Good morning from the garden!

Just when everything was really starting to look good, mother nature stepped in to remind me who’s boss.

We only had about 5 minutes or so of hail on Memorial Day, but it was enough to do some damage.

Especially to my poor hostas.

My irises, which had literally just opened that morning, took quite a beating as well.

But I easily removed the damaged blooms and there were lots more buds waiting to take their place.

That was about the worst of the damage though.  Some things came through relatively unscathed, like my Curly Fries hosta …

and my favorite Lakeside Dragonfly hosta.

Hostas that are sheltered by the trees overhead fared better than those out in the open, as did those with both smaller and/or thicker, more robust leaves.

Quite a few plants weren’t bothered by the hail at all, like the lungwort …

and the ferns.

The variegated sedum wasn’t damaged at all either.

Speaking of which, it’s time to get out and give this sedum the chelsea chop.  If you aren’t familiar with that process, check out this post …

My plan this year is to pot up the cuttings and then give them away at my upcoming occasional sale.  For those of you locals who may be interested, I will be potting them up with fresh potting soil so no need to worry about jumping worms.

All in all, I can’t be too mad about the hail.

It definitely wasn’t as bad as the hail storm we had back in May 2022.

That hail was much larger, and pretty much decimated my hostas.

But in the end we got a new roof out of it, so it was truly a blessing in disguise.  We badly needed our roof replaced anyway.

This time around, things have mostly bounced back quickly, and lots of stuff is blooming now such as three of my prettiest clematis …

Unfortunately, the names of all three of these have been lost to time.

I should have written them down.  I am trying to get better about that.

The one above is looking particularly good this year, it’s covered with blooms.  Last year it had a rather poor showing, possibly because the rabbits had chewed on it quite a bit the winter before that.

The anemones are looking quite good this week too.

My friend Sue gave me this plant quite some time ago, but I’m pretty sure it is Anemone sylvestris.  They will spread like mad if you let them, but mine are planted in between some quite vigorous (and huge) hostas that keep them in check.

Before I let you go, I want to share my new favorite YouTube garden channel.  It’s called Garden with Marta.  She is located in Poland, but her vlog is in English (her command of English is so impressive).  Both Marta and her garden are absolutely charming.  In her most recent vlog, she is also chelsea chopping her sedum so be sure to check that out!

What have you got blooming in your garden this week?  Are you trying the chelsea chop this year?  Leave a comment and let me know!