Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Rain and Rain and Rain

Hello Daylily Friends,

I thought that I would never complain about "too much rain," but indeed the time has come for such a complaint. Over the course of about 4 days we have had about 20" of rain. Now one inch a week is good. Even three or four inches a week is good. Twenty inches in NOT good. My good friend Larry Grace from Alabama reminded me over the phone that I had approved of an Alabama Baptist Preacher who was praying for rain. I had to tell Larry, "Well that was then, but I withdrew that request last fall." Seriously, if the rain had not stopped today I probably would have had a lot more damage than we have had.

The rain really turned into a small lake in the front of our property, and it was a task for the water to dissipate. The rows in the daylily beds were flooded, and the seedlings were also flooded. Even our beloved pond was flooded. I must say that I cannot remember more rain in such a short time, except for when I was stationed in Thailand in the military during the Vietnam War. I'm showing some pictures from across our property:

While all of this rain was falling I had a message from our friend Paul Lewis from Ohio. Paul relayed that he hoped we were ok, and of course we are, but I can't get my seedlings moved from the Greenhouse into the outside beds with all this rain. I can't wait much longer. My timetable just demands that the seedlings go into the outside beds by about September 18, and I have already passed September 18. I hope that a week's delay will not be a bad thing. I am still hopeful that the seedlings will be fine next spring.

The beds are surrounded by woods chips, and indeed, these wood chips are the walkways. The walkways are fine, but many of the woods chips have been washed out onto the grass. I hope to have it all clean by Saturday, which is a very important day. Actually, on Saturday, September 26, all of our friends at the Cobb County Daylily Society will be coming to our gardens for our annual picnic. I sure hope that it is dry enough. Everyone usually parks on our large grass field, and I just hope the rain stays away long enough for the field to dry.

The most disconcerting part of this September flood for my wife Diana Rae, was that her Koi pond was flooded. At first, I was concerned that the fish may have been lost. Several of the fish are very special because they were given to Diana by my good friend Larry. Also, there are a number of fish in the pond that came from Kelley and Michael's wedding three years ago. We adore the fish, and Diana feeds them every evening. If they see her coming they swim to where she usually sits or stands and jump in the water and wait for their "evening meal." Fortunately, no fish were lost, but the pond is a real mess.

I am glad to report that there was absolutely no impact or damage at all to the Greenhouse. Everything in the Greenhouse is fine.

Well, that is the news for today from the Kennesaw Mountain Daylily Gardens.

Bill

2 comments:

  1. I hope the rain had stopped now and the garden not have had a lot damage for you.
    Karin in Sweden //

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  2. Thanks Karin for your post, especially since you have posted from Sweden. The rain has stopped and although we get some rain from time to time, it is not a problem in the garden. Indeed, I now need rain to keep my seedlings growing before the first frost arrives.
    Bill

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