Designing a completely hurricane-proof yard may be impossible, but there are steps you can take to help your landscaping survive the fiercest of storms.

When you are getting ready to plant, come up with a list of hurricane-tolerant trees that will fit well with your landscape plan. Many native trees are adapted to hurricanes and possess strong root systems or have the ability to shed branches in a storm, which will help reduce wind resistance.

Live oaks (Quercus virginiana), gumbo limbos (Bursera simaruba) and sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) are all large, hurricane-tolerant, native trees. You should consider any of them for the major canopy trees in your landscaping. They will provide protection for other plants in your yard and help to insulate your garden from damage.

If you have established trees in your yard, they should be lightly pruned each year to let some wind and light through the interior of the tree. Use thinning cuts -- a cut that is made all the way back to the trunk or a major branch of a tree -- to open up the trees. A thinning cut differs from heading cuts, which are made mid-branch to promote re-sprouting.

When pruning, it is important that you never remove more than 30 percent of a tree's canopy. We recommend that you contact a certified arborist for larger jobs. Beware of drive-by tree trimmers that will offer to ``hurricane proof'' your trees and hat-rack them instead. This type of pruning is not only illegal, but causes an explosion of growth that makes your tree-top heavy and weak.

-- JEFF WASIELEWSKI

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