Diary of a Gardener In the Wake of Helene

Over the past several days, I’ve experienced a mix of relief, gratitude, and overwhelming sadness in the wake of Hurricane Helene. As she skirted Florida's west coast, making landfall in the Big Bend, and tore through Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky, she left behind massive destruction—impacting millions of homes and businesses. The images of my community, our beautiful barrier islands, beach towns, and flooded downtowns are heartbreaking. Roads buried under mounds of sand, beaches erased, homes destroyed, cars submerged, and treasured belongings lost. People's life savings, places of employment, and precious memories have been reduced to debris, salt, and sand.

I thought witnessing the devastation in my community was hard enough, but seeing the horror unfold in North Carolina and Tennessee has been gut-wrenching.

I’ve decided I need to take a break from watching the storm’s destruction. When you live in Florida or near any coast, you accept the risk of hurricanes—that’s the price of living here. But sometimes, the repeated blows are more than one can bear, especially when there’s no time to recover from one storm before another strikes. It’s hard to watch.

My garden has become my refuge, the place where I go to ground myself. Working outside, moving, planting, trimming—these activities allow my mind to momentarily shut out the chaos. Cleaning up the debris from the storm over the past two days has been a way for me to feel useful, offering a small shield from the world beyond.

As we now await the news of another potential hurricane brewing in the Gulf, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Helene. It’s been a tough week, and many months of recovery lie ahead.