Wishing all of our East Coast folks the best of luck for the foreseeable future.

For my part, I'm plenty worried about flooding from Irene - the eye is expected to go up the Ct. River Valley (plus or minus 20 miles from my place in the northeasternmost part of Vermont). Then there are the many hundreds of potential projectiles (translated "potted plants on benches") to be put somedamnwhere. My list is already 38 separate items long and growing. Oh yeah, we have to do client work tomorrow AND haul firewood (while it's still dry) before the storm hits here on Sunday night. Seems like hurricane prep was easier when I lived in a place that expected them. Good luck everyone.

Gosh, Kate, I feel for you. I had a minor disaster this spring when a tornado passed nearby and dumped 2" hail on all my semps and jovis. A couple were really set back. Hope by the time the storm gets to you that it has quieted down a bit. I'm far enough west that we should only see some rain from it. Also, we can always hope it gets pushed out to the east a lot more than predicted, but the weather people seem to be getting a bit hyper about this one.

What a year! My first major 2" hail storm, my first earthquake! (woke me up while I was sleeping with the bed rocking and stuff in the house rattling!)

Kate, wishing you and everyone on the east coast safety through this hurricane. What a scary situation. Twit, I didn't realize you felt the earthquake there too. Any damage?

I was about 200 miles away from the epicenter. No damage here, just lost sleep and some rattling of stuff. Some of the older brick buildings in the area were damaged, including some precious ancient stone sculptures on some old buildings that fell. A young boy locally had a close call with some falling bricks, but knew enough to run out of the way. But no injuries that I heard about. It was big news though. People were in the streets yelling not knowing what was happening in front of my house.

Think about it. A tsunami that kills a quarter of a million people, big earthquakes in China, Haiti, New Zealand, New Orleans, Japan, the Gulf oil spill. Things are getting unpleasant this past decade. I worry about the west coast people. The experts say that both California and the Pacific NW are overdue for major quakes. I worry about Lynn as they say that area could get a 9.0 one of these days, worse than what they expect for CA.

At least with a storm they can see it coming.

Yes, it has been a horrible decade weather-wise and so many people have been affected. Glad you're OK Twit and that nobody was injured. That's surprising actually.

Hi I am new here. Love your site. I was on the last one Lynn had and really enjoy it.

I live in the desert where it has been very hot over 100' for a week or so with high humidity. I am beginning to feel like I live in Florida instead of CA!

I started my semp collection beginning of this year. Would like to know where to get some answers to basic growth questions and such?

Hi VioletQueen! So glad you've joined us here! Feel free to ask questions on the chat thread. There are lots of knowledgeable people here that will help you out! We're all learning together.

Welcome VioletQueen.
Yes, I am praying for the folks on the coast. All the way to Vermont, That is very bad and we have lots of folks (ATP&Cubits) located close. Will say prayers for all.

VioletQueen, Your handle matches the name of one of the most pretty semps. You have to get that one if you don't already have it! Welcome to the group,

Not the best picture , this one looks really nice in the morning sun with dew:

Violet Queen

Everyone keep safe with the weather! And the quakes!! I have only felt smaller ones here in the midwest.

Here is what had to be done to my signage at the nursery to prevent the laminated informational pages in place. 1800 rubber bands were NOT enough! And that was just the aboveground signage.

Here's what had to be done AFTER emptying the benches (I don't want to talk about emptying the benches):

Note the pipes holding the sign holders down. I have more than 300 feet of benching with this system in place.

Check my facebook page for more photos (Kate Butler)

Kate it looks like you have been busy with this weather!! Hang in there and I hope all is well!!

Good heavens I don't know how I missed this new thread. I sure hope everyone is okay?
Kate how did things fair for you yesterday? I can't even imagine the work involved in preparing for the storm. I can't seem to find your FB page Kate.

Twit I'm sure glad your missing this one. You've had enough bad weather for one year.
They really do say we are due for a very large earthquake. I am thankful we don't live up in the Portland area. I grew up in earthquake country (Southern, CA).
My son called on his way home (he works in DC). They sent everyone home when the earthquake it. They are all fine.

Hi Violetqueen, love your name sake semp. Glad you found your way over to ATP. Just jump in and share with us what your semps are doing, ask questions and post photos if you have some.
Here is a link to the general chat thread for Semps and Jovis, but feel free to participate in any of the threads. We look forward to getting to know you.

Here's the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profi...

Astonishing to me that just 24 hours ago the weather was raging. At the end of today's working, everything was back on the benches in the nursery (3 people working). Whew!! The fact that I only had an hour and a half of sleep last night means early to bed for me tonight - I'm beat!

You will likely be amused by my solution for windblown signage. Worked better than hoped for. And can be reused if necessary (removed 'em all today).

All my plants were undamaged - even the HUGE ones.

Amazing photos Kate. It is hard to believe you didn't have major loss or damage. So happy for you that all you lost was sleep.
Have a wonderful nights sleep. : )

Good news Kate! Glad to hear everything survived the storm!

Kate, I'm glad to hear that you had no loss of plants in the storm. You've got an impressive bench system. Good thinking to use the rubber bands and then anchor the plant holders with pipes. I hope you are feeling rested by the time you read this.

Thanks, all, for the well wishes. To see the place now, you'd never know it was totally bare two days ago.. It took 3 of us 1 day to get everything back on the benches.

I was really happy that the rubber band thing worked. I was freaking out at the prospect of losing all those signs - and even more so at the prospect of re-identifying similar plants.

What a great job you did Kate. I see on tonight's news that areas in Vermont are still under water.