Big Resilience

On October 9, 2024, tornados spawned by Hurricane Milton devastated the tree canopy in the central beach area of Vero Beach primarily on the west side of Highway A1A from just north of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge (17th Street) to just south of Indian River Shores. Three months later the resilience and power of Nature is evident, and the trees have begun to recover. Lots of the oaks have begun to produce new leaves, as has the gumbo limbo (Bursera simarouba) pictured above.

All of the gumbo limbo trees were killed to the ground in the 1989 Christmas freeze. Only some of these very tropical trees were able to re-grow like the massive-limbed specimen at the Barrier Island Sanctuary and Education Center …

Other gumbo limbo trees have grown from seeds brought by birds. Gumbo limbo trees that were not impacted by the tornados weathered Hurricane Milton well and nowhere fruit on them …

Florida’s native trees and other plants have adapted to hurricanes over eons and show amazing resilience like the cabbage palms (Sabal palmettos) that were near to the damaged gumbo limbo.