Hail hath no fury
July 12, 2010 – 11:28 pmit’s not the ideal time of year to be pruning trees, but Mother Nature decided that she’d have a go at it this afternoon. An intense little hail storm blew through downtown and in a very short time did a bit of damage.
Most of the damage is obvious. This is what it looked like in my ‘hood by the time I got home from the office – shredded foliage blanketing most of the street, the sewers nicely stuffed with greenery and the boulevards overflowing with leaves, branches and pine cones. The damage that isn’t as obvious is to the old trees on our streets that are getting close to the end of their lives. They’ll now struggle for the rest of the summer trying to recover. They’ll be a bit more susceptible to attack by disease and insects and the broken branches most likely won’t get trimmed and cleaned up, so tears and minor damage will just slowly get worse.
But the balcony garden didn’t get touched – an advantage that I note every summer when the hail bangs through. With an overhang and south exposure, the garden has escaped all hailstorms unscathed since I’ve been in the apartment.
Knock on wood.