It’ll be a miracle if this works. We have no proper internet connection, I’m working through someone else’s access, next door presumably. Just need to get pictures from my computer to the iPad as the computer won’t connect to the same Wi-fi. There’ll be a way to do it but I’m too old.
One. Has to be the weather. Fences down on both sides of the garden.
Two. The bamboo was thrashing about bending almost to the ground. Five canes have gone altogether, the rest all have a bit of a lean.
Three. On the plus side, my crocuses have finally managed to open.
Four. Talking of crocus, I treated myself to a few corms of Crocus tomasinianus ‘Eric Smith’ last year. I don’t remember them doing much then, but I’m not complaining now.
Five. There has to be a Camelllia, another scented lutchuensis hybrid, ‘Koto-no-kaori’. Bit wind battered but starting to do its thing.
Six. Hellebores. The seedlings I grew from seed of my double are flowering nicely with a fair mix of colours.
Right, so far so good. I spent this morning cutting up the smaller of a pair of big conifers that blew down in a friends garden. She has so much more damage than me that I feel lucky to have escaped as lightly as I did.
I can’t get a featured image to upload so I’ll go without. Someone said our internet will be out for a few days; time was it wouldn’t have bothered me a bit, now I feel helpless and bereft. Next thing I need is a link to this, better publish and be damned first.
garden ruminations 
Crikey. That first fence was left well and truly battered. We ended up with half the fence down on one side of the garden but thankfully the other side survived this time. Crocus tomasinianus ‘Eric Smith’ is stunning. I hope your internet is up and running again soon.
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Both bits of fence needed replacing, it’s forced my hand. Hope there isn’t too big a rush on fencing panels.
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‘Eric Smith’ is a beauty. I must grow more crocuses in pots, they do seem to do well and you can bring them indoors to avoid the wind and rain! Sorry to hear you have some damage – my bamboo was touching the floor too, but looks OK today. And fortunately no big trees near me. Trees and wind are always a worry. Hope you get the internet back soon. Meanwhile stay safe! It’s still windy around here.
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I thought of you and wondered how you were fairing, we weren’t even in the red zone. I’m encouraged by the crocus, more could be on the cards.
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Being on the top of a hill was a worry, but at least no danger from flooding.
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ouch! the damage is clearly visible and I hope no more for you and your neighbours. Only small plants such as crocuses and hellebores seem to have resisted the wind. Good luck because if you don’t have internet, maybe you don’t have power, so don’t have heating
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The power went off yesterday morning and came back on 7:15 this morning. We went to bed early! It was dark and cold.
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Thank you for struggling on so that we could read your six today.
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I may have learned some new tricks but I hope not to have to use them again for a while.
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Eric Smith is a real beauty. Obviously grown in one of your glasshouses as it escaped the gales. Would this be too precious to grow in the garden?
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I think there are quite a few C. tomasinianus cultivars and I don’t know how they compare with the well known ones for vigour. Probably rather less or they would be more available and cheaper perhaps.
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Sometimes it is because they are new, or particularly attractive as I think is yours, then they know people are prepared to pay the price.
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Gosh sorry to see your fences down, but those white crocuses are stunning!
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Fences are fixable, could have been much worse.
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Your fencing certainly suffered from the storm. On the other hand, your crocuses look marvelous – particularly “Eric Smith.”
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The fencing was on borrowed time, having cleared it away I’ve seen just how rotten the posts were.
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I feel for you Jim. We took a battering didn’t we?Fingers crossed that something good will come from the changes needed to repair the gardens.
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It’s funny how when you lose a fence you both miss the privacy but are wowed at the open and lighter thing too. Not wowed enough to be considering not replacing them it has to be said.
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Old fencing is prone to damage, I suppose. We had two old panels down here also! C. ‘Eric Smith’ is a good one! Does well in the ground.
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That’s good info about ‘Eric Smith’; the ground is where he’s likely heading then.
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Sorry to hear about your fences, power and internet. We fared better, but this morning I have been watching our back fence swing back and forth, so third set of 40mph+ winds might break our lucky streak. ‘Eric Smith’ is worth a follow up. Very handsome!
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The internet problem is driving me to distraction. They hope to get it back on by midnight thursday. Next door, also with BT, is fine. Hope your fence holds up, it’s pretty rough out there again today.
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The double hellebores are very pretty. Were they open pollinated or did you get busy with the paint brush? That poor fence! Sorry to hear you got hit so hard by the winds.
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The Hellebores were open pollinated with no help from me. I’m tempted to get seed from Farmyard Nurseries, they have some nice doubles strains.
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Gee! I just mentioned on another Six on Saturday that fences are a common topic this week. I am glad that I need not contend with them. I loathed them when I lived in town, as the formerly suburban neighborhood caught up with its more urban status. I still can not understand why so many people want to share an urban region with more than a million other people (including adjacent towns and San Jose, which alone has a population of more than a million), and then want privacy fences.
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The vast majority of people seem to be driven to be gregarious, which is a mystery to me.
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If privacy is so important, they should not live with a million other people.
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