Wendy's Wanderings

Wendy Wilber

June 7, 2018

Are You Prepared?

June is here and while most of the country is celebrating graduation and preparing for summer vacation, Floridians are preparing for hurricane season. The tax-free shopping days for supplies were June 1-7 and I hope you had a chance to stock up. My battery and flashlight drawers are ready and I will be thinking about my "go bag" contents later, because the phrase "sheltering in place" is equal to "riding the storm out" and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that again.

Luckily for us the season doesn’t usually heat up until a little later in the summer, so now is a perfect time to take stock of your trees and landscape and to get a plan together. The trees that we normally appreciate for their beauty, shade, and ecological services need to be evaluated for their safety and the calculated risk to our home or our neighbor’s homes. Remember to look at the roots, too. The more rooting space that a tree has, the healthier it is, because it can be better anchored to the ground.

UF/IFAS studies have shown that well-maintained and properly pruned trees weather tropical storms better than trees that have not been maintained for wind resistance. The EDIS document How to Minimize Wind Damage in the South Florida Landscape has an explanation of the types of pruning needed to keep a strong, healthy tree. The UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions website also has helpful information on hurricane landscaping.

As always, it boils down to putting the right plant in the right place, and the right place is not on top of my roof. Of course, the UF/IFAS Miami Dade Extension Office has an excellent resource page on hurricane preparedness for before during and after the storms. But the one I'm reading right now is What to Put in your Go Bag.

-- Wendy Wilber


Resources

Return to the June 2018 Neighborhood Gardener