You know the one. That crispy brown Podocarpus wedged between perfectly healthy, lush green ones. 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟫 🟩 🟩 🟩
I’ve hauled away enough of them now to have renamed it the Podocarcass.
My number one rule for why plants fail applies now to the podocarpus hedge: you put the plant where you want to see it, rather than where it wants to thrive. The Podocarpus is telling us it no longer wants to be here.
As of the latest Drought.gov data, 100% of Broward County is experiencing drought. June 2026 was Broward’s 6th-driest June in 132 years of records, coming in about 5.04 inches below normal. January–June 2026 was about 5.59 inches below normal.
Miami-Dade has been dry too: January–June 2026 was about 6.4 inches below normal, ranking as its 23rd-driest first half of the year in 132 years.
And by late July, NWS Miami was reporting severe drought expanding farther into Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
So when you’re driving around Broward right now thinking, Why am I seeing so many dead Podocarpus? you aren’t imagining the water stress. And once it starts, it’s almost impossible to recover.
Unfortunately, there just aren’t many hedge options that are a good visual substitute for the kringle.
However these are the native hedge options I recommend from tallest to shortest hedge:
Simpson’s Stopper
Cocoplum
Wild Coffee