After the devastating hailstorm which hit in the middle of the summer last year, I wondered how the trees, bushes and perennials would handle that type of trauma and still survive. After the storm, like many people, we found our trees had sustained damaged such as snapped branches and even part of the bark “skinned” on the branches and limbs. I wondered not only what this would mean to the health of the tree last year but what would happen after it went through the winter dormancy and if we would see a good recovery in the spring.
Luckily today, I saw one of the first glimpses of how nature can recover after an event like this as I see my peach tree slowly begin to open its flower buds. Even better, there were several bees that were making their way to the open blossoms. These small, dark, shiny bees were most like orchard mason bees, which are extremely beneficial for fruit production and are non aggressive.
As I began checking the tree a few weeks ago, I also noted that most all of the limbs and braches did have leaf and flower buds, including those that had sustained damage. I purposely did not do pruning on my peach tree this spring just to see how many of the branches would show recovery and so far, I can say that it looks very promising. I found that even some limbs that had damage in spots, still seemed to “work around” that damage and produce the leaves and blossoms in the non injured areas.
There are also other bushes and trees that are not yet ready, such as the lilac so the progress and recovery of each of these will be closely watched. Last year, after the hailstorm, a very odd occurrence happened where trees and bushes re-bloomed midsummer. To see a lilac in full bloom the first week of August was strange indeed and showed the extent of the trauma that these plants endured.
I am hoping for the best and will be reporting on what I see as we go along this spring.