In September, when hurricane Irma was barreling toward Miami-Dade and Broward counties as the most powerful storm in the Atlantic ever recorded, I decided to flee my home and drive north to escape the predicted landfall of category 5 windstorm. I wasn’t working at the time, but I had enough money for fuel and perhaps a hotel room after a overnight at my sister’s place south of Sarasota. My final destination was Ohio as Irma was predicted to go up the Florida peninsula like a weed whacker. I have some family and friends there, and they kindly offered me a place to stay.
Like I said, I wasn’t working so I was fortunate enough to have time to secure the house and save my many orchids and potted plants.
I began to gather the orchids and stage them next to the door to bring inside so that they could ride out the storm in safety. Some orchids that I had mounted on fence posts and trees I peeled off to bring inside as well. There were a few I left mounted, for myriad reasons. Those beauties would have to endure the battering winds as best they could. I expected that there would be total destruction to the garden and my house when I drove off across Alligator Ally and the long drive north.
Over 15 years of living in this house I had replaced a window every now and then to a high impact window. That was completed about 3 years ago, so I did not have to cut my hands and secure steel plates to protect the glass from shattering. I wasn’t a newbie to hurricanes, been through 5 of them and the worst I experienced was Wilma. It was awful and I promised myself I would strengthen the house as much as I could and I would leave if a Cat 2 storm and above approached.
House secured and it was time to pack my small vehicle. Priorities were my two little buddies, Octavia and Zensie. They went into the car along with their carriers and litter box. I brought water, extra fuel and a cooler of food. There wasn’t room for much of anything else. Once I left them out of their carriers they relaxed and handled the drive like troopers. Zensie slept on my lap for the duration of the drive.
Within a couple of hours, my sciatic nerve pain kicked in big time. I wasn’t sure I could make it to Sarasota, but I did, my sister and BIL are snow birds so they were not there. Landfall predictions began to shift from Miami to further west. So the storm followed me. It struck the Keys and a second landfall at Naples and rode up the west coast. It continued to shift and the power of the storm lessened as it did. I stayed at my sisters for a few days because of floods south of me and Alligator Ally was impassable. A friend called me and told me I never lost power at my house. So after the floodwaters subsided, I returned home.
I had little garden damage, the palm trees took a beating and some orchids that I left outside were gone, probably landing in Georgia somewhere. I cut a lot of plants down to the ground as they were shredded, they sent out new shoots and look great now. According to neighbors we had 90 mph winds for many hours as Broward was on the dirty side of the storm. A wrecking ball gust must have slammed the house as I had a shattered wall sculpture all over the floor. But that was it for damage. We mercifully dodged a bullet.
This was my Bismarckia palm. I had planted it way to close to the house and it grew to around 30 or 40 feet, it was messy too, lots of golf ball sized nuts everywhere. The first thing I noticed when I reached my neighborhood was that others that had this tree, now had them leaning on their roofs which caused structural damage and water damage.
My tree was fine, it was protected from the winds somewhat by my neighbors and my house as the winds came from the south east. So it was not flattened like the others I saw. Given the active hurricane season I decided I wanted it removed immediately. Of course, hiring a professional to take it down without damaging my house or my neighbors was going to be expensive, especially after a hurricane when demand is high. I hired a tree specialist. But money was tight. So I had it cut down, but kept the log somewhat intact and left it where it fell. Not having it hauled away saved me a small fortune.
When it come to gardening and you are dealt a lemon, make lemonade I always say. I placed bromeliads and orchids (in their pots) on top of the log and called it a day. I lost the shade the tree provided from the scorching western exposure but I planted a very small crepe myrtle that I had. It will take a while to mature enough to provide some relief from the sun.
x xYouTube VideoThat’s what’s going on in my garden. What is going on in yours?