When Hurricane Ian tore through Lee County on September 28, 2022, it left behind a landscape that many Fort Myers homeowners described as unrecognizable. Maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour - tying the record for the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the United States - stripped trees bare, lifted sod like loose carpet, and delivered storm surge heights of 12 to 18 feet above ground level across the southwestern coast, exceeding 18 to 20 feet on Fort Myers Beach. The storm caused an estimated $115 billion in total damage and claimed more than 130 lives in Lee County alone. For anyone who saw the before-and-after photographs of Fort Myers neighborhoods, the destruction was a visceral reminder that in Southwest Florida, a landscape must be built to survive, not just to look good.
Hurricane season opens June 1 and closes November 30 every year, and in the Fort Myers area that window is never theoretical. Lee County sits squarely in a high-risk corridor that sees both direct strikes and significant indirect damage from storms that make landfall elsewhere along the Gulf Coast. The question is not whether you should prepare your landscape for hurricane season, but how to do it intelligently - before the season starts, in the critical 48 to 72 hours before a storm arrives, and through the weeks of recovery that follow.
This guide covers what Fort Myers homeowners and property managers need to know about hurricane-ready landscaping: which plant species hold up in high winds versus which ones create liability, what proper pre-storm pruning actually looks like (and what it does not look like), how mulch and sod behave in storm conditions, and how to approach recovery without making expensive mistakes in the rush to get back to normal. Every recommendation here is grounded in Southwest Florida conditions - the sandy soils, the salt air, and the specific species that define landscapes in this part of Lee County.
Why Fort Myers Landscapes Face Layered Hurricane Risk
Wind is the force most people think of first when they think of hurricane damage to a yard. But in Fort Myers, storm surge is often more destructive to the landscape than the wind itself. When surge-height water buries the root zone of plants for hours or days, it creates a condition called osmotic stress - the elevated salt concentration in the flooded soil pulls moisture out of plant tissues and mimics severe drought even though the ground is completely saturated. Saltwater also disrupts soil biology, compacts sandy soil through sediment deposition, and leaves behind a salt load that can remain toxic to plants for weeks after the floodwater drains. Surge is not just a water event - it is a chemical event, and understanding that distinction changes how you approach both plant selection and post-storm recovery.
The second layer of risk specific to Fort Myers is the dominant soil type. Much of Lee County sits on shallow, sandy soil with low clay content. In clay-heavy northern soils, a tree's root plate has the density and grip to resist significant lateral wind force. In the sandy soils common here, that same root plate has far less anchoring strength, which means a tree that looks completely healthy can uproot in a major storm simply because the soil cannot hold it against sustained 100-plus mile-per-hour winds. This is why tree selection and early structural pruning are not just aesthetic decisions in Fort Myers - they are hurricane preparedness decisions with real consequences for property and safety.
The third factor is the plant palette that defines most Fort Myers neighborhoods. Decades of landscaping in Southwest Florida leaned heavily on fast-growing, visually striking non-native ornamentals - queen palms, ficus hedges, laurel oaks, and various exotic accent trees. Many of these species perform well in routine conditions but fail predictably in major storms. Building a hurricane-resilient landscape here means understanding which species belong in a storm-prone yard and which ones create unnecessary risk every June through November.
Choosing Plants That Survive Southwest Florida Storms
The most effective long-term investment in a hurricane-ready Fort Myers landscape is plant selection made at installation time. The choices you make about which trees go where, which palms anchor the composition, and which shrubs line the beds determine whether your landscape weathers a major storm or needs to be rebuilt from scratch after one. No amount of last-minute preparation compensates for a yard full of species that are structurally unsuited to this climate.
Trees: Native Species and Root Architecture Matter Most
Live oak (Quercus virginiana) consistently ranks among the most wind-resistant trees available for Fort Myers landscapes, and its real-world track record in major storms bears that ranking out. Its low, spreading canopy keeps the center of gravity close to the ground, and its root system - when given adequate space to establish - spreads wide rather than deep, anchoring the tree broadly in even sandy soils. Live oaks that were properly planted and maintained for 20 or more years showed dramatically better survival rates during Ian than nearby laurel oaks and water oaks, which have shallow root systems, brittle branch wood, and a tendency to uproot or snap rather than bend and flex under wind load.
Gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba) is another exceptional choice for Fort Myers properties. Native to South Florida and the Caribbean, it has earned the nickname the tourist tree for its striking peeling bark, but its real value in a hurricane-prone yard is structural - the wood is flexible rather than brittle, and the tree has the adaptive quality of shedding leaves under extreme wind stress to reduce the sail effect. Many gumbo limbos that were completely defoliated during Ian pushed fresh growth within weeks of the storm passing.
For palms, the Sabal palm (Sabal palmetto) - Florida's state tree - sets the benchmark for wind tolerance. Research and field observation both confirm that Sabal palms routinely survive Category 4 wind events, bending dramatically in storm-force gusts but rarely failing structurally. Their fibrous root system anchors well in sandy soil. If you want palms in your Fort Myers yard, Sabal palms should anchor the composition. Coconut palms are surprisingly storm-tolerant when healthy and correctly maintained, bending to near-horizontal under extreme gusts and recovering. Royal palms are moderately tolerant. Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana) occupy a different category - beautiful and fast-growing, they are among the most commonly failed palms in major storms, with high rates of uprooting and stem failure at Category 3 and above. Placing queen palms near a pool cage, a roof line, or parked vehicles is a risk worth reconsidering when you are thinking in terms of hurricane season.
Shrubs, Groundcovers, and Ornamentals for Storm Resilience
At the shrub and groundcover level, Florida native species consistently outperform exotic ornamentals in storm conditions because they evolved alongside the weather patterns of this region. Silver buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus) handles coastal winds, salt spray, and sandy soil with ease and offers attractive silvery-gray foliage that reads as sophisticated in a well-designed bed. Sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) is another native that handles wind and salt exposure extremely well and works as a large shrub, a small tree, or a coastal screen planting.
Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) - the only cycad native to the eastern United States - is nearly indestructible in storm conditions. Its low-growing, palm-like fronds lay flat under wind load rather than catching it, and the root system is extremely robust. Simpson's stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans), Walter's viburnum (Viburnum obovatum), firebush (Hamelia patens), saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), and cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco) are all Florida natives that are readily available from nurseries serving Fort Myers and hold up well in storm conditions while also supporting local pollinators and wildlife.
A few ornamentals worth managing carefully in Fort Myers yards: bougainvillea is itself wind-tolerant but generates hazardous debris - thorny stems traveling at speed in a major storm can break through screen enclosures and windows - and should be cut back substantially well before any approaching storm. Giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai), popular in Fort Myers beds as a dramatic accent, has enormous leaves that act as wind sails and tall stalks that topple easily. Position these species away from structures, pool cages, and windows, or replace them with lower-growing natives in exposed locations.
Pruning Before Hurricane Season: What the Research Actually Says
The most common misconception about hurricane landscape preparation in Fort Myers is that more pruning equals more safety. The idea sounds intuitive - reduce the foliage, give the wind less to grab. For shade trees, this approach is partially correct but requires precision to be effective. For palms, it is largely wrong, and acting on it can cause real damage to trees that would otherwise have performed well in a storm.
Structural Pruning for Shade Trees
For shade trees, the correct pre-hurricane-season practice is structural pruning - removing dead, dying, crossed, or co-dominant branches specifically, not simply cutting volume to reduce the visual size of the canopy. Dead wood is the most dangerous material in a wind event because it detaches first and becomes a high-velocity projectile. A dead branch the diameter of your forearm traveling through a 100-mile-per-hour wind field carries enough force to break through a pool cage or a window. Identifying and removing that material before June 1 is the single highest-value pruning action available to a Fort Myers homeowner.
Crossed branches are the next priority. Where two branches rub against each other, they create wounds that allow decay fungi to enter the wood, weakening both branches progressively over years. Co-dominant stems - where the trunk splits into two leaders of nearly equal diameter at a tight, V-shaped angle - are a well-documented structural failure point in storms. The included bark at a tight co-dominant crotch prevents the union from developing the interlocking wood grain that gives single-leader unions their strength. A certified arborist can identify these structural problems in a single walk-through; having them addressed before they fail in a storm saves the far larger cost of emergency removal, property repair, and potential injury.
What you want to avoid is a practice called lion-tailing - stripping all the interior branches from a tree and leaving foliage only at the very tips of the outer limbs. This shifts weight outward toward the branch ends, increases the leverage the wind can apply, and actually makes the tree more vulnerable to branch failure under sustained wind load, not less. It also stresses the tree by removing too much of its photosynthetic capacity at once and produces a look that is unmistakably wrong to any trained eye. A well-structured, evenly distributed canopy that allows some wind to pass through performs better in a storm than one that has been stripped to the tips.
The best window for structural tree pruning in Fort Myers is February through April. New growth is accelerating coming out of the dry season, so pruning wounds close faster than they do in dormant or heat-stressed conditions. There is no storm threat in that window, so there is no time pressure that leads to rushed cuts or undertrained crews. And the completed work has months to heal before the tree faces its first summer storm stress.
The Palm Hurricane Haircut - Why UF/IFAS Says Stop
Research by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has confirmed what field observation after major Florida storms has shown repeatedly: the so-called hurricane haircut - cutting palms back to only a handful of remaining fronds before a storm - does not reduce wind load in any meaningful way and actually increases the risk of crown failure compared to lightly pruned or properly maintained palms. Studies tracking palms through major Florida hurricanes found that palms that had received severe pre-storm pruning were significantly more likely to have their crowns snapped than palms maintained at normal levels. The difference is not subtle.
The reason is straightforward once you understand palm biology. A palm does not store starch and nutrient reserves in its trunk the way a broadleaf tree does - those reserves live in the fronds. Removing a large portion of the fronds depletes the palm of exactly the resources it needs to withstand storm stress and push recovery growth afterward. Additionally, a palm's flexible trunk is specifically engineered to bend under wind load rather than resist it. The full, intact canopy assists this bending response by distributing force across multiple fronds rather than concentrating it at the crown attachment point.
The UF/IFAS standard is to remove only dead or dying fronds - those drooping below the 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock horizontal plane - and to leave every green frond that points at or above horizontal completely intact. For a healthy, well-maintained palm, this typically means removing only a small number of fronds per maintenance cycle. Over-pruned palms also carry elevated risk of infestation by the South American palm weevil (Rhynchophorus palmarum), which has spread significantly through Lee County in recent years, and of Fusarium wilt and other fungal palm diseases, because excessive cutting creates open wounds that serve as pathogen entry points. Before hiring any crew to trim your palms, ask specifically whether they follow UF/IFAS standards for frond removal. A crew that recommends a pineapple cut or a feather-duster result is not following current best practices and may do more harm than good.
Mulch Strategy for Fort Myers Hurricane Season
Mulch is something most homeowners do not factor into hurricane preparation, but its behavior in storm conditions is worth understanding before the season opens. Organic mulch - pine bark, cypress, eucalyptus, melaleuca - moves in sustained wind and is completely redistributed by storm surge. Managing mulch intelligently before a storm is a straightforward step that reduces post-storm cleanup and prevents some common plant health problems that follow a major event.
Depth is the first variable to control. Two to three inches of mulch is correct for Fort Myers beds year-round, and this remains the right target heading into hurricane season. Mulch deeper than three inches does not benefit plants - it blocks adequate water and oxygen infiltration to the root zone, can heat up and damage feeder roots in summer, and creates a larger volume of material that redistributes in a storm. Keep mulch pulled back two to three inches from all tree trunks, palm bases, and shrub stems at all times. Mulch piled against a trunk holds moisture against bark and promotes fungal collar rot, which is already a persistent concern in Fort Myers's year-round warm and wet conditions without any storm surge contribution.
Mulch type affects how much moves in a storm. Chunkier, denser materials - pine bark nuggets, eucalyptus mulch, melaleuca mulch - hold their position in wind better than fine-shredded materials or lightweight pine straw. Eucalyptus and melaleuca mulches produced in Florida from invasive species removal programs tend to be among the denser options available locally. For highly exposed areas around the yard's perimeter or along street-facing beds, river rock and gravel are essentially wind-immune and worth considering as a permanent alternative to organic mulch in those specific zones - they also never need annual replenishment.
After a storm, clearing redistributed mulch from plant crowns and tree root flares is one of the first landscape priorities, ahead of cosmetic replanting. Mulch piled against a palm base or heaped over the root flare of a tree after surge redistribution needs to be removed immediately. This task is unglamorous but has a direct impact on whether affected plants recover or develop secondary health problems in the months that follow.
Lawn and Sod Performance During Hurricane Season
A healthy, fully established Fort Myers lawn handles hurricane-season flooding and wind far better than a thin, drought-stressed, or recently installed one. The dominant grass in Fort Myers landscapes is St. Augustine (specifically the Floratam cultivar), and established Floratam has meaningful erosion resistance - its dense mat structure knits into the underlying soil and resists uplift from surge and high wind in ways that sparse turf or bare ground cannot match. Keeping the lawn in strong health through proper mowing, irrigation, and seasonal fertilization is itself a form of hurricane preparedness.
The key word is established. Sod installed within the past six to eight weeks has not had enough time to fully root into the underlying soil, and freshly laid sod in the path of storm surge can peel back from the ground like a rug. If you are planning a sod installation, doing it in February or March gives the grass the maximum establishment window before the hurricane season opens on June 1. Sod put down in July or August is still in its early rooting phase when the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season arrives in September and October.
Fertilization timing relative to storm season also matters. Pushing a lawn with nitrogen in the four to six weeks before a storm encourages fast, lush growth that is more susceptible to wind damage, disease, and difficulty recovering from flooding. Follow Lee County's fertilization ordinance timing for overall guidance, and avoid the temptation to apply extra product immediately before or after a storm event when the soil is already compromised.
Post-storm lawn assessment requires patience that runs against the instinct to get everything cleaned up and back to normal quickly. A lawn that received freshwater flooding for 24 to 48 hours may look completely dead but recover well once drainage improves - St. Augustine grass has more flood tolerance than it often appears. A lawn that was under saltwater for 24 to 48 hours or more is in more serious trouble, but recovery is still possible. If your lawn received saltwater flooding, flush it immediately with fresh irrigation water once your supply is restored - multiple extended cycles over several days, far longer than a typical irrigation run, push the salt load down and out of the active root zone. Give a saltwater-exposed established lawn four to six weeks to show recovery signs before calling in the sod installation crew.
Pre-Storm Landscape Checklist for Fort Myers Homeowners
When a watch or warning is issued for Lee County and landfall is 48 to 72 hours away, the window for meaningful landscape action is open. Work through the following systematically rather than reactively, starting with the highest-impact items first:
- Move all portable items indoors or into a secured garage: potted plants, container gardens, decorative pots, hanging baskets, bird feeders, garden art, patio furniture, cushions, and umbrellas. In 100-plus mile-per-hour winds, a ceramic pot or wrought-iron chair becomes a projectile capable of breaking windows, penetrating a pool cage, or injuring people. If an item is too heavy to move indoors, lay it on its side in the most sheltered corner available.
- Secure or take down trellises, lightweight arbors, unsecured lattice screens, and freestanding garden structures that are not anchored to a concrete footer or lag-bolted to the house. These catch enormous wind load and can fail into windows, roof edges, or utility lines.
- Do not attempt major tree pruning in this 48 to 72 hour window. Structural work done under time pressure by whoever you can get on short notice is more likely to be harmful than helpful. Removing an obviously dangerous overhanging branch that directly threatens the roof is appropriate - broad canopy reduction at the last hour is not.
- Set your irrigation controller to rain-delay or sensor-override mode so the system does not attempt to run during or after the storm when the soil will be completely saturated. Post-storm irrigation line damage is common and significantly harder to diagnose if the system was operating when it occurred.
- Photograph your entire landscape for insurance documentation. Walk the full property perimeter and capture clear images of all trees, palms, major shrubs, the lawn condition, and hardscape features like pavers, borders, and edging. Pre-storm photographic evidence of plant condition and landscape value makes insurance claims considerably easier to support.
- Clear gutters and downspouts of leaves, mulch, and organic debris that accumulate during the pre-storm rain bands. Blocked gutters during a major event cause water to back up against the roofline and can create interior water intrusion that is entirely separate from the storm damage itself.
Post-Hurricane Landscape Recovery in Fort Myers
The period immediately after a major storm is when Fort Myers homeowners make their most expensive landscape mistakes - almost always driven by understandable urgency to restore some sense of normalcy. Slowing down slightly in the first several weeks after a storm can prevent the loss of trees and plants that look dead but would have fully recovered given time, and avoids the common and costly mistake of replanting into soil that is not yet ready to support new growth.
Assessing Trees: The Wait-and-See Approach
A tree that is leaning, partially uprooted, or completely stripped of leaves after a hurricane is not necessarily dead. Florida trees - particularly natives like live oak and gumbo limbo - have remarkable recovery capacity, and the rush to chainsaw every stressed or damaged specimen in the days after a storm results in the unnecessary removal of mature trees that took decades to grow. The professional standard, consistent with International Society of Arboriculture guidance, is to wait four to eight weeks after a major storm before making final removal decisions on any tree that does not present an active and immediate safety hazard.
During that waiting period, watch for bud break - small green buds pushing out from branches or from the base of the trunk are a definitive sign that the tree is alive and investing energy in recovery. A certified arborist can assess root plate stability, structural integrity, and realistic recovery potential much more accurately after four to six weeks than in the immediate post-storm window when everything is in shock and soil is still saturated. The clear exceptions are trees that are actively threatening to fall - an acute lean over the occupied structure, contact with downed power lines, or obvious imminent failure over a high-traffic area. Those require emergency action, not watchful waiting.
After a major storm, be cautious of tree service operations from contractors you cannot verify. Lee County and the State of Florida require licensing for tree trimming and landscape contracting. Out-of-area crews sometimes arrive in the days following a major event offering fast, aggressive removal without credentials. Before any tree work is performed on your property, verify current license status through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or the Lee County contractor licensing portal - check those agencies directly for current requirements, as rules and procedures change over time.
Flushing Saltwater From the Root Zone
For properties that experienced storm surge, addressing saltwater in the root zone is the most urgent landscape priority once the storm has passed and it is safe to work outside. The strategy is straightforward: dilute and displace. Once municipal water service is restored or a well has been tested and cleared - saltwater can temporarily contaminate shallow wells during surge events and should not be assumed clean until verified - run irrigation zones for extended periods over multiple consecutive days. Aim for 45 to 60 minutes per zone per session, repeated over three to five days, rather than a single long watering. The goal is to push the salt load down past the active root depth of turf and plants, not simply to wet the surface.
Do not apply fertilizer during or immediately after this flushing period. Plants under osmotic stress from salt exposure cannot effectively take up nutrients, and adding fertilizer salts to already salt-loaded soil compounds the problem. Wait until visible recovery begins - turgid, upright foliage in shrubs and groundcovers, or green new growth in palms and trees - before resuming any fertilization program. Resuming too early is one of the most common post-storm landscape mistakes in Fort Myers.
Replanting After the Storm
Replanting works best when debris cleanup is complete, irrigation is restored and tested, and soil conditions have been assessed and addressed. For most Fort Myers properties after a significant storm, this means replanting begins at six to twelve weeks post-storm rather than in the first week or two when everything is still chaotic. Plants installed quickly into saturated, salt-stressed, or debris-filled soil fail at high rates even when the plants themselves are healthy and well-selected going into the ground.
Use the replanting period as a genuine opportunity to upgrade the plant composition. If laurel oaks came down, replace them with live oaks. If queen palms did not survive, plant Sabal palms or healthy coconuts in their place. The native and wind-tolerant species discussed earlier in this article are the right choices for a rebuild designed to perform better in the next storm cycle rather than repeating the same vulnerabilities. Fort Myers homeowners who replanted thoughtfully after past storms have consistently ended up with more resilient, lower-maintenance landscapes than what they had before.
At replanting time, amend the planting hole with organic matter - quality compost, aged pine bark fines, or a blend of native soil and a Florida-certified potting mix at roughly a 1:3 ratio. Sandy Fort Myers soils that have been repeatedly flushed to remove salt also lose some of their limited existing organic matter content. The amendment improves water retention, nutrient-holding capacity, and the establishment of beneficial soil biology that new plants depend on for healthy early root development.
Working With a Fort Myers Landscaper on Hurricane Prep
Professional landscape companies serving Fort Myers are busy year-round, but scheduling demand peaks sharply twice per year: in the spring run-up to hurricane season and in the post-storm recovery period following any significant landfall in the region. Booking structural tree pruning, palm maintenance, and pre-season planting upgrades before April gives you better access to scheduling, more time for new plants to establish before June, and the assurance that you are working with a crew that is not operating under storm-warning pressure. Spring is also when the landscape itself is in its best condition for pruning - growing actively, healing wounds quickly, and showing you clearly which branches are healthy versus dead.
When engaging a landscaper for hurricane preparation work, ask specific questions rather than accepting general reassurances. Do they follow ISA standards for tree pruning? Do their palm crews adhere to UF/IFAS frond removal guidelines - specifically, do they understand why the hurricane haircut is counterproductive? Do they offer post-storm emergency service, or only routine scheduled maintenance? A landscape company that can work with you through the preparation phase and be available for recovery support when it matters most is significantly more valuable than one that only handles routine visits.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start hurricane prep for my Fort Myers landscape?
February through April is the optimal window for structural tree pruning, palm maintenance, and major replanting work. This gives new plants a full spring establishment season before hurricane season opens on June 1, and pruning wounds have time to close before summer heat and storm stress peaks. Once a named storm is on the forecast cone for Lee County, meaningful structural work is no longer practical or safe - the preparation window is before any specific threat exists, not during one.
Is it true you should not trim palms heavily before a hurricane?
Yes. University of Florida research has confirmed that the hurricane haircut - removing most fronds to leave only a few at the crown - does not meaningfully reduce wind load and actually increases the risk of crown failure, because it strips away the fronds where the palm stores its nutrient reserves. Studies tracking palms through major Florida hurricanes found that heavily pre-pruned palms were significantly more likely to snap at the crown than lightly pruned or properly maintained ones. The correct practice is to remove only dead or drooping fronds below the horizontal plane and leave every green frond intact. Over-pruned palms also face elevated risk from the South American palm weevil and fungal diseases that enter through open cutting wounds.
What should I do with potted plants and outdoor furniture before a storm?
Move everything that is not permanently anchored into the garage, inside the house, or a secured storage area before the storm arrives. Potted plants, patio furniture, decorative pots, hanging baskets, bird feeders, garden art, and umbrellas all become dangerous projectiles in hurricane-force winds. A ceramic pot or a metal chair traveling at high speed in sustained 100-plus mile-per-hour gusts can break through windows, puncture pool cages, and cause serious injury. If a very heavy item genuinely cannot be moved indoors, lay it on its side in the most sheltered corner of the property rather than leaving it upright.
How soon can I replant after a hurricane in Fort Myers?
In most cases, wait six to twelve weeks before replanting. Debris must be fully cleared, any saltwater contamination needs to be flushed from the root zone, and irrigation should be restored and tested before new plants go in the ground. Plants installed too quickly into stressed, post-storm soil fail at high rates even when the plants themselves are healthy. Use the waiting period to assess which species held up in the storm and to plan an upgrade toward more wind-tolerant native choices before reinstalling the composition.
My Fort Myers lawn looks dead after the storm - does all the sod need to be replaced?
Not necessarily. St. Augustine and Floratam lawns can appear completely dead after flooding but recover if conditions improve quickly enough. Give a flooded lawn two to four weeks to drain and show recovery signs before making a replacement decision. Freshwater-flooded lawns have strong recovery odds. Saltwater-flooded lawns need immediate and repeated fresh-water flushing - multiple extended irrigation cycles over several days - to push salt out of the active root zone. Established turf can recover even from significant saltwater exposure if flushing begins promptly once water service is restored.
Does hurricane damage void a landscaper's warranty on installed plantings?
Most landscape installation contracts in Fort Myers explicitly exclude storm damage, flooding, and extreme weather events as acts of nature rather than installation failures. Review your contract language carefully before hurricane season opens each year and ask any landscaper you hire about their post-storm service policy at the time of the installation discussion. Some companies offer post-storm replanting assistance at reduced cost for existing clients - this is worth asking about upfront, before any work begins, rather than after a storm when options are more limited.
Ready to make your Fort Myers landscape more resilient before this hurricane season? The best time to start is when there is no storm on the horizon. Contact Fort Myers Landscapes to schedule a pre-season assessment of your trees, palms, and plantings - we will help you identify structural risks, prioritize pruning, and choose species that are built to handle whatever Southwest Florida's weather brings.