I know some of you in New England were hard hit with the ice storm this winter. I remember one particularly bad ice storm in 1998, the clean up in spring was shocking and exhausting. Over 10 years later branches still dangle percariously from the tops of tall tree's in our surrounding woods. I feel for you guys!
For me this year I do have a few branches that need to be taken down, 'Widow makers' DH calls them. I have lots of smaller branches and twigs all over the lawn, my back will be screaming when i'm done.
Also I have a mess of leaves to rake as I never got to all the beds last fall. So far i've cleaned 9, I only have 9 more to go. (big groan here)
I need a new roof. Along with leaves and branches all over the lawn, I have nice gray-black shingles too! I've already called and got my qoute, they should put my new metal roof on sometimes towards the end of this month. YAY! NO MORE SHOVELING THE ROOF!
The WELL will be replaced this spring also..another winter mishap. Pipes/pumps are VERY old and one busted in Jan. Nuff said, new WELL it is!
Now that the snow has melted I noticed the moles/voles and chipmunks have been playing havoc on my lawn. I have my own personal Laybrith.....if I was rodent size!
Actually, DH saw this little creature out near the brown bunnies food dish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pika
Found it very interesting that they are the smallest of the rabbit group! I onder if it has anything to do w/the Laybrith?
Anyways, what kind of damage, repairs are you looking at? Minor? Costly?
For me, i'd have to say costly.......almost $10,000.00 worth.
The bright side? I knew this day was coming so I had it all put away.
Phew!(wiping brow)
Snow's Melted, how much winter damage?
But it says that the pika lives in western NA. Could you creature be a New England cottontail'. they are sort of endangered.
This year's ice storm brought down a huge pine branch in our yard...and it fell right on top of the hydrangea that my mom gave me- the one I take great pains every year to winter protect with a cage around it. :( So that made me really sad, though financially it's nothing like your damage, Pixie. It wasn't until yesterday that I finally got around to chopping it up into smaller pieces and today we hauled it to the dump. It also left an enormous amount of pine needles that broke off when it landed...at the time it looked like huge, green chandelier fell in our yard.
I also did a ton of raking last years leaves yesterday, and I'm still working on the acorns. It seems like it was a record year for acorns falling. So I've been cleaning up the yard, but not the beds just yet...gonna wait a few weeks on that, I think.
I still have to rake the leaves that settled against the foundation of the house....and I expect to find a lot of rodent tunnels there when I do. I try not to plant anything there that I really care about, because those are always at risk.
All my perennials seem to be present and accounted for, so far.
Our perennials seem to have weathered the ice storm very well. I am amazed at their resiliency! I half expected to see patches of garden where everything had been destroyed.
I'm so sorry to hear that the roof repairs will be so costly, Celeste. Thankfully, we have no damage to our home or buildings. We do have about three pine trees that look like they've been buzz cut! About six feet from the tops of each came crashing down during the ice storm. I'll have to get a picture, 'cause it looks kinda funny.
We're not sure about the mountain laurel. It looks a little brown, and our rhody ... well, it got split in places that it should not have split.
Basically, we just have to give our bushes some major trims. We count ourselves as being very fortunate.
Iris, I said the same thing to him but he swears it looks just like it!
Norester, I agree about the acorns. You sore from all the raking? I am!
The hydrangea...it was totally destroyed? Couldn't even keep a root?? A cutting?? Thats really is terrible.....money is money, memories can't be replaced. I'm so sorry!
Candyce, mother Nature gives bad hair cuts to trees? Who would of guessed? lol Glad there was no damage to your home, thats good to hear!
I was sore, actually...but in a good way. I really need the exercise, and I always feel good after doing yard work.
I'm not sure what is left of the hydrangea, but I imagine part of it survived. The cage full of leaves was probably about three-four feet high, and the branch squashed it down to about a foot...so I imagine most of the branches and buds broke off. I'll have a better idea when I take the leaves off...it's probably not gonna look nice this year, but hopefully isn't totally gone.
I saw that the purple daylily you gave me last year has started peeking up, Celeste. I am looking forward to seeing that bloom this year (which hopefully it will!). I love seeing plants bloom that were planted after their bloom time the previous year.
Pixie any flower gathering bunny want to be.... has to go!
had lot's of debris here and have finally got it all cleaned up - the biggest damage other than the hickory that fell was to a coral bark maple. one of the three main sections snapped - bark was not completely severed so i wrapped and tied it back up - good news it has leaf buds on it - time will tell if i survives - i will keep it tied together for the foreseeable future.
Good luck with the Maple Bill, sounds like it might make it!
Allison, thats the first thing I said to DH.....if it eats flowers it's going back to where ever it came from!!!!!!!!! lol
We were able to hide some plastic eggs this morning among the smaller broken branches!
N.Englander's are so creative when they have to be. lol
Hey, remember Sammi's photos from the ice storm? I had some put into a book for her for her birthday, and she also gave a copy of the same book to the town on town meeting day. Seems the book was a big hit with our neighbors, 'cause she's already received some orders for more books!
(Proud grandma beaming here!)
Oh my! Thats wonderful!! Give her a hug from me and tell her a big congrats!!!
I realized i've lost a few plants. At least one of my Blue Pygmy Delphinium, one , possibly 2 primrose's. Maybe a hosat or two also but it could be that it's too early yet. I hoping it's that. lol
Both the Mountain Laurel and Hellebores made it through OK. Looks like both Magnolia Tree's are trying to bud and the Patio Peach Tree's too. All were planted last year so this was their first Maine winter.
I need to walk out back a bit further and see how the new Apple Tree's, and hydrangea's did.
My Holly bush that was at least 9 ft. tall took a beating from all the ice and snow falling off the roof. I'll trim it and hope the new roof will eliminate any further damage in years to come.
So far, to my guesstimations, I've lost a few Daylilies that were going to be "iffy" to begin with, I think out of the 140+ that I planted last year, about 4-5 (so far) are goners...these were almost all EvG, or SeEvG...all of the dormants are back with more increase also! Delphs, I think there are a few that are goners! I think, due to my not mulching them enough, or mulch being washed away, I may have lost 1-3 hostas...I still need to give these time though, as they haven't started to send up any shoots yet. I think out of all of the Peonies that I planted, herbacious, ITOH, and Tree, I may have lost 1 tree peony, 'Kinkaku,' which is one I really wanted...all of the other peonies are sending up growth, not this one yet...maybe it's just late coming out of it's shell.
It didn't help having about 3-4 days in the 60's-70's, and then having several light to medium frost/freeze episodes.
I think I may have lost one daylily, too....it was an Evergreen type, but I was taking a chance that it might make it. I have a bunch of hosta that haven't shown up yet, but I don't think they are goners. The ones that I can see are only up by about 1/4" so far.
Thom!!!
You're back!!!!!
I was lurking, always lurking...lol.
Ok, 1 of the DL's that I thought was a goner is sending up a shoot today, although, when I bought this particular DL it was a 3F clump...so with only 1 iddy biddy fan poking out of the ground, I'm not that enthusiastic. The two DL's that I dropped some big moolah on last year, a DF of 'God Save the Queen' and a DF of 'Purple Umbrella,' are both coming up with INCREASE!!!!
No word on the hostas yet, because most of them haven't even started sending any growth up...same with the tree peony 'Kinkaku.'
I'm here patiently waiting for growth to spring forth on something out in the hosta beds!
Funny thing is, all of the "cheapo" hostas, the mediovariegated, and species forms, are all popping up, one is almost leafed out fully!
***waving to Candyce***
Winter damage here!!!
MOLES 2 of the 8 tulip bulbs are up and I can see mole tunnels to where the last year lily stalks were.
I hope they didnt do too much damage there.
No more bulbs for me. Its too hard to plant and then theyre gone, either squirrls move them or moles get them.
This is how the tulips looked last year.
NOW elimenate all but 2.Bummer
Jo Ann did you plant daffs around or near? I have no problems with the tulips that have daffs near them. I truely believe they don't like daffodills for some reason!
I planted mine in cages... only problem is they did not bloom the second year... at the time I didn't know not all of them do... they are putting up greens this year... maybe they will bloom
Pirl gave me the name of a deterant I'll try that.
They only seemed to be in the garden next to the deck. I think the shelter of the deck is where they borrow and forage out into the mulched garden next to it.
I'm gunna Kill em.
I cant figure out why the 2 hunter cats didnt find them first.
Too well fed I guess.
I used this product in the spring of 2007, it worked so goo that I haven't had to do it since. I will be buying more as they are back, but it's been 2 years since I applied it last and it safe for pets and kids.
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2831
I'm going to try MoleMax
What do you know about that product.
Sounds like the same stuff I used. Works great if it is and it looks like you found it cheaper! ^_^
Molemax is a granular ,lasts 3 months or so they say.
*** waving back to Thom ***
We have learned a lesson in patience this season. Two autumns ago I sprinkled some Columbine seeds on the ground in one of the beds. Last year, nothing. Not even a tiny shoot. This year, lots of new Columbine plants!! I so happy that even though we didn't see any Columbine activity there last year, I kept the plant labels in place.
Still can't find one of my kids....
Hmmm. I tried to do a pre sale of some of the things I was going to offer to NE peeps first, but Admin deleted the post before it ever made it to the forum.
I'm not sure how to go about this without the almight axe of the Admin peeps stepping in.
I can let everyone know that I will be posting the Brugs, and EE's in the classified section. Sorry, I did try to post here first :-/
Funny, Victor.
I'm sure your kid will turn up next season.
Thom ~ sorry your post got axed. But, I'll check out the Marketplace some time today.
When will it be up, Thom?
That's funny, ( not funny - haha), Thom, cuz I saw it, but then went back later and I couldn't find it and wondered where it went.
LOL...I was trying to load pics, imagine my surprise!
Then I got an dmail and was like, "DOH!"
I will be posting it sometime between today and tomorrow.
We had a little bit of a hose explosion and I'm expecting the plumber to come back any time. He was here right when I made the first posting, and went to get the proper pipe for the job. It's the reason I was so befuddled. I made the first post, then a pic, then answered the door and showed him what was going on, he left, I came back up to the computer and the post was gonzo...lol.
I'm holding my breath to see the damage done in the yard & gardens at our NH farm when we get back in early May. Our caregiver guy said we should plan on some significant time cleaning up the yard with lots of big pine limbs down, but the good news that we are choosing to focus on is that none hit our house or any of our sheds. Whew! In the meantime, I am relieved to hear that many of you had no significant damage, and that you will be getting your new roof and well, Pixie, as a planned improvement and not an emergency situation!
Candyce - I think that is so terrific about Sammi's ice storm book. Please congratulate her for me too. She's an impressive young lady! I'm also happy to hear that you had no bad damage as well, and how cool is that about your columbine. I'm going to have to see if some of my own columbine seeds finally come up this spring.
Thom - check out this morning's Brug shot......these trumpets are taking over here!!!! LOL
Oh my goodness, Louise! That's beautiful!
I'm happy with all of our gardens so far this season. Anna and I actually got out and cleaned up a bit this afternoon. It felt so good to be outside! Can't wait until you are back 'home' with us!
Me too, Candyce. We're both ready for some NH soul-filling country!!! I can't believe all the blooms so many people are showing. My son's huge old magnolia tree is about to bloom in CT. Looking forward to seeing you soon!!!
Louise
Only ancillary damage here. Snowplow driver got a little disorientated and took out several clumps of freshly planted bulbs and part of the lawn:
ge1836....I used 2 ten pound bags of MoleMax last year in and on a 1,200 ft garden (30 x 40 ft).
Each bag said "covers 5,000 sq ft." The first bag I sprinkled on top of the soil, then rototilled in 2' to 3' deep. I trade seedlings for rototilling with a friend who has a machine that needs a flat bed to transport it. The Mole Max was well mixed into the soil.
The second bag I raked into the soil after the rototilling.
The castor oil smell was obvious 30 feet away from where I applied it.
The next day, moles had explored the newly tilled earth--earth which had almost ten times the recommended amount of Mole Max in it. And the moles never left. Had them all summer and fall and now they are back.