Hurricane Landscaping Tips South Florida Style

Hey y'all, how's it going with you?  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

So in my last post we talked about some basic pruning & trimming practices to get your palms & trees ready for hurricane season.  Well, in this post let's chat about the landscape as a whole.  Hopefully this will help guide you with some basic design criteria for creating a landscape that can not only withstand tropical storms & small category level hurricanes but also deal with our harsh environment.  Though I seriously hope no one believes there would be much landscape still standing after a category 4, 5 or 6 hurricane, trust me. 😂 But with that said, grab a refreshment, find a comfy place to relax and let's get into it!

August 24th 1992 Hurricane Andrew ravaged Miami-Dade county as a category 5. This is our
 house & what was left of our not only our landscape a few weeks after but also our neigborhood.

"RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE"

A fantastic mantra to remember & a great place to start, but what does that mean exactly?  Well it's a simple saying with a potentially huge impact....basically when you are thinking about what to plant make sure you are planting it in a place that not only meets the plants growing requirements but it's also a place where it can grow to it's full potential without becoming a problem.  How tall and wide will the plant get, is it invasive, is it susceptible to pests, how fast or slow does the plant grow, does it grow in full sun or will it need some shade, are there special soil requirements, what shade tree is the best for my yard, how much water does it need, is the plant salt & wind tolerant and is it a high maintenance or low maintenance plant?   Are you planting under powerlines, are there water and/or sewer pipes in the ground where your tree is supposed to be planted, will the roots crack my pool or foundation of my house, will the roots lift my driveway or sidewalk over time, is going to be a problem for my neighbor or is this planter/space too small for these plants, etc.  With questions like these, they will help you find answers ensuring your final placement is successful. 

One of our modern tropical landscape designs

In our industry, I see this quite often, where some so-called "landscaper" sold a home owner on a palm or tree or shrubbery and installed it in a location that it either out grew the space in no time & became a problem and/or the plant died because it didn't have what it needed to survive and/or it has invasive root systems which end up causing issues to the driveway, sidewalk or fence over time.  I've even seen large canopy trees and large palms installed directly under power & cable lines...dat's a no-no if ya don't know-know.   Though most often I see a landscape that was beautiful when it was first installed but the maintenance person didn't know how to take care of it and/or the maintenance crews just 'mow/blow & go' while the landscape gets hacked apart.   I'm sure you're thinking so what do these issues have to do with hurricanes?  Well if a landscape is unhealthy either by poor maintenance and/or have trees/palms planted in the wrong areas or both; there's a greater likely hood of potential damage happening to your property when tropical storms & hurricanes come along.   Unfortunately those plants will topple over way easier than ones with healthy root systems.  For example, the tree with a shallow root system that was planted in the wrong place gets blown over and takes out your fence, your patio screen and lands in the neighbor's pool kind of thing.  Plus now you will have to pay for someone to some remove all the fallen soldiers...aaaannd deal with your neighbor...See where I'm going with this 😉  

Right plant, right place, right properly trained landscaper

FPL's (Florida Power & Light) recommendation

"CALL BEFORE YOU DIG"

For those who are not familiar with what this is, we have a fantastic service here in Florida called "Sunshine 811" or "Call Before You Dig"...& it's free not just for us in the trade but home owners too!

www.sunshine811.com

This goes hand in hand with 'right plant, right place'.   It provides you with a layout as to where your property's utility lines are.  Basically, you call Sunshine 811, give them your information, then the municipalities in your area are sent the notice they need to come mark where their utility lines run.  So for example, you hired a licensed fence contractor to install a new fence. You call Sunshine 811 & the municipalities in your area might be Comcast or ATT for phone & cable, your city for sewer and water, FPL for power and maybe Teco for gas.  They show up, install colored flags (blue for water, etc) and spray paint the same color on the ground/grass/road the location of the lines and the direction where they run on your property.  Now you know where your underground lines are....easy peasy!

Here you can see that FPL (power always in red) and Comcast (cable always in orange)
are marked from the street showing the underground wires buried along the property's perimeter.

"DO YOUR HOMEWORK"

Finding the right plants for your landscape is key.  It doesn't have to be complicated or overwhelming but by doing a little research on your part will certainly help you achieve the landscape of your dreams. Some suggestions to start with are: the internet (gardening websites, YouTube, etc), visit some of your local plant nurseries (stay away from the big box stores) ask questions & look at plants in person, visit and/or email botanical gardens close to where you live (talk to the guides), join a garden club or go to one of their monthly meetings (a great place to pick other gardeners brains), reach out to your local university's horticultural extension office (ours is the University of Florida...Go Gators!), even your state, county and/or city should have what's called an 'urban forestry department' that will have plant recommendations for where you live.  Even some utility companies will have some kind of literature suggesting plant materials.  No one wants to loose power during a storm due to someone's ginormous ficus tree falling and taking out the whole neighborhood's power lines with it...don't be that person.  Healthy plants planted in the right spot can not only weather tropical storms and most low grade hurricanes but also some of the harshest weather our area experiences. 

Especially if you choose wisely my friends! 😉

One of our client's had a challenge as to the amount of sun, wind & salt their 
landscape gets year round.  We installed short hedges as wind breaks to help the
smaller plants thrive.

And let's dig into the last one 😂

"WHAT TYPE OF PLANTS GROW IN MY AREA"

Now those of you who know me by now, y'all know what I'm going to say here, am I right!?  

Start with researching what native flora grows in your area.  The plants that are considered "native" have weathered the test of time in our harsh arid yet subtropical climates.  Now don't get me wrong, your landscape does not have to be all native plants, you can certainly add other tropical plants in with natives to achieve the look you want.  But native plants are the perfect landscape plants here in South Florida to survive our constant barrage of tropical storms & hurricanes.  Start with some of your wish list design elements...for example you want some trees to provide your home some shade & help reduce your power bill.  Look at willow bustic, black ironwood, green or silver buttonwoods, calophyllum, magnolia 'silver mist' or satin leaf.   Or you would like a privacy screening between you & your neighbor.  Look at simpson's stopper, myrtle-on-the-river, myrsine, viburnum obovatum 'Mrs. Schillings delight', cocoplum, coffee, Jamaican caper or wax myrtle.  Or you would like some accent palms in the front of your house, look at cluster palms like MacArthur palms, cabada palms, or solitary palms like hurricane palms, Alexander palm, Madagascar cliff date palm, sabal palm, saw palmetto, licuala palm or cocothrinax varieties.

There is a wonderful website that has a deep data base of native plants & a bio on the plants growth habits aaaannndd all you have to do is input your zip code & it will list all of the natives that should grow well in your area.  How cool is that!!?!

https://regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/default.asp

Data bases like this are a huge help in doing your homework in finding the right plant for the right place.  

One of our most amazing client's has been probably the best steward of their land that I 
know of here in South Florida...I'm sure there are others but, let me just say, people like this are rare.
They made sure all of the existing plants stay healthy while introducing new native species to create a diverse set of plants in this native ecosystem.  People who care about preserving our ancient ecosystems & the native flora species (of course the animals as well) make a massive impact on these ecosystems vitality to our planet's survival.  AKA our survival 😏 So make yourself this kind of person even donating your time to saving our native ecosystems is a huge help!

Thank you so much for sticking around!   I truly appreciate you, because if you are here then you are interested and you care & I love you for that!!! 💚  So in the next post we will go deeper into some of the plants (not just natives) that go hardcore for South Florida and that specifically do very well not only in hurricanes but our harsh conditions.  

Until then, best wishes and happy gardening!

Sheri

xoxo

Hurricane Preparedness for your Landscape

 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.

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)  

A great example of how palms should look like

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.  

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

What's Going On South Florida Style- catching up

Hey ya'll how are ya?  Happy new year...wishing ya'll many blessings, festive events, lots of love and happy moments in 2023!  How were your holidays? Wait OMG are we in March already!?!  Has it been that long since our last hello's?  Dang I'm so sorry ya'll!  Well let's just say one of my new year's resolutions (to be a better blogger) soooo that's been a complete failure.   Since we're both here, let's catch up shall we....our holidays were much different than last year and those were different than the year before.   Seems a few years after our Mom passed away back in 2007 the holidays were different and difficult...yet...cathartic in a way.  To be around family during the holidays can add subtle levels of stress that go unnoticed until one too many cocktails and then...bam Aunt Jolene let her mouth run like a river about family gossip.  Someone got their feelings hurt and someone wasn't invited (on purpose.)  Luckily that neeeeever happened in our family, well ok it did but we don't have an Aunt Jolene.   As time went on since 2007, the holidays seemed to find it's own groove and new traditions emerged along with the birth of new family members.   When our father passed away five years ago in January on his birthday of 2018.  And just like that, the first Christmas holiday of 2019 was difficult all over again.  Though the holidays were wonderful and close knit with family and friends creating unique memorable experiences for everyone involved.  Then "The Covid-19" happened and again another holiday full of new and difficult experiences to explore.  Though I'm pretty certain we weren't the only ones coping with unusual times.  Sooooo enough about my weird holiday experiences, how have you been!?!

South Florida Holiday Season 2023

Since last we spoke, and again many apologizes, soooo much has happened right!?!  I mean let's not even get into what the world is going through with COVID-19 and it's progeny offspring running rampant through the population.  So let's set that conversation to the back burner cause we probably all have an overload of that.  Instead I'll catch you up on what's the hap's around here!  Got lots to talk about.

In a nutshell, we were renting our house, each year I would ask our landlady if she would consider selling.  Each year she said no.  We like our neighborhood so much we figured we'd settle here for a spell until we head for the hills.  The end of summer 2018 she said yes and we closed on the house shortly after in December.  Since then we got crazy with our projects...I mean I honestly think we were crazy!   What were we thinking with the scope of some of these projects, ugh, I'll never know!  But it made sense at the time.  As you well know, we are landscapers by profession so that was the first thing I set to task...the front yard...cause ya'know we gotta represent!  Then we installed new a/c duct work & insulated the attic, we moved the entire vegetable garden (soil and everything) to the south side of the house, knocked out the back screened patio & concrete knee-wall, removed & replaced the metal support columns holding the patio flat deck roof up, had new windows installed, started the backyard landscape, pressure washed the house (which turned into a nightmare story for another time), because of the nightmare pressure wash job we had the house stuccoed, then painted the house once the stucco cured, finished the backyard landscape then a new driveway was the finale in 2022.  Whew!   There's still punch list items like a new garage door, but we need a 'trifecta break' (financial, mental & physical break lol).

Decided to plant a wildflower mix this year in the island.

Good news is I've been documenting everything so I can share some of the projects with ya'll!  The rest we don't want to relive, ha.  What would you like to start with?  The veggie garden?  The landscape? The nightmare pressure wash job?  Or just a general conversation of gardening?  Let me know as I'd love to hear from you.  In the meantime here's a small photo dump of the what's been going on.  Wishing you all well and that you are taking care of yourselves!

Until the next post, much love and happy gardening!

SB

xoxo

Gold gardenia & poinsettas to create a tropical holiday!

Wild flowers

We actually dipped into the 40's, bust out the fire pit!

A detail of our backyard in south Florida winter.