Storm

A severe storm moved across eastern Missouri yesterday, further giving evidence that although the garden enjoyed a mild winter, summer has been payback.

Although I did not have any damage to my trees, home, or cars, my neighbors across the street did.

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The leading edge of that storm brought with it strong winds and gusts as high as 60 or 70 mph.

From my view it looked like those gusts had a decent downward component. The tops of two trees snapped off here, one falling harmlessly on the lawn, the other hitting the fence (and presumably the veggie beds just behind).

Another tree section snapped off in the backyard of the house with the stone retaining wall (seen in the first photo), falling on a mature and beautiful Japanese maple.

The only "damage" to my garden is lots of plants that are even more splayed than they were before, and several wayward bamboo culms that will need to be tied up or removed. I think the tops of a couple of my Musa basjoo (banana) stems were bent too, but I expect them to recover.

Ah, summer in the garden!

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