Lawn care in Altamonte Springs, Florida

Less than in the older-canopy neighbourhoods further north. Altamonte Springs leans toward consistent mowing and clean shrub lines rather than heavy palm and tree work — but any palm carrying dead fronds over a roof, lanai or driveway still gets flagged on the walk-through before storm season.

Through the growing season — roughly March into November — St. Augustine grass wants cutting every five to seven days. In the summer rain it can put on two to three inches a week, and the rule that keeps it healthy is to never take off more than a third of the blade in one cut. That is why routine mowing runs weekly in summer and stretches to every other week only in the cooler months when growth slows.

No. There is no such thing as a hurricane cut. UF/IFAS is clear that stripping a palm back to a few upright fronds does not reduce wind resistance and actively harms the tree — green fronds are how a palm feeds itself, and over-pruning thins the trunk and leaves the growing point exposed. What genuinely helps before a storm is taking off the fronds that are already dead or brown, plus any loose fronds, seed pods or coconuts that could come down in high wind. That is the palm work worth doing.

Seminole County runs the year-round schedule: twice a week from March through November, once a week from November through March, and no watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on any day. Odd-numbered street addresses water Wednesday and Saturday; even-numbered addresses water Thursday and Sunday. Hand watering with a shut-off nozzle is allowed any time, and newly installed landscape gets a 60-day establishment exception. A few cities layer their own rules on top, so it is worth checking yours.