First rain in six months

For once the weather forecast was right. It started to rain in the middle of the night—for the first time in six months—and the world looked different when I got up this morning: cleaner, greener and somehow more vibrant than yesterday. I’m not sure how long this much awaited blessing of the clouds will last (it’s sunny right now and the sky is back to our default blue) but at least the plants in our garden look less dusty and a bit perkier, too.

All the photos below were taken this morning when everything was still wet.

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View of the northeast corner of the backyard from my home office window

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Backyard patio

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Tropical bed in the front yard

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Flagstone path from the driveway to the front door. The culms of the Alphonse Karr bamboo on the right were so heavy with moisture that I had to duck to walk through.

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The ornamental grasses along the sidewalk in front of the house were almost horizontal

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Miscanthus sinensis ‘Dixieland’

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Pennisetum orientale ‘Karly Rose’

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Hammock frame in the backyard. Colors, especially greens and browns, were particularly vibrant.

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Leaves from the bay trees

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Farfugium japonicum ‘Argenteum’

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Abutilon ‘Souvenir de Bonn’

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Jade plant (Crassula ovata) getting ready to bloom

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Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’

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Agave ghiesbreghtii

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My rotting spiral aloe (Aloe polyphylla). See this post for more detail. The purple stain in the center looks almost alien.

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Washington navel oranges

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Agave funkiana ‘Blue Haze’

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Aloe capitata var. quartziticola. Notice the dust that has washed off the leaves.

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Aloe maculata × cameronii

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Agave desmettiana ‘Variegata’

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Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’

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I was surprised to see how much it had rained overnight

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Our new 55-gallon rain barrel is almost half full—that should be enough for hand watering until the next rain storm

Comments

  1. That's why your grasses always look so wonderful all summer long -- no rain to flatten them! I can't really imagine 6 months with no rain as the norm. Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The garden takes on a wonderful glow after every rain shower. And the atmosphere immediately after a rain shower feels so nice and fresh too!

    Glad to hear that you guys finally had some welcome rain and the garden had a good drink from it. And of course your garden looks wonderful and the rain has enhanced it even more :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your garden must have smelled wonderful right after the rain! I'd be happy to send you some of our rain and gray skies!

    ReplyDelete

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