Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Snowpocalypse

WARNING!!! The following contains graphic pictures of plant carnage. If you are a gardener, especially in the Seattle area, this may cause nightmares, insomnia or other sleeping disorders.

The snowmen have all had meltdowns, and we've finally dug out from the 9+ inches of snow and ice Mother Nature dumped on us during the last 2 weeks. We actually had a white Christmas here in Seattle--according to local news sources, only the 6th we've had since the 1890s.

Today we took a stroll around the garden to see how things had fared after all that snow and several weeks of temps in the teens and 20s. It was not pretty. Not pretty at all.  If you click on the name of the plant you can see how it looked during our November Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.

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Gallardia

 

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Rainbow chard

 

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Variegated geranium

 

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Gazanias

 

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Cyclamen

 

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Pineapple sage

 

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Rieger begonia 'Karen'

 

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Cuban oregano

We're hoping the hardier perennials in the shade garden fared better. I guess we'll find out in spring.

 

--Curmudgeon & Wing Nut

13 comments:

Petunia's Gardener said...

Ahhh... time to start planning for the new gardening year! Those 18 degree days will have had some impact even on the hardiest. We have a little chard poking out of the snow, but otherwise the beds are still covered. Tomorrow, the cloche damage will be posted. Keep dry! Paula

Aunt Debbi/kurts mom said...

Yikes.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, poor things. :( It's that time of year, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the sadness! I did the same today too, just don't have a post up yet. Super bummed, hope at least some stuff bounces back. Sad that my namesake didn't make it at your place! :( She's like me, not a big fan of blizzards. Good luck with the perennials, I hope most will have made it. What a crazy winter so far!

Philip Bewley said...

OH! OH MY!
Yikey!
Well, this is where my aunt Joan would come in handy. She always said that planting was based on the law of averages. Some plants will do well and others will not, but you just keep on going. She knew, as she had drought, wind, deer, snow, you name it.
She had a plant hospital.
She would dig up those plants some would say were gone and she would nurse them back to health. Not all would live, but some. She never let having only a few cents in her coin purse stop her. She went mad with cuttings and root tone.
I can swear, with the magic sign, that she had spectacular results in her meadow garden on the sea of Mendocino, even after all the forces of nature had ranged against her! Her garden was enchanted.
I send you that great energy and spirit, and I know that you will have a wonderful garden this summer: You have that great spirit, too.
Happy New Year from me(Philip) and Ric( He is the one who I drag along on my garden adventures!)
Been togher 23 years and looking forward to another spring and planting together!
Warm regards,
Philip

Matron said...

Gosh! how depressing. Still, now that the days are getting longer we can look forward to planting seeds in Spring and starting all over again!

Unknown said...

I've had many of those plants here in the cold. I cut the dead top growth off and they seem to do quite nicely for the most part. I'm sure most of them will come back. Not so sure about the geranium or begonia, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Daphne Gould said...

Oh how sad. I hope your plants recover. I was hoping our 2' of snow would keep our perennials warm for the winter, but no. Now we have bare ground again just a week after the snowfall. Crazy weather.

Kit Aerie-el said...

Oh no! So sad to see!
I'm afraid, very afraid to view what remains once the snow finally melts here.
Hope your plants come back okay!
~Aerie-el

Sarah Laurence said...

I had read about your epic snow in the papers and how sorry I am to see what havoc it wrought on your garden. Perhaps it will re-grow in the new year. Happy New Year!

chuck b. said...

Gruesome.

FoxyMoron said...

But...but, they could come back, right? *sniff* Couldn't they?

Kerri said...

Oh, so sad! Loved the before pictures though. Perhaps some of them will see the glory days again, come spring. Not all though, I'm afraid.
I have a pink Rieger begonia just beginning to bloom...inside, of course.
It's so pretty!
Wishing you happy gardening in spring, 2009 dear wenches!