On top of this long period of depressing wet and cold weather, today, there came by a horrible devastating hail with ice stones measuring between 1 and 2 cm diameter. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but that was enough to cause a lot of damage to my garden. Specially the plants with large and soft leaves suffered the most. Some look so pitiful being all shredded up!
This is a scenery in July!!!
Here when just after the sun came back, as if nothing had happened!!
My poor Ligularia dentata all shredded up!
Not much left of the beautiful leaves of my water lily!
and poor Darmera peltata!
It is sad to have to look at this demolished foliage for the rest of the summer. Should I cut it back or just leave like it is and bear with the poor looks of it ?
I have many more victims, only the ones with tiny and though leaves escaped and came out unharmed.
Ouch!
Try Pinus engelmannii, that is supposed to be one of the most hail-tolerant species around, said to survive golf-ball-size hail undamaged.
For the damaged plants, I'd leave as is. They've had most of their photosynthetic area torn off; cutting the rest off is going to stress them even more. Let them keep what little they have left.
Resin
Oh dear, what a mess Bonitin, I'm so sad for you. Such beautiful plants too :o( I had all my iris flowers shredded by hail about 3 years ago and know how awful it feels to see all that damage (((hug))). Your poor waterlilies look as if they've been shot at.
I second what Resin has already said, 'leave as they are'. Cutting the damaged leaves off is only going to cause more stress to the plants, better to let them recover from their blasting and allow the leaves to die naturally.
We have hail forecast for today too (nasty stuff!) Makes a change from the 'monsoon' rain we've been getting.
Terri
Bonitin we can cry on each others shoulders ;( http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/743139/ Scroll down a bit...first pics are of my rented veggie patch but a little later on I've posted pics of my yard (and water lily too).
However it could have been much worse: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/743352/
Thanks Resin and Terry for the advise! (By the way Pinus engelmannii is not in the plant files, but I know it very well.)
Thank you Terry for your warm consolation, I can imagine how sad it must have been to have all your beautiful irises being destroyed and to have to wait a whole year before you can enjoy their presence again (:o{).
Oh wow Lilypon!! I realise that these must have been far more devastating than the ones that attacked my garden. What a size of ice-stones!! Never seen this in my life. Very impressive pictures of the menacing and dramatic skies.
I also realise I shouldn't be pitiful for myself after seeing these horrible pictures in the second link you gave! Thanks!
I hope your garden is recovering again Bonitin, and Lilypon, at least everything is growing fast this year with all the rain, the damaged leaves should be replaced in no time.
I'm glad we've never had hail stones that size too. It would be dangerous to go outside, and I wonder what they would do to a greenhouse?
Thanks Pat! Luckily my huge collection of ferns came out with little damage, except the soft-leaved and fragile Onoclea sensibilis.
So sorry to see the tatters of your gardens both of you.
What devastation. I hope things soon get back to normal
Bonitin whether it's totally destroyed or damaged like yours it's still a heart breaker....many years mine has been shredded like yours and it's so annoying (the frustration of looking at something that was beautiful only minutes before). With mine I've accepted they are gone so any comeback will be considered a miracle.
Looking at the pics of the tornado do put it all in perspective (we still have our homes and trees.....though the trees sure don't have the canopy they have before ;).
Pat I'm glad I don't have a greenhouse.....the ones they sell to the home gardener here have very thin glass (we were worried about the car's tempered front windshield glass).
Wishing your garden a quick recovery Bonitin and thank you ladies from me as well.
This message was edited Jul 4, 2007 9:38 AM
When you say 'many years mine have been shredded like yours' does that mean that you have these hails very often in your area, Lilypon ? I only remember it occurring one time before in summer time since I have a garden and that was more than 10 years ago.
Specially hails in summer time can do that horrible damage which is not the case in winter when the vulnerable plants are asleep under the ground and deciduous trees have no foliage.
My trees lost a lot of their leaves too, specially my Ginkgo biloba, but not so badly to give them a ruined look. I just hope that the damaged plants don't get ill, because stressed and wounded plants are more vulnerable for all kinds of attacks of diseases and pests.
My garden hasn't suffered since we've been here, but there are often hailstorms in the area - particularly in certain areas of the Pyrenees. The hail is often associated with thunderstorms and high winds. Vineyards only a few km from me were devastated by hail about a month ago just as the leaves had filled out and the flower buds were forming. I heard some farmers had lost practically their whole crop for this year.
The ornamental plants suffer a little set back, but in the long term are generally fine. I hope and believe yours will be OK :)
Thanks Philomel!
The hailstorm here was also associated with a thunderstorm that occurred about half an hour before the hail storm was hitting.
I was out shopping at that time and suddenly the sky turned almost black, the heavy rain looked like a dense curtain you couldn't see through accompanied by heavy thunders. It didn't last long, fortunately and a few minutes later the sun appeared and then suddenly the weather turned again without a warning.
It has been like that for many days. Its like someone turning on and off the light all the time. It makes me irritable and grumpy!
So disappointing bonitin, on top of the horrible cold weather we've had lately too! All your hard work comes to this, but they will recover.
We had some heavy rain yesterday, I could see it bouncing about a foot into the air on the road. It looked like large drops coming down, was probably melting hail. The south of England had lots of hail too,
http://news.aol.co.uk/extreme-weather/south-battered-by-torrential-rain-hail/article/20070704051209990001
Our summers are so short we really do need some good weather to tide us over the winter, there is more heavy rain forecast too! We had about 0.75" yesterday, the water in the drain had subsided considerably but went up again, not quite to the previous high but still high! If it continues we are in flood danger.
Lilypon, those are huge hailstones! This seems to be going around the Northern latitudes, someone took pics of 5 mini tornadoes in one day north of here, we don't normally get those!
Just read your post bonitin, it was like that here yesterday too, thunderstorms all around, heavy showers with sun in between. I kept busy with running out in the sunny spells taking pics of all the insects, then I have to download and fix them etc. I'm taking so many pics it takes me hours to sort them, then I try to ID some as well! Today it was sunny for a while, then turned to showers and cool. It's not getting much above 15C here most days, today it was 17C!
Bonitin the prairies average 3 hail storms in a summer but most times the hail is dime size or smaller (and we usually don't receive as much as I showed in the above link). Quite often though I'm lucky and am at home when the weather changes and I am able to save them.
This is a description of Saskatchewan's 2006 summer (I saved my plants that time): http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/521000/
All that heat during the summer set the mood for what Phillips calls "Prairie hailers." The unusually high number of Prairie hailstorms made fifth place on Environment Canada's list.
Of the 300 severe weather events on the Prairies in 2006, Phillips said three-quarters of them were hailstorms.
In a typical summer the province sees about 30 storms that generate hail at least the size of a nickel. To the end of July, 26 such hailstorms had struck and more were reported in August.
In early July, a hailstorm originating in Calgary raced into Saskatchewan. Around Regina, near-baseball-size chunks of ice flattened crops, damaged siding and eavestroughs, broke shingles, cracked windows and pockmarked vehicles. Many crops and gardens received a severe beating and thousands of birds died.
Another ferocious hailstorm hit Wakaw on July 7. In less than 15 minutes, baseball-size hail and 100 km/h winds wreaked havoc on the community. The Canadian Crop Hail Association reported crop losses of $100 million in Saskatchewan alone, the highest damage payment in more than a decade, according to the report.
Thank you Wallaby for the comforting words.
I must be grateful for what's left undamaged; specially the plants under the canopy of the trees got little damage.
I'll have to take out most of the leaves of the water lily though; they are just floating around now in little peaces. The pieces that are still attached to the leaves, break of at the slightest movement or touch by a frog or newt, so thin are the connections. But it is a vigorous plant and I see some new leaves that were untouched because of being under the water surface, also a couple of flower buds.
Strange thing I was not aware of it happening at the time; I was so occupied at the computer ordening and naming my pictures, heard the sound though on the background but didn't pay any attention to it; probably thinking it was one of these many heavy showers. So it was quite a schock when I came out and saw the disaster. If I had been aware I probably could have prevented a lot of the damage.
I noticed from your weather descriptions that more than often its simular to the weather over here. The forecast for saturday and sunday sounds more promising, but unfortunatly not lasting again for next week. Sigh....
That's really a lot Lilypon! It must be nerve racking when one of these hail storms are announced and one is never sure whether its going to hit your garden or not.
I read your whole thread and its incredible how devastating nature elements can be although they have a certain morbid beauty. I've never seen skies like that in my life.
I only remember one time, when as a small child, being at the sea side , and witnessing the birth of a water hose (don't know if that's the right name for it) on the dark horizon of the sea, growing in fast speed into a gigantic whirling water column hitting the water surface with great violence and racing towards the coastline. It was so impressive I never forgot.
a water hose (don't know if that's the right name for it)
On top of learning a lot about plants and gardening I'm also enriching my English vocabulary! Thanks Resin!
Ooops I should have said above....."Bonitin my location on the prairies average 3 hail storms in a summer but most times the hail is dime size or smaller (and we usually don't receive as much as I showed in the above link)."
Wallaby1 is correct yours will recover. :)
Oh Myriam
All your beautiful plants! What a thing with that hailstorm!
There was one here yesterday while I was shopping down town, put apparently it did not hit my area.
Thank you Monica for your sympathy!
Is it also so cold in Denmark for the time of the year ?
The weather here is still miserable and it feels like autumn, so chilly I had to take out my winter sweaters again. Day temperatures balance between 14 and 16 °, raising a little during the short sunny spells to a poor 18°.
Glad to hear the hail didn't hit your area!
that is just as we have it here, very dull and cold.
It was so cold a few nights ago I had to get the heater going.
Yes I was lucky that it did not hit her, but I am so sorry to see all of your plants that way :o((
This is very weird weather indeed! On one hand there are blooming plants that are supposed to start performing in late summer-autumn, probably fooled by the abnormal warm and sunny April month and now mushrooms are fooled by this chilly autumn weather popping up in many places in my garden, most of them normally only occur in autumn-winter.
It has been a very strange year indeed. I remember the flowering cherry trees in January! How strange is that? But I do hope the sun will come for at least a week. All of my annuals are not even half the size they should be.
It is the In Bloom judging next week and the bedding plants have hardly grown since we put them in. At least we got a letter from the organisers saying they understood that the weather would have had a big effect on our efforts and not to worry. It makes the town look pleasanter anyway, but I still have a sneaky feeling it is all a big con by the council to get us to do the work they should be doing on the rates.
What is the 'in Bloom judging' Pat ?; does that mean that the town authorities come and judge your gardens ?
There is a competition run by the County of Yorkshire and lots of others all over the UK which cities, towns and villages plant flowers, hanging baskets, work with schools, have wildlife areas, recycling, sustainable planting, and generally cleaning up their environment. Some of my friends who are on lots of committees and involved in everything asked me to be on the In Bloom Committee. I think there are about 14 of us altogether. We get some help from the local council and have to raise money and apply for grants to buy the plants etc. There is a spring judging and a summer judging and we are awarded gold, silver or bronze awards or something like that. Last year was the first time we entered it and we won Silver which was a surprise, but I don't think we'll do very well this year as the plants haven't grown since we put them in, although I had a look today and a few geraniums had started to open so it might look a bit better by next Wednesday - judging day if we get some sunshine.
We've also bought hanging baskets to hand out to anyone on the main judging route who would like to plant one up and put on their house, and we have supplied large planters to some of the businesses in the town and they pay to have them planted up. The local schools also come and plant up some large tubs in the town centre, each with their school's name on.
I spent three hours along with one other person on the committee weeding, hoeing and generally tidying one small area on the judging route yesterday morning. I know I shouldn't but I feel rather resentful spending time doing that when my own garden is getting neglected and there are lots of things desperately in need of planting out. Then I'm too exhausted to do anything else when I get home. Moan moan moan!
There is a very favourable response from everyone around, but not enough get involved. It certainly makes the place look more cared for.
This message was edited Jul 12, 2007 5:37 PM
You could always go round the competing villages, and snip all their flowers off the night before the judging . . . . like that village with the daffs . . . .
;-)
(did anyone ever get caught for that?)
That is very naughty Resin, and no I don't think they ever caught anyone. The picture I saw of that looked as though quite a bit of stem had been cut too, so they were probably selling them in a market or something.
Are your plants recovering after the hail?
Until now, only the water lily is making new leaves and the sensitive fern is making timid efforts to make new fronds.
My Ligularia is still too much in shock and others don't seem to bother making new ones, perhaps they are not concerned with their looks like humans do, as long as they have enough leaf-mass left to do their photosynthesis.
Some of my oxalis also got a severe blow; also the ones you've send me, but they are very bravely making new growth, so they will be ok.
I also got severe damage on a dear tropical plant Philodendron gloriosum that I had given a holiday in the garden. It is so precious to me because it represents a souvenir from the botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro where I fell in love with it. It had grown from a tiny piece that was smuggled out (yes I confess!) and it took me three years to get it into a beautiful mature plant! I guess it must have been my karma !
I just wanted to express my sorry that your plants have suffered so.
Judy
Oh so sorry to hear of the Philodendron gloriosum, I do hope it recovers.
I told a friend about the hail storm and how the plants were damaged, and how sad I felt for you and them.
She could not understand the fuss, probably because plants do not interest her. Funny thing isn´t.
p.s I won’t tell anyone about the smuggling secret LOL
Had similar damage to a lot of my plants as well...including a new vehicle I picked up only days before...new paint job on the horizon...makes one ill doesn't it?
