Maybe I should say Hurricane Post. It is inevitable when a hurricane hits Florida I hear from a lot of people who are wondering if we are okay. Which is great, I am glad people think of me. This particular hurricane, Helene, hit the opposite coast of Florida with devastating results and is still continuing to wreak havoc two days later. In my garden, about 8 dried palm fronds came down. The storm passed about 2 or 300 miles to our west, the wind field was huge and we were barely on the edge of it. There was a fairly consistent 25 mph wind Thursday and Friday with a few downpours from the outer bands of the storm, but that was about it. The garden is intact and well watered.
On to Six, to see more SOS gardens, undoubtedly hurricane free, visit Jim at GardenRuminations
Turkeytangle Frogfruit:
Several people have asked to see this, so here it is. I removed our icky lawn (a term I use loosely) and replaced it with an evergreen wildflower called TTFF (Phyla nodiflora). These are a bit difficult to source, so I bought a blob online and propagated the cuttings. This is the “lawn” last year.
I cleared the area by hand and then installed rooted cuttings. Much trial and error, hand weeding and head scratching ensued. I read somewhere to install the cuttings in toilet paper tubes and tried it. This seemed like a reasonable plan – the raccoons thought it was so fun they pulled out all the tubes, and ate the cuttings. Replanted without tubes and that worked. My now curated evergreen weed, uh, wild flower lawn. I think this is more groundcover than lawn.
The curated weeds are still growing in and host three types of butterflies. I have only seen one type, White Peacocks, but there are usually 4 or 5 flying around the TTFF. A closer view.
The White Peacock.
Gardening season is not quite here in South Florida, but I do have a couple of interesting volunteers.
This is a Primrose (Ludwigia) of some sort. They just appear and I like them here and there.
One of my favorite fall flowers, the Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa). Another plant that appears and cannot be grown where it doesn’t want to be. These are fragrant and dance in the wind. It amazes me that anything grows in the grey sand.
That is all from my garden this Saturday. Here is hoping Juracan (Caribbean God of Hurricanes) is done with us for the season.
The Shrub Queen 
I’m glad the storm didn’t hit you dead on, and you got a good watering. The raccoons and the tubes, oh my gosh they thought you planted candy. It looks lovely now. The primrose is pretty!
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Thanks Tracy. Raccoons do such weird things.
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We were indeed lucky that we escaped the storm. Had 50 mph gusts but didn’t even have one palm frond come down. Hopefully we will continue with the good luck until December.
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Finger crossed!
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You would think the hurricane was hitting here by watching our local news. They kept us updated. Also, one of my kids went to Disney so I was really watching the storm. I figured you were not in the thick of the terrible storm. Your lawn is filling in nicely.
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I guess its a Gulf storm so they own it in TX? Did it affect Orlando – I did not hear anything. Thanks, the tortoise eats a lot of the TTFF.
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It didn’t seem too bad in Orlando, maybe just a few showers. The northern states got hit hard with flooding. That is the route we drive to PA.
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Yes, Western NC looks bad today.
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What a lovely ground cover and so nice that it will attract the butterflies. I don’t think that I have ever seen a white peacock variety.
Glad to hear tat this storm missed you.
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Thanks Rosie.. I think the white peacock is a tropical butterfly. I do get some of the same ones you have in the UK.
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I’m glad to see you’re safe, but actually knowing you were on the other side, I thought it wouldn’t be too negative for you. You even managed to write a Six this Saturday! The iresine is really different from the red one I have, and I can only imagine that wonderful scent. 😌😍
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Thanks, Fred. It was pretty uneventful. It is interesting about the Iresine, though the stems are similar.
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I was wondering how close it got to you Amelia, so glad to hear no severe damage done. The lawn is really interesting and seems to be doing well. 👍Some people try to grow chamomile as a lawn here, which is fine in summer, but bare in the winter months. Does yours look like this year round? Our ‘lawn’ is full of clover, moon daisies, achillea and plaintain – again, a bit bare in the winter. The white peacock is pretty. 😃
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We were lucky. Fingers crossed that is the end of hurricane season. The TTFF is evergreen, and a few other weeds in there are as well.
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Pretty groundcover and the white peacock butterfly is beautiful. I’m glad to hear you’re OK. In addition to W. Florida, it sounds like folks in parts of Tennessee and W. North Carolina have had major damage from flooding. 😦
Beth @ PlantPostings.com
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Thank you, Beth. I am not remembering hurricane damage up there in years ..madness.
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Glad you were spared Helene, so much destruction in so quick a time. Pretty scary.
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North Carolina is scary. wow.
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Nature can bring havoc as well as happiness.. Over the last weeks we’ve had horrendous wildfires in Portugal. I look at not only the devastation of houses I also think of the gardens. Thank goodness you were not in the eye of the storm.
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Goodness; I was unaware of Hurricane Helene until a few hours ago, and it went right through where my sister #4 lives!
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Like many, I am pleased you were unscathed by the hurricane. I think us in the UK, me definitely, don’t get a grasp on quite how large your states are! Your lawn is very interesting, more so that it looks after three butterfly species. Lovely ludwigia.
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Glad to hear that both you and your garden didn’t sustain any damage from Storm Helene Amelia 😀 I was concerned about my niece in Georgia. Thankfully she’s fine. I admire your dedication in planting your phyla lawn. It’s knitting together most nicely.
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I’m glad everything went well with the rooting of the Turkey tangle frogfruit groundcover. It’s grown evenly and other wildflowers look great too. It’s rewarding to see the butterflies. I also hope ” juracán” is done for the season too.😅
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The storm wreaked havoc widespread. Glad you’re doing ok though Amelia. Love that White Peacock. I’ll look around–one might have blown up this way. The groundcover is attractive, a good way to go.
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Yes, it still seems weird so much of the havoc is so far north. That would be wild if you found a white peacock!
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