STORM BOELO DAMAGE IN A WEST YORKSHIRE GARDEN
Storm Boelo has caused a lot of tree damage in West Yorkshire and elsewhere. I was out and about yesterday and saw evidence of the damage on my journey. One tree in a long row of roadside trees on the way to Bradford had a trunk completely snapped close to the ground and had toppled over blocking the pavement. I realised how lucky I had been, getting away with just damaged dahlias, and Japanese maples stripped of their leaves. The glorious red of Osakazuki leaves have gone with the wind and it is now bald, as are Moonrise and Sango Kaku! I have to laugh because despite the hammering from Boelo, Jordan, which has had its usual leaf scorch damage this summer, still has most of its leaves, and good old reliable Katsura only lost leaves on its north facing side.
I cut down the damaged dahlia stems, cleaned up the tubers and brought them indoors for overwintering. I grow dahlias in containers so I used the empty pots to plant half of my 100 Darwin (perennial) tulips. I still have three dahlias to sort out but, the way they were situated, they were more protected from the storm and so can wait a while, at least until the frosts arrive.
Unlike previously, I am not going to plant any more bulb lasagnes, that is planting various spring bulbs in layers with the largest bulbs at the deepest level. Last spring the crocus flowers got buried under other bulb growth and frankly it didn't work out. Even so, the bulbs did put on a lovely display.