Venturing Out!

Storm Francis, blast it, has visited itself upon us today. The meteorological service had announced its arrival with an Yellow Weather Warning for rain and wind and, as we had come through Storm Ellen (Orange Warning) only last week, Francis just didn’t bring any great threat or sense of foreboding with it. We had come through Ellen unscathed and Francis seemed less of a threat. Of course, I should clarify that some parts of the country were less fortunate with Ellen than we in Waterford and there was serious damage and disruption elsewhere while we escaped comparatively lightly.

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  The view from the living room window showing a dramatic sky

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  And, in the field above the garden!

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  Even the garden sculpture struggles to hold its place against such a sky.

We had heavy rain overnight, which had cleared by morning, but the sky continued to be threatening with dark clouds scurrying past. The wind remained strong with occasional quite fierce gusts; certainly not a day for gardening but on such occasions one has to go out to check that all is well, that plants have survived, that there is no damage done – no serious damage, at any rate we hope. It was not the case. Storm Francis had done some damage.

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  A branch from large ash trees which grow on our boundary.

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  From Magnolia soulangeana

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  It would seem there was some rot at the joint which lead to weakness and the branch falling.

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  Cornus ‘Norman Hadden’ toppled over – I don’t think it will recover and will remove as soon as possible.

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  The scarecrow didn’t lose his trousers in this storm but could do with one!

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  Poor banana with shredded leaves

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  There has been no damage to the brugmansia. It was simply top-heavy and fell over and was left as it was the safest place for it.

In advance of the storm, I had taken precautions to protect two colchicums from damage, covering them – one with an old plastic dome and the other with a makeshift cover made from a drinks bottle – and, despite their ramshackle nature, they did a splendid job and both colchicums came through in perfect condition enjoying the micro climate of their enclosures to such an extent that both opened their flowers despite today’s gales.

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  An old plastic dome pressed into action to protect Colchicum ‘Nancy Lindsay’

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  And a plastic drink’s bottle to protect Colchicum ‘Benton End’

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  Colchicum ‘Benton End’ has survived the storm and had even thrived with the protection it was afforded.
  The “dead mouse”, as a friend described it, in the background is Biarum tenuifolium.

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  Colchicum ‘Nancy Lindsay’ reacting to the extra warmth under the plastic dome.

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  Colchicum ‘Nancy Lindsahy’

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  Colchicum parlatoris, a small species colchicum which survived without any protection. A tough little thing!
  

Elsewhere around the garden: Click on the first image to begin a slideshow with captions.

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