Sea Oats

Without these plants there would be a lot less Florida beaches than we have now. Sea Oats are the primary stabilizing plant among the Primary dune species. They thrive on little water and lots of salt. Because few other plants can take those kinds of conditions these plants have few competitors among the dunes. Sea oats reduce beach erosion and promote a process known as accretion (build up of sand) by trapping windblown sand in their leaves and roots. http://http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/publications/pdf/actbook.pdf

Coontie Transplanting

The Coontie is not the easiest plant to transplant but it isn't impossible either. I was told by a horticulturalist that they would die if transplanted. I transplanted these about 2 weeks ago and 80% of them are still green and intact. It is important that the tap root be complete. If you try to dig these up be careful to dig deep and get the entire tap root. If you sever the tap root or nic it I was told by an ecologist to let the plant dry out for a few days to allow it to harden over the wound. I planted everything the same night but I didn't keep the plants moist all day. I was warned not to plant them to deep. The ecologist told me they transplanted truck loads of them with success but not until after a bunch of them died because they were planted too deeply.

Port Charlotte FL yard ornaments

There must be some hidden meaning in this junk food perched on a discarded toilet. We left the cornballs and only took the picture. If you just look around you can find art everywhere!

Staghorn Fern

This is the largest Staghorn fern I have ever seen. It is located near Flagler Beach in a state park that is known as Washington Oaks. There are some great gardens to view if you are near there.

Stumped?

A creative concrete artist in Deep Creek, Port Charlotte conjured up this tribute to a tree stump which, after Hurricane Charley hit August 13, 2004, there are plenty now. You can't put a mailbox on it but wouldn't it be nice if more trees were saved than cut down when builders site a home?

Bermont Road

This is located in Charlotte County. It looks like ranching land but there are suprising few livestock seen here. Mostly large single home sites; a lot of prefabs. Not many trees.

Spider Lily

It looks like a crinum but this is a Florida native known as Hymenocallis latifolia. We found this growing near on a sandy island with little water evident. This plant does well in coastal areas and should be specified more than it is. It seemed to be doing fine next right next to a gopher tortoise burrow.

welcome to my "office"

These are some of my favorite days at work. Today Jamie and I got to take a ride on a flats boat to Little Gasparilla Island with an architect, his wife, a developer, and a D.E.P. official. I snuck away to take some striking stormy skies photos. Click on any photo to enlarge.

When this gardener wanted to create a shady spot for his patio he didn't have to look any farther than the bosque of Brazilian Pepper trees that crowded his unfinished lot adjacent to his residence. Undettered by the massive snarl of branches customary with Brazillian Pepper, Chris carefully pruned out a large area for his table, chairs and a large selection of shade plants. There was a temperature difference of at least 10 degrees between the manicured yard and the Pepper bosque.
The homeowner's association either doesn't know it exists or has not commented. When Chris saw me taking photos he looked cross and let me know he thought I was with the Homeowner's Assoc. I left with an invitation to feel free to come back to get pups or cuttings for my gardens.

When the landscape crew is lacking sufficient training it is the tree that suffers. Weeds have encroached on the mulch area of this tree and an overzealous weed-wacker has repeatedly wounded the trunk of the Silver Buttonwood in the photo. The trunk has become girdled by the wounds and the tree will need to be replaced when it succumbs to the damage of being girdled. Nutrients in a tree flow up the secondary phloem right next to the cambium under the bark. Girdling results in the loss of the phloem and the cambium around the circumference of the tree depriving it of the structure necessary to support growth.

The ability of the Brazillian Pepper to thrive in our part of Florida is unrivaled by any other tree (except maybe the Melaleuca, another introduced exotic invasive). This specimen was described as a Heritage tree by the applicant requesting a survey of the site for Threatened and Endangered Species. Fortunately for him it was a Pepper and in Charlotte County sites that will be built are required to remove noxious and invasive trees/plants. These trees are easily recognized by the red berry which are spread by the birds that eat them. It is because of the heavy load of berries and green foliage that it is frequently misunderstood to be "Florida Holly" by tourists, those that are recently relocated and even veteran Floridians.

This is more typical of conventional Charlotte County single family home construction. Trees visible are on another home lot. This house was built on fill that brought it's finished floor elevation at least 2' above the crown of the road as required by FEMA. An alternative would be to use stem wall construction instead of slab on grade. This would allow builders to preserve trees on site rather than clearing and filling the site. Homes built with stemwall construction would require more creative solutions to make the transition between existing grade and finished floor elevation.

This is a home in Port Charlotte that is definitely

the exception. Trees preserved when building a home can contribute instant value to the site and can reduce energy bills by shading the home. Most home builders here prefer to clear the site of all trees prior to building and plant a few saplings or Palms at the completion of construction.

This is the rest of what is left of the girdled tree. It should be fully leafed out this time of year. What is missing leaves is dead.

This tree was what is known as a "points tree". Before the builder could get his/her Certificate of Occupation he/she needed to install trees equivalent to the number of points required per thousand square ft. of lot size. These were probably two 2"+ trees. This tree has a lot of epicormic growth but the main trunk and central leader has failed. All too often these rubber hoses and wire are attached to the tree and staked at 45 degrees to stabilize the tree until it gets established. Not really necessary usually and what happens when no one ever takes responsibility for removing the hose and wire when the trunk grows beyond its capacity? The trunk becomes girdled and the tree dies. In this house it looks like it was foreclosed on before anyone bought it so one was there to care for the tree and the landscapers that put it in were not contracted to remove the stabilization wires. Now does the county have the resources to make sure that all homeowners that put in trees cared for them to guarantee their success? Probably not. Big county, small staff.

The homeowner that built this garage worked within the tree preservation code of Charlotte County to save this beautiful heritage pine. This tree is a co-dominant leader but it did survive Hurricane Charley and numerous tropical storms so it will probably be something other than its less than ideal structure that will seal its fate. The owner did have to encroach on the trees root zone with the drive way, which is permitted, and even though this tree is especially sensitive to any disruptions, it seems completely intact and full. Not a brown needle six months since the work was completed. It is difficult to estimate the value this tree gives the site but studies have estimated that the difference in the value of the property without the tree would be approx. 15% less than with it.