Saturday, 11 May 2024
at home
I thought I would accomplish getting everything in the “ladies in waiting” table planted in my garden (except for the cosmos, which are not quite ready). Ha! Ha! I spent many hours sorting through the plants that came out of greenhouses and potting them up, some of them being plants I bring over the winter : a couple of brugmansias, an iochroma, some different salvias, assorted echeverias and suchlike, a whole lotta cannas, a tender banana….and then I had a bunch of way cool plants from Tony, some of which I potted up, and a few of which I got into the ground, including a giant bird of paradise with three pieces that will look awesome if it makes grand leaves this summer.
The cannas involved a lot of messing around with the water box and canoe, because I plunk some of them into the water, which is fun but quite heavy and I needed Allan’s help putting a couple of the bigger ones down into the water boxes.
Allan ran a pile of small branches through the SunJoe chipper shredder, which we not too fondly call the Pencil Sharpener because it processes such a small amount so slowly. My idea was to save branches to chip for more compost material, which I need. So I am grateful he did it.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02637.jpg?w=640)
We do have the big gas powered :”Mighty Mack” chipper but often the belt slips, plus…gas…but we do love it for our Halloween decor. We will use it as a branch chipper if we get a really big pile.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02306.jpeg?w=481)
He did get the whole bin of branches chipped…
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04390.jpeg?w=640)
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04394.jpeg?w=640)
A lot of effort for this much result:
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04395-1.jpeg?w=640)
He noticed a gathering of baby spiders on a plant. They disperse when touched and then come together again.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04391.jpeg?w=571)
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04392.jpeg?w=640)
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04393.jpeg?w=488)
He also found an artistic way to display, with books stands, some fish plates that a friend gave us for garden decor.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc04397.jpeg?w=640)
I got to the end of the day with three areas of great big mess like this outside the greenhouse…
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02642.jpg?w=640)
The bigger pots are tidied and in place.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02640.jpg?w=640)
The patio plants are pretty much cleaned up, refreshed, and arranged (crammed in).
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02643.jpg?w=640)
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02641.jpg?w=640)
I still have plants to go in the ground.
I think it would be a good project to turn this garden boat into a bog boat (with a pond liner) and fill it with assorted cannas.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/dsc02644.jpg?w=640)
At midnight we went out again to see if the northern lights showed up again. They did not. Some expert sources said 2-4 AM was the best time but we came home at 12;30, just too tired. The beautiful stars and the moon on the beach approach road in Seaview made the trip worthwhile.
Our neighbor Mary sent us photos of the northern lights that she viewed from Sekiu, Washington.
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/3e86ce4a-15ac-4afd-920a-0e5fbeace73f.jpeg?w=768)
![](https://tanglycottage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/e4234ea6-785b-413e-b602-7c17ee2f57c8.jpeg?w=768)
Giant bird of Paradise will make small leaves until it recovers from division. It only has remnants of large leaves because that is what it had before division.
LikeLike
We have a ‘pencil sharpener’ too and a petrol driven shredder. The petrol driven machine made such a noise and created such a mess and was always jamming so that I am happy to poke things through the little machine even if it does take time.
LikeLike