, we will have high winds, drought, 'everyday rain', thunder storms, thunder & lightening storms, heat lightening, sun showers, water spouts, extreme UV sun with not a cloud in the blue bird sky, extreme UV with total cloud coverage, scattered showers, rainbows, mist, rain on one side of the street while dry on the other side of the street, humidity that will make you swear you're wearing a wet sweater, no joke heat temperatures that will send you to the ER lickity split aaannnnd the piece de resistance...hurricanes. Newly added to this glorious line up of our weather phenomenon's is flooding and tornadoes. For the first time ever, last year on October 9, 2024, Hurricane Milton produce approx. 100+ tornadoes within the hurricane's parameters. It formed in the Gulf of Mexico, moved across open waters, made landfall on the west coast of Florida & crawled across to the east coast. Producing massive destruction from just the tornadoes alone. Though what you can't be sure of is when and/or where any of these (albeit combinations of these) will happen. One day we may have a forecasted 15% chance of rain yet it monsoons for hours in the morning with flash flood warnings then sunny in the afternoon and dry as a bone.
So go figure, welcome to Florida!
Unlike our unpredictable weather, hurricanes do have a timeline...this timeline is extremely important to us so Floridians can properly prepare. And when I say properly prepare, it's not waiting until the last minute because you think it's going to make a miraculous turn north, then freak out and buy all the toilet paper and plastic water bottles because "it's heading right for us!"...you know who you are 😉
During this time of year we recommend to all of our landscape clientele to get a good pruning schedule going especially if they haven't started. It's important for some proper trimming to happen before we are in the thick of it. And if you don't know what "in the thick of it" means...well it's is when everyone wants their coconuts (aka flying rockets) removed out of their palms & off their property and their trees trimmed away from their houses ASAP because your lack of accountability is our priority am I right?! And let's be honest, it's because they didn't want to spend the money along the way and now everyone is panicking. So don't be that slack Floridian. Also don't be that Floridian that removes their landscape because they don't want to pay to maintain it...I would suggest moving to NYC or LA before your neighbors and wildlife hate you. So yes, now is a good time to have a professionally trained ISA tree trimmer (aka me 😉) to properly trim your palms & trees. Find someone you trust who respects & appreciates your landscape as much as you do.
How do we prepare our landscapes for hurricane season here in south Florida?
Glad you asked. Here's a few tips to help you get going.
If you are interested in trimming your trees, my first suggestion is to open the canopy for high winds to move through easier rather than hitting that brick wall of a thick tree canopy which can push the entire tree over due to being top-heavy. By removing certain branches and trunks it will create more open spaces for wind to move through the canopy allowing the tree root system to say "I got this!" "Si se puede!" This also helps promote a proper healthy growth habit since limbs that might have been diseased, crossing over, broken, etc were removed in the process. Second is, if it's necessary, reduce the overall size of the tree canopy. This also helps reduce the weight at the top of the tree. We call this canopy reduction or corrective pruning, which all trees need from time to time to promote healthy new growth. Most people don't know all this but now you do, so spread the word.
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| You can see how top heavy this oak is |
If your interested in trimming your palms, my first suggestion, wait no...my plea to you is, please do not allow the palms to be over pruned. And when I say over pruned, well... just look at the pictures, sigh. For a proper palm pruning, the palm fronds should always be around 9 and 3 (when referring to the hands on a clock.) Never ever should palms be trimmed higher than that, NO 10 & 2, NO 11 & 1, NO MIGNIGHT! Especially never allow your palms to be trimmed like that on a regular basis. It depletes the nutrients the palms need to survive. The older fronds are the lower fronds, those fronds hold the most nutrients which the palm relies upon for healthy growth. When those fronds are constantly removed, the palms health declines over time. Uh-hem y'all maintenance peeps, just stop that nonsense! Even if someone says oh yeah you can "hurricane cut" them, it's fine, they'll grow back...No, no you shouldn't. There is no such thing...just say thanks but no thanks & allow them to drive on down the road. (First just tell your neighbors down the road to say no as well)
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| A great example of how palms should look like |
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| A prime example of what not to do, poor thing! |
A professionally trained ISA (aka what we used to call licensed, don't get started on this, ugh)) tree trimmers will suggest what your trees & palms may or may not need. Never will a professionally trained trimmer suggest hacking, over lifting trees, hurricane cutting your palms or lollipopping your medium to large canopy trees. If they do, they ain't a profesh & y'all know what to do...yes, send them on down the road & tell your neighbors and friends not to use them.
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Lollipopping at it's finest, just look at the trunk diameter
to it's "canopy" size, tsk tsk...over time the tree will decline |
Side note here & yes I'm gonna get on my soapbox for this, so hold on for a sec....Please, please, please I implore you, do not hire the people that drive through the neighborhoods, knocking on doors telling you they can trim your palms for cheapy cheap. There's a reason for that. I know first hand that most of them have no idea how to properly prune palms (hence the cheap part) & if they can't even trim a palm properly, don't you dare let them touch your tree! And almost always they won't be insured, so if one of them door-knockers falls off their ladder and is injured on your property...yes they can sue you! Google it. So please when looking to hire a properly trained tree trimmer, here are a few questions to ask: what type of training do they have, their years of experience, are they properly trained to the current industry standards, references so you can see their work (proof is in the work) and do they have liability insurance.
Hey no one is perfect, if they don't check off every box no sweat, but if you aren't comfortable with their answers, what do we do? Tell them and the door knockers, thanks but no thanks. Find someone you trust that will respect and appreciate your landscape as much as you do.
So there you have it...a few easy basic principles to start off your pruning and trimming journey. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, I'd be glad to help if I can.
Well with all this prep talk, the next post is going to bounce off of this one with 'what type of landscape plants for a hurricane garden.' Aaaaannnd y'all know what I'm going to say right?!? LOL you know me so well by now...yes, yes, two things, 1st - "right plant, right place" & 2nd - use native plants as much as you can! So subscribe to my blog as this will be in another deep dive post full of nuggets of info you won't want to miss!
Happy Gardening Y'all & Keep Florida Wild!
With much love and best wishes,
Sheri
XOXO
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