Storm Booty or How I Got My Banana

What kind of Storm Booty do you have?  What?  You don’t have any?  Well, it is one of the perks living on the water.  Tidal water brings and takes.  My first experience with the give and take with storm booty was about 16 years ago.  We had just come back from the vet, Monroe was just a puppy and got spayed.  We took her to the backyard to let her off the leash only to see the Little Tikes turtle sand box, filled with sand, floating out to sea.  The tide was high with a nor’easter and the turtle was floating as tide went out.  Luckily I was able to grab it and pull it back to higher ground. 

Fast forward many years to 2003.  Hurricane Isabel hit our area with lots of water.  Once the tides had subsided we took inventory of damages and the condition of the trees and bulkhead in the backyard.  Lo and behold---we were the proud owners of two pressure treated structures.  I am not sure what they were.  My guess is that they were steps from someone’s dock/decking area.  Whatever they were, they became two garden tables in my yard.  They were strong and could take the weight of some of the larger containers I had.  It made for a nice addition to the backyard.  I put it in the bed with the birdbath.

Here it is just before the last nor'easter.

A few years after Isabel we had another nor’easter and one of the tables floated off to a new home.  My neighbor across the creek was now the proud owner of a small table that they could use in her yard.  She asked if I wanted it back, but I said it was now hers.  I placed the remaining table back where I wanted it…creating a new setting. 

The past few years we have had many nor’easters, some worse than others.  This past December you may remember my post about the high water.  I was sad as the cute little yellow rose was sitting in the yard floated off the bulkhead as the tide receded.   We had just had the house and deck power washed and all my plants that were on the deck were now sitting in the yard.    Gaining and losing storm booty is standard fare, but I liked that little rose.   

The next day I found the rose had floated back into the grasses along the bulkhead. I was happy to rescue it!

After the storm I found another planter had floated through the yard and was caught up on the fence.














Later that day I was talking with my mom (who lives next door) and she asked if I had lost a banana tree.  what???  No, I didn’t have a banana to lose.  Well, new storm booty!  Mom didn’t want the tree, so now I have a banana tree…..currently residing in the garage ‘til next spring.  

For now I am happy to be done with storm booty coming or going.






words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

A beginning blog

Today is the first blog. It is my goal to write once a week, sharing what goes on in my garden in zone 7b. I chose this picture with my first post as I miss this setting. Living on a creek that feeds a river that feeds the Chesapeake Bay lends one to getting brackish water flooding at times. This is what my backyard looked like before Hurricane Isabel and subsequent nor'easters invaded the yard. New plants have been added and once spring comes we shall see what has survived another season.