Better Than Expected

Today’s winds have dropped to 20 m.p.h.

When opening the gate for Aaron this morning I checked on the storm damage.

There really wasn’t much more than I had noticed yesterday. The downpipe to the water butt on the corner of the kitchen wall had become unstuck; a few extra pots had fallen; the sweet peas had been further loosened; quite a few smaller branches had been ripped off the beech and birch trees; some of the ornamental poplar branches were broken; just one rose stem had been torn; many plants have lost stems; and there was a certain amount of wind burn on one side of the winter flowering cherry and elsewhere, such as various fuchsias.

Aaron began the work of tidying up.

He gathered and bagged up many of the fallen branches and leaves;

trimmed the ornamental poplar, removing the broken branches;

and righted the fallen containers ready for Jackie to replace at her leisure. He observed that the morning had gone very quickly. He likes to be busy.

Bob of Lovewillbringustogether’s Weblog has recently suggested a regular feature of “Where’s Nugget” inviting readers to find our little robin. That, of course, depended on his surviving the storm and returning unscathed. I am happy to report that I heard his gentle chirp as he followed Aaron around.

He nipped up onto a chair for a chat, then flitted off into the Rose Garden.

I admit that the first “Where’s Nugget” puzzle is a little difficult.

The red scented sweet peas may have been blown awry, but there are plenty of clinging seed pods which benefited from an early shower,

and its desiccated leaves provide perfect camouflage for our Meadow Brown butterflies.

These dahlias

and the agapanthuses may have bowed to the elements, but, like the rest of the garden, they have fared far better than expected.

Bees, flies, and crickets have come out to play and to work again,

The Rose Garden has remained virtually unscathed,

and one lily kept its head in the front.

Other flowers, like these cosmoses, dahlias, and rudbeckia are wondering what all the fuss was about.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s succulent beef and mushroom pie in short crust pastry; new potatoes; roasted sweet potato and parsnip; and crunchy carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage; with piquant cauliflower cheese, with which she finished the Austrian white wine and I drank Doom Bar.

81 comments

    1. He was a life saver, (Aaron that is,) I was a bit reluctant to go outside to look at the damage, he took it all in his stride and just stood things up and cleared up leaves and branches without any worry, I would have been agonising over each broken stem!! It made me much more able to face the start of the long job of rehanging umpteen hanging baskets and replacing loads of containers to their elevated positions. So lucky it was not worse, and now have several Pelargonium cuttings available for next year !

      1. Glad you found a silver lining to all those clouds Jackie! 🙂

        I’m sure the garden will be back even better than ‘before’ – Nugget will help! 😉

      2. I had to backtrack and find out about your storm. I am glad it wasn’t worse.

        PS I heartily approve of your dinner menu. Not one stray “l” to be eaten. 🙂

  1. Aaron did a good job of cleaning away the debris. And I’m very glad to hear that your little winged friend survived unscathed. Nugget is like a baby playing peek-a-boo. He thinks he is invisible because he can’t see you……..

  2. For all those rained-on flower heads, it looks lovely, the colours. We had a runner-bean tipi completely over, but not too bad. Thank heavens it’ eased up; we were fearful of the flood alarms.

  3. So glad to see that your garden has suffered minor damage. I’ve found that most plants recover much faster than we humans do. Glad that Nugget has survived the storm 🙂

  4. Phew! What a relief the damage wasn’t too bad. Even a bigger relief that Nugget is all right. Those who think that weather is trivial should think again.

  5. Aaron didn’t have as much to do as I first thought. You lucked-out with this storm! I’m very happy to see Nugget well and on back on duty in the garden.

  6. What a relief to find the damage wasn’t as bad as expected.So pleased to see Nugget safe and sound. Love your new game, he was easy to find thanks to your careful labelling of the pictures!

  7. I’m so glad things were not any worse!
    So very glad Little Nugget, the crickets, the bees, the flies, and the fleas returned! WAIT…fleas rhymes with bees, but Cooper and I DON’T want you do have any fleas! 😮 😀 😉 😛 HA!
    I’m especially glad Little Nugget is fine and is back on duty to help The Head Gardner get her work done! 🙂
    YAY for Aaron! What a great helper he is, too! 🙂
    Where’s Nugget is a fun game! I imagine one day he might be perched on Jackie’s shoulder! 🙂
    HUGS!!! 🙂

  8. Hooray Nugget. I worry about my little friends during storms. Once I ran out during a storm and put an umbrella over a mama spider. Sometimes nature needs a mama.

  9. I’ve been mostly away this weekend, and was eager for a followup post after seeing your prior one. I’m glad that the damage isn’t any worse than it was, although having that heavy table tipped suggests quite a wind — as did your photos of the sea. I’m always a little astonished to see how well the birds do in a blow like that, although it’s also true that Nugget may have had more places to shelter than many birds — tipped or not, those plants could provide a good bit of protection for a wee one.

    1. Very many thanks, Linda. Apparently we have to cut away all the windburned stems and the plants will recover next year. I do appreciate your comments and hope your weekend was good

  10. The storm seems to have acknowledged the labours of the doughty gardeners and left their wards largely unscathed. All’s right with the garden, Nugget is in his bower.

  11. I love these strange Latin and Greek words like “agapanthus”. They always sound like an ingredient in a witches’ brew or a word on line three of a particularly effective spell.

  12. Although the damage is disheartening, it’s good to see your garden retains quite a deal of it’s previous natural beauty, i’m sure it will look as wonderful as before quite soon.

    When you mentioned previously about wind burn i did not realise you were referring to the trees and plants! I have often suffered windburn on my face here Down Under when the sun was hidden by cloud and i thought it was ‘safe’ to venture out without sunblock! Yesterday it looked like there would have been more than a few cases down on that beachfront.

    Glad to see little Nugget back to his chirpy self and I managed to spot him despite the absence of his bright red breast in today’s selection! 🙂

    Loved the shot of the Meadow Brown! Did you notice the dead leaf’s veins closely resemble those of an insect’s wings?

  13. Oh dear, looks like you had quite a bit of damage – though thankfully reversible. We had more rain than wind for a change. Love, love, love the flowers – and little nugget. We’re unimaginative and call all our robins ‘Bobs’ now.

  14. So glad all is well. A small storm here provided us with much needed rainfall but just 5 miles away, golf ball sized hail broke several windows and wrecked everyone’s gardens. But it brought us a respite from summer heat for awhile.

  15. Nugget is now as firm a fixture on your blog as your good self and the Head Gardener! 😀 … I do believe he’s supervising whatever’s on the other side of that fence. 😀

  16. Ach jeetje! Ik had te vroeg gejuicht … Ik leef helemaal met jullie mee in Engeland en geniet van iedere bloem. En, Nugget doet de deur dicht. Hij is de kers op de taart … Kippenvel!
    Bij de volgende tornado … , wat voorzorgsmaatregelen treffen: De regenpijp goed vast maken, potten van de sokkels en hangplanten op de grond zetten, de tuinstoelen opruimen, zodat niet alles door elkaar gaat vliegen, naar wij dachten … Maar ja … Amsterdam, 28 – 8 – 2020 * http://www.friedabblog.wordpress.com *

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