Garden Timeline 2024

2024 started out with two notable weather events (more photos can be seen here):

Heap Big Snow

First, in January we got what I call a Heap Big Snow, nearly 24" in a few days (and just about the only snow we got that winter, so we got a whole winter's worth all at once). Temps fell below -20°F, with wind chills even lower too:

Heap Big Snow. I was pretty worried about the yew tree against the garage wall, which is usually an upright V-shaped tree nearly as tall as the garage roof. I waded through 30" of snowdrift to use a broom to laboriously knock off most of the snow, but it was bowed down like this for several days. Thankfully it returned to its usual shape within a few weeks. 

But there was a cool solar halo due to the snow crystals in the air.

Fierce Winds

Then, on April 16, Iowa experienced a major severe weather event: there were tornadoes near Des Moines, and we had 50-60 mph winds here. Even though I usually ignore most weather warnings, the wind became so intense for a few minutes, with the rain driven sideways from west to east so furiously, that even I went down to our basement for a couple of minutes. The fierce intensity of that wind was pretty scary, I have to say.

I looked outside afterwards and didn't see too many limbs down, so I thought we'd mostly escaped. But when my husband got home from work he noticed this:

This metal pergola seat had stood on our West Patio until I redid that area in 2023. I then put it at the entrance to our Pond Gardens area for about a year, but didn't stake it down, thinking that because there was no awning on top and it was so bottom-heavy it might be OK. But I was wrong.
Apparently the wind was so fierce that it picked up the entire pergola and hurled it into the windbreak, crumpling it irreparably. So we had to take it to the landfill.

Tree Work

We had some tree work done in February, on an Ash tree that is slowly succumbing the Emerald Ash Borer and will likely eventually need to be completely removed, and also for some evergreen trees in our windbreak that have listed against other trees. This work is too dangerous for my husband to do, so we called a pro:

You can see the dead limbs on the ash tree on this 2022 photo.

Our ash tree is now limbed up quite a bit. I had removed the collection of tree peonies behind that tree last fall, and moved them to our west terrace, so the falling limbs didn't damage anything there.

North Addition Border

In 2024, I again further reduced the border against the back of the addition we built onto our house. I seeded new grass in the removed area, which filled in nicely. 

This area, shown below, began as one large garden that swooped out in a curve, with a stepping stone path through it. It was too difficult to maintain, so I've been steadily reducing it.

The border at left along the house is now about half as deep, and contains mostly yellow and green hostas and other plants with yellow foliage, to brighten up this north side of the house. It's much easier to maintain now.

2025>>