New Garden rises from the wreckage, Cape Coral, FL

[PalmatierMeg]

On Memorial Day weekend we finished up the months-long slog of mulching our 0.61 ac property and spreading a second dose of fertilizer on plants that survived Hurricane Ian. To those who abhor dyed mulch I apologize but to keep expenses down we had little choice. Undyed mulch is almost double the money and almost never on sale and we had to budget. Because of covid and health issues we had done little mulching for almost 3 years. We finally have caught up. I did a photo essay of our Garden Lot prior to Hurricane Ian - circa 2019 - so I thought I would bring things up to 2023. We have a lot of empty canopy but also a lot of replacement palms that have big roots/shoes to fill. I will feature those later. 

First, views of our Garden Lot from the east

From the NE and North

From the NW and West

From the SW and South

View of center looking toward SW. In the background is an LCEC substation also known as Osama bin Laden's FL vacation compound. We landscaped our 3-lot site to mask the presence of this monstrosity. Ian took out nearly all the large palms (Bismarckias & Livistona decora) and trees (snakewood & mahoe) that blocked sight of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sonoranfans]

Looks promising!  Here is to some speedy growth and a productive growing season!

[Jeff Searle]

You have plenty to be proud of Meg! 

[PalmatierMeg]

5 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Looks promising!  Here is to some speedy growth and a productive growing season!

Thanks, Tom. I plan to do photo ops and call outs to everyone who contributed to our rebuild

4 hours ago, Jeff Searle said:

You have plenty to be proud of Meg! 

Thanks, Jeff. Your compliment means a lot

[Josue Diaz]

Oh man, I totally understand when you said the month's long slog when it comes to mulching. My driveway is piled with possibly 20 cubic yards of fresh mulch - a local tree guy was generous enough to dump a truck full for free.  

Great job! I look forward to seeing all that you planted grow. I see a copernicia in there... is it fallaensis? 

[realarch]

Boy Meg, Tim and yourself have made amazing progress in a relatively short time. For those who have not looked at the before, during, and after, photos would think the current iteration had always been there. To me, it looks calm and quiet and I would be taking full advantage of that Adirondack chair right in the middle.

Tim

[PalmatierMeg]

1 hour ago, Josue Diaz said:

Oh man, I totally understand when you said the month's long slog when it comes to mulching. My driveway is piled with possibly 20 cubic yards of fresh mulch - a local tree guy was generous enough to dump a truck full for free.  

Great job! I look forward to seeing all that you planted grow. I see a copernicia in there... is it fallaensis? 

Thanks. If it is large it's a baileyana. I planted it around 2011/12. Bought it off eBay for reasonable money. I opened the long, skinny box I received and almost had a heart attack. The seller had unpotted it, rinsed the soil off the 2' long double root, then tossed it into the box - no root protection, wrapping, padding. Just bare palm in cardboard box. I was appalled at his lack of care and told him so. He proceeded to throw a nuclear hissy fit and called me every vile name he could muster. Needless to say I blocked him. I placed my baileyana into a 14" treepot, then prayed. In a few months the palm had sent roots out of the drain holes and needed to go in the ground. Every time someone bemoans how root sensitive Copernicias are I recall this experience.

Glad to hear you got free mulch. We had multiple 10 cu yd truckloads of bulk red mulch delivered, none of it free. You'd think with all the trees destroyed by Ian that people would be begging to give it away. Wrong.

[flplantguy]

After touring the city and the damage today its encouraging to see your photos.  I really hope the city can come back better than before, and your little slice too!