1995: Hurricane Gardening

This story was selected by the Country Roads magazine editorial team as the representative piece for 1995 in the archival project "40 Stories From 40 Years"—celebrating the magazine's 40th anniversary on stands. Click here to read more stories from the project.

It’s hurricane season once again. How well we remember the incredible damage visited upon our gardens by the likes of Andrew, Camille, Betsy and Hugo. 

When hurricane season begins, or when a  hurricane watch is issued, we sensibly take as many precautions as we can to protect life and property. We stock up on canned goods, batteries, candles, water and so forth, or even evacuate low-lying areas. But how many of us realize there are also proven steps we can take to help minimize damage to our home landscapes? 

Recent studies in the aftermath of Andrew have found that Mother Nature does indeed know what’s best: native plants suffer the least damage from building in areas of heavy vegetation generally suffered less than those in open, windswept locales. 

One just-released study indicates that the native bald cypress is an excellent example of a hurricane-resistant tree: slow growing with a very dense, heavy, tapered trunk, major tap roots, well-developed secondary roots, low center of gravity and an open canopy. The live oak is another good example. Both of these trees also defoliate easily in high winds, reducing damage to the tree yet filtering it for the protection of nearby structures. Multi-trunked native trees with low centers of gravity such as red maples, river birch and sweetbay magnolias also fared well. 

Conversely, trees suffering the most damage included fast growing, weak-wooded, shallow-rooted or non-native trees: pines, pecans and other hickories, water oaks, single-trunked red maples, dogwoods and crepe myrtles. These trees either snapped, uprooted or suffered major branch injury. 

[Read Jordan LaHaye Fontenot's 2023 Home Gardener's Guide to Rewilding, here.]

Trees with root damage from construction activity, in poor growing conditions, or weakened by disease or insects fall and land on cars and buildings, causing secondary damage. Isolated specimens suffer more than group plantings. 

But carefully selected native trees, shrubs and groundcovers act as natural barriers to help redirect wind up and over buildings and slow or filter its force. When properly selected for type and form, sited and planted correctly, and maintained well through timely watering, feeding and pruning, your home landscape can not be made more hurricane resistant, but storm clean-up will be reduced and replacements minimized. 

According to the LSU School of Landscape Architecture, your pre-storm landscape analysis should include the following steps to prepare existing plantings: 

Check all plants for vigor;

Stake recently planted trees;

Thin out tree canopies;

Remove weak-wooded trees, diseased or insect-damaged vegetation, overhanging limbs and trees near gas lines; 

Add wind-buffering plants; 

Wrap thin-barked trees with burlap; and 

Document your site with photographs. 

An excellent introduction to hurricane preparedness in the home landscape can be found in a new booklet produced by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s Urban Forestry program entitled “Hurricane Resistant Landscapes.” Copies of the booklet are available from the Department, your local LSU Cooperative Extension Service agent or from a Certified Master Gardener of the LSU Cooperative Extension service.