Tree Damage!
Oops. In September 2013 we had severe wind gales, with wind speed reaching 160 km per hour. This was too much for the neighbour's pine plantation, and trees fell like dominoes.
Tree Mess - End of Willow Garden
The last ones crashed over our driveway and onto the Stumpy Garden. Oh dear. It was a huge mess and I cried and cried!
Gum Tree Branches
Some heavy machinery dragged the main offenders (a huge gum and pine tree) off the garden and then I started my rather smaller-scale clean-up. It took weeks and weeks, and I'm afraid there was more crying to come. Some days it all just felt overwhelming. It was too messy, and there was too much stuff to remove from the garden. How much damage would there be underneath?
Gardens Do Heal...
But gardens do heal. I lost several rhododendrons, but others were luckier. Some were squashed flat, but still bravely tried to flower. The roses like lady Hillingdon bounced back, as roses do. The biggest changes were a huge increase in sunshine and absolutely no protection from the strong nor-west winds.
Tree Mess - One Week Into Clean-Up
One of the most sensible things I did was to wait and watch, rather than rush in and dig out anything that looked dead. Some rhododendrons were cut down to their stump, but they soon started resprouting. One layered itself, the original shrub smashed beyond saving.
Squashed Rhododendron in Flower
The rambling rose which was supposed to climb up a fastigate Oak got in a bit of a pickle. Parts of the tree were broken, including a lot of the lower branches. I still haven't sorted it out properly. Oops.