How is anything still alive?

16 years ago

If you've been getting rain the past few days, I hope you're enjoying it because we haven't had a drop of it here in north gwinnett. It's one thing to miss a small thunderstorm but when these huge blobs swipe across the radar and still somehow manages to miss you day after day, that totally stinks. And that's exactly what has happened here. There was a light rain shower 3 weeks ago. Then before that it hadn't rained in a month. Then before that it hadn't rained in a month. So my question to all of you is how can it rain only 3 times during the summer and anything still be alive or is it just a matter of time before stuff dies?

Some plants don't really seem that worse for the wear. Don't ask me why but driving through Northern tenn and Kentucky a few weeks back and stuff there looked a lot more drought affected than here.

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Comments (9)

User
16 years ago
I hear ya, Quirky. Last night the weather.com forecast said we had a 100% chance of rain today. Now I'm thinking that it is, once again, passing us by here in N. Gwinnett (though I would LOVE to be proved wrong about that). It really is amazing how many trees, shrubs and all kinds of plants are still green.
jeff_al
16 years ago
sadly, i lost two camellias that were planted this spring, a couple of established japanese maples, hydrangeas and various other woodies and perennials in an area where i am trying to develop a woodland garden. just could not keep dragging a hose or carry enough buckets of water to keep them alive.
i've cut grass only 5 times this year and once since the fourth of july.
i have been frustrated over my losses and critical of my own efforts but sometimes you just have to concede the fight as being too much of an exercise in futility.
i am not giving up the area i'm working and will likely replace the losses this winter and next spring but it does get expensive and laborious!
for now, i am thinking i should go with beds of prickly pear, lantana, and catharanthus, these being about the only ornamentals i see that are doing o.k. these days. *lol*
hope you get some rain today from the tropical storm remains. news this morning said local flooding in some areas around atlanta. looks like most of it is headed north of me in auburn.
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I hope that your community is recovering. In the southern NH/northern Mass icestorm that kicked us off the electric grid on Dec 11, I was one of the lucky ones - out on Thursday, back on in wee hours of Sunday. Some didn't have it until after Christmas. I live alone, so have to be responsibile for taking care of myself and my animals. The critical piece is to be prepared for the worse with supplies of food, water, and fuel, and a plan. While I have an oil furnace, my basic heat is wood. My woodstove kept the firt floor of the house in mid 60's, second floor even warmer. I have a gas cooktop that I can light with a match. I do have a well, and no power means no pump, so I draw several gallons of drinking water when bad weather is forecast. I also have six of those 100 oz detergent jugs (from those days with teenagers, and their laundry) that I always keep filled with water, tucked under the laundry sink in the basement. They are for toilet flushing. By Saturday am, with no idea of when power would be back, I loaded all frozen food into a cooler and put it outside - it was near zero all day, so I didn't lose anything. Just lucky - if Sat had been as warm as Sunday turned out, it allwould have thawed. Lots and lots of berries would have become jam. As for communication - I have batteries for a radio/cd player. I have a cell phone. And I have an "old school" landline that is not one of those walkaround handsets dependent on power. I am going to look into those rechargeable camp lanterns, for reading. By the end of the second night, sitting in the dark listening to the radio, I was getting a little stircrazy. But I could have gone on for quite a bit longer. The only concern was that the basement was getting colder and colder (it connects to my garage) and so if it had gone on for long, and the weather had stayed as bitter as it was on that Friday and Saturday, I would have been worried about pipes from the well into house and below the first floor. And while I had enough water for minimal washing up, I had no way to indulge in a shower. Fortunately, the power was on across the river in VT, so I went to the gym - where I waited in line with a bunch of other folks from my town who had had the same idea. Spending my whole life in New England, most of it here in NH, I'm not surprised by the ugly turn our weather can take. I do get very frightened about what it can do, and so I tend to be obsessive about taking precautions. I was lucky - except for the hemlock branch that joined forces with a white pine crown to take out my mailbox, I didn't have any damage. But walking the dog the day after the storm, ice was still knocking down branches all up and down the road. As soon as she was done, we turned and ran home. And a branch too big for me to pull out of the way came down on the path into the woods that is the backway to my neighbor's. There were many big and old trees in the village that suffered terrible damage. As I tell my brother-in-law when he calls from Florida to gloat over 70 degrees, "up here, we EARN spring!"
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I doubt it was dyed pink. The pink is natural color for some species and red in others. Your only photo looked like it was healthy. I wouldn't really soak it as it only needs a little mist and light to grow and thrive. In the tropics they grow all over the trees soaking up sunshine and moisture in the air (and rain) without much ado. Here are some in Belize around Valentine's Day 2006. These are in Guatemala at the Tikal Mayan ruins on the same visit to Belize Orlando hotel grounds fell out of the tree it was growing on, which I picked up and took home. A few I bought at a local nursery. Lose some, keep some. Buy more if they strike me right.
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Iris GW
16 years ago
QQ, I have asked myself the same question. It is unbelievable how much these plants have had to endure. I am sorry to hear that you didn't get any yesterday. Today does not look promising unless that big mass of rain can move itself more eastward. It appears to be moving north faster than east.

I think we had a similar dry spell when I moved here in 1988, but I wasn't paying any attention to anything but my new grass (typical first time homeowner!) at that time. Now I just laugh about grass ... trees and shrubs are what really count!

I hope you get some soon.
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
16 years ago
Esh, grass does count if you don't have any. We've been having downpours off and on all day ...so grateful.
Iris GW
16 years ago
Glad to hear you got it too, bumblebeez.

QQ, did you get any? I swear Gwinnett looked like it was covered up in rain at one point yesterday.
buford
16 years ago
Quirky, I am in NGwinnett, almost in Hall County, and I had about 2 inches Thursday/Friday. It was raining alot yesterday from Alpharetta (where I work) through Buford, so I hope you got some.

I do know that Tennessee and Alabama are in an EXCEPTIONAL drought area, while we are just extreme. So they are worse off.

I've lost my rhodo and some new azaleas and two new roses I planted. But I've been keeping up with watering stuff so most of it is doing OK.
quirkyquercus
Original Author
16 years ago
1.1" before the sun went down. In one brief unproductive t-storm that did more damage than good if you ask me. Then it rained some more but I didn't check how much. The forecast called for more rain the whole weekend but not it's supposed to be clear and sunny.

So I guess this is it. Maybe we'll get rain again next month.
quirkyquercus
Original Author
16 years ago
If you haven't been outside yet this morning, drop everything and go!
62 partly cloudy and breezy!

I think we've been taken out of the oven.
buford
16 years ago
Yeah, open-window no AC sleeping weather.

How is anything still alive?

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