The Wind's Causing Damage Here :-(

Thats so sad Louise, I HATE the wind, rather have snow! I hope it doesen't cause any more damage for you and it just Go's away. Not towards me mind :)

Oh Louise...this is aweful....your gorgeous garden!!!! has your garrya snapped or will you be able to stake it up?
Will your neighbour repair the fence quickly?...hope so and I will keep my fingers crossed the wind dies down very soon.......take care !!

Lou xx

I am SO p***ed off :-((((((((((((((((((

Alice, the Garrya hasn't snapped, it seems to have moved from the rootball area, it looks like it's shifted completely.
Help ..... what shall i do ..... is it likely to come out of the ground completely ?
It's been in there for 3 years !!!!!

As for the fence .... there are foreign tenants in there ..... i've NO idea what will happen there
:-(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Ydd, yes, it is sad :-(((

This is sad, Louise :-(.

Hope that the Garrya can be firmed up again (my favourite shrub). Get the tenants to contact their landlord immediately, as he/she will be responsible for replacing the panels. I hope the winds die down very soon, and there is no further damage to your beautiful plants.

Horrid isn't it Louise? Our fence has gone too but the neighbours will be fine about it. Last year the eucalyptus fell right over onto the lawn...it's a tall tree now...because the roots are so shallow but the trunk was strong & stood up to the trauma.

Hope you can sort things out & the wind died down soon. It's still raging here in Dorset at 3.30pm. :o(

I reckon the Garrya can be repositioned, once this lot's over - that happened to a Buddleia of mine, very large shrub, half the rootball sticking up, but I was able to get it back in position, though I'll admit it was hard work. Hope there's no more damage though.

Wow Louise....your poor garden. Its awful. Can you run out and dig the Garrya back in and then stake it up? You might have to trim it back a bit if it's top heavy.

I wondered if i'd have to take it out ?
Can i just firm it back in and re-stake it or are the roots too damaged now ?
Did your Buddleia recover okay after you sorted it out ?

Gilli, it had an enormous thick stake with it, i'm staggered that it came loose, let alone that i could lift it out :-((((((

I'll have to leave it until tomorrow now when my partner can drive it back in because i can't - i've tried !
He's working and won't be home until after dark, i 'would' get him to do it by torchlight but i'd get some verbal if i suggested it ;-)

Thats all you can do just now and then assess the situation when the b****y wind has gone....

:-((((((((((
My poor plants :-((((

If its not all the way out Louise you can probably just firm it back in. The roots will regrow. If the ground is really wet that is probably why it got wrenched out. I'd restake it with two stakes if you can....one on either side of the trunk and then tie it with some old stockings in a figure eight.
Can you go out and throw a bit of soil over the exposed roots to protect them until you can replant?

I'll go and do that, thanks Gilli :-/

Oh dear Louise, how annoying and upsetting. Lets hope the Garrya is OK after some TLC. You get this living on a hill and I get occasional flooding, living in a dip, grrrr

Mmm i know Dawn :-(
..... still feeling p****d off at the moment !

I would be too Louise, has the wind calmed down yet?

No, it's still raging.

NO, Dawn! It's just like that here, a few miles down the coast from Louise! It was forecast to calm down around 3 o'clock - but it hasn't - yet.

I'm sure your Garrya will be OK, Louise! Try to secure it if you can - but not to the fence!

I do feel for you two - how frustrating - surely it has to calm down soon, fingers crossed.

In answer to your query, Louise, yes it was fine - but I do recall I had to excavate one side in order to position the rootball back properly, it didn't seem to fit in there any more without a bit of excavation!

Queer that !

I wonder though, do you think it will (or 'did', in your case) have weakened it and it'll happen each year now ??

Louise - If you still feel a bit worried about it, and once you have managed to reposition it, put a good robust stake in and secure it to that, I'm sure it will be fine for the future.

What a shame but I`m sure that Garrya will take root again with your love and attention, just hope that the winds die down soon.

this happened to a budleia 5 yrs ago. i did right it, dug on the exposed side and then pulled it back into the hole. it was staked on two sides and it is happy as anything now. so dont give up on it.

Poor Louise its so sad when that happens, its very here still Keeping a lookout and hoping

I didn't stake it and it never blew down again - the plant should just put out more roots to anchor itself, but if you get gales frequently, I'd stake it to be on the safe side.

Thing is though .... it's been staked with a 1" thick wooden stake all this time. I don't know how better to do it :-/
I'll do as has been suggested by Gilli and Seaburn and have one either side now, not going to look too pretty though is it :-(

A 1" stake is just not sturdy enough for a shrub that size anymore.

Oh poor Louise, I do feel for you. The gales are really horrible for gardeners, and its heartbreaking. A few years ago my brother had a Robinia (about 18ft tall) blow sideways with the rootball exposed like your's, and he firmed it back in and re-staked it, gave it plenty of water even though it was raining, and it recovered well.
Hope you have good luck with your's. Solid fences are not very good for standing up to gales, and I see your trellis panels look fine, as they allow the winds to pass through. Slatted panels with even 1/2 to 1" gaps are better than solid.
Good luck with your Garrya.

Louise you could always try 2-3 stakes round it in winter and and then remove 1-2 leaving with one stake in the summer. After a couple of seasons could be well anchored root wise.

Bluespruce, how large would suggest the stake should be please ?
(it was 1 1/2", just checked, sorry to mislead)

Mad, yes my own little trellis panels aren't affected at all because of the air being able to move around them. The neighbour's using standard panels though and they bow until they break !

Drc, i'll try it :-)

Are you dashing in and out with a torch and a tape measure, Louise?

It's such a shame that it's happened - but I reckon you'll be able to save the garrya. :-))

How horrid! I do hope that your Garrya recovers.

Try the two stake approach as Gilli and Seaburn suggested, although as you say it wont look very pretty, I'm sure the roots will be secure enough to remove the stakes in a year or two.

So sorry to hear about your lovely plants,I can well and truely sympathise with you....... we have the most horrendous gales here with gusts up to 80, the front garden fence( two panels) have broken out of the ground and smashed to pieces, our responsibility!! the new metal arch is out of the ground taking a rose and clematis with it,I have been running up and down the garden trying to weigh the arch down, but, the wind was so strong it was nearly knocking me off my feet!! I hate the blo..y wind, and the rain,!! never seen rain like it.
I certainly would stake your plant dont worry how many it takes or what it looks like for now.
The weather has calmed down thank God......and Guess who was having their front drive block paved this weekend? no prizes for that one lol

Commiserations Louise, but I'm sure your garraya will be fine once replanted, looking at the size of it and the amount of leaf its carrying ,I'd use a fencing stake each side and think about using an old bicycle innertube to tie it with to allow it a little give in strong winds, if its too well staked and held it might just blow the top off next time, if its close enough to a fence post string some bungees to it from two main posts and even put a pair of big pegs in the lawn and string from them as well, they can be removed for the rest of the year just used for the windy times eh!

Sorry to hear of the damage Louise. It seems you've had a bad day in Somerset. I'm sure you don't hate it there really. It's just the bad weather. You can get that anywhere.

Louise1 hope you manage to sort your tree out but be careful out there in the wind.

sorry to hear you've had lots of damage Louise, it's been awful hasn't it :(((( I got off quite lightly, a temp arch blew over as did the bird feeder and 2 obelisks, next door lost a tree, but fortunately for me it fell the other way. Hope you get your garrya saved x

Thank you Grindle, it's very quiet out there at the moment, i'll go out as soon as it's light and inspect things again.

Thanks Claire, Bs, Dd, Indy, Hywel and Mavis, i'll report back later :-/
I'll see what the Met office has to say about the coming week too :-/

I hope they predict some nice weather for you Louise. - well calm weather anyway
=^;;^=

I've just looked at the Met Office website Hywel and the strong winds will be around during the week too :-(

:o(((
I hope they miss your area this time.

So sorry for your damaged plants, Louise...But I know that you'll manage your troubles. Be strong! And hope you'll have calm weather!

If you can bear to, it might be a good idea to reduce the head of the Garryia to give the roots a bit less to do.

Wagger, i'm trying to grow it up to act as a windbreak for that area of the garden. All the way along that fence i've done this with no trouble at all, the winds haven't ever up-ended a plant until now.
(The Cotinus i mentioned was in a different part of the garden)

It's about 5' tall at the moment and i was going to 'stop' it at about 6' and then allow it to bush out more.
The way i feel this morning, i'd like to rip the damn thing out, i'm really irritated because i feel now it's upended itself once it'll do it again. Grrrrr.

My oh my, some folk are getting it really hard out there. So sorry to hear about yet more damage involving one of the GoY family.

Take some time to calm yourself first Louise before making any rash decisions about pulling anything up. You may regret it even more if you do. I know you're p****d off right now but you are getting some great advice on here so try and persevere and hopefully it will all come good. You have a cracking, colourful garden and sometimes, these things happen to test us.

Stick with it and rooting for you girl....scuse the pun!!

So sorry for all the damage you had yesterday.