Have hope; I've been there and it's devastating but with perennials it's amazing how the garden can bounce back even the same year. Plants that are flattened now will stand again; battered but not beaten.There's that old saying that there can be no pessimists in the garden, though whoever wrote that didn't live in the Midwest!
Don

Extra sympathy because of your post just the day before about being on the garden tour. What terrible timing!

Thanks for the response. Mother Nature is definitely in charge here but things are much better today. The neighbors all showed up with chainsaws, trucks and tractors and helped get the trees cut up and moved. By golly, there are a few plants still standing under the debries. Kind of battered but still there.

Our daughter is here now with her crew raking and mowing. We are certainly grateful for all of the help. Guess we have a clean palette to start with now. Hmm, now what kind of trees to start shopping for.

The garden show will go on without us this year, but we will be there touring and enjoying all of the show's lovely gardens.

Em & Den

Aren't neighbors wonderful? They always show up to help. Clean up as best you can and give your plants a haircut. You'll be amazed at what has survived. You may not get bloom this year and it may take a few years to catch up, but many plants are very resilient. It's hard to look at the devestation and think positively. I feel your pain. My garden was flattened in a wind storm - everything was broken off - including the trees. Chin up, here's a hug and a pat on the back.

Cricket

I know what you are going through. Had the straight line wind storm here June 29th in 98. Lost 10 100 year old trees. But with winds of 180++++ . But even with those winds and trree on flower beds. Still had flowers coming back later that summer. It was like they hid until it was safe to come out. And yes friends and family came with chain saws and tractors.

That really is disheartening--you must have had quite the gardens for people to keep asking to include your beds on their tour. You have my sympathy.

Maybe some of those generous neighbors will share divisions from their yards to help get things re-established. Dicey weather has been all around, so I hope you've had your share and are done with it.

M.

Thanks for the responses. This is definitely the year of "wild weather". We count ourselves lucky, things are much worse all around us.

It really is amazing how resilient the garden is. I look out my window and see pockets of beautiful foliage and blooms. The allium christophii emerged after the storm and is gorgeous this year.

I also had a hosta bed with three blue angel hostas in the center. The blue angels lost nearly all of their foliage, but this morning there is a flower stalk rising from the ground where they are planted!

We invested in two new trees, a serviceberry and a redbud clump. Next year we plan on putting in a grouping of three oaks or ash trees. We will replace the fence later this summer.

Marilou, we have a small garden area which is expanding every year, the gardens aren't fabulous but they are nice. We focus more on foliage and texture instead of color. The features that are the most interesting to other people are the two water gardens and a keyhole herb garden with medicinal herbs and plants. Actually the herbs made it through the storms pretty well. (No trees fell on them and they probably were due for a pruning!) They are very tough plants for the most part.

Thanks again everyone, good luck this summer in your gardens. Let's hope the weather straightens out.

Emma and Den