The Calm Before the Storm

Lydia patiently watches the rainy garden as the outer bands of Hurricane Irene' begin to reach us. Her full force is expected to hit us fiercely later tonight and through the day tomorrow. "Batten down thy hatches!".

As everyone on this side of the planet knows, we here on the east coast of the U.S. are preparing for  hurricane Irene, and as you can see in  the above image of the threat level from the National Weather Service, we are in the middle of the 'extreme' damage area.  Time will tell if the storm deteriorates or continues with force, but we are spending today taking precautions, especially with a glass greenhouse, it's a little concerning. Let alone the many mature trees on the property which may experience some damage from the wind. The storm will weaken somewhat, as if starts to pass over land, so we are crossing our fingers that the worst conditions may be a few gusts of wind near hurricane force.

Many of our plants in the garden have survived hail and tornados this summer, and they are pretty banged up ( notice the hail damage on the large water-lily shaped leaves of Japanese Butterbur, Petasites japonicus ssp. giganteus), but this storm may be more damaging.

That said, this wind direction is the opposite of our more typical westerly winds, so the tree roots and branches will be more vulnerable. In 1987, Hurricane Gloria passed over us with a similar path and strength, and we lost a few of the 70-foot spruce trees, which were uprooted due to the wind and wet soil, so we are not out of the clear, by any means. 

The storm starts tonight with the outer bands already bringing us heavy rain today, we are expecting to stay awake all night!  Some wine, some candles, some ice in a cooler, and....some wine.  The dogs, ducks, geese and pheasants are all locked up, and now.....we wait.

 Ahhhhhh! Hurricane!!! Actually, the ducks and geese are excited about the potential of temporary 'ponds' and flooding since they rarely get an opportunity to swim. Tomorrow, our challenge will be keeping them out of the street and woods. I do see floating spaghetti squash in our future, though.

IN FRONT OF THE GREENHOUSE, I USUALLY PLANT TOPICAL PLANTS, SINCE IT HAS A SOUTHERN EXPOSURE, BUT WITH THE WIND DIRECTION EXPECTED TO HIT THIS SIDE HEAD ON, I HOLD LITTLE HOPE FOR THESE NICOTIANA GLAUCA SEEDLINGS ( WITH THE BIG LEAVES ON THE LEFT), BUT THE BANANA PLANTS SHOULD SURVIVE FINE, BUT WITH SOME SHREDDING OF THE LEAVES.

 Bamboo species love this weather - humid, wet, rainy, they are designed to survive the wrath of typhoons, not unlike flexible palm trees and banana plants.

Tall containers must be relocated to more protected areas, so that they will not tip over, or, they are tipped over by us. Our large Bay Laurels in front of the greenhouse, for example, have been pre-tipped over.