Communicating hurricane impacts on landscape plants to Florida's citizens

Four major hurricanes and a tropical storm ravaged Florida yards in 2005. The public requested immediate information on which species fared well, which suffered the most and how to mitigate windstorm damage. Case studies from Hurricane Andrew and the 2004 storms are used to illustrate the different information sources and communication methods that were used to relay information to property owners. Results are reported on a survey of how effective these methods were from the property owners' and managers' viewpoints. A discussion is also offered on how more rigorous analyses of landscape failure information collected by Florida landscape professional can be used to predict hurricane impacts.