helpless and vulnerable on windy days

The howling winds thrashed through the neighbourhood yesterday and invaded the garden grounds. Its invisible might, as great as the gods, is a gardener's worst fear. I only dared to see the aftermath today, and it wasn't pretty. 

Strong winds mean that plants are shaken up physically, potentially causing damage to its structure. It also means that there will be a lot of water loss through the leaves, further exacerbating its physical instability.

Some of the seedlings that had just germinated had shrivelled; a couple of the tomato plants' leaves and stem had completely dried up; and I've learnt the hard way that one should not take any shortcuts when putting up stakes and support structures. As an architect, I really should know better. Stake well, grow well, eat well. 

Is there a silver lining to this cloud? Well, there weren't many clouds in the sky, and if there were, they would have changed its position and form pretty rapidly. Perhaps the hose nozzle is the metaphorical cloud, while the sprinkling water is the silver lining that gets soaked into the soil.

PS. The leggy cosmos flowers have survived, bowing down with humility in the face of the strong invisible forces.