Chalk it up to the healing power of nature. My garden came back.

In early June, it was decimated by a hit-and-run hailstorm. Most of my garden — the hostas, the ferns and the hydrangeas and rose bushes that I had just planted the day before — got pummeled by the nickel-sized hail. My garden was a mass of shredded leaves and broken stems.

There was no way I could afford to replace all those plants. So I did what the experts recommended: I cut back. I removed all the broken stems and cut off the leaves that were badly torn. My garden looked pathetic, like I’d gone at it with a weed whacker.

To cover some of the holes, I bought some annuals. And lots of generous gardeners offered me divisions from their gardens. I planted them, but I really didn’t have much hope. Turns out I was wrong.

I guess I was lucky the storm did its damage early in the season, when the plants still had a lot of energy to grow. Most of the hostas sprouted new leaves (albeit not as big as the originals), the roses put on good growth and the hydrangeas (Limelights) bloomed beautifully.

They’re still in bloom. And I’m still in awe. My garden is no showcase. Because I planted without a whole lot of thought, I need to move just about everything. But I’m thrilled that something so broken could fix itself.

So how did your garden fare? Do you have plants that took a lickin’ but kept on tickin? Or did insects, disease and the dry weather take a toll on some of your faves?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am and is filed under Weather woes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.