After the storm

As anyone who lives and gardens in Oregon knows, last Friday afternoon a strong storm rolled in. By Saturday evening our rain gauge had overflowed its 1 1/2" capacity. Today after work was the first time I had a chance to walk our property and survey the outcome. As I strolled across the footbridge on the way to my big garden, I heard the unmistakable sound of running water. The storm had dumped enough rain that the creek has started running again. Normally this doesn't happen until late October.

The second thing that jumped out at me on my walk was the abundance and size of the wild blackberries. They are amazing this year. The only issue is getting them picked before they get too damp and begin to mold.

Down in the garden everything is doing the best that it can, under the circumstances. My "Persian Carpet" Zinnias are really starting to open. Their much smaller bloom size has served them well with all of this rain. I haven't had a single plant tip over yet.



I also have two nice plants of "Taxi" yellow tomatoes. This determinate variety is truly determined to ripen its fruit, sunshine or no sunshine.  You have to admire that.

Also trying its very best are my "Bingo" pole beans. They have turned the most amazing color. Their skin is a light green with a marbled overcoat of maroon.



And my poor, sweet little "Canoe Creek Colossal" cantaloupe. It's about 4" long now and is slowly getting munched on by someone. I guess, since it will never reach full maturity, someone else might as well enjoy it if the humans can't.

The dahlia plants were hit hard by all of that rainfall. I had done a great job this year with my tying and dis-branching but it was no match for all of that water weight. Still, after I was done cutting off all of the broken stems and tossing the blooms over the fence, I still had an equal number of good blooms left on the plants. This is a pom called "Irish Miss".

A beautiful waterlily form called "Kelgai Ann". It fades badly in full sun but is stunning when it opens in cool, overcast weather.

And here is "Jessica" a BB sized incurved cactus bi-color.

This last weekend was the last dahlia show of the season. My garden was really peaking and I staged more blooms to enter than I ever have before, for any show. Here are my 24 entries Saturday morning right before I packed them into the car.

And when the judging was over, I won Best Miniature Ball in Show with this variety- "Odyssey".