Topic: What A Weekend

[Hugh_Jones]

Today has been a day of starting the clearing up.  First there was the 40ft pine tree which blew down on top of one of my most cherished Rhododendron loderi hybrids and which I had to chainsaw into very small pieces to remove it.  Fortunately the Rhodo trunks had not snapped, and were gradually coaxed back upright again.

Six large rhodos (all over 15ft tall) had been blown over completely - roots out of the ground - and these all had to be winched back upright and into their original holes - all are now temporarily propped up with `crutches` cut from other fallen tree branches but will need securing with guy ropes for the next two or three years

The main lawn is ankle deep in debris - lumps of pine trees, birch branches, twigs, and 2 large sheets of polythene (not mine) which have suddenly appeared, and there is a large branch sticking out of the larger fish pond.

Still, I`m better off than one of my neighbours - he lost part of his roof.

[Ceri]

That's some serious horticultural damage - I lost a fence panel, but as my garden is only a couple of years old I don't have anything that's grown big enough to be affected as badly as your tree and rhodos.  Must have taken you forever to chainsaw the tree - is your hybrid saveable?

[jethro]

Woke up on Sunday to find next doors consevatory roof in the garden  :o , the only trouble is they are on holiday so i had to phone them up to break the 'good news'  ??? needless to say they are not happy bunnies.

Hugh, i hope all the plants survive it would be a shame to loose plants that are that mature i bet they look great when they are in flower.

[Doris_Pinks]

Wonder if they will let you keep it Jethro, then you can make summit outta it!  ;D

[Xanadu]

Hello Hugh_Jones,
First of all sorry to hear about your cherished Rhododendrons. It must be heart breaking for you to see them being destroyed. I guess you'll have to start all over again.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for not acknowledging your message. I had only realise to-day that you posted a message to me on the 13th of February. I am still finding my way around, plus not being computer savvy it does take me awhile.

[jethro]

Hi D-P, it would make a canny roof for a greenhouse  ;D , by the way the seeds you sent are sprouting  ;D so i'll get them in the garden this year  ;) .

[Doris_Pinks]

maybe Hugh can donate his polythene sheets and you are nearly there!!  ;D

[busy_lizzie]

I am sorry you have had so much damage to contend with Hugh.  Hope you can re-establish some of your plants/bushes.  No damage that I can see at our site, just bits and pieces of debri blown around.  :) busy_lizzie

[jethro]

The only trouble is i've been offered free of charge 2 greenhouses, one is 6,000 square feet and the other is 6,500 square feet  :o , they would just cover all the allotment, so it's worth thinking about as all the plot would be under glass, no worries about getting wet in the rain. The only problem i can think of is the vandals, they would have a field day smashing the glass  >:( .

[Mrs Ava]

Oh Hugh, what a shame.  We lost a couple of fence panels, but other than that, everything seeeeems to be okay.  Glad we had our huge confier thingy cut down when we first moved in.  Hope the rhodeees pull through Hugh, I bet they will with all of your tlc.

[aquilegia]

Hugh - hope they survive. poor Rhodos.

The flowers of my spring bulbs were blown to pieces. One of the bits of cardboard I had weighted down with bricks to keep the cats off the bare soil was blown away and therefore the cats walked over the rhubarb to get to the bare soil and have broken several stalks. I was lucky really.

[Hugh_Jones]

Doris, I didn`t get any polythene sheets, I simply watched them fly by - 30ft above the ground and travelling at about 40 mph. Found out from my neighbour this morning that they came from a building site half a mile away - apparently she got all the empty cement bags in her garden.

Anyway I got the branch out of the fish pond, along with a full barrowload of evergreen leaves, twigs and other litter and my wood is a latticework of multicoloured nylon ropes holding the rhodos back upright. I don`t expect any real problems with them - half the rhodos in my garden are propped up on crutches as a result of previous gales.

[Garden Manager]

My goodness you certainly got the worst of it didnt you hugh?

The wind was strong here but not enough to do damage. Thank Goodness!

I do empathise with you, since we have 10 old pine trees at the top of our garden. I dread to think of the mess they'd cause if they ever came down. Not just to our garden but any of the neighbouring ones they happen to fall into. In fact it is something i always worry about whenever we have high winds and think "this could be the one that does it"

I hope you get things sorted out soon.