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We had a foggy weekend, and this morning I awoke to the sound of rain. The weather forecast last week was bone dry. Imagine the thrill when I saw that it has now changed to rain today through Wednesday! I don’t know how much we’ll get, but if it is even enough to soften the soil surface so water doesn’t just run off, I’ll be glad. It’s hard to hand water plants when the water just runs right off to the driveway, or, worse, weeds nearby. Rain...such a lovely sound when it’s needed.

Comments (103)

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    Three years ago, it snowed 7 inches and more. :) :-D ;-) :)

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    the temp right now is 76F and the low is 60F

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    the weather channel says its going to go way below average here.

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis so its winter over there?

  • nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
    3 years ago

    not yet..it's been warm and dry but a significant temperature change is coming in a few days..current pics of a lindera with pretty fall color..most of my trees and plants are still green..the fall colors haven't peaked..

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    nice.

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    It's getting colder over here 70s in the day, 50s or 60s in the night.

    Nice pics!

  • nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
    3 years ago

    HU..your colder temperatures sound perfect!..we've had the same and I love it..but you get to keep yours a lot longer..

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...rainfall today was reported to be 2”. 🤪 crazy happy!

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Two inches, Deanna, wow, you needed that!

    We finally got some rain, right after I'd watered most of the yard with the sprinkler. [g] I'm not complaining, maybe the rain and the supplemental water together might make a better impact. I fell asleep to the sound of rain coming down pretty heavy which was wonderful! It rained off and on most of the day yesterday, but I'll have to go check this morning to figure out how much we ended up with.

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    3 years ago

    We had a downpour yesterday! My front yard was a lake! I don't know how much we got, but whatever it was, we got it all at once. I was so happy to see it. Glad to hear some others who needed it got some relief as well!

    :)
    Dee

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Great Dee - I'd put up with a lake too for all that rain. It's gone today, right?

    I just measured and we had 1.5 inches. A very good start that I hope continues on Friday.

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    3 years ago

    I'm happy to read that some of you got your much-needed rain! And I'm also happy to read our weather forecast and see that the 'chance of flurries' for the weekend is no longer in the forecast!

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada i would love to have flurries right now

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    3 years ago

    My rain gauge says a little over 1 inch yesterday! And more coming this weekend if they don't weasel out. There are some very happy plants out there today.

    Claire

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago

    Still raining! We had a decent amount of rain yesterday morning with at least an inch in the watering can, then it stopped for most of the afternoon and started up again in the night and it's been raining steady for a couple of hours. We really needed that going into the winter.

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Here's hoping for October to end as friendly as it is beginning for all of us in drought. And, @Mars SC Zone 8b Mars, here's hoping for you to get some snow this winter. I'm with family in the South for an unexpected emergency, and I am reminded of the temperatures down here. Anyone living below the Mason Dixon deserves a little snow treat once in a while!

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Deanna, I don't know how they manage, I can hardly tolerate the heat here in the summer. [g] I'll take the snow any day. Sorry about your family emergency, hope things work out well.

    I measured the water in my watering can this morning and apparently I have 3.5 inches of rain between yesterday and last night. It's slowed down now, but it still keeps raining a little here and there. Supposed to stop by lunch time.

  • roxanna7
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Two rainy days over the past week has given my Massachusetts area a total of 4+ inches in the rain gauge!! So happy. Severe drought conditions all summer and fall...

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    3 years ago

    A wonderful rain here too. Not sure how much we got, and we went from two forecasted days to one actual day of rain, but it was overall a fairly steady rain over about 20 hours, so a good amount. And today a glorious morning, although it's supposed to be a bit chilly!

    Deanna, hope everything is okay!

    :)
    Dee

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    3 years ago

    About 3/4 inch of rain last night and the sun is out now. It's too cold to eat breakfast out on the deck, even with the fleece vest.

    I join the others who are hoping all is well with Deanna's family.

    Claire

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Ahhhh....rain - turned to snow before the end of October? Leaves still all on the trees? Yup.


  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    Snow! How many inches did you get?

    Where do you live? Wow does that happen every year?

    If so, great!

    I love snow.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    We seem to have almost 2 inches out there and it's still snowing. It was supposed to end by noon, I think. I didn't expect to get this much.

    We love snow too, but it's so weird when the leaves are all on the trees and they're covered with snow. It's also very heavy snow and a lot of branches - on my Japanese Maple are hung down with the weight of it. I doubt we'll get much more today. Which is fine.

    We don't always get snow this early. It used to be more predictable, now it's very erratic. Some years we don't see snow until December.

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    What? Leaves still on the trees?

    Strange. Don't want to be a Hypocrite, cause there are still some leaves on my trees.

    (except the pine trees)

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    3 years ago

    Good heavens! We had a few flurries this morning but they were just white specks floating in the air; nothing on the ground... Those are amazing (and a bit scary!) pictures. I hope it will melt off soon.

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    3 years ago

    Wow PM2, you did have quite a bit! Weird, it snowed really quite heavily here all day, but the ground must have been warm because at most we got maybe half an inch, maybe a bit more, on the ground.

    We had a snowstorm on or the day before Halloween about 8 years ago that was pretty bad. The problem was, as you said, all the leaves were still on the trees and the snow made it very heavy, so lots of branches down and power outages etc. Poor kids couldn't trick or treat because there were live wires down in many parts of town. Thank goodness nothing like that today!

    :)
    Dee

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Dee, we actually ended up with 5 inches, when I checked the paper last night. And my DH went out with a broom and knocked some of the snow off the Japanese Maple but we couldn't reach the top and the higher branches were even bent over. There were a few other shrubs too, that I just decided to leave alone. It's supposed to be sunny but cold, so I hope some of it melts. It's warming up tomorrow. What a mess out there.

    The first photo above was a Burning Bush and it almost looks like berries on the tree, but the red are leaves.

    This was before it stopped snowing.


    Edit: Added Saturday morning....
    And this was this morning....


  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    This morning....

    Japanese Maple 'Bloodgood' with all it's leaves.


    This was the front garden 3 days ago....


    And this morning....


    Ha ha ha.... definitely the end of our gardening season. Right down to the last day of October. I guess I can't complain. All the shrubs and trees will rebound, not the worst we've ever had. This is our changing climate, we have to keep adjusting our expectations, I guess.

    Time to start figuring out what to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. :-)

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    3 years ago

    I am in shock, PM2, just looking at your pictures!

    They're forecasting a warm early November so it will be interesting to see if your garden rebounds.

    Claire

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago

    Thanks Claire, It will be interesting. Fingers crossed. And if not, then it's time to do a final clean up for spring. :-)

  • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Definitely 5-6 inches here ... super heavy stuff, too, as it started out all slushy and went to snowman snow. Our poor red maple that was so pretty and nicely shaped lost a branch; that was a challenge to get removed and will likely be a hole. The other branches are sagging heavily but should pop back. The pear lost a large leader, too, though we'll have to see how it comes back together once it's no longer bent with snow to see how bad that is.

    The pineapple sage that we decided not to bring to the basement this year looks very sad, flattened by snow. We thought about bringing it to the porch, since it had flowers, but 20°F would be the death of it anyways, so now it's squashed and smothered. RIP pineapple sage.


    That'a a yew that looks like it's covered in frosting.

    It's a pity we didn't get the grass seed thrown before the snow.

  • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
    3 years ago

    Here's the maple, though you can't see the broken piece, as it's around the other side.

    Normally a car goes there and the tree doesn't touch it ... Id say it's maybe 4' off the ground now ... (the car is elsewhere to avoid damaging the tree).

    This is the pear:

    (Yeah yeah, no need to tell about Bradford pears ... it's still sad to have it break.) Fortunately it didn't damage the hickory it got into (Sort of visible with the pile of leaves under it.)

    The Japanese maple that's pretty much touching the ground is *not* a weeping variety.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago

    Looks like you got about the same amount we did. It was reported to be 5 inches for our town, but we could have gotten a little less. The snow is already melting off a lot of ours. Sorry about the damage you had.

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    3 years ago

    Wow, you guys really did get hit. We had a very thin layer of snow on the ground here this morning. Well, not much in my yard. We always laugh that it snows more across the street than in my yard lol. I think the fact that I have more trees keeps that kind of early snow from accumulating as much? I don't know, it's odd! But all my neighbors across the street had a thin layer of snow, and I had to scrape ice off my car this morning. I am one of the few in the area that doesn't park the car in a garage, and when I went to do errands this morning, every other car in the parking lot was clean and dry; mine had fallen leaves stuck frozen all over it lol!

    One thing I found odd was that when I went out early this morning, some of my annuals in pots on the patio still looked pretty good. In particular I noticed my blooming-machine wax begonias, still all pink and white and looking like they survived. So I go out, come home, and in another hour or so later come outside, and suddenly notice the begonias are a pile of green mush! It's almost like they froze as they were yesterday, green and in bloom, and then when they started to melt, they turned to mush. I was disappointed as I was hoping to get a bit more out of them. Oh well!

    I hope your gardens recover from the snow!

    :)
    Dee

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I've had that happen, where you think they survived only to turn to mush as they warm up. [g] I really thought we might get halfway through November before a freeze or snow. I keep expecting climate change to benefit gardeners, but so far, that has been minimal.

    About 3/4 of the snow that was on the trees and shrubs has melted. Last time we had snow with leaves on the trees, the leaves had a hard time falling off the trees. Some stayed on most of the winter. Very odd.

    We also have a lot of wet bright golden and orange leaves on the ground, covering the driveway and the car.

  • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
    3 years ago

    Most of our snow is gone, too, and the maple is back up where it belongs (car even fits again).

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    No snow here, and my micro-climate is warmer than most areas around me, so I didn't get a frost until Friday night based on my cosmos and impatiens, which lived until Friday night. Rain today is welcome! I'm very grateful for any and all moisture this fall that helps my bushes settle in for winter. Yea!

  • mxk3 z5b_MI
    3 years ago

    Wow! That's a lot of snow for October!

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    3 years ago

    This is the NWS Boston map of the snowfall:


    No snow here in Plymouth in SE MA. I drove north on route 3 yesterday and saw a few patches beside the highway.

    Claire

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago

    Claire, no snow at all? Wow. I do notice on the weather maps on local news stations, when they show where rain/snow is falling, and it's been my impression that the South Shore and the Cape usually ends up with more rain than we do. Probably the Cape and the Islands get less snow. I know I usually get less than others areas in the state. I seem to be on the edge between two areas that usually get different amounts, so it's a toss up if I'm going to get more or less.


    Then your garden must be still going.

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    My garden wasn't much affected by the storm, PM2. The air temperatures dropped below freezing but the ground is still relatively warm and is heavily mulched by leaves and other plant debris. Messy, yes, but not damaged.

    The prolonged drought had more effect on plants and I've probably lost some regulars - I won't be sure until spring.

    More rain tonight, then a few nights around freezing, and then a warming trend for at least a week.

    Being next to the Bay certainly helps and the Gulf Stream passing to the south of Cape Cod may make a difference in our temperatures.

    I'm happy not to have snow yet.

    Claire

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I forgot I had a Sky Pencil Holly out there that I always tie up for the winter before it snows, and I didn't do it in time for this storm. It's a mess and I don't think the bent branches are going to come back up.

    I had more damage from drought than this snow too. I'm sure I've lost at least 3 epimediums and a Calycanthus and ferns in a shade bed near my mature Maple. I never lose epimedium, so I'm still holding out hope for a spring return. The Calycanthus was only in the ground two years, so maybe that's why it was effected more from the drought. I also divided and replanted about 6 Hosta divisions in the spring and I've lost all but two of those.

    Happy for all the rain we can get....and bring on the snow this winter. Much better than last winter where we got very very little.

  • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
    3 years ago

    Yes, snow is good ... it provides moisture and protection from the cold ... but maybe further snow could wait until the leaves are down, lol.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    3 years ago

    I'm all for that too BBundtcake! [g]

  • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
    3 years ago

    Maple will fill in fine ... it has a sparse spot, but most of the cracked branch was salvageable, so it won't be a big hole.

    Pear isn't perfect, but not terrible either:

    Pineapple sage didn't survive the freeze, but we knew that before it got left out ... it was a goner with or without snow. It's an annual here; it only survives if it gets to come inside, like the jungle of peppers and herbs in the back room.

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    No rain or snow! Few days ago it did get to 36! So maybe snow, later.

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    3 years ago

    There was a bit of minor snow here in central NH inlate October, but nothing that accumulated. I arrived home after a month away and found more than 5” of much needed rain in the rain gauge. It hasn’t made up for all the missed precipitation from this growing season, but is is very welcome!

  • Mars SC Zone 8b Mars
    3 years ago

    It's pouring over here. I'm expecting 2-3 inches of rain today. The system's name is Eta. Not the eye or any of that but the bands. If it were below freezing....................😔🥶 There would finnaly be some snow.