Hail-storm

[Alberto]

Hi all. On last saturday I experienced what I had never saw in my life, almost about how hardy it was in my zone the hail-storm. For half an hour iced grains (at the beginning a few mm, then 1 cm, and at the end over 2 cm in diameter) had fallen from the sky on my plants. After that rain rain rain for just another half an hour: at the end all the garden was submerged in 10 cm of water.
Here are a few pictures.


Alberto

[Alberto]

More pictures:

[Alberto]

A further one:

[Alberto]

Today, in late afternoon I was able to take pictures of the damage:


 Alocasia
 Amarcrinum

[Alberto]

Further images:

 Bulbous plants
 Ficus elastica
 Hedychium spicatum

[Hans J]

Alberto ,

it is really sad to see your garden and plants  
I hope all will survive and start new again

Dont give up !!!
Hans

[Alberto]

more...

 Jasminum sambac.
 Musella lasiocarpa

[Alberto]

more:
 Senecio grandifolius
 Plumeria

[Alberto]

just another:

Adenium obesum

[Alberto]

But nature is incredible. Just after two days the crinum looks like nothing happened and from the ground the surprise:

 Crinum x powelli
 Habranthus tubispathus
 

[ruweiss]

Roberto, I can feel with you and am so sorry about this.
This is the worst thing which can happen to the gardeners.
It is wise to look for eventally occuring fungus and spray a
fungicide against it.

[Alberto]

Thank you Hans and Rudi. Luckily the weather is dry so I hope to have not too many diseases.

Alberto

 

[Lori S.]

It's shocking to see hail on the ground amongst so many tropical species!  (It's a very common occurrence here, with every thunderstorm, but a surprise to see it elsewhere.)  I'm glad to hear the damage was minimal. 

[Lesley Cox]

Hail is terribly damaging to soft leaved plants and a valuable fruit crop such as kiwifruit, cherries or peaches can be destroyed in minutes. The worst that has happened here is that my hostas and meconopsis plants have been shredded to a salad-like mess. The good news is that though this season's plants are sometimes ravaged, it is only surface damage and next year's will be fine. The plants themselves are not destroyed.

[Paul T]

Not good, Alberto. At least most of the things you are showing with damage will replace leaves etc easily enough.  A few years ago we had a massive hail storm hit parts of Canberra (thankfully missed my place by less than a km), that literally stripped every leaf off friend's gardens and hit the National Botanic Gardens as well.  A couple of years later there are still scars on the branches of so many trees and shrubs from the damage done.  All leaves have been replaced, but bark still showing it on some plants.  Thankfully by the looks of it yours will be right as rain as soon as some new leaves emerge.

And don't the Habranthus just give you a renewed hope?    Amidst the rain and damage they see it as a good thing and make a break for flowering!!    A Phoenix from the ashes!!

Actually, from a renewal perspective...... about 10 years ago I brought home by first ever Japanese Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo sp) on the 28th of December from holidays down the coast.  I put it out into a water bowl the next day and admired the lovely leaves.  On the 31st we go hit by a hail storm and, as lesley put so well, they were shredded to a salad-like mess.  I was mortified.  Two weeks later there were 15 new leaves and you couldn't tell that anything had ever happened.  Amazing regenerative capabilities!!