Please can insert the picture in your post using the camera icon below the message box. Many people won't click on links .and yours comes up with a security warning.

I tried inserting the image in Houzz, but it just keeps giving me an error. Maybe if I try to insert it in a comment...

Thanks. But it's not very clear from that photo what you are looking for or even which is your house. Do you have a photo of the area taken from the ground?

p.s. Sorry about the typos before. I'm on a train and it's swaying a bit.

Sonni1, how much luck have you had with Laurel Oaks, and how fast do they actually grow? The

Indeed, I'm worried about wind resistance, however even the local "native" greenery consists of pine trees and wax myrtle, both of which have horrible wind resistance. This property used to be heavily wooded with pines until Charlie in '04 which blew them away, and then Irma took care of the remaining oaks. We just bought this place a few months ago so we don't know if they were maintained/trimmed etc.

We already have bamboo and I think you might have hit the nail on the head there. The stalks are bare so there is very little foliage in comparison to the amount of actual plant/root matter. On the other hand, my neighbor has a bamboo fence for half of our property line (so basically 350') and it shields very nicely. I don't know how much they paid for it (the current owners did not plant it there).

Is this the list? https://www.sfwmd.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ww2_waterwise_trees.pdf (though we have well water).

Yes, that's the document I was referring to. I found a lot of little laurel oaks sprouting around the property, so I dug them up and transplanted them, so they were basically free. I had about a 50% success rate. The smallest transplants survived best, so 4 years later, the 1'-2' laurels are now 7' -8' tall. They have a full canopy and look nice , especially now as the spring leaves are a beautiful bright green. I've been trimming and fertilizing them and the ones that get irrigated with the lawn look a bit better than the ones without. The mature laurels on the property - most look pretty sad. They were probably never cared for and when we bought this place were completely covered with grape vines. So heavily, we didn't even know they were here. Very little damage to them in recent hurricanes, while yes, the wax myrtle were destroyed. Sorry to hear you lost the pines.

This is embarrassing, but I can't yet figure out how to add a link. The storm and flood tolerance is listed on the SFWMD site under storm tolerant landscape.

We are actually in a similar predicament with the Laurel oaks. (lots of young ones on the property). I'll take a few pictures actually (and other people can see what I'm dealing with).

trees grow in tree time .... not our current world of instant gratification ...

if you need a sight block.. on such a large property .. plant then closer to the house ... and in front of every window which you look out .... and i dont mean right next to the house ...

since your house is elevated.. you not only have to block at a level sight line.. you have to make up all the height of the hill ... which only means more decades ...

in other words.. if you are only thinking about planting out at the property line ... you are just adding years or decades to your project ... so move in closer.. with strategically chosen location ... and keep in mind.. even if a tree doesnt shade the house.. if trees cool the lawn around.. you might be surprised how much cooling effect can be generated ... relatively speaking ...

all that said.. i have no clue about FL flora and fauna.. so good luck ... i didnt hit the links above.. but you might see if there is a local COUNTY soil conservation district office.. and see if they have tree and shrub recommendations ... its usually associated with the AG or extension office ...

ken

Of course we're not planning to grow things from scratch, and we'll probably have to pay several hundred (or a couple K) to get what we want, but it's a matter of what works best for us. I know the chinese elm I just had to take down (because it started sending roots underneath our house) grew to a pretty nice height in 4 years, well above the height I'd need for my fence - so tress like that do exist.

Here's an album of the pictures I've taken. The more wooded area shows the existing greenery. It doesn't look so bad in the pictures, but it's pretty exposed. I'm really surprised how picturesque the property is, vs. reality: https://imgur.com/a/9XSViel

Sonni, btw do you have a good resource or tips on how to care for those laurels? I'm assuming that's what we have (there's a close-up of a leaf in the album above).

Sorry, somehow missed your last post. I have a really difficult time identifying oak trees, so I can't tell you if those are laurels. Regarding their care: I've read/heard that native trees don't need any care, which is probably true, but they'll look better if you do take care. My trees and plants look far better now than when I moved in, just because I've cleaned out the invasives, pulled out the suffocating vines, trimmed the trees and provide a bit of fertilizer every spring. There may be a tutorial online about tree trimming. I took a class at Mounts one year. This is what I remember and what I do: trim off broken limbs (at the joint - sawing under the branch a bit first so it doesn't split off when it's nearly cut through); trim off branches that come off the main leader that when they get larger, look as if they would split off easily in a heavy storm. I also trim branches that hit me in the head when I walk underneath (so mowing and cleaning out weeds and emerging invasives is easier). Every spring I throw around a bit of all purpose fertilizer (local gardening center has a formulation developed for Florida landscapes). I just read an article about trees failing during hurricanes. It mentioned laurel oaks, but also mentioned that the laurels that fell during one of the hurricanes the article noted were mostly the older ones (40 years - which isn't much less than the expected life span of that tree). So I guess I'll plant some little trees around that in 30 -40 years will replace the laurel oaks when they fall!

Sonni, what's the weights of the fertilizer? I have a bunch of Sunnialnd 10-10-10. I also started irrigating the area and now they're filling in.

Off hand I don't remember. I have what's left emptied into a storage container and don't have the bag. I'll look around or call Uncle Bim's, or get some more this weekend as I'm nearly out, I use it on my citrus too. The 10-10-10 would probably be alright. I don't use much in the natural areas, maybe 1/4 cup per tree.