Hurricane Ian Aftermath in the World's Smallest Jungle

[PalmatierMeg]

Another photo tour of Hurricane Ian's evil doings on the Isabelle Canal in Cape Coral. I had established what I believe to be the world's smallest jungle in our back yard complete with jungle trail overlooking the now placid water of the canal. I managed to fill it with many tropical palms, most of them the crownshafted darlings of palm lovers' dreams. Genera planted included Archonotophoenix, Veitchia, Chamaedorea, Kentiopsis, Chambeyronia, Dypsis, Carpoxylon, Ravenea, Ptychosperma and Areca. Ian pretty much tore up the place. My south-facing jungle helped shield the back lanai and house and I'd hoped the dense plantings would protect one another. But even strong palms, i.e., 50' Veitchia joannis, have trouble withstanding 12-14 hours in the eyewall of a cat 4/5 hurricane. The good news is that while our bird cage lost half its screening and a broken strut, the main house did fine. The jungle, alas, did not and now I have glaring sun beating down on survivors, including what's left of my container garden. Most of the photos look like a jumbled mass of vegetation but these were once vibrant, beautiful palms.

World's Smallest Jungle after Ian - Cape Coral, FL, Oct. 2022

[D. Morrowii]

Wow! What can you say? Sorry to see this @PalmatierMegI cant imagine what it must be like to have so many years invested in a beautiful garden like yours and have it ravaged in just a few hours. I feel horrible every time I loose a small container palm. Hopefully you can pull most of the wounded out of the carnage and put them on the road to recovery.
I picked up a 6x100’ roll of shade cloth a few months ago for around $70 on Amazon. Not sure if your newly exposed leafery is reachable to benefit from it or not Its under “windscreen supply co”  

Good luck with everything

[tinman10101]

im so sorry for your garden loss meg.  as you know and i can tell, your house and health and loved ones comes first and in that respect, i am glad that proved true.  in any case, i know how catastrophic hurricanes are since i am from miami and rode out hurricane andrew in 1992.  i remember seeing everything that is green leveled or snapped.  i know your resilience and love for palms will rebound and in a year, it would be your own oasis jungle again.  maybe as not so dense but it is still your private oasis that we will all envy and drool over everytime you post.  

thank you for taking the time to post and document the aftermath. hopefully in one year, you will look back and see what amazing progress your jungle garden has done since.  

cheers

tin

[ahosey01]

Any interesting survival stories or surprising losses?  Like "Oh wow, I really didn't think that could withstand those winds?" or "Oh I definitely expected that to be stronger..."??

[PalmatierMeg]

14 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

Any interesting survival stories or surprising losses?  Like "Oh wow, I really didn't think that could withstand those winds?" or "Oh I definitely expected that to be stronger..."??

I will go into detail on that later. Off the top of my head

1. Dypsis pembana's Achilles' heel is high winds. Out of 3 multi-stemmed pembanas I lost all but one stem in the back yard. The other stems snapped close to the ground. All of them survived Irma's cat 2/3 winds but Ian's cat 4/5 winds were lethal.

2. I lost my last two juvenile Beccariophoenix alfredii the same way as I lost the first to Irma: all of them were torn off their growing plates when they were blown over. No coming back from that. Any storm cat 3 or more is a major drawback for them. No more alfredii for me. One B. madagascariensis in the back yard survives.

3. I can't recommend planting any tropical non-palm tree if your neighborhood is prone to devastating wind storms. That includes royal poincianas, mahoe trees, snakewood trees, large Ficus, eucalyptus of any species, silk floss trees. If you insist on growing them make sure they are placed far from any buildings then expect them to be uprooted or destroyed by any winds exceeding cat 2 strength. And when they fall, expect them to crush anything beneath them, including palms. I think I lost my only Tahina to a falling tree. And their invasive roots will be long term trip hazards unless you dig them up.

4. All my various Sabals came through Ian with only a few broken fronds.

5. Bismarckias can take up to cat 2/3 winds. Beyond that, watch out. I lost 4 of 6 Bizzies outright. I'm replacing them with Sabals.

6. Archonotophoenix cunninghamiana is a total wimp and hazard in strong winds. I lost 10-12 piccabeens to Ian. Only my behemoth in the jungle survived. I have all the other species of Archies and lost none.

7. Pleasant surprises: Hyophorbe verschaffeltii - both of ours had nary a frond out of place; Coccothrinax argentata - what hurricane?; Latania loddigesii & lontaroides - almost untouched

8. All 3 of My in-ground Areca catechu dwarfs survived almost unscathed. Whether they survive the FL sun next spring is another matter.

[The Palm Nut]

Sorry to hear about your loss, it takes a lot of dedication, time and effort to get your jungle to a stage when you can relax a little and just enjoy the atmosphere it gives.

It's hard to imagine the winds of a cat 4 and what would really happen if you found yourself dealing with it.  As you recover your jungle your approach to rebuilding it will be different, that is valuable experience looking to the future.  Good luck and I look forward to seeing your progress and the regrowth on future posts.

Cheers

Mike

[D. Morrowii]

55 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I will go into detail on that later. Off the top of my head

1. Dypsis pembana's Achilles' heel is high winds. Out of 3 multi-stemmed pembanas I lost all but one stem in the back yard. The other stems snapped close to the ground. All of them survived Irma's cat 2/3 winds but Ian's cat 4/5 winds were lethal.

2. I lost my last two juvenile Beccariophoenix alfredii the same way as I lost the first to Irma: all of them were torn off their growing plates when they were blown over. No coming back from that. Any storm cat 3 or more is a major drawback for them. No more alfredii for me. One B. madagascariensis in the back yard survives.

3. I can't recommend planting any tropical non-palm tree if your neighborhood is prone to devastating wind storms. That includes royal poincianas, mahoe trees, snakewood trees, large Ficus, eucalyptus of any species, silk floss trees. If you insist on growing them make sure they are placed far from any buildings then expect them to be uprooted or destroyed by any winds exceeding cat 2 strength. And when they fall, expect them to crush anything beneath them, including palms. I think I lost my only Tahina to a falling tree. And their invasive roots will be long term trip hazards unless you dig them up.

4. All my various Sabals came through Ian with only a few broken fronds.

5. Bismarckias can take up to cat 2/3 winds. Beyond that, watch out. I lost 4 of 6 Bizzies outright. I'm replacing them with Sabals.

6. Archonotophoenix cunninghamiana is a total wimp and hazard in strong winds. I lost 10-12 piccabeens to Ian. Only my behemoth in the jungle survived. I have all the other species of Archies and lost none.

7. Pleasant surprises: Hyophorbe verschaffeltii - both of ours had nary a frond out of place; Coccothrinax argentata - what hurricane?; Latania loddigesii & lontaroides - almost untouched

8. All 3 of My in-ground Areca catechu dwarfs survived almost unscathed. Whether they survive the FL sun next spring is another matter.

I almost hate to ask but how did your Kentiopsis fare? I recently heard they can’t take high winds. 

[96720]

Do you have any Dictyosperma if so how did they do? How cold do you get I have a Areca catechu dwarf and am worried about  the cold I can tell you they don’t like sun I planted mine on the south edge of my jungle hoping the sun would warm it up quickly in the winter but any frond that gets the slightest glimpse of sun burns probably need shade cloth for them until some overhead protection grows back. It is heartbreaking to view the pictures of the damage!!!

[Looking Glass]

13 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

I almost hate to ask but how did your Kentiopsis fare? I recently heard they can’t take high winds. 

They don’t look that bad in the pics.

7 hours ago, 96720 said:

Do you have any Dictyosperma if so how did they do? How cold do you get I have a Areca catechu dwarf and am worried about  the cold I can tell you they don’t like sun I planted mine on the south edge of my jungle hoping the sun would warm it up quickly in the winter but any frond that gets the slightest glimpse of sun burns probably need shade cloth for them until some overhead protection grows back. It is heartbreaking to view the pictures of the damage!!!

Dictyosperma, contrary to their nickname “Hurricane Palm”, aren’t superstars in hurricanes anecdotally.  They topple in super strong winds.  Probably do “OK”, but reporting on these less common palms is more spotty, due to their relative sample size.  Stories from past hurricanes from collectors and big gardens is all there is to go one.   Satakentia is said to hold up quite well.  Which makes sense when you look at them.   

Its always interesting to hear about how less common stuff holds up.   It seems to follow a pattern of almost common sense.  Costal and hurricane-native palms tend to do well.  Rainforest palms worse.   Dense, thick canopies with inflexible leaves to worse.  Whispy light leaves with low density canopies with big trunks do better.   Shorter palms do better than taller palms….

At least in general.