ksquest

This big ol' triple-trunk ponytail is what most people here call *the regular kind.* It's the one where the iguana lives. It was one of the first plants I planted here, around 4 feet tall at the time, and has grown well, with no attendance from me at all.

It flowered for us twice already, from the tops of the two largest trunks. After the flower spikes died, the tops of the trunks split into more multiple branches. I love more branching, but it made the leaves grow shorter. Before that, they were very long and lush, sweeping the ground. Luckily, it decided to make yet another branch from the very base. So we'll get that long long ponytail look back pretty soon.

Every hurricane is different. Wilma ate our trees to death; we had huge losses of vegetation. The head-high plant debris piles were almost continuous on both sides of all streets for many weeks after the storm.



Unfortunately, a lot of people killed off damaged plants that could easily have been saved. You get into this cleanup mode, get tunnel vision with that chainsaw. Everyone's so focused on clearing out the damage and getting their life back, they sometimes don't stop to think. And the power was off for so long, people couldn't always turn to the internet for advice.

When I drove around doing plant rescues for several weeks after Wilma, I also picked up some interesting pieces of wood. I like to use them for yard art, and to grow orchids and bromeliads on.

Ponytail stumps were out there too. Most were way too big to get into the Saturn. Most could have been left in the person's yard to grow new branches. But people threw them away instead. They'd cut off the roots too, so I couldn't find any ponytails to replant.