Garden Centre

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Before Gadabout – garden wind and rain damage

We’ve been having amazing weather in the South of England recently – and I use the term to mean that the weather has amazed, not that it’s been particularly good. Which is not to say it hasn’t been good, in patches. What we’ve been experiencing is brilliant days, with hot sun but strong winds, and torrential rain with thunderstorms in the late afternoon to around midnight, then chill winds and high cloud cover until dawn.

This set of weather combinations means that while sheltered gardens have been enjoying brilliant growth and bloom – especially in roses – those on more exposed sites have had the miserable experience of getting up in the morning to find that fragile plants and climbers have not survived the night. Lots of clematis seem to have become top heavy and descended to ground level, which might be disappointing in the short term, but probably doesn’t matter in the long term because a clematis, whether pruned or storm-damaged, will usually grow back and better, from the roots. And hardy perennials, no matter how far their petals have travelled on the wine, can bounce back within a few days, if you cut back any broken stems or foliage.

It does matter more if your climber is less vigorous, and so it’s really important to try and keep up with a thinning regime, so that growth isn’t too top-loaded and stems aren’t supporting a vast amount of leafy foliage. Remember that the volume of rainwater added to leaves and flowers (which can trap a lot of liquid) can treble the weight of a plant and if your climber only has a few thin stems, it may just not be equal to the task.

I’m really hoping that none of the gardens I’m visiting tomorrow have suffered this fate, but I’m sure they’ll have found clever ways to recover if they have.

Labels: clematis, garden damage, garden gadabout, garden rain, garden wind

The All Seasons Gardener at 4:25 AM

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