The big 7.1 earthquake that hit Canterbury at 4.35 a.m. on Saturday September 4 did no damage to our house or contents. The 108 year old house rocked on its massive totara piles, and rattled its sash windows mightily, but it was all sound and no fury. The cheap vernacular materials of a century ago (wooden weather boards and corrugated iron roof and siding) stood up to the earth's forces much better than some modern materials, or unstrengthened nineteenth century concrete and brick.
The garden was not shaken up at all. The trees stand tall, and the weeds are just as hard to pull out as ever. The very wet weather we had in August did much more harm to the surrounding hills and their roads than the quake and its aftershocks have done. Wherever there are no trees to hold the soft, fine loess soil, and the ground gets saturated, the land is prone to slips. Some of these bring down big rocks with them.
The brand-new glasshouse built by the Eco-Forester last month is as sound as it was the day before the quake, and none of the pots and trays of seeds and seedlings came off the shelves. In the potting shed a dozen or so of the smallest empty pots came down in a shower around Wilby's bed, no doubt startling him, but (thank goodness) the few heavier items stayed put.
As far as the garden is concerned, then, it is business as usual – and this month's business is spring. Budding, blossoming, sprouting and all that stuff. It was a consolation, as the aftershocks continued, to be out in the garden (where they are much less noticeable than in the house) and to see the small pink plum blossoms and fat white magnolia buds begin to unfold. Also to pick a spray of scented osmanthus to take to a housebound friend whose nerves were on earthquake edge.
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| Magnolia denudata, 14 September 2010 |
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