Weekly Garden Tip

August 27, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Many people don’t look forward to September because it’s the month we usually have the highest probability of hurricanes. The last several years have not been kind to area landscapes and many people have lost many of their large trees and shrubs to the several storms which have struck us. Hopefully we will be spared direct hits this year, but in case we do get storms make sure that your landscape is well prepared.

All large tree pruning should have been completed much earlier in the year and shrubs that are overgrown should also be cut back. Smaller plants offer less wind resistance and are less likely to get badly broken up by hurricane force winds.

Many times in the landscape people do severe pruning prior to storms, especially on fast growing plants figuring that the plants will not be ripped from the ground by hurricane winds and they will make a rapid recover which is often the case.

On palms, if you have coconut palms with large clusters of nuts, the nuts should be removed because they can be flying missiles and do significant damage. Large fruits such as grapefruits or large avocados also can be removed by hurricane force winds easily do significant damage.

If you’re doing large cutbacks of landscape materials, check with your local garbage pick up service to make sure that any yard debris will be removed prior to the storm’s arrival. Having a big pile of brush lying at the curb is not a good idea since this will be scattered through the neighborhood and could do significant damage to yourself and neighboring properties.

If you have plants that go down easily in storms, even thunderstorms, make sure that you have material stored so that you can do some restoration quickly after the storm passes. Stakes, tying materials and a supply of pruning tools is essential if you’re going to do a lot of the clean up yourself. Big materials that must be chain sawed should be left to professionals that have the experience to do it right.

If you have questions about landscape preparations for hurricanes or how to restore hurricane damaged landscapes quickly, call the experts, the Palm Beach County Extension Service. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.