The reflections in the garden this morning make make concrete the challenge we face. Recently I gave a talk about The Making of a New Garden. I mentioned several times that the main challenge of this new garden is how wet it is. The soil is clay and the garden is slightly lower that the three adjoining properties. Lots of talk, but before I closed I showed a picture of one instance of flooding – there was an audible gasp. “We didn’t think the garden was going to be THAT wet!”
Well, after heavy rains all day yesterday, and possibly still frozen ground, this is the worst flooding yet.
The reflections in the water which covers most of the yard are quite lovely in their own right, but they also make it clear where the high spots and low spots are. I know the winterberries, river birch, button bush, yellow twig dogwood, Siberian irises, chelone and other plants are still happy enough, but I am not so sure about the rhododendron or mountain laurel.
As Krishna reflects on these reflections he remains unperturbed.
Oh my. I think your garden is worse than mine. My garden looks like this when there is a big heavy rain in a short time. I can see all the islands that my flower beds have made. You certainly can’t walk the paths in my garden until the water drains. The good thing here is that it drains off fairly quick. No standing water after a few hours except where I have my river birch planted. It has taken care of some of that problem. I hope it doesn’t stand long. Good luck.
Lisa – You can be sure I am watching carefully to see how fast it goes down. Right now the breezes are making ripples.
I did not realize you had bought waterfront property. I still have several pieces of tree stumps for you once the weather permits getting them if you still think they might help. Have you thought of planting water lilies? Only kidding.
That’s too bad. I have a low lying area in the back of my 1 acre yard. I checked with the Township I live in about filling some of it in and they said that if the fill causes the water to be displaced onto my neighbors ajoining properties (which of course it would) then I could not do it. So you might check with your civil engineers to see what can legally be done. Good luck.
Oh this is awful….I also have lots of flooding which is worse this year due to the snow melt, rain and frozen ground. But yours is definitely worse. I have had to plant for this type of flooding. Good luck.
Oh my…that’s a wetland! I am curious to see how often this happens and how quickly it drains. Good luck.
So much rain this year! It will drain and hopefully fast enough for you to miss the reflections.
I gasped too… my goodness! Somehow I suspect that your going to figure out just what to do to make it work. I’m thinking about ideas and sending you lots of positive energy!
some sort of berm, wetland, rain garden solution?
Could be an exciting garden, once the UNgardening is sorted.
We had a much milder version of that in Porterville. Now we have sand and sea breezes.
http://elephantseyegarden.blogspot.co.za/2013/09/of-snow-and-rain-gardening.html
Wow. Your garden is worse than mine. I’ve never had that much area covered with water. I am about six feet higher than the branch of the Rouge River behind me and fortunately the water has never come up that high. I pump out a lot of water and have water in my trench right now even with all the snow we had, but never anything that widespread.
Oh my, it seems as though you are gardening in a vernal pool (or does it also flood in the summer?). I know you’ve already planted a lot of this, but would raised beds be an option?