Be Prepared For Isaac

Central Florida is looking at its first probable tropical storm occurance this weekend with Isaac.  Isaac is Florida's third tropical storm, with the Keys and North Florida experiencing early in the hurricane season, tropical storms Debby and Beryl.

Before Isaac comes across the state or skirts the west coast of Florida, now is the optimum time to prepare your landscape to weather the storm.  Is your house and yard ready for a hurricane? Even if Isaac doesn't directly pass over the state, tornados, gale winds, and subsequent rainbands could cause havoc and damage to your home and landscape.

Here's a preparation checklist for you:

• Keep your eye and ears on the weather.  Check the weather stations frequently or download a weather app to your phone for alerts.  Have plenty of batteries on hand for radios, computers for news.
• Remember your BBQ can be used to cook outside for meals or to make coffee.  Get your camping cookware out.  Have plenty of charcoal or gas on hand.
• Fill your car's gas tank up.
• Turn your irrigation system off now.  We've had plenty of rain over the last few weeks and will be getting frequent rainfall over the next ten days.  You don't want your lawn saturated before the heavy rainbands come through.
• Reschedule all fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticide applications for the next ten days. Any  chemicals put on your lawn now will only be diluted to be effective or swept away with the stormwater runoff.  Don't waste your money!
•  Walk around your home, garage, and  barns to check for secure windows and doors.  Make sure buildings have locks.
• Store any chemical products in airtight containers in sheds or garages, not inside your home.
• Bring in flags and awnings.
• Stake any newly planted landscape material that could snap or bend harshly with winds.
• Store any pool equipment, patio furniture, lawn decorations such as gazing balls, bird baths, door wreaths, real estate signs that could be flung against your house or car.
• Check pool covers to make sure they are secure.
• Before the storm comes through, harvest any fruits or vegetables that are ripe or almost ripe so that you don't lose them. 
• Take your digital camera and walk around house to document "before" photos in case of damage during storm. 
• During the storm, don't park your car underneath any trees.
• Remember, after (if) Isaac goes through and the rain may stop, flooding will continue to occur for several days, as the runoff builds up.  Remove any items in swale areas or near docks as tide, river, and lake levels rise.  Do not drive on roads or streets that you cannot see the surface as areas may have given way.  

For more information:  Florida Disaster Preparation

Keep up with local weather on your radio with My790am.

Stay safe, stay dry, and take any days you have to stay inside to read that book you haven't had time for, play games, have family time.  Be appreciative that with Isaac, we are going to have plenty of rain to get through our dry winter and spring seasons.  Hurricanes and tropicals storms are necessary for the replenishment of our acquifers. 

In Your Backyard: Preparation Is Critical

June 1st signals the first day of hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. This year NOAA has issued their projections of fifteen hurricanes with eight major storms. The hurricane names will be:

1. Hurricane Alex
2. Hurricane Bonnie
3. Hurricane Colin
4. Hurricane Danielle
5. Hurricane Earl
6. Hurricane Fiona
7. Hurricane Gaston
8. Hurricane Hermine
9. Hurricane Igor
10. Hurricane Julia
11. Hurricane Karl
12. Hurricane Lisa
13. Hurricane Matthew
14. Hurricane Nicole
15. Hurricane Otto
16. Hurricane Paula
17. Hurricane Richard
18. Hurricane Shary
19. Hurricane Tomas
20. Hurricane Virginie
21. Hurricane Walter

How many will hit Florida is yet in Fate's hands. But you need to be prepared!

By June 1st, all your preparations to weather a Category 1-5 hurricane should be completed. That means that you have enough food and water to last a few days, that weather stripping and house renovations are finished, and that your landscape and yard have had a walk-through to remove anything that could damage your house or be windblown during a storm.

Have you inspected your trees? Large limbs in older trees that form a vee and deep crotch could be weak and break or mask a hollow interior that will easily uproot with strong winds. Check out any limbs hanging over homes or are growing together. Look closely for heavy limbs that hang over homes, cross or rub together.

It's important to understand that it's not just pruning a tree, or cutting off limbs that will make it safe and healthy. Cutting trees improperly can make them more dangerous in a storm or and actually reduce the life of the tree. Never try to cut large trees yourself. Always use a certified arborist.

A certified arborist is the only person who should help homeowners make a decision on what limbs to prune or if a tree should be removed. You can easily find certified arborists through the International Society of Arborculture. By inputting your zip code, city, you can find several qualified arborists in your area. If you have an arborist's name or license number, you can verify his certification and good standing.

Before hiring an arborist, it's always a good idea to get three bids so that you feel comfortable that the service is actually needed and with the cost. Professionals understand that you will be calling other arborists for bids. That's part of the business. Don't be afraid to say that you need to check them out or get other bids to price check.

The best advice is to make sure that you're planting the right tree in the first place. The University of Florida/IFAS has enough studies that they now have determined which trees are the most wind-resistant. You can read that study here. It will save a lot of work and money in protecting your home during hurricanes if you select properly for your site.

Radio Show: "In Your Backyard"

Back after fabulous opportunity on Garden Writers Association conference trip to Mt. Vernon with a 'personal indulgence' gardening detour to Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina. I shot over 750 photographs of the stately Mt. Vernon gardens in six hours. The best photos will be up in a few days.

Safe travels for snowbird residents who are going back North. Stay in touch, you can still call with your gardening questions and listen to "In Your Backyard" on the Internet. My gardening radio show can be heard on WLBE 790AM or at WLBEradio.com Tuesdays from 11:05am to 12:00pm every week. You do need DSL high speed internet access so that the show buffers correctly.

Hurricane preparedness makes the news at the start of hurricane season June 1st through Sept 31st. Make sure your Florida landscape is ready for the gusts of wind and torrents of rain.

Gardening phone call topics included:

• How much to water and fertilizing newly transplanted palms? Once a day for the first few weeks - if no rain, then twice a week for the first six months, fertilize when you see new growth.
• The few fruit that pollinated falling from squash plants? Nematodes? Could be and could be lack of pollination. Here's some Hand-pollination techniques.
• Oleander toxicity: All parts of the plant are poisonous to touch, taste, and smell.
  Great plant to use in landscape if you don't have chewing children or chewing dogs. Make sure you use gloves and mask during any maintenance.

Time for caladiums to bloom. See great bulbs for spring and fall at Brent & Becky Heath's nursery.




Purple heart, Tradescantia pallida and Caladium spp.

Hurricane Landscaping

June 1st not only heralds in warmer temperatures, afternoon showers, and humid mornings but also hurricanes. Announcements of hurricane season's opening day is a good reminder to check out your landscape to make sure your property doesn't become a hazard during the storms and will ultimately survive.

Hurricane season is June through September, with August and September being the most active period. NOAA is predicting nine to 14 named tropical storms with four to seven turning into hurricanes. We could see one to three becoming Category 3 hurricanes. Last year we had five hurricanes and a relatively mild storm year.

Tropical storms and hurricanes are one of Florida's main influences on our water supply so while they are not something to look forward to - they are necessary.

Brevard County has great advice on how to make sure your landscape is hurricane-proof:

• Right Tree Right Place – by simply planting larger trees away from your home, power lines, and other structures, you greatly reduce the risk of branches or the tree itself falling on your home or knocking down power lines.
• Regular Pruning and Maintenance – assess trees and shrubs for branches that are dying, too large, lopsided, etc. Regular pruning promotes healthy growth, removes dying or diseased limbs, and can reshape the tree to be more resistant to wind damage. [Teresa's note: Make sure anyone working on your trees or providing a bid to prune is a certified arborist in your area. You can go to the International Society of Arborists to verify certification.]
• Choose Wind Resistant Plant Species – After the previous year’s hurricanes, researchers collected data from all over Florida on the number and types of trees that withstood the storms or were blown over.
• Planting in Groups or Masses – when possible, planting groups of mixed trees together can greatly enhance wind resistance. The trees buffer each other as well as your property and other landscape plants.

Be pro-active in your yard - don't wait till a hurricane is brewing in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico. Charges be more costly due to the season and the chances of finding an arborist with an open schedule then will be risky.

Find out how Father Hurricane, a Jesuit was instrumental in hurricane prediction.

I know you've heard of rain lilies, Zephyranthes spp. I bought some beautiful uniquely-colored orange and deep pink rain lilies at Plant Delights Nursery in NC last week. But have you heard of hurricane lilies? They are the Lycoris species in the Amaryllis family with Zephyranthes. Wonderfully pest-free, maintenance free (seriously) hurricane and rain lilies are a great addition to a cottage, woodland, or tropical themed garden.

Surge Or Not To Surge?

Still more controversial studies on global warming increasing hurricanes.

A surge in major Atlantic hurricanes over the last decade -- often cited as evidence of increasing global warming -- may not be a surge at all but a return to normal storm patterns, according to a new study.

Using nearly three centuries of hurricane history recorded in organic storm debris encased in coral reefs, researchers found that the frequency of major hurricanes today was about the same as it was during extended periods from the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s.

"There were periods that were just as active as we see now," said study coauthor Terrence Quinn, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Texas at Austin.

At the same time, the researchers found that the number of major hurricanes from the late 1960s to the early 1990s -- a period that our present cycle is often compared to -- was unusually quiet for storms.