The Calm Before the Storm

A view of the garden from the back gate.
This is after I cleared out all the pots and yard art ...
note the absence of the hose which usually appears in pictures of this area!

With Hurricane Ike's landfall about twelve hours away, I'm as ready as I can be for whatever it may bring to my corner of Katy. It's been 25 years since I experienced a major hurricane. As we hauled things into the garage this morning, EM and I were reminiscing about Alicia, a category 3 hurricane. We had just gotten engaged and picked out a ring at Tiffany's when the storm blew into Houston; EM had to postpone giving me my ring because of it. Alicia also cost us our once in a lifetime opportunity to see Simon & Garfunkel in concert; they cancelled their Houston appearance due to the storm.

Back then EM was living out in southeast Houston, not all that far from the coast, and rode the storm out in the company of neighbors, They played cards, drank champagne before it could get hot and go bad, and watched EM's storage shed sail off in pieces which fell to earth in other people's yards. I lived just off Montrose Boulevard near downtown Houston, in an old fourplex. A large oak tree was uprooted by the storm and fell across the driveway, coming to rest against my back door. I must have been in the shower at the time, because I didn't hear it fall. The first I knew of it was when I walked into my kitchen and saw it pressing against the back door. I screamed and ran into the other room to hide. I don't know what I thought it was but it scared me good! I've always thought that would make a great horror movie scene ...

We won't be on the "dirty" side of the storm, based on what they know right now, but it does appear that we could get hurricane force winds out here. I'm hoping we get generous amounts of rain as well. High winds would add insult to injury: the soil is so dry that plants in my gardens are already suffering. EM has moved all the hoses into the garage so I can't water unless I'm willing to haul buckets back and forth. I don't think I have the energy left to do that. Hour upon hour of hauling countless pieces of yard art inside, not to mention way too many pots and containers, have sapped my strength. Plants will just have to wait for the rain to start falling. For those who have never been through a hurricane and are wondering why all this effort, it's not a good idea to leave anything outside that could be picked up and flung about by the wind, or that will roll around and smash into other things that could break and be picked up and flung about. If we get strong winds and heavy rain, we'll have enough to worry about with tree limbs, and other debris.

As much work as it was to take the garden down to its bones, I'm grateful to Ike for giving me the opportunity to see my garden divested of all the usual pieces of whimsy and rusty stuff. My reaction has been very different from what I expected. As I stood at the gate to take a picture, I looked out at the garden and realized that with all that STUFF gone, the plants were much better able to take their rightful places as stars of the garden. I'm not sure I want to put it all back. I'm surprised that I feel that way but I think it's evidence that I'm ready to evolve as a gardener. What will the next stage of that evolution be? I don't know but I'm excited to find out.