Good morning! Well, it seems our fair state survived another of Mother Nature’s temper tantrums and other than a few roads, bridges and trees came out OK. I have come to the conclusion that Mainers can work around most inconveniences like a lack of power and lights. I saw numerous houses lighted with lanterns, lots of grills in use on driveways and neighbors checking up on neighbors. I think we all should give themselves a pat on the back for this one.

Up here on the hill, we are blessed with early springs and late frosts, and a breeze most days that helps with all those nasty biting insects like mosquitoes and black flies. But, like most things, blessings tend to be balanced out at times. When big winds come, they tend to arrive with a bit more vengeance here than at less elevated places. And Irene was no different than the hurricane 20 years ago, whatever its name was.

We lost two big spruce trees, probably 30 or 40 feet tall; and when they went, they crashed on top of my rose arbor. My husband, Ike, built that arbor for me out of white cedar and lots of copper. Well, the spruce is all chopped up, cleaned up and disposed of as well as the 20 or 30 pieces of arbor buried under it. The Canadian Explorer climbing roses that graced it are cut to the ground, because canes were obviously broken, split and otherwise destroyed. Only spring will tell if they will come back from the root stock. I guess it will just be another experiment in gardening.

Over the past three years, I weeded consistently and thoroughly under those spruce trees and transplanted beacon silver from my hanging pots each fall. It was and still is doing great. I think it liked the protection the spruce provided and this spring was at least a month ahead of its relatives in other gardens. So now I have this forlorn circle of beautiful beacon silver with a lonely little bunny that used to peak out from under the branches.

All of this could be really sad, but situations change constantly and as gardeners, we must change with them.

We have another set of spruce trees about 8 feet away from the ones that crashed. After removing a few low-hanging branches, I will transplant both the beacon silver in the ground and the ones now in pots; and we will begin again under there. The bunny will get a new home and the area where those spruces stood will be incorporated into the lawn.

Over the past few years, the roses on the arbor had begun to struggle for sun because the trees had grown up so tall and full. The arbor will now get sun all day long and the roses, whether those currently there or new ones, should be quite happy for years to come.

For any of you who are arborists or just good at growing trees, we’d love to hear from you about an experiment we are conducting. After the last storm 20 or so years ago, we lost a large pine tree on our front lawn. We planted a clump of white birch that is now a healthy 30 feet or taller. The ground was so soaked when Irene hit that the clump of birches literally tipped over. They didn’t break and only a few small branches had to be trimmed. They just fell over. The ground rose up on one side about 8 inches and uprooted some plants growing there, but no tree roots were exposed. So my husband, being a born and bred Mainer, brought home chain, a cloth sling and a come-along. He pulled the birches back upright, put a couple of stabilizers behind them and plans to stake them late this fall before the winter winds blow. I would like to hear from any of you on whether you think it will re-root and be OK. We obviously are hoping, but really don’t have a clue.

They’re still blooming, but …

My two late summer flower gardens were in full bloom when Irene arrived and look awful. All of the brown-eyed Susans, coneflowers, double-ruffled late daylilies, liatris and New England asters are lying on the ground. They are still blooming, just not so you would notice. Two rose bushes were completely uprooted and are lost. The rest will simply be cut back and, hopefully, next summer they will be able to showoff their blossoms for more than a week or two.

Gardeners always need patience and a knack for making adjustments. Vegetable gardeners, too, have been plagued with problems this summer. Too much moisture, blight on tomatoes, not enough sun for many crops — and it is frustrating. But spring will come again and the flowers and veggies will grow.

For now, asters, mums, flowering kale and millet are everywhere. It is time for pumpkins and gourds, and the autumn leaves will soon begin showing off their fiery colors. Don’t forget to buy a few large pumpkins to carve out to plant mums in. They make great outside decorations. It is time to decide which outdoor potted plants you want to winter-over indoors and don’t forget some herbs for those soups and stews that are on the horizon.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy the many warm days that are still ahead. Don’t forget to enjoy the great apples and apple cider donuts. And remember when something difficult happens, it can lead to some good things just around the corner.

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her dog and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.

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