If it helps....I got that Colo Spgs hailstorm in late May.
I was pretty depressed, but my garden is recovering.
Alas, not my greenhouse.

Unfortunately, this is something all of us in hail country get to deal with from time to time. It breaks the heart to see the damage but most of the time it is not as bad as it looks and many things will grow back just fine. Still, I treasure my tomato plants and keep an old bed sheet handy to toss over their cages if I happen to be home when hail strikes. Some of that storm pelted my garden a little bit too.

Seems like a heavy hail year - I haven't had any in 10 yrs but got hit 6 times in 5 days earlier. Luckily, most were short duration. Also read of a farmer that has been hit 10 times.

Once I got past the anger and sadness tho' I found new opportunities, and even some of my bare sticks have come roaring back. Sure you'll find the same.

Hi Kat,

Seems to me somebody very recently emailed me the saying on a little plaque they had just bought! Went something like this:

A garden is a thing of beauty, the job forever.

Methinks now is the time to remember the last part of that saying--and then take the time to really think about the first part of it! (Sorry I didn't have time to respond to your email!)

The "thing of beauty" might be kind of hard to see right now, but it's still there! Like everyone else has said, just give it time. I know you've been mostly planting perennials, so, they'll definitely be back, some of them maybe not until next year, but many, probably most of them this year yet! I haven't had anything quite that bad this year--yet, but I've had a little hail several times this year and most of my perennials have holey leaves now. Got some right after I finally got my tomatoes and eggplants in the ground, and I've been joking that while some people grow Holy Basil, I have Holy Eggplant! (The tomatoes, with smaller leaves, fared better.)

When you're cleaning up and it starts to get really discouraging, focus in on the ones that made it in better condition, and picture the way you know it will be again.

They shall return!

Skybird

P.S. PlantLadyCo, sorry to hear about your greenhouse. That stings!

kevenkat...just buy some hardware cloth (actually wire) and top your tomato cages with that.
It can stay on all the time and really works.

Most of the people I drill with live in the Springs and I had heard about how bad it was this weekend. I know how frustrating and irritating it can be to watch months of hard work gone in an instant, it has happened to me on many occasions.

But, remember first of all that plants are pretty tough cookies. I had a basil plant this year reduced to two sad, shredded little leaves barely hanging on to a stick. It has since grown as big as any basil I have ever grown. So don't give up hope. Plants want to grow, and come "hail or high water" (see what I did there ;)) most of the time they will recover, especially plants that are well established, or even for just several weeks.

Secondly, I personally have given up stressing weather (until I have to drive in snow and ice, then Ill start stressing again). There is no way on this earth of ours that you, me, or anyone else can change it, it just is what it is. Sometimes it's going to hail, sometimes its not. So, if I can I protect what I've got, if I can't well, what are you gonna do? I figure if some dead or ugly plants are the biggest things I have to worry about that day, it's a pretty good day.

Now, if the car that I have to pay for every month get's damaged, then I get upset lol.

Sorry to hear that Kat, I got creamed too. Nothing left.

Golf ball hail...houses with paint stripped, roof damage, gutters with holes and broken windows. All the blooming plants and trees/shrubs shredded. It looked like everything was painted green. And I had a rental car get $5000 in damage too.

I was going to ask if anyone else in my area had this specific problem. Two of my 50' pines look dead, absolutely no needles. Other than working on trimming lower branches, they were fine. In looking around the neighborhood there seems to be the same at many homes. Do you think they will recover? I'm waiting until next spring to see if they are still alive.

A few months back I got hit with hail nearly the size of golf balls ... It fell for a quarter of an hour. I was scared it was going to smash all the windows out of my house and car!