Over winter break my family was lucky enough to travel to the gorgeous Florida Keys. My mother-in-law Barbara Smith lives on Cudjoe Key, which is on the Overseas Highway 21 miles up from Key West, and she is a master gardener. Gardening is VERY different in this tropical region. Did you even know there is a Zone 11? Key West is, as anyone who visits learns, the southernmost point in the United States. My first visit to the Keys was in 1999, just after Hurricane Georges, which devastated the lower Keys. I was not impressed. Where was all the beautiful foliage? Over $200 million of damage was done by Georges, and Cudjoe and Summerland Keys were the hardest hit. Barbara’s house had 3 feet of water under it during the storm, and the island was completely submerged. Power was out for weeks, and my in laws were among the 20,000 residents who had declined the mandatory evacuation. They had a huge ongoing hurricane feast on their block to cook and eat all the seafood from their freezers that week! When life gives you lemons…

When I arrived the following summer, dead trees littered any empty lots, and flowers were minimal. That is when I learned the first lesson of Keys gardening. Things GROW, and they grow FAST. By my next trip the islands were again their lush gorgeous selves. In fact, a major chore for a gardener there is keeping plants under control. I also learned that those hurricanes wash away any garden soil that may exist, and so soil is a big issue for island gardeners as well. To grow “normal crops”, such as vegetables, soil has to be imported or at least very extensively modified. In fact, trying to create a northern­-style landscape will almost always fail here because of the harsh conditions. The native soil is mostly limestone and very low in organic matter, and has a high pH. Salinity is also a problem, and Barbara grows only salt tolerant plants such as sabal palm, silver buttonwoods, sea grape bushes and bay cedar. When a storm surge hits, it is the salt that is lethal to the garden. Once again, the “Right Plant, Right Spot” plan works best. The natural vegetation is mangrove swamps, which house an amazing amount of biodiversity. There are native orchids, lignum vitae, firebush, wild coffee, sweet acacia, paradise tree, beach verbena, and even some familiar ones such as lantana and beautyberry. A kayak trip down a river will reveal an amazing amount of wildlife in and under the mangroves. Big sandy beaches are unusual in the Keys, and often man-made, but the best natural beach is just 15 miles away from Cudjoe (mile marker 36). It is Bahia Honda State Park, a gorgeous stop along the Overseas Hwy. Another challenge to Keys gardeners is the long hot summer drought. Sound familiar? Crops such as vegetables are grown in raised beds or containers from October to April with irrigation. Very few will survive the summer broil. An exception? Barbara has a rosemary forest.

Finally, harvesting rainwater was common in Key West well before it became popular in the rest of the U.S. because of the scarce freshwater and reliance on only a few small springs. Collection of rainwater in rooftop cisterns was essential to the growth of Key West in the 19^th century until the pipeline was eventually built in 1941. Desalination has also been used extensively. The population is now so large that fresh water is again a precious commodity and a constant civic concern. Barbara has her own rainwater harvesting system which she uses for irrigation. In summary, gardening is a challenge in the Keys but as always, if the right plants are chosen, the rewards are beautiful.

For more information about the history of fresh water in the Florida Keys, check out www.keyshistory.org/flaa.html