Sunday, June 8, 2008

Weather Or Not! !

Like a lot of people in this country, we are experiencing some bad weather in southeastern Wisconsin. Since yesterday we've had storm after storm come through. There has been hail, tornadoes, lightening, and flooding.

We live on a hill but there is also a hill behind us and the water has rushed down it and soaked around our house. The basement is covered with a couple inches of water and it just keeps coming! I timed the sump pump and it comes on every 10 seconds! We've always had a leaky basement and have everything down there set up accordingly so nothing is ruined. And there have been other times when we've had some flooding, but I can't ever remember the water coming in so fast and for such a long time. The forecast says after tomorrow there will be better weather so I hope we can start drying out here.

The gardens and containers are doing OK and only look a little battered and I picked out the best looking flowers for this blog! I feel bad for Steve. Before the storms came through, he had worked all morning and afternoon weeding and mulching the Daylily Boarder with hemlock woodchips. Yikes! the Border is on the sloping north end of our property and here is what happened after the downpours:

Tomorrow he'll have to fix this.
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I found some neat mushrooms that popped up right after the rain.

The first ones look like bread dough that's been left out too long. The others I call Brownie mushrooms and are all over the place.
This is a weird conglomeration of shelf mushroom and a slime mold. Doesn't it look like someone threw up ??!
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As I said, I found the best looking flowers to post. Here are some of them:

Double Impatiens and Double Petunias - I started both indoors.



"Baby Duck" Petunias
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Next are various Alliums
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The Peonies have begun to open!
Isn't the last one fantastic! I had to hold it up for the picture since the rain has knocked them down. I'll take a nice bouquet to work tomorrow - I can enjoy them all day then.
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Fancy Poppies that I planted.

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Sweet Sweet Williams ! !
These have just begun to open and don't even look real to me.
Siberian and Tall Bearded Iris (still standing!)
Old fashioned fragrant day lily. These were here when we moved in.
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Beauty Bush and Lady's Mantle
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Once the soil has dried out a bit we've got some things to plant.
Steve bought six Rudbeckias and two of the"Forest Flame" Pieris.
We've never grown Pieris and wondering how they will do here.
When I was at the garden center last week I couldn't resist this Japanese Maple. The one my sister gave me last fall died back to the roots and has a long way to go until it's a "tree" again. But I really liked it so ....
This is called "Garnet" and is very delicate looking.
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Here's a neat thing I ordered. It's called the Tomato Tree. There are holes for 3 full size tomato plants and the bag holds 40 quarts of soil! Steve said it looks really bad and he wanted it somewhere were it isn't seen too much. This spot on the west side of the house is perfect. Even though you see a door there I have to explain that we never use it. It's right off of the living room (don't ask me why but the living room has 3 doors that lead to the outside!) And it's on a solid surface next to the hose. I'll let you know when the tomatoes start to arrive!
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Even though the weather has been damaging , you could practically swim in the basement, and I hear thunder again, this was a very good weekend.
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This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I;
When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,
And nestlings fly.
Thomas Hardy
"Weathers" - 1922
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Bye for now,
Alyssa

12 comments:

Matron said...

I look forward to see if your tomato tree works! keep it in full sun (if you get any!) and keep it well watered. Hope you get lucky!

beckie said...

Alyssa, I just knew you were getting storms when I looked at the radar yesterday. Glad you didn't have any tornadoes! I suppose one of these days we will be wishing for rain, but right now that seems a long way off doesn't it? Your flowers are lovely, even with the rain. I love that beauty bush-haven't seen that one before. And Steve's lily border looks great even with the rain. I am envious of your Japanese tree..I've always wanted one, but a really pricey here. Hope you have a good week and dry out some.

beckie said...

Alyssa, I also meant to add that I looked for 'baby ducks' here and couldn't find them. Will be interested in how they do. Also-love your poppies. Mine, planted from seed may not bloom this year, but hopefully will survive and bloom next year.

Mary said...

Dear, dear, Alyssa. I only want to say I regret not visiting you more often. Are we all having our weather woes? It affects everything we do - us nature lovers.

Sometimes feeling sad, depressed, or angry. But - look at those beautiful blooms you have. You have too much rain. I have too little.

So, maybe Mother Nature will work things out?

Hugs,
Mary

kate smudges said...

You certainly did get a lot of rain. I hope the weather gets better soon. Your peonies are looking lovely - ours are still in tight buds (well I don't have any, but several neighbours do and I always check them out while walking the dog.

I like the look of your tomato bag and am curious to see how it does. 3 doors from your living room - that is amazing!

Alyssa said...

Matron - We don't get much full sun so I'm not expecting tons of tomatos. But, hopefully, the reflected light and afternoon sun will be enough to give us a few each week. I'll be giving weekly updates on the tomato tree, so stay tuned!

Beckie - Yes, we've sure had a whole lot of weather in just a few days! I wouldn't be wishing for rain for quite a while. Thank you for the compliments but I can't take any credit for the Beauty Bush. It was growing wild in the woods when we moved in. I'd never seen one before either. It's real name is Kolkwitzia - sort of odd.
I was lucky to find the Japanese Maple with $20 taken off the original $60 - they are pricy!
I grew the "Baby Ducks" from seed from Burpees so it will probably be a while before you see them at the garden centers. I'm sure your poppies will do really well - they seem super hardy to me.

Mary - So good to hear from you! I was concerned that something was wrong. When it comes to the weather all we can do is roll with the punches. I watched a video on the internet of a house that was washed away when a dam broke about a hundred miles from here! It left me with such an odd and vulnerable feeling - things like that don't happen so close to home. I felt so bad for the owners who were crying. Most times Nature does pretty much what it wants and we just have to get out of it's way.

Kate - I took a nice bouquet to work today since some of the peonies are flattened. Wouldn't you know it, the first year they all were going to bloom terrifically and a storm hits! That's life. The three doors in the livingroom really make it difficult to arrange furniture and decorate so they are quite a pain. But two of them are like giant, long windows! Lots of light.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

I hope you have a bach up sump pump. Your flowers are lovely.

Keep you feet dry. The sun will soon shine down on you. You are getting some of the rain that passed though your state.

Alyssa said...

Tossing - Thanks so much. Yes, Steve went out and got another sump pump just incase our other one burns out. It's been running nearly non-stop since Saturday night! There is a prediction for more rain on Thursday! I hope not.......

DeeMom said...

I wish for you all better weather ahead...
Great Photos though...

This year the weather has certainly has been QUITE ODD...

Mary said...

Hi Alyssa,

I'm so sorry about your basement. The weather is making us nuts. You and I have extremes, don't we?

The peonie is precious and your flowers look lush and fragrant. Just lovely.

I've always had Japanese Maples and when we moved to NC we bought a small one that would grow to spread over the pond for shade. It died last year! Luckily, it was only about three feet tall and wasn't too expensive.

I hope your weather settles down, Alyssa. All considered, you have a bright outlook. I admire that about you.

Mary

Lizzie A said...

Wow! I am so glad that your gardens aren't completely destroyed! Your Peonies are pretty and I think that the two "double" plants at the top are cool looking. What does the "double" mean in those terms?
How have you been? I haven't "gotten in touch" with you for a while.
Hope that other than the weather everything is pretty good for you!
Lizzie~

Alyssa said...

Dee - Thanks. The weather has finally settled down today. I think the worst is behind us.

Mary - I'm feeling better now that we've had a sunny day with no rain. I can't complain when I see what other people are going through. They have lost everything and we just have a flooded basement. Once the soil dries out we'll put the Japanese Maple in a good spot. Ofcourse that's what I thought we'd done with the other one!! It's only got a few leaves now. Maybe they are kind of tricky ??

Lizzie - I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. "Double" means more than a single set of petals. With the impatiens I showed they are sort of crunched up in the center. The term "double" is used in all sorts of circumstances so it can be confusing.