In this picture you can see the hail damage to the orchid leaves as well as the flower stem cut in two.
There is also a new perfect leaf in the upper left and if you look closely you will see that another flower stem grew after the top was severed by the hail. It has several buds on it and will surely flower by next week. Here’s the other orchid that has been blooming non-stop since July – the leaves are ragged from the hail but these plants are tough. Maybe I’ll replace some of the succulents with orchids – they are so easy!
This coral cactus is my favorite and it is really growing but if you look near the top you’ll see a huge hole made by the hail.
And remember the stripped canna leaves? Here’s a pot today.
And remember the pumpkin vines that were literally flattened? Reed and I checked the patch a few days ago and we’ve got pumpkins!!
FYI – I’m having some issues with WordPress so bear with me – I can’t get the comments to post all the time. Ugh!
Mary, you must have 10 green thumbs and 10 green toes!! I have heard that orchids are very difficult to grow and there yours are growing like crazy right through the hail storm!! Wow. I am anxious to see the pumpkins. I buy our son in law all kinds of weird pumpkin seeds that he grows. There are white ones, wrinkled ones, and green and orange ones. Fun:)
Yeah for all your new growth!!! That makes you heart happy!!
When my plants get hailed, I just keep watering them as needed and lots of times they come back. It has been a hard year on plants and the petunias have had a rough time. Our niece, a master gardener, said it has been our weather–hot, then cold….. The wind is the worst. We had a storm a couple weeks with 50 mph winds. I could see out the kitchen window how the wind was swirling all over the place and one petunia was flopping all over, too. The wind really beat it and it looks bad, but I’ll clean out the broken stuff and see what happens. It looked like new leaves were coming. They may not look perfect, but life can be hard and we end up with a few bruises, too.
Glad to see all your plants are thriving! I have never seen a coral cactus and we live in Arizona with a great variety of cacti. It certainly does look like fan coral. I’ll have to ask at our local cactus growers about getting one! Love your adventures with Reed!
Mary, what is your secret to growing orochids? I have three that are doing so bad, I don’t know what to do. I have been using the ice cubes to water them, but they just go into decline. I can’t believe that this plants survived that beating by mother nature, they are tough!
Felicia – my orchids sit in a south window and go completely dry before I ever water them. I don’t think the ice cube method works. I water enough so that it comes out the bottom drain hole and then I dump that out so it doesn’t sit in water. The ice cubes don’t get water to the roots – my theory only.
Orchids and ferns do not like me. But everything else flourishes under my spotty care! I love how your plants have recovered and once again are blooming!!
I bought a coral cactus this spring as I had never seen one like it before & thought it was so different from any of the others that I have. However….mine is kept inside & had some hard rock on the top I had to chop out to make a hole to water the thing! I certainly haven’t seen any changes in it like it’s growing but it doesn’t look dead yet either which is a bonus for me!! I’ll just keep enjoying it for as long as I can!
Your cactus are wonderful. I only have three at the moment. No blossoms but they are growing. I like all the different shapes and sizes. It’s amazing how plants can recover from bad weather. I only wish the farmers in your area could have their crops recover, too. Our Walworth County Fair is going on until Labor Day. I hope to see the quilts for this year. Have a good day!
Are you from Walworth, New York? My mom started teaching there in 1935!!
Sounds like an interesting place! I am from Elkhorn, Wisconsin which is in Walworth County. We are located in the southeast corner of the state. My mom was also a teacher (I am, too) who started out in a one room school. I always enjoyed her stories. There were many quilts and much sewing at the fair. Next year’s challenge is “Country Nights” and must have at least one star in it. Have a good rest of the weekend.
So glad some of your plants have made a remarkable recovery after the hail. I have a thin cactus a friend brought and the cat knocked it off the shelf and it broke. Much to my amazement I stuck the top half in a pot and it’s growing. I’s never bloomed, is there a secret?
The blog kind of reminds me of life. You can get beaten down to just about nothing and loving hands will bring you bring you back to life!!!