Major storms take so much from us\u2014lives, homes, security and comfort.\u00a0 Gardens are low on the list of concerns after something as horrific as Hurricane Sandy.\u00a0 But once the debris is cleared away, the power restored, insurance claims filed and repairs underway, many of us will think once again of our gardens.<\/p>\n
It is discouraging to look at the remnants of a garden after a severe storm.\u00a0 Flooding b rings layers of silt and debris, wind topples everything and plants get trampled in the clean-up process.\u00a0 At this time of the year, with the growing season at an end, it is especially hard to contemplate a decimated landscape.<\/p>\n
Still, we gardeners are used to working hand in hand with Nature, who is much bigger and stronger than any of us.\u00a0 We forget that strength sometimes–so much so that and in good seasons we take credit for Nature\u2019s work.\u00a0 In bad times we rail at it.\u00a0 But whatever we do, we are always close to it.<\/p>\n
Now that we have had a harsh reminder of that closeness, what should gardeners do?\u00a0 Work in stages and clear away the debris that you can handle by yourself.\u00a0 Get help for the rest.\u00a0 Once that is done, plant those bulbs that you put in the cellar or the garage to wait out Sandy\u2019s reign of terror.\u00a0 They need to sleep beneath the earth, absorbing the thorough chilling required for optimal spring flowering.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t plant those bulbs in the ground, pot them up and leave the pots outside to overwinter.\u00a0 The potted bulbs will flower at the regular spring time.<\/p>\n
If you have lost big trees, parts of your garden may change from shady landscapes to sunny ones.\u00a0 Now is a good time to plan the sun garden of your dreams and figure out where to relocate the shade loving specimens from the old layout.\u00a0 It\u2019s too soon to transplant, but high time to dream.\u00a0 The mail and online catalogs will be upon us before long.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t forget to plan on replacing at least some of the downed trees.\u00a0 Our neighborhoods have lost so many, in this most recent severe storm and in others that have come before.\u00a0 Tight municipal budgets have reduced local officials\u2019 ability to replace trees lost on streets and in public places.\u00a0 These largest of plants do the most for us; purifying air and water, cooling us in summer and shielding us from wind.\u00a0 Emulate Dr. Seuss\u2019 famous Lorax and \u201cspeak for the trees.\u201d\u00a0 Think now about new trees on your own property and call your municipality to see if you can contribute funds to help buy and install new street and public specimens.<\/p>\n
Be patient.\u00a0 Even if the disaster wiped out your garden, some of its remnants\u2014roots, seeds and bulbs–are waiting beneath the soil.\u00a0 Next spring they will emerge at their appointed times and become part of the new and improved garden you have planned while waiting out the winter.\u00a0 If money is a problem when you are resurrecting your landscape, ask gardening friends for cuttings, divisions and spare plants.\u00a0 Get the word out on social media.\u00a0 You will be amazed at the result.\u00a0 Gardeners are among the most generous people on earth and you may find yourself with new friends as well as new plants.\u00a0 The garden will come back\u2014one way or another\u2014because plants persist.\u00a0 In his book, Weeds<\/em>, English nature writer Richard Mabey points to the red poppies made famous in John McCrae\u2019s World War I poem \u201cIn Flanders Fields,\u201d and describes another plant, rosebay willowherb, that grew unbidden out of World War II bomb craters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe devastation of the Second World War nurtured poppies too, but its iconic weed was rosebay willowherb, which unfurled like a purple surf across the bombed-out areas of Britain\u2019s big cities in the summers after the Blitz.\u00a0 It was christened \u2018bombweed\u2019 by Londoners, most of whom had never seen the plant before.\u201d<\/p>\n We gardeners, like bombweed, will persist, and next summer will undoubtedly find us tending the edible and ornamental crops that we will plant in the wake of Sandy\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Major storms take so much from us\u2014lives, homes, security and comfort.\u00a0 Gardens are low on the list of concerns after something as horrific as Hurricane Sandy.\u00a0 But once the debris is cleared away, the power restored, insurance claims filed and repairs underway, many of us will think once again of our gardens. It is discouraging … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[466,467,465],"class_list":["post-685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","tag-garden-disasters","tag-garden-reconstruction","tag-hurricane-sandy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":686,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}