Ready for hurricane season

 

I know we are half way through the season already, but I finally got the accordion shutters I wanted for the back porch.  For a long time I been thinking about getting shutters to enclose the back porch of the house.  I have regular shutters for all my windows, the benefits of accordion shutters for the porch are, one it gives me a place to store loose garden items during a storm, and second it protects the roof during a strong hurricane.   It forces the high winds to go around the house and not into the porch, during hurricane Andrew, many houses in Miami loss their roofs because of unprotected porches.

 

To make room for the shutters, my Areca palm had to go.  I hate when I have to get rid of a favorite plant, the Areca gave the garden a tropical look. 

 

 

 

 

I purchased a Glory Bush (Tibouchina lepidota) to replace the Areca palm.  This is my second Glory bush, I had one in a pot and it died in our extreme summer heat.  I hope this one does better in the ground.

 

I love the purple flowers, according to the description, the small tree can grow up to 10 feet and in my zone 10 climate it can flower year-round.  This plant is also butterfly friendly, a major plus in my book.

 

This Zanzibar croton was an added bonus, it was screaming take me home. (I had the perfect pot for it, a $1 garage sale find)

One month to go in the peak of 2013 hurricane season, and all is quiet.  Let’s keep our fingers cross.