Havoc

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT AS REQUIRED.

Gusting 50+ miles per hour winds wreaked havoc overnight and today. They are due to continue until tomorrow morning.

Fallen chairs and potFallen chair and potFallen potFallen pot on decking

Pots and chairs, even the new heavy wooden ones, were blown down,

Nicotiana bent

and the taller plants, such as the nicotiana staked up a few days ago,  were bent over once more.

Begonia

Some stems were broken off and, like this beautiful begonia, found their way into vases known as accident pots. These containers are so called because of the occasional mishaps occurring during ordinary maintenance, not the results of elemental vengeance.

Struggling to steer our own course in the face of the gusting blasts, we did a little recovery work, including tying up roses, and laying down items, such as hanging baskets and more chairs, that were likely to suffer. We left the nicotiana because the cane snapped as I tried to insert it, and I couldn’t be bothered to search out another. Especially for the Head Gardener, this was all rather dispiriting. We don’t, just yet, want to be reminded that Autumn is around the corner.

This evening, for dinner, we consoled ourselves with Jackie’s delicious sausage casserole, crunchy carrots, crisp cauliflower and cabbage, followed by steamed suet pudding and cream. I drank more of the Alentejano, and Jackie drank fruit juice.

70 comments

  1. Still very beautiful photography despite the havoc. Perhaps you should secure the stands on the floor with some bolts. It would be nice to have a greenhouse for the autumn days 🙂

    1. Many thanks, Geetha. The Head Gardener prefers to have the stands free, so she can move them around (if the wind doesn’t get there first). A greenhouse is on the way.

      1. I wonder if Jackie moves the furniture around in the house as well 😀
        Fantastic that your greenhouse is planned. I’ve been dying to have a greenhouse for ages now but can’t afford any. Sometime in the future maybe or perhaps I’ll just take the Earth as greenhouse 🙂 .

  2. So sorry for all the damage. Weather has certainly wrecked havoc in a lot of places lately. Makes me wonder if Mother Nature isn’t trying to get even with us!

  3. Most dispiriting, especially after all of Jackie’s hard work. But it is amazing how quickly plants recover. Most of my smaller pots are fallen over too, I reckoned leaving them like that was probably better overnight than have them fall down again. It’s still wild out there. Not right for August.

  4. The bane of every gardener! I know how dispirited I became last ‘summer’ when gale force winds whipped the life out of everything I had planted…………. in Jackie’s garden where so much more planning and work and care has gone on …… I feel dispirited for her too! I’m hoping the garden will hold its own and recover quickly! xo

  5. We’ve had strong winds but, thankfully, not as bad as yours (yet). We live in a wide valley so it’s pretty windy here anyway, but when gales or proto-hurricanes come it can be hellish. Sorry about all the damage but the plants will survive… it’s one of the reasons they are so flexible. I love your begonia bloom in its ‘accidental pot’.

  6. Commiserations about the wind damage – but the accident gave us that Begonia and as for Autumn, remember that as the Earth revolves around the Sun, somewhere there is Spring.

  7. So sorry to hear about the damage to your beautiful garden. I guess it’s a timely reminder of the impermanence of all living things, not just the flowers that bring so much joy.

  8. Now that’s looks to have been windy! Accident pots is a great name. It reminds me of a gift shop my mother liked years ago. Before being taken in, my sister and I were warned so firmly about knocking things off that we named it the don’t breathe shop.

  9. Oh no! We don’t want to think of Fall just being around the corner just yet either, Derrick. I will feel a sense of relief when the warehouse stays cooler longer into the day. So sorry about the blowing gusts of change upon the air!

Leave a Reply