There Were No Fences

Part of the USF Wildflower Meadow Post Hurricane Milton Hurricane Helene struck the west coast of Florida but did very little damage to the landscape I've been working on at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens.  We dodged that bullet, but Milton was another thing.  It made landfall just south of us and created havoc with both its 100+ mph winds and its heavy rains.  What had once been a vibrant and diverse wildflower meadow with at least 15 species of native grasses and 40 species of native wildflowers was submerged under several inches of water for 2-3 days with 2 large and toppled canopy trees lying on top of it and buried beneath 6-12 inches of pine bark mulch.  When we finally were able to remove the trees and rake off the mulch there was very little green poking out of the saturated soil.  It was a heartbreaking sight, quite frankly. We had spent nearly 2 years tending this area, adding plants from our own propagation or from native plant nurs...