Take That, Hurricane Ian! Transformation.

Our Garden is Growing Strong

The Tropical Grower is featuring Take That, Hurricane Ian! Transformation this week as we look at some of the major restoration that has taken place in Our Garden over the last 6 months.  Yeah, it’s only been 6 months.  If you haven’t seen the Hurricane damage photos, you can find them at Hurricane Ian Photos, or you can just keep reading.   I’m not going to lie, I don’t like looking through them.  Unfortunately, I had to because this one includes a lot of pics.  Excuse the dry, drought parts.

Hurricane Ian

I called Hurricane Ian, Ivar the Boneless, a mean little bugger with something to prove.  LOL!  It got so bad, I kept forgetting its real name when discussing it outside the family.  There was always an awkward pause while I sorted out the real name in my head.  Self-entertainment sometimes backfires that way, at least for me.

Hurricane Ian made landfall almost exactly 33 miles west of Our Garden with 150 mile an hour sustained winds.  See, a mean little bugger.  It was actually pretty large for a hurricane.  We fared well, Our Garden did not.  For any of you who have been through a storm, you know it shreds the leaves.  Our whole garden looked like all the vegetation had been stuffed in a blender and a layer of coleslaw laid-out over the yard was all that was left.

So, Initial Clean-up

I can tell you what I didn’t want to be doing in the middle of planting my Fall/Winter Crop, Hurricane Clean-up, and there was a ton of it.  Usually the first day or two after a big storm, Our Family immediately jumps into fix mode.  We are an interesting bunch with a wide variety of skill sets.  It comes in handy when nothing is open, they are all damaged by the storm too, and you can’t get anyone out to help, same problem. 

For Ian, Our Family came in waves.  The first day most of us cut up Sleeping Beauty’s Thorn Maze, the original cartoon, or at least, that is what all the big downed trees looked like minus the thorns, mostly.  We secured fences, formed our debris pile out front, cleared walks, set sensitive items upright, untied the secures, you know, the basics.  I also did an assessment of the damages.  While I would have liked to clean-up everything at once, I decided it would work better focusing on a single area at a time, as soon as everything was upright.  

Humanity

Now, I want to mention here there are lots of companies and people who randomly wander out of their houses and drive around to help people cut themselves out of their driveways after a big storm.  Yeah, that happens regularly.  They clear the roads, help move heavy debris for people, just random acts of everyday people exhibiting the best in human nature.  

They go over to their friends and families’ houses and help them.  People with power offer showers to people without.  Cooking Teams clean-out freezers and started making food for random others.  People get out of their cars and direct traffic at stop lights.  Yeah, that was dangerous, don’t do that, but the traffic through the light was the best in the County for a short while.  Basically, there are lots of people helping others in a time of need simply because they’re able and have the time.  It makes me smile.

And you have the opposite, people using their cars to bang other cars out of gas lines because they just get tired of waiting.  Don’t worry, there was a squad of National Guard, guns up, for that guy.  People dumping their debris in their neighbors yard instead of setting it at the curb.  Stealing generators and water.  We saw a fight in a line over free water while handing it out.  Really?  I saw a woman stealing water and food out of others carts in the store.  She was asked to leave.  People are on edge, just been through a trauma, everyone reacts differently.  It’s really hit or miss with people.

Traditional Vegetable & Herb Garden

Our Traditional Vegetable & Herb garden took the biggest hit.  The TV&H was planned and grown under Dawson’s Hong Kong Orchid tree, and most of it was a microclimate until Ian.  It is one of the oldest parts of Our Garden, just to the right, out the lanai door.  So, yeah, we look at it everyday.  

All of it got smashed and flooded, and the whole east side got uprooted when the big surface tree roots settled about 10-12 inches above where they were previously located.  We’ve been repairing it in stages.  This just wasn’t one area, it was several.  It had to be.

Dawson’s Hong Kong Orchid Tree

If you haven’t read the post Righting Downed Trees, Hardwoods, it was all about getting Dawson’s Hong Kong Orchid tree back upright. It was the most important part.  If it wasn’t going back up, the whole garden design would have had to completely change.  

Due to some mighty fine work by My Son, My Oldest Brother, and Hannah, it’s standing tall, and I was ready to add dirt.  Yup, lots of it.  Carts and carts full of compost around the roots, but that wasn’t all.  Every Walkway around the tree was a lumpy bumpy mess under the tattered weed barrier mat, and the Rock Walk at the gate entrance was completely torn up.  Those big roots snaking out from the tree that form the borders for the TV&H beds were the culprits.  I tried to settle and bury those back as much as possible.  Dang.  

So, after packing compost around the tree, I followed the big roots out packing compost around those too.  Ugh.  Because there was such a dip in the bed areas, I had to fill those with more compost, lifting up the plants already in the bed.  Luckily, the lifted plants made it.  The monster Yellow Pear Tomato couldn’t be happier.  I was also lucky I had several compost piles.  

Center Walk

Pack, pack, pack, level, add sand, pack, level, and repeat.  So not fun.  The Center Walk through the TV&H garden took forever.  Days.  Not only does it have to gradually slope away from the tree, it also has to slope both to the east and west to drain properly.  Yeah, lots of the drainage had to be reworked.  All this while feeling level when you walk on it.  Think, super heavy use with buckets.

Trying to move the weed barrier mat along the Walkways is always problematic.  There are numerous layers, better to add new on top of old instead of remove.  The Center Walk has been there a really long time, and it is thick.  I had to use my extra grower muscles.  There was also the matter of sand to be hauled.  While I did get it level and draining properly, there has been some settling.  A little fine tuning is still on the list for this area.  

Rock Walkway

About 2 years ago, I added a Rock Walkway to the TV&H’s gated entrance.  Trying to make it more accessible for My Mom, I leveled out the area into easy small steps and mortared-in some small rock I reclaimed from the yard.  The mortar was for me because the area sees bunches of vegetation and I wanted to sweep it, not loose rock.  Unfortunately, the rock was completely torn up.  I had to gather it all back up to live in pots until I’m ready to place it again.  And there were no more easy small steps, just roots.

After the initial layer of compost around the tree had settled, about 2 months, I went and jumped all over it, adding more compost after it was weeded.  I waited another 2 months, compacted, weeded, and added sand.  So much sand.  I raised the walkway to a gradual slope into the garden after a small step.  It’s settling now.  If I have to add more sand, it will be after the rainy season before I get the rock back in place, and I will have to cover it with weed barrier mat to stop any erosion.  Dang.  If you’re Growing Tropical, you should never mortar during the rainy season.  It needs 24 hours to cure.  Besides the daily rains, the humidity is really too high to get fully dry.

Tree Base

Of course the tree base needed to be totally redone.  A whole new mound, a really big one, was necessary to hold the tree.  The beds were reworked into the new areas around the mound base.  I’m still messing with these, trying to determine if it’s going to grow a new root on the west side where the braces were buried.  We’re having an issue with weeds while I figure it out.  Fresh, rich, well drained soil, lots of it was added for the new mound.  It was basically like asking weeds to grow there.

On the north side where one of the big roots was severed, there is a great deal of compost climbing up the mound and interspersed with the tree.  Yup, weeds.  Buggers.  To combat the problem, I added a layer of moss to only the soil areas, not on the bark.  Hopefully, it will help with the weed problem, and it looks lovely in the gateway.

Gateway

Yeah, the gate took a beating and needs to be painted.  It really isn’t the priority.  Neither is the fencing which was badly mangled.  It’s up, and that is what is important at the moment. 

However, when I reworked the Rock Walk, I did not have enough width at the entrance.  Our rosemary bush lived there.  I moved the rosemary into the garden and converted the pot it has been so happy living in, to a raised container.  I cut the bottom out and set it on its own big ole mound of compost.  The roots had been seeking more space.  It should be happy there.

On the other side, I added a new recycled pot.  The pot can be changed, but I used the moss to fill in the area around it.  I’d like to see if I can grow a continual lavender plant there.  Lavender is a very difficult grow here in our tropical zone.  One season, no problem.  More than one, super hard. I’ve killed a whole lot of these. We’ll have to wait until Dawson’s tree has a few more branches before lavender can live there.

Lettuce Bed

The Lettuce Bed got crushed too.  In fact the whole west side of the TV&H garden, which we refer to as the extended area, was crushed by the big stuff coming down.  I’m not going to lie, I left all this alone for quite awhile.  It just seemed too much.  

A couple of years ago, I built a raised bed using some pallets we got when we redid the kitchen.  I’ve grown several things in here like broccoli, cabbage, herbs, and lettuce.  Mostly, this bed ends up growing lettuce.  It likes it here during the late spring and even into summer.  This year, without the shade of the tree, I’m wondering if anything will make it.

Since the pallets were toast, I collected some of the cut branches from the Bottlebrush tree.  It has a nice deep striped bark that looked nice, and I used them for the borders.  This whole area still needs work, but it will have to wait until the fall.  For now, I have a bed I can plant.

South American Tree Walk

One of the renovations I made to Our Garden when I first took it over was a walk around the backside of the South American tree, sloped down in a curve to the bottom of the drainage ditch.  It provided much needed access to the back of the shed.  At the time, the walk beside the shed had bees as there was a beehive there, 3 of them actually.  Best to avoid those unless you plan on getting rid of them.  We like bees, so I made a new walk. The bees didn’t get moved until we demoed the old shed.

The erosion in this back walk area of the drainage ditch was horrific.  While the South American tree always has exposed surface roots, not all the roots should be exposed in the back.  I was stepping on ground that turned into holes.  Not good.  I’ve packed and packed compost, settled and settled.  It is still a work in progress.  I’m planning on more sand and most likely a layer of rock to help keep everything in place.  

Front Drainage Berm Bed

Next to the South American tree, we have a bed that sits on the top edge of the drainage ditch.  Its whole purpose is to provide ground level screening, preferably with a pop of color.  Purple Salvia was planted in the front, Streamside Spider Lilies in the back.  The Salvia and any hope of seeds was washed or rotted away.  The Lilies’ leaves were all damaged next to the thorny bougainvillea.  The roots that formed the bed borders were exposed to the point I would consider them unburied.  It was not looking good, but it did still have a layer of natural compost, most of it from the storm.

I pushed all the natural composting, leaves, sticks, and such to the side and added lots of compost.  Then, I carted sand to place on top of the compost in the back to help hold everything in place next to the root.  I filled the front to level with compost.  Then, I pushed all the natural composting back out evenly over the bed.  Finally, I added perennial Zone 10 garlic bulbs across the front.  My hope is the bulbs will do better than seeding flowers in this bed since there is a risk of everything washing away.  We’ll see.

Australian Umbrella Tree & Plantain Bed

On private site inspections, I often find plants.  A couple of years ago I happened to find a small Australian Umbrella Tree in an area slated to be cleared for a lake.  Bonus.  We had two very mature, quite large ones in Our Garden before Hurricane Irma.  When I found it, it was a gift.  It would die if I left it.  So, I took it home and planted it in its forever home last June, where it lived happily until Hurricane Ian blew it over.  It’s currently a stump, waiting on a confirmed kill.

The whole bed was underwater for most of our flooding.  The log borders found new locations where they disintegrated into peat.  The bed had a Boney Finger Philodendron for years.  It fell over, and I replanted it in a new location.  I was hoping the remaining part would come back, not the case.  I used the logs for new borders on the backside of the bed and added some additional logs around it to hold in the Plantains that will eventually take over the area the Boney Finger Vacated.  They are just waiting for rain to get happy.  

The good news is when I was out in our natural area, I found another young Umbrella tree, growing native (or from previous brush thrown over the fence, who knows, the boys get crazy sometimes).  It’s in the nursery ready to be planted or replace the stump if it doesn’t come back.  Another gift.  Let’s hope this one lasts a little longer.  

Back Drainage Berms and Beds

Obviously, we had lots of erosion and damage to the area next to the drainage ditch.  I need to account for more water.  Those are just the facts.  The back area was not fully done.  I’ve been working on it for the last year.  The pepper bushes are a constant battle at the fence lines, and this area next to the drainage ditch is particularly difficult.  It was a slow go before the storm.

Along the back drainage ditch, we lost one of our White Birds of Paradise.  There were 2 in this area.  They had never done well because they were fighting with the pepper bushes coming over the fence.  I got the bushes back over the fence the Christmas before last, and the bushy plants were just starting to grow properly.  I also lost, or am pretty sure I lost, the young Hong Kong Orchid tree I just graduated from the nursery.  The new Tree Beds and Berms were all blown out with the log borders disintegrating.  It was a great deal of work, just gone.

I’ve been slowly reconstructing both the beds and berms as I cut the right size branches.  I have a bunch I just cleaned of leaves and small branches. They need to be cut to size for the beds and berms.  Until then, it looks like an abstract tree laying in the yard.  Maybe I’ll skip the new borders and just call it art.  LOL! 

Cage Match

Because The Cage Match is a whole area, it is hard to see the amount of damage that was done unless you’re used to seeing it. I’m sort-of getting used to it now.  There was a complete collapse in one center area and at the tunnel exit where the White Birds of Paradise trees came down.  These are heavy, I can attest.  You can read the post about Righting Downed Trees, Palm Trees, if you’re in doubt.  I removed 5 White Birds of Paradise trees off the top and wedged into the mix.

We lost most of the Spanish Bayonet Yucca off the top, and I had to cut a bunch of it off the sides, fallen. They’re top heavy.  The mature Schefflera branches growing with the White Birds of Paradise either came down, bent over, or are sticking weirdly in the air.  The Bougainvillea and Dragon Fruit have taken full advantage of the freed-up space and are growing like crazy. I’m still hoping I won’t have to cut them back, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a mind lie.

Hacking, Shaping, and Training

The Rule of Thumb with the Cage Match at this point is it’s shaped, not hacked.  There has definitely been hacking, shaping, retraining, and completely removing since the storm.  It’s a long process, training big branches to do what they’re told.  You set them up, let them grow, and train some more, or cut if they are being uncooperative.  Think, a Bonsai the size of your living room. There are still random branches I haven’t figured out what to do with. It will go faster once the rains start.  

The Good News

The Good News is I’ve got the ‘roof’ up higher in the front area so Hannah and My Son can walk through it.  The bad news is it is taking forever, and I have these periods of having to remember to duck in certain areas.  I don’t always remember.  I got a bougainvillea branch to the forehead the other day.  Ouch!

Schefflera and Jasmine Arch

At the right side of the pool entrance, a big Schefflera tree grows.  I’ve been training the branches to shade the Orchid fence and form one side of the Jasmine Arch.  Hurricane Ian pulled the whole thing half out of the ground, and it is never going back to its previous spot.  So, I buried as many roots as possible and called it good.  It is so sturdy and happy here, it just immediately started growing again from the new position.  I repositioned the branches back over the Orchid fence, and it seems to be doing great.

The Jasmine Arch which is a recycled pool umbrella stand, we go through pool umbrellas every 2 or 3 years, fell over.  It did not damage the Jasmine roots.  Yea!  Even with the bug problem I’ve been fighting since the storm, the Jasmine is making its way up the stand just like nothing ever happened.  The Ligustrum tree, also in this area, did not fair as well.  It is brown and dead looking, no green leaves.  Since it is a tree, I will wait until after the next rainy season to call it, but it isn’t looking good.  I just got that thing healthy and growing again.  The Schefflera was choking it when I took over Our Garden.  Dang.  

Tree in Back Fence

Cutting the Scrub Oak and accompanying vines and pepper bush that came down over the fence, the top landing in the Cabbage Palm Grove, was not fun.  I can’t tell you how many weekends I worked on it.  Scrub Oak is known for its thick prickly branches.  I swear this thing is like a brier patch, without the big thorns, in tree form.  It’s grown in our natural buffer since before we owned it and acts as a windbreak for the yard.  It’s a big tree. Or it was, I have no idea if what My Son left will survive or even grow in that position. Maybe.

Group Effort

Getting it off the fence was a group effort.  I spent months cutting all the branches, vines, and pepper bush below head level, My Son’s not mine, out of the clearing.  It was nice and shady in there for a while. 

Then, I jumped the fence and cleared out the mess of vines and pepper bush, enough to get to the tree.  I hacked the entire area, properly, just like how the agencies require hand clearing wetlands.  In case you’re wondering, that consists of cutting branches in less than 3 foot sections and allowing them to fall to the ground.  This creates a natural layer of compost and eventually the rich Black Sand tropicals love. You’re also removing vines and pepper bushes which choke-out the other vegetation. This is all about best maintenance practices of natural areas. We want healthy natural Florida in this area. I wish I had more time to do it.       

Second Shift

My Son and Hannah came over and cut up the trunk and removed all the remaining high branches from the Cabbage Palm Grove.  The big branches I have been using as borders, the trunk pieces still need to be moved to the drying area.  I’m not going to lie, there are still trunk pieces laying around in sort-of piles at different locations around Our Garden.  They’re heavy, and I don’t look forward to carting them to the back.  So, I do it less frequently than I should.  In fact, they should all be in the drying area at this point, and I want to call myself lazy.  Chuckling, it’s true. 

Shaping and Cleaning

You cannot imagine the number of small branches around the yard and the vegetation.  There was a ton of just random clean-up.  Leaves gathered for compost or into the natural beds.  Sticks and branches picked up.  Trees straightened and staked.  Rock and shell areas moved back and devegetated.  The weeds.  The bugs.  The silt.  I felt like the Garden Maid.  But eventually, things started looking manicured.

Small Wins

It’s good to recognize the small wins. Hannah had to cut the Bougainvillea by the house back to the main bare branches the day after Hurricane Ian.  It fell onto the patio during the storm.  It came back big and fell over again in Jan.  I had to take out half the main old growth, and it came back again. My Mom says it can’t be killed, an immortal, I guess. I’m rooting what I cut to plant in the area our neighbor illegally cleared.  So, Take That Hurricane Ian, Transformation happening.

The Ligustrum tree that fell into the shell circle was uprighted and braced with an Anniversary Tree log, sadly cut from the split main trunk.  The log rooted, and I plan to dig it up and replant in June.  New Purple Hong Kong Orchid tree. I’ll have to find another brace, but this Ligustrum Tree is snuggling back into its place just fine.

My Son and Hannah

The top of the South American tree came off and landed in our yard.  It landed so hard one of the branches impaled itself into the ground.  It was a big round branch, and it was buried deep.  I worked on that thing for months, every time I walked by, knowing I needed to use the shovel to dig it up.  Ugh!  My Son and I were walking through the yard one day, and he saw it.  He kicked it twice, and it shattered.  Reaching down, he pulled up the couple of pieces above ground and threw them on the pile.  I was dumbfounded, then extremely pleased. 

Both he and Hannah have been over several times to help with things I simply cannot do, like I was too short to reach the couple of soffits that came out during the storm.  My Son removed our neighbor’s mature Queen Palm from Our Garden when they shoved it over their fence after the storm.  It was simply too heavy for me to even drag which is probably why they “disposed of it” into our yard instead of taking it to the curb.  Gotta love people.

My Deepest Thanks

But my deepest thanks goes out to My Brother who tirelessly came over and helped me do the things I couldn’t even when he had his own stuff to do . . . even when we disagreed.  He isn’t even a grower, but I’m working on him.  It’s in his blood.

All and All

Our Garden is lovely.  It actually started looking pretty good in Dec/Jan.  Super hard cuts are not bad for tropical plants, it’s part of their natural cycle.  While I absolutely do not enjoy cleaning it up or losing plants, I know where I live and why I grow here.  Come the end of the next rainy season, there will only be small clues of the damage Hurricane Ian brought.  It’s just Growing Tropical.