I think that what you see is true. Plants absorb nutrients through their leaves as well as the roots. That is why a lot of times a liquid fertilizer will recommend that you spray the leaves of the plant too. I was told many years ago that one good rain is better than a week of watering with a hose. The rain gathers nitrogen as it falls, which adds color and growth. I am seeing the same thing in my garden as you are. My corn has doubled in size in the last couple of days, along with most everything else. Now for some sun to finish the job! Your funny weatherman is correct!

Don't forget the weeds and the blackberries....they have gone ballistic in the last week.....YIKES!!!!! jwww

And I thought it must be my imagination! Thanks, marymb; that was helpful information. Oh yes, the weeds. Went out to yank some of them today thinking the temperature and overcast would make it a comfortable task. Ha! The humidity drove me inside faster than 90 degrees and a sunburn.

I would say there is a big difference & plants do prefer the "wild rain". :)
Even a light mist comes with a full cloud cover and full humidity for the entire area. But if you are just manually watering plant leaves a little, then chances are it's on a hot day with no cloud cover & lower humidity to quickly bake away and waste surface water.
Water deep, water early. ;)
- Tom

Plants in my yard definitely prefer real wild rain, especially the long steady type that thoroughly soaks everything deep down into the entire root zone.

I hand-water with a hose nozzle the trees wells, rims and drip lines, and use timed sprinklers to water everything overhead during the night. The leaves do want to be wetted down and this also keeps the spider mites away.

But the difference is much more pronounced after a real rain: everything glows, stands at attention, grows, looks much happier.

Unfortunately here in Oregon City we didn't get much rain at all the last week, just a tiny misting, but at least the cloud cover made it possible to run the sprinklers longer. It was sultry and hot still, just in a different way. The moisture from the hose did stay in the ground longer in this humidity which was a relief.

Hoping this miracle repeats itself in August! 3X in August!

Here on Vancouver Island we have had an inch of rain and days and days of more gloom. We are wondering where summer is. However you are certainly right -- plants are growing, leaves look happy. I have a couple of brugmansias and they are also really happy -- dark green leaves, no spidermites and lots of buds and flowers. These guys are supposed to be tropicals and like warmth and sunshine. I suspect that the warm night temps are keeping things growing well. I planted some new trees this year and this rain and weather should help them get well established. The rain hasn't been continuous -- I got an email from a gardening friend who said it's a joke in her family -- as soon as she gets her gardening clothes on to go out and weed, the rain starts! The weatherman is promising sunshine tomorrow or Wednesday.

We have had rain constant for a week now. Some of it really hard rain. All of my flowers are laying down in the dirt. It has been really humid here too. It feels like the tropics. My rooted rose cuttings have really loved this weather. They are flourishing! This July has had record temps as well as record rainfall. Very strange!!!

judywww - blackberries have gone ballistic here too!

No rain to speak of here either. Cascadian - intesting comment about spider mites. I put up with them for two summers on my parahebe. Last year I decided to 'break the rules' and wet the leaves at night. The mites packed up and moved away. Now I have another problem - plucked a grasshopper out from under the parahebe tonight. First one I've seen - don't know how you are supposed to deal with them. If there is one, there must be more. Might explain the holes in the leycesteria leaves.

Reminds me of how redwoods can get water in the upper canopy needles from mist and fog.

Maybe rainwater is different. It probably is for lots of reasons. At least someone is trying to make $ off the idea. I just noticed an ad in the August Horticulture Mag on page 14: enki which is a devise to oxygenate water...they claim that oxygenation is what makes rain water special. Wasn't there a lot of flap about 20 years ago about water that has been boiled being better for plants. Maybe this is just a big electric teapot for $79.95 plus $12.95 for shipping! jwww

Last time we had August rain my otherwise wewll behaved 30+year old clump of black bamboo began marching and produced HUGE (double width) new shoots. I posted here and found that it happened in everyone's garden and learned that there are several bamboos which are generally clumping in this climate which will march if we have warm summer rains. jwww

We got over 2" here, so it most certainly did water the roots of most things.

Rainwater is different from irrigation water though. City water is treated with disinfectants and often has pH buffers added to keep it alkaline to protect the city's pipes from corrosion. It's not ideal for plant growth.

Rainwater has extra nitrogen in it from the atmosphere, which is mainly nitrogen gas, plus trace elements of different nutrients from air pollution - sulfur and such. And there's no sodium in rainwater, which there might be some in city or well water in desert areas. Plants hate sodium. The only minerals in rainwater are those that are floating around in the air. As well as the soaking of the foliage, which does absorb water and nutrients, and the high humidity.

Well water does not have the disinfectants and buffers of city water but it still doesn't match rainwater because of the canopy soaking and humidity factors.

I don't think it's the oxygenation of boiled water that improves plant growth! boiling drives out oxygen and makes water taste flat. Plant roots use air oxygen, not dissolved oxygen. Boiling removes chlorine. So does letting it sit in a bucket for 24 hours, which is recommended for watering potted plants and topping off aquariums.