I believe the wind here in Highlands Greens East was closer to 100 mph but only for about 2 minutes then a brief bit of hail. It was crazy intense. Not too much damage to the landscaping. Linden tree, tomatoes and shallots got twisted up a bit and I think I had some supplies blown far away.

We had over 70 mph wind driven hail (I could easily believe 80-100). Talk about a shred-a-thon. It came from the south and the veggie bed didn't fair too badly due to a very dense lilac bush protecting it. Some damage but I think things like zukes and broadleaf low to the ground did ok. A bit more damage to the tomato plants. It would have been useless to cover things due to the high winds.

Most damage is to my roses. There were alot of long stalks with buds at the end that couldn't take the weight, both Wed. and Sat. After Wed. we clipped the ones that had blown over to their metal cages for this storm but the wind driven hail flattened alot more, so now those are clipped to the cages also. The Wed. ones didn't dry out and die so I'm hoping these new bent ones won't either.

Luna hibiscus are completely shredded as they are on the south side. Hopefully they can recover as they were doing very well. But their broad leaves were decimated.

Hail was blowing horizontal at the house. Very glad we had trimmed our big trees back so even fully extended the branches weren't hitting the house.

The courtyard and deck are a mess with shredded tree leaves and broken
branches. Gutters will need to be cleaned as alot of leaves hit the
house and roof. Still have them plastered to the windows this morning.

We had high wind Wednesday, Thursday and yesterday. The Wednesday event blew down 2 of my larger tomato plants. I hadn't staked them yet, so they were just laying on their sides, no real damage. Thursday was roughly the same as Wednesday and by then I had loose items put away and tacked down, I was ready!

The closest wind speed reading I could find for us yesterday was 78mph. I'm kind of amazed the damage isn't worse. Crazy intense is a good way to describe it! It lasted longer here. A friend from Broomfield texted me about 3:45pm to warn me. About that time the wind speed picked up and I could see the dust storm rolling in from the west. It lasted about 30 minutes, a few minutes of which I spent debating if we should grab the pets and head down to the crawl space. The wind kept up another 15 minutes or so while it was on its way out.

2 trees I planted and staked 2 weeks ago uprooted. The stakes kept them from completely going over, but the root balls are loosened and rocking to the point that I'm going to have to remove the mulch, reset them, add soil and basically pack them back in place. I'll hope for no significant root damage. The lambs ears, peonies and columbine look like they've been through a tornado. I keep waiting for Godzilla and the murder hornets to show up and finish the job of destroying 2020!

I have a question for the upcoming week. The night time temps here are predicted to be 44 Monday night and 45 Tuesday night. Do you think it's worth putting pots over the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers those nights or do you think the soil is warm enough now to mitigate the cold's effect on the plants?

Barb

I was over in Jefferson County yesterday afternoon when the storm came through. National Weather service says the windiest it got up here was 38 MPH gusts. Then again, I watch mature cottonwoods start to lean sideways from the wind an NWS says "15 MPH gusts." Sure... Must be quite a bit different at the Greeley Airport than here at the house. (It says 40 was the highest for you in Lupton, Barb... the description from them made me laugh after reading your post "thunderstorm and breezy" haha, sounds like they are understating it just a bit).

I didn't get home until after dark, but when I went out this morning everything seemed to have survived. The tomatoes got folded in half but none were wilted so I propped them up straight, they should be okay.

Sometimes I think robins, and other birds, mistake emerging seedlings for worms and grubs. I've have had them pop them out of the ground, too, often times they pop them out and leave them on the ground without eating them. I once heard a saying about corn, plant one for the soil, one for the crow, and one to grow. When sowing large seeded plant like beans, corn, or squash (or cucumbers) I always plant them in groups of three, even when I plant them indoors.

I was wondering the same thing, it's calling for 44 tonight and tomorrow tonight, not sure if I should cover or not.

Robins are omnivores so I totally believe it. The ones that patrol my yard are pretty much into eating anything that looks edible. They ESPECIALLY love my strawberries, going so far as to sneak under the bird netting while I'm right there collecting berries! I finally figured out that if I regularly put out soaked raisins for them, they'll (mostly) leave the patch alone.

Grackles are indiscriminate omnivores, too -- I recently saw them snap up a whole nest of field mice babies the other day, tossing them into the air with their beaks and eating them like they were popcorn.

I'm in the same boat about planting out my hot weather plants. I'm pretty much convinced we ordered the first week of June weather and got the first week of July, instead. Now we'll be getting back to normal temps, thankfully. My broccoli raab starts and bok choi have already bolted. Ah, well!

I need you to send me a few of those mouse-munching grackles, Laura. I try to have a healthy respect for all creatures, great and small, but for whatever reason, I absolutely LOATHE mice. I don't know what it is about them, whether its their destructive habits, or the fact they leave droppings everywhere or that they carry hanta, but I cannot stand anything about them. If I could wholly eradicate them from the 2 acre area around the house/buildings I would.

Robins love fruit, they gorge themselves on anything from juniper to hawthorn berries. chockecherries, crabapples and of course strawberries and raspberries. Nothing that bears fruit that I have ever ever had or seen growing has been safe from their ravages. Seeds, on the other hand, are not on the menu for them. Seedlings is much more a possibility but I'm sticking with the idea they are just confused and think they are little worms sticking up out of the soil haha.

I'm not convinced we'll be seeing much "June gloom" this year. A brief cool down for the next couple days then hitting the high 80's-90's immediately afterward. You won't hear me complain, 69 degrees is okay weather for February or March, but I'll take 90 over it ANY day of the year, especially in summer. I am not excited about tomorrows forecast.