The wonders of Spring...
Is Spring all tulips and birds chirping and sunshine and wonderful things where you live? Well, in the midwest Spring is often those things, but sometimes it's not. Sometimes you'll have a wonderfully warm day that seems a bit too humid for its own good, and sometime soon storms roll in. That's what happened yesterday morning...
...when strong thunderstorms dumped a huge amount of water (sorry California) and hail upon my garden. The hail wasn't the large-sized stuff that can demolish a shingled roof or dimple your car like a golfball, but there was so much of it!
All of these photos were taken about 10-15 minutes after the heart of the storm had passed, and you can see that the hail on the sidewalks has already melted:
The deck though held onto the stuff for quite a long time:
It's interesting to see how the geometry of the roof kept the hail from landing right next to the house -- most of it piled up a few feet away.
Fun stuff...
...unless you're an early-emerging plant...
...like this Allium. I love having ornamental onions in the garden because nothing will bother them -- not deer, not rabbits, not woodchucks -- but they are susceptible to weather damage...
...and this one really took some damage!
I don't know how much rain actually fell because my rain gauge jar was turned over, but it was really coming down! These photos grabbed from a video I was taking are trying to show the creek flowing down past my cactus beds. (These were also taken through a rain-streaked window so they're extra blurry)
I've 95% decided that I need to create a dry creekbed over here this year, as this storm removed whatever mulch was remaining (and probably some soil too). It was "fun" seeing a rivulet flow right over my newly-planted Clematis tibetana var. vernayi 'Orange Peel' as it joined the main stream.
There are lots of photos and videos about the hail -- which blanketed the ground like snow just a couple of miles from my house -- and flooding on this St. Louis news page.
So is Spring providing you with any excitement this year?
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Hey, we had OUR OWN rain in Northern California yesterday. Almost 3/4 of an inch in Davis. The most rain we've had since December, I believe. Some places had hail, too, but we were spared. I know how much (cosmetic) damage it can do.
Gerhard: that's good to hear! Now you just need to get that every week for a couple of months...
Sorry about your allium damage but the hail sure looks exciting as does the rivulet through your garden. A dry creek bed sounds like a good idea for that spot! Spring here has been relatively calm, knock wood!