Worse for the Wear

Mother Nature packed a wallop on Tuesday.  It was 90° and very windy.  We are used to having wind in Wyoming, but this was extreme, even for us.  With the heat, very low humidity, and the wind, every ounce of moisture was sucked out of the ground and plants.  I had even heavily watered early in the morning in anticipation of this yucky weather combo, but by early afternoon, some of my hardiest plants were not fairing very well.  There were also tree branches, some of them quite large, down all over town. 

By early evening, it was still quite blustery, but I was out looking at the damage to my gardens.  Several of my peonies are now in a vase inside my house, because the strong winds snapped their stems, even though they are supported.  An iris bloom stalk was a casualty also.  My oriental poppies, which had just bloomed, were totally trashed.

Adding cheer to my living room, I'd much rather enjoy them, in all of their glory, outside.

My poor, sad poppies.

Then, to add insult to injury, we had a line of strong thunderstorms roll through later in the evening that brought heavy rain and hail.  At least we got some moisture back, but the driving rain and hail didn't do much for the already damaged vegetation.

The next morning, on my walk around town and the cemetery, I saw a lot of the same type of damage. 

Just one of the large broken limbs that I saw on my walk.

Weather certainly can be our best friend, or one of our worst enemies!