Living on the water in NW Fla, the salt water destroyed homes and yards. It was interesting to see that the very salty, oily, sewagy water that moved my neighbors boat into another neighbors pool on top of their car (!) did not kill some of the plants. Specifically, my narcissus, daffodils, scilla, wild onions, gladiolus and crocosmia all survived and returned to bloom this year. The Anthony Waterer spirea survived. The mexican petunia survived. The agapanthus were truly amazing, I don't think anything will kill them. Apparently these are very salt tolerant and very hardy. The hybrid roses died but the miniature trailing varieties survived. I recommend all of these to anyone living anywhere, not just on the seashore. The amaryllis also survived. Everything is blooming or has already. The water came in my house which is twelve feet above ground, we are talking about a lot of salt water that these plants endured. The storm washed the beach sunflowers helter skelter, and the seeds have germinated everywhere, even in the marsh. And parsley seeds from my courtyard (interior of house) got washed into the marsh; my neighborhood is enjoying the garden in the marsh.

I could not even imagine something like that! The worst of Mother Nature we get here are the tornadoes and thank God we haven't had one here in years.

That is an amazing fact. And it is so cool that you are so cool and observant about what must have been a horrible ordeal.

Firefly, I am still recovering from Hurricane Ike just a few weeks ago. Our beautiful downtown is still in shambles. thank God the best medical center in the world is up and running. My landscape was effected but only partial but I had a lot of cleanup. I don't have to go into detail 'cause I'm sure you all saw it on the news about Texas, Galveston and Houston but to have gone through winds up to 95 mph with rain drops that sounded like hail at the windows all from 2 a.m-9a, that was quite frightful. We endured twelve long hours of pre-hurricane winds up to 95 mph. Our trees bent like rubber bands and people are still looking for parts of their interior. I don't think they will allow beach housed on the Gulf anymore due to the deaths and the non-cooperation of people being asked to leave during these kind of storms. Yeah, Hurrican Ike did a beating on Houston and more on surrounding areas like Galveston Bay with up to 125 mph. I'll never forget it. Never! What fear....

Hurricanes can do some strange things. We lived just south of Charleston when Hugo struck in 1989. We didn't get storm surge, but we did loose over 100 trees on the property. The first Spring afterwards Gladiolas popped up everywhere. I guess the bulbs blew in with the winds.

Good luck to you Kimmie in your recovery. I know how long and frustrating it will be. With Hugo, for me the scariest part were the two days prior. We lived in a rural area and all the animals fled. It was dead still and too quiet to sleep. Hugo was BAD, and many in Charleston said they would never stay for another one. That eerie silence strongly enhanced the sense of impending doom. All these years later, those 2 days still seem much, much longer than the 12+ hours of the storm.

My DD lives in Key West, and her yard was under salt water twice during the summer of Katrina and Wilma. Lots of her plants died and others, like the hibiscus, died down to the ground but grew back after a while. The big surprise was the appearance of many papaya trees in her yard the next year, their seeds must have floated in with the dead fish.
In all, it took her yard, and Key West in general, at least 2 years to start looking normal again.

Whewww...just reading you guys articles, just takes me back to that moment 9/13/08. I'll never forget it and my respect for God and nature has humbled me even more and showed me how insignificant man really is. Sometimes, we really forget. Thanks ladies and happy harvest.

I think living through a bad storm changes "Landscapes" in both our yards and our hearts. Hurricane Hugo was 19 years ago. For those of us who lived through it, it is definitely still with us.

However devastating, over the years, it has also been a reinforcing life experience. As with you, my humbleness at the powers of God's Creation, the values of self-sufficiency and helping others, were definitely reinforced for me.

We live even closer to the coast now, but are vastly more prepared for a storm, both for ourselves and our neighbors. I have a deeper respect for Nature's wondrously intricate cycles, and enjoy an "undamaged" landscape much more thoroughly.

The resilience of Nature constantly amazes me. We went to the Okeefenokee Swamp last December, after the Spring's devastating fires. The beauty in it's recovery was awe inspiring. Both Nature and the survivors of a natural disaster take time and patience to heal and restore.

My sincerest hope is, with time, this will also be a restoring, reinforcing life experience for you.