The violent hail storm in June left the garden in tatters and many of my beloved hydrangeas beheaded. The damage was heartbreaking, and the cleanup painful as I removed tens of dangling, half-mature blooms and branches to the compost bin.
Right after the cleanup was complete, Joe the Gnome arrived from California in the company of my charming nephews Cole and Alan.
Joe quickly found a sheltered perch on a small ledge on one of the biggest Ponderosa Pine trees in the center of the back garden. It’s a great lookout, high above the garden hoses which could decapitate him, and prominent enough to see Joe from the kitchen and living room.
Since Joe’s arrival, things have been looking up in the garden. The remaining hydrangeas have “pulled themselves together” and are poised to come into full bloom in the next week or two:
A few early bloomers are cheering me up tremendously:
Hydrangea macrophylla “Endless Summer”
Hydrangea serrata “Preziosa”
Hydrangea paniculata “Quickfire”
No more hail storms, please!
Joe is awfully cute. Fingers crossed that there is no more hail.
Joe is very cute. He made need another of his kind to keep him company
Linda, I’m glad to see that your beautiful hydrangeas are making a comeback. I had my first experience with hail in the garden this June — and even though the hail was only pea-size and lasted no more than 2 minutes, I was amazed by how much damage it did.
Thankfully the hydrangeas have made a great recovery. While the hail shredded the leaves, the blooms catch your eye so you don’t notice the damage.
Linda I love reading your gardening life it’s absolutely fantastic the hydranges look lovely despite the damage keep up the blog Linda it’s just great I look forward to reading it every month and in some way it makes you connect even though your the other side of the world on a weird way it feels like I’m back at school chatting away to you xooxox M
Isn’t it weird how connected (and disconnected) we can be with modern technologies! I’m glad you like the blog. I’ve been very remiss these past few months, writing few posts. Too much going on; too little time!