I can't stand these rains anymore!

This is what the right back corner of my yard looks like. I already took 2 hibs out of ground and put back into pots, to try and save Roots were completely soaked, under a foot of water. They are now in my screened patio trying to dry off.

This is where "Voodoo Magic" and "Starfire" used to be...see the empty mulch?

This is the center of my back yard bordering fence. The water is now 8 inchs above ground. My lab/rhodesian mix 6 month old puppy is 40 lbs. The water comes up to her elbows.. She thinks it's a pond!

These were healthy garden type 4' hibiscus, 2 days ago. They can't take any more water. They are literally drowning.

This is the left corner of my yard. I transplanted Honey Comb to a safer area. Liz is the hib in the bottom of the picture. She will be transplanted tomorrow, to safer ground.

At the last minute, I took whatever potting and garden soil I had left, and try to soak the water away from Liz.

Anyone else worried about their hibs?

These are only a portion of the hibs I will need to repot, or transplant, if this rain doesn't stop!

Oh my gosh. I better quit asking for rain if it is going to come down like this. What a lot of work for you. I hope everything will be okay and that the water will recede quickly and save you all of the transplanting work.

Brugie,
This has been "non-stop" rain for the past 3 weeks. I would need lots of sun....many days of sun, with not one drop of rain, at this point.

Worst part is, I have 2 h-u-g-e Florida Pines, at least 50 feet high that are soaked to the bone. One strong wind and they could crash on my storage shed....or worse yet, my house.

Calling a professional tree cutter to have them cut down, before any hurricanes head this way.

I was thinking, I may be able to use the wood and make a dam, to protect my back yard from my neighbors extremely sloping back yard.

Any and all suggestions welcome!

I'm sure glad I live on the top of a hill. No real concerns for flooding, just soggy soil, but right now, it would take days of rain to get us back to normal. Those pines don't have much of a root system. I think I would also want to get them down before damage occurs. I hope there aren't any hurricanes heading toward you now or for the rest of the summer.

Wow, that's just terrible. What a mess of hard work you're doing, you poor thing! I sure hope you're able to save everything and get those trees down in time with NO hurricanes.

Although we've only had 2.something inches of rain here total for the year, maybe I should be glad, looking at your crazy situation in Florida.

I'll take an earthquake over a hurricane any old time. Guess I'll stop complaining about the 100+ weather here...

Take care of yourself and don't forget to get some rest too.

karen

thanks Karen,
Well do. Need lots of rest tonight, before I start pulling my garden apart, tomorrow.
Cathy

Cathy, sorry about all your plants! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it stops raining soon and you're able to rescue all your hibbies!

Thanks e.
off to home depot to buy 14 - 20gallon pots.

This is the prob that we in Texas have had for months. We feel your pain. I planted 4 of my brugs outside about 3 or 4 weeks ago, may be digging 3 of them up today (haven't been outside yet). One of them is just loving it the other 3 disagree. lol Container hibs are happy campers though.

Still working on bids for a drainage system. Maybe, when we get our "tax relief" checks, I can hire someone to put one in, just in case.
But, now I am so used to the pots, it would be hard to put them back into the ground.

I just found more pics from last year....

Hibs in back yard drowned.

lake was twenty feet long by 8 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

time to start rebuilding (which I did)

side yard, by chain link fence

So glad my yard no longer looks like this :)

Cat, I'm surely sorry to see what troubles you are having. Back in the seventies and eighties when we did landscape contract work, we tackled drainage problems like this many times. It seems an impossible task, but it isn't. Even a clumsy contractor can rent a ditching machine and create a drainage ditch, fill it with gravel, and haul off the muck he digs out. It's hard to do it wrong, and it doesn't take very long, so should not be very expensive. The only real expense is the purchase of gravel and wheelbarrowing it to the trenches. And the fix is pretty well permanent.
Luck to you,
Barry

Sorry about your Hibs. We surely haven't gotten that rain in the interior! We have gotten some but not enough to bring the water table up yet.

I am so sorry to see the water situation in your garden as I had to deal with a similar one when I first moved into out present home. Our property sloped to one side, front and back, but due to brick walls, etc., that we wanted to build, a drainage ditch was out of the question. We had many tons of soil brought in to level the land, and in some areas that amounted to a couple of feet. To hold up this new soil, I had iron sheets placed behind the soil that were then anchored in place with iron rods. I remember asking the iron dealer how long this material would hold up and he told me at least 10 years. Well, that was 28 years ago, and the iron is just as strong today as ever. :) To be on the safe side, I built raised bed in parts of this area to fully insure good drainage...the raised beds also give another dimension to an otherwise flat surface. Unless you are planning to add walls, a drainage ditch is probably the least expensive way to go, and with some planning, can be made to fit nicely in a garden. You and your beautiful plants deserve dry feet!

Tussee

Hi Guys,
These pics are from last summer. As soon as I can afford it, I will get a drainage ditch. In the meantime, pots on cement stones was a great answer :)