C.J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Tropical Landscaping Ideas: Post Hurricane Ian
If you are thinking about updating your landscaping this year, we have some ideas for you! After our home and yard went through flood waters and almost 170 mph wind gusts from Hurricane Ian in September 2022, we had no choice but to update our landscaping.
Our yard, the day in January we arrived back to Sanibel after Ian
After spending a month cleaning up the yard ourselves (the prices people were quoting for cleanup alone ranged from $4,000 to $9,000 with no tree removal), we finally got to the point of being able to add new landscaping.
Our yard, March 2023, post Hurricane Ian
During cleanup, we removed boxes of shingles, trash, nails, tar paper, wire and so much more, so we understand how big of a job it was, but we just couldn’t fathom paying those ridiculous prices when we are able bodied enough to do it ourselves. The cleaning was actually a bit therapeutic.
Our Sanibel Island house
We took the money we saved ourselves from cleanup and parlayed it into hiring a company to help with the tree removal and landscaping. We liked how our yard was before the storm, so we kept mostly the same design, with adding a few new touches.
We revived this planter we found in the trash at our previous home in Kentucky. See how we did it via the video below or on our YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
Our new clusia bushes
The crew had to remove a dead palm, and several other trees and bushes that did not survive the salty air and flood waters that Hurricane Ian brought to Sanibel Island. Sanibel’s government is very well known to be very particular about what you do to your yard.
Our tropical front porch update post Hurricane Ian via our Pinterest
Many residents don’t do everything recommended, but the city can actually fine you if you do not have a certain percentage of your yard covered with native plants. It was quite understandable after seeing what Ian did to many landscapes. Many non-native plant species were instantly killed by the salt and freshwater mix that flooded Sanibel Island.
Our coke bottle palm miraculously survived
The plants and trees that survived the best were the ones native to Southwest Florida. If you’d like your yard to survive a natural weather event like a flood or heavy rains, you should consider planting many things that are native to your particular weather environment. This mostly works, but is not a 100% guarantee.
See the quick video reveal of our Sanibel yard below:
Our new seashell gravel landscaping
While the city does not recommend sod or shells (they prefer native ground covers), our grass and shells held up decently. We had the landscaping company add them back to our front yard, as they were looking pretty sparse before the storm anyways. Shells are a nice tropical landscaping touch and are often used in lieu of gravel or mulch.
Our siding was blown from one side of our house during Ian
We did not have shells along the side or back of our home, but since I wanted them pre-Ian, we took this chance to add them. We had the landscapers put shells along our pool cage as well since the rain usually splashes tons of sandy soil into the pool area, so I figured the shells would help that stop happening.
Our water fountain in our Sanibel yard
My husband loves a water feature, and we were fortunate our water fountain survived Hurricane Ian. It wiped away an entire side of our siding, but the fountain remained untouched. We believe the house shielded it from the winds. We added a new pump to it and it worked perfectly once again.
Our water fountain worked after adding a new pump
We left our entire side yard without shells or new grass to adhere to the percentage of native plant coverage wanted by the city. The landscaping crew told us the grass would naturally fill back in once the rainy season starts again, and it actually has spread well just since we arrived back at our home in January 2023 after a 4-month evacuation with family in Indiana.
Our RV sits in our wide driveway next to our side yard
Our cardboard palm/bush should have survived (due to it being native) but it did not. We added some large bromeliads in its place to get some color back into the yard. Some ornamental grasses survived, some did not. All of our cactus plants survived. The storm’s damage was definitely not consistent.
Our poor screw pines helped save our pool cage
All our native sea grape trees did perfect as well as almost every single type of palm. We had two palms lean way far over from the storm, and due to the leaning, one died, so we had them removed. We had some screw pines that saved our pool cage from lifting off the ground. They acted like a barrier to the wind in many ways. They were not native, but some survived. We had the landscapers cut them back and clean them up so they can hopefully regrow.
Native planting tends to need less maintenance. We plan to add some beach sunflowers to the area around the screw pines to add color with some flowering plants for the bees and butterflies. We had the landscapers add some more clusia bushes to our front yard, as they all survived but one.
We still have lots of screens to replace by the pool
We still have a lot of work to do but have accomplished a lot in a month and a half after being back from our 4-month evacuation in Indiana. We have to get a new roof still, new siding, new screening and remediate some interior damage. Overall, though, we are still very thankful to even have a house standing. As one neighbor told us, the landscaping made the house look like a hurricane never occurred, and that was exactly my plan.
Hiring a landscaping company can be expensive, so we researched doing it ourselves, contracting it out to several people, or hiring one company. We opted to use one company after doing the price comparisons and putting value into our time, as we have lots of work we can more easily accomplish ourselves like painting and small interior repairs.
We then got several estimates from companies after driving around the island and looking at their work. Seeing their work in person serves as sort of a business card or a portfolio, and that can be very helpful when making a final decision. The landscaper actually brought by one of his clients to get ideas from our design. We also chose the landscaper because he was kind and was highly communicative. That alone can be worth way more than money in my opinion.
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C.J. (Carolyn) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.