8 August: the long day

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

The day that includes the watering of the port gardens is the longest and most tiring day now.  I like to get it out of the way by Wednesday at the latest.  Tuesday is even better.  One might think it would be best to have the gardens looking watered closer to the weekend.  However, the fewer people in town, the easier and less hazardous it is to maneuver hoses around the sidewalk.

Today, we began with…

The Anchorage Cottages

Look who came running to greet us.  I had not seen Mitzu for a couple of weeks.

We did the usual weeding and deadheading.

Allan deadheaded the buddliea.

center courtyard

asters and lavender

All the Aster douglasii that I missed pulling are going to look pretty for the rest of the month.

blue potato vine encroaching on a parking spot, too pretty to cut

Mitzu stayed close by us for most of the work session.

A guest walked two pretty dogs while Mitzu watched.

She takes great interest in all the goings on at the Anchorage.

the dark pink dierama, darker than any other ones that I have.

Yesterday in Long Beach, I chatted with one of the owners at the Anchorage.  (Like Klipsan Beach Cottages, each cottage has separate owners, who sometimes come here on their own vacations.) He said that a woman guest there was sitting on the bench  by the office and said “Whoever gardens here really knows what they are doing.  This area is planted for fragrance.”  It is, with lilies, nicotiana, agastaches (they smell like licorice), chocolate cosmos, and scented geraniums.  The credit for the scented geraniums goes to Manager Beth though, as she requested them.

office courtyard

Long Beach

We dumped debris, left over from yesterday’s Long Beach session, at City Works.

First, I noticed this.

Then this fawn, still spotted.

I enjoy seeing deer, as long as they have not gotten through my fence into my garden.

I had in mind to take some mulch, from the newly replenished pile, out to the beach approach garden.

We worked on the westernmost two sections, cutting down some ugly lupine foliage and adding the mulch…and giving all our bucket water to one of the planters where even some of the santolinas are dying of thirst.

Thirsty planters out here only get water if the city crew brings their water truck or if we haul bucket water to them.  City crew is busy and we are old and sore.

sad santolina.  I really don’t want Allan to haul tons of bucket water.  And yet….look how sad.  (Allan’s photo)

I think the santolina above is extra bad because the big rosemary is preventing the water truck waterer from reaching it with the hose.  The others seem to be doing better.

big, distressed rosemary (Allan’s photo)

Even the beach strawberry is drying up.  (Allan’s photo)

Covering it with mulch is one solution (Allan’s photo)

There might still be roses blooming for kite festival, which begins the third Monday of August.  I think it is unusual to have this many blooms so late (but then my lilies bloomed two weeks late this year).

rugosa roses

I ran through the same sequence of thoughts as last year: “We must trim back all the roses along the street for kite festival traffic…”  “No, we don’t need to, because all the kite festival traffic is on foot.”

Good, we don’t have to cut off budding stems that are sticking out a bit.

We then went to the dreaded west end of Coulter Park, the most neglected spot.  We have sort of given up on it because of the huge problem of thorny salmonberry coming under the fence and mingling with the thorny roses.

On the way….

thrilled to see some bachelor buttons that I planted from seed in a pocket garden

Here are the horrible Coulter Park roses.  I swore to Allan we would tidy the other parts of the park and ignore this hopeless case.

salmonberries looming and coming through the fence

everything sharp, multi stemmed, thorny

After all my saying we would not work on that section…

one hour and forty five minutes later…

But it is still terrible, because the salmonberries are just clipped to the ground and will come right back.

Meanwhile, Allan worked on less thorny problems.

birdsfoot trefoil in Siberian iris

huge blackberry coming over the fence

invasion of blackberries and bindweed

I’d like to see the roses replaced with non thorny, open stemmed plants, so that blackberry and salmonberry can be addressed with less pain.

This area of Coulter has also been made difficult to maintain with the building of the ramp to the old train depot building:

You have to crawl through the fence and drop down.

What needs to be done is to remove some larger shrubs so that access is not blocked from walking in at the back end of this garden.

Fuchsia magellanica ‘Hawkshead’ making a break for it at the back of the park.

Fuchsia magellanica ‘Hawkshead’, white tipped with green

After another trip to dump debris, we headed south to water at…

The Port of Ilwaco.

I was tired and tempted to put the watering off till later in the week.  My motivation to make the rest of the week easier was stronger than the temptation to make today easier.

port office garden

I spied Don Nisbett watering his baskets.

Jenna was there, too, and I must confess we sat on a bench and talked for awhile before I dragged the port office hose to the curbside gardens.

Today, I watered from the port office to the west end while Allan did the east end, including the easternmost bed that needs the most hose wrangling.

Allan’s photo while hooking up a hose at the dock

Allan’s photo, hose running from dockside faucet across the east parking lot

east end garden

quenching thirst

roses at the Loading Dock Village

thirsty eryngium by Fort George Brewery office

Meanwhile, at the west end…

port office curbside

I drag the long port office to hook up at the old restroom faucet, then drag it along to hook it up to the hoses at Time Enough Books, Salt Hotel, and Ilwaco Freedom Market to water those curbsides.  It can be wet, cold, and exhausting.  It helped to remember that Deadliest Catch, with some real hard cold work, is on tonight.

fog rolling in from the west

When we got home at last, I was pleased to see that Calvin and Smokey had been sharing a chair again.

buddies

 

7 August: Long Beach and Ilwaco

Monday, 7 August 2017

If I don’t guard my tea in the morning, Smokey drinks it.

Allan’s photo

The weather forecast continues to be weird, with smoke (from Canadian wildfires) included in the predictions.

Long Beach

We did our street tree and planter watering.

Lewis and Clark Square planter with agastaches, cosmos, eryngiums

Reaching deep into that planter to pull a weed, I got stung on my right little finger by something.  Having just read of a friend’s brown recluse spider ordeal, my hypochondria kicked in.  One block later, I got stung on my right middle finger by a big bumblebee at another planter.  That one hurt like the dickens.  How odd; I generally work among clouds of bees and rarely get stung.  After Bite is an excellent product to relieve the pain.  I was by the pharmacy so bought some, as the first aid kit was in the van three blocks away.

I tidied up the Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle) by the Heron Pond.

Note to self: plant more snapdragons: they are real doers.

Origanum ‘Hopley’s Purple’, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, santolina

Allan and I pass on opposite sides of the street.

Coreopsis getting powdery mildew.  At home, I’d cut it back hard.  In this planter, I need it, so I picked lots of yucky leaves off.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

parsley and lavender (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

reseeded oenothera (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

cosmos, white painted sage, santolina, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (Allan’s photo)

Tigridia and golden oregano (Allan’s photo)

Tigridia, nasturtiums (Allan’s photo)

Kids looking at the bumper cars; one said “I wish I lived here!” (Allan’s photo)

Traffic.  Town is full of people escaping city heat and smoke. It was actually almost cold here today. (Allan’s photo)

Allan clipping alchemilla in the horrible little soggy bed in SE Fifth Street Park

before (Allan’s photos)

horrible, soggy, thick and muddy, soupy, always leaking garden bed is pretty hopeless….city crew may dig it out; we hope so.

after, still weedy and hideous.  Oh, and it is all rooty, too.  Just impossible.

ridiculous low squatty lilies in Fifth Street Park

How did I mistakenly buy such silly short lilies?

West Fifth Street Park; these alchemilla will be for the chop very soon.

Tigridia

The very first thing I had seen when we started Long Beach was a dog on a leash in the tree garden by Malai Thai restaurant.

Adorable dog, wrong place (Allan’s photo)

I had Allan water that tree first to tactfully bring to the people’s attention that their dog was causing damage.

after the pup moved on with apologies from its guardians (Allan’s photo)

At the end of our Long Beach session, I walked by said tree to my last planter.

flattened by very cute dog

Ilwaco

Allan watered the street trees and planters with the water trailer.  I watered the boatyard and did some weeding there.  My heel hurt and my bee stings were swollen (but not scary like a spider bite) and it was a great…

….to put off the watering and just go home.  I’m glad I persisted.

This sweet pea is extra vigorous because of a hose leak at the faucet.  I did plant the seeds there on purpose.

happy, well watereed garden

I asked Allan for some photos of the planters, which are looking quite nice and definitely enhance the town, even though I always remember the incident where a local man told me that they make no difference at all.  That’s memorable because I figure if one person says it, even when deep in his cups, other people might think the same.  The planters are small and must be planted with tough plants.  I continue to feel that despite their size, they do pack a wallop of beauty,

Post Office garden (before clean up and watering)

These photos don’t show whether or not the planters make a difference in the city scape. I was not specific in my request. Oops.

at home

This morning, I found Calvin and Smokey like this, and they were back in the yin yang chair this evening.

I love that Calvin has a friend.

A few evening garden photos:

Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’, which sometimes scents my room at night.

5 August: Allan returns to Long Island

Saturday, 5 August 2017

During the barge trip to Long Island June 22, one of the Friends of the Willapa members brought up the idea of returning to Long Island by kayak later. Her criteria for scheduling is two hours before and two hours after the high tide mark. This avoids a high flow rate (current). I also feel a plus 3-foot tide window works. We launched at a rising 6.5′ tide and returned on a falling 4.5′ tide leaving plenty of wiggle room.

Another group was launching and I wanted to check out the safety balloon the little red boat had. It looked like it would make a little boat more visible to power boats. Always watching for new ideas.

Later I was told the balloon said ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!’

As it dragged in the water I heard much discussion.

Ready to go early as I carry lots of stuff.

There are five camp grounds on the island with several sites at each. Reservations aren’t as complicated now as I had imagined. You just go, and if there is no room, you look for another site.

The old registration box behind the baby birds.

The current system is simple.

 

Off our party of four went to round the southern tip of the island.  The plan was to look at the camp grounds and take a walk.

Two members also launched their small power boat (equipped with a depth finder I found out) and casually shadowed us.

Vegetation hanging on against the erosion as we headed around High Point.

The rock formation west of the Pinnacle Rock campground is called Louse Rocks.

These rocks are mentioned in James Swan’s 1857 book: The Northwest Coast pages 174-5.

“There are two large rocks near the south head of Long Island, in the Bay, called .Mis’chin, or Louse Rocks, and the legend is that they were formerly a chief and his wife, who were very bad people, and by their magic first introduced lice among the Indians; and  one day, while bathing, they were, by a superior medicine-man, turned into stones as a punishment.”

The two large rocks.

We put ashore at the Pinnacle Rock campground.

We pulled the boats up, then we pulled them up a little more just in case.

Oysters near the shore.

There is public clamming allowed on the west side as shown on the map above.

One of the camp sites at Pinnacle Rock.

Here’s another site closer to the shore.

Below is one of the Louse Rocks surrounded with boaters with the Long Beach Penninsula in the background. I thought it would be an interesting place to eat lunch, maybe better than the beach, until someone pointed out the waiting sea gulls.

Looking at this picture later, there were a lot of boaters around that island.

A forester was with us. I learned the phrase ‘pistol-grip trunk.’ That’s when the tree corrects itself when the root ball finds itself not vertical. A group of them indicates a landslide site.

This tree is something else.

We chose to hike south to the beach at High Point.

Approaching the beach, and, a discovery.

Puppies!

Kids, canoes and two puppies.

A young corgi and a shepherd named Bo Diddly.

We were told this bay turns to mud at low tide. Looking at Google Maps, the main channel is halfway to the Long Beach peninsula.

Our boats were way over there, about a mile.

We went back up the trail and back to our boats where we met with another group of campers.

A weed in the wild.

They had fresh oysters.

They also had what appeared to be a fossil. It was heavier than sandstone and shaped like a bone.

I thought it looked like a filled in hoof print.

Two adults and their kid were enjoying their day at the island. They had come in an inflatable two person boat that fits in the trunk or in the closet.  I learned it inflates in about ten minutes with an electric pump that can suck the boat small again quickly when you’re done.  I looked it up I found the boat is rated for 500 lbs, resists punctures (most certainly important) and even has an optional sail kit.

A review can be found here.

We launched and headed north to Smokey Hollow.

We checked first with Bob in the motor boat. They were having a good day on the water too, without the workout.

We paddled around the rocks

We passed a beach littered with trees from an eroding cliff above.

One of our party is paddling along the bottom.

Smokey Hollow

This is one of the forests he surveys for the Nature Conservancy.

We looked, we saw, and turned around from the Smokey Hollow campsite. I was hoping to use any extra time to paddle up an interesting slough that is right across from the boat launch.

Heading back it seemed further and slower.

We noticed that the two people on the beach were nearly as fast as us.

I was getting tired so I figured that three out of four kayaks were doing just fine using their paddles. I got out my paddle, put the foot drive thing away, and kept up while getting another set of muscles tired.

Back around High Point and nearly back.

We all went straight to the landing, no slough exploration today. Next time, we agreed to head north.

My phone’s odometer above shows an extra 1.04 miles for the hike.

 

 

This is an old Garmin GPS from a car I seal up and power with a battery. It will recommend the nearest road I could be using

 

 

5-6 August: 7 garden guests

Saturday, 5 August 2017

Today Allan went boating to a different part of Long Island.  Just before he left, he found Jenna (Queen LaDeDa) picking her wild woman costume accessory plants in the garden.

As planned, Mary, Denny, and Bella (from Klipsan Beach Cottages) came over after they had walked through the Saturday market.  Bella came right up onto the porch wagging her tail like, “Oh, YOU live HERE!”

Skooter was not sure what to think about a big white dog.

Going to the market had been thirsty work.

Bella enjoyed touring the garden as much as her two human guardians did.

Denny strolling

Bella strolling

Just as I stood at the front gate waving goodbye to my first guests, a car slowed down and a woman called out, “Are you Skyler?”  When I said yes, she said she reads this blog, so I invited her and her spouse in.  They are from up north and are friends with Debbie W who often comments herein.

Molly gave me a particularly nice compliment when she told me that they’d been to France with Debbie and her spouse, and Molly had been unwell and missed the day that they toured Monet’s garden.  I said how sad that was and she said “That’s ok, now I’ve seen this one.”  We talked about how Monet’s garden probably does not have nasturtiums sprawling all over the path’s as in this postcard that I have on my wall, because it would make for unsure tour garden footing.

Linnea in Monet’s Garden

Molly and Stan

Molly and Stan proved to be observant garden tourers.  They noticed the little table (above) which has been quite a hit with folks lately.

They noticed this golden shrub, whose name I had forgotten:

It’s Cistus x hybridus ‘Mickie’

Molly noticed my faux flint top wall.

a shout out to my visit to Yorkshire

And the quotation by the cat ramp:

And this set of planted pipes.

I appreciate folks who notice things so closely.

Mollie and Stan at the front gate

Shortly after they left, the sun came out and the day turned hot.  Our Kathleen was next to visit.  We did make the obligatory garden walk to see the lilies.

accompanied by Frosty

We then sat in the cooler comfort of the house and had a good long visit.

Allan arrived back from his boating trip.  After Kathleen left, I started blogging and then heard a hallooooo.  Here came Jenna to show us her wonderful wild woman costume featuring plants from our garden.

Allan’s photo

 

with a statuesque verbascum

Later, she sent me her photos from the event.

Jenna’s photo

In the evening, Allan started a campfire.  I finished writing the blog post and then walked out in the dusk to join him.

I’ve read that blue is the most visible colour at dusk.  It glows.

sausage roasting for dinner

the air scented with lilies and Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’

Allan’s photo

full hazy moon

Allan’s photo

When I walked back to the house at ten o clock, white clover flowers in the lawn sparkled in the moonlight.

Sunday, 6 August 2017

While watering the greenhouse tomatoes, I found a Pacific tree frog in the watering can.  “Oh, it can’t get out!” thought I, and then the frog leaped into the long spout, out the end of the spout, and onto the wall.

Allan’s photo in the front garden

I took the grey day opportunity to take some non shadowy lily photos.

Frosty flopping in front of me.

Agapanthus ‘Xera’s Cobalt’

a popular drinking spot

Fuchsia ‘Pink Marshmallow’

I’m trying to show how my passionflower vine grabbed and deadheaded a nicotiana flower.

acanthus and elephant garlic

More traffic hazarding by Frosty

Fuchsia ‘Chang’

Fuchsia ‘Chang’ and Hypericum berries

My namesake, Rosa ‘Night Owl’

pink lilies, with snails

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ (and lilies)

Lily Conca D’Or

In the evening, we took J9 out for a very belated birthday dinner at …

The Depot Restaurant.

our garden at The Depot

Allan’s photo

As we waited for our table, another woman waiting told us that she reads our blog.  Check out travel writer Elizabeth Rose’s recent article about Oysterville at Wander With Wonder.

Like Chess and Mani at one of my top two favourite blogs, The Miserable Gardener, Liz’s dog also writes a blog at Cinnamon’s Blog.

J9, Allan and I lingered over our meal till closing time.

two out of three scallops with spicy mango sauce (Allan’s photo)

the very best clam chowder in the world (Allan’s photo)

This summertime Asian salad is delicious if you love cilantro, which I do.

clams bucatina for J9

Steak Killian, with a green onion sauce and wonderful potatoes.

Tomorrow: a boating trip back to Long Island

4 August: garden work and touring

Friday, 4 August 2017

Before work, Jenna (Queen LaDeDa) came over to find out what plant cuttings she could have for a Jake the Alligator Man event costume: a “wild woman”.  While I did not have anything to make a mossy head dress with, we found all sorts of ideas while walking through the garden.  She will come tomorrow morning, probably before we wake, to acquire the materials, because it is too early to cut them now.

Jenna and I on the hunt for plant costume ideas.

After she departed, I started to pick four bouquets for my favourite Art Night participants.  I ran out of steam after two bouquets.

Port of Ilwaco

I delivered a bouquet to Don Nisbett’s Art Gallery.  (He is Jenna’s spouse.)

And to Salt Hotel.

Allan watered the Time Enough Books curbside garden and did some other garden tidying in the area.

We finished weeding the south end of the boatyard garden.

battling the scrimmy little horsetail

I pictured lots of people parading along here between a downtown gallery and the port this evening.

From a distance, Allan thought the name of this incoming boat was “Sleepwear”.

Allan’s photo

Allan liked the idea shown below, of a rope tied to the hose on the boatyard faucet that people use to power wash their boats.  It keeps the faucet from being yanked by the hose, he says.

While we had been near Time Enough Books, I’d seen shop owner Karla.   She said she would be at the museum this evening for their exhibit opening and so I thought I might just give a third bouquet to the museum.  We took a break to go home and make one more bouquet.

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum

Seaview

On the way to Long Beach, we stopped by the cannabis emporium to get me a product that the Freedom Market does not have in stock.

Mr Doobie’s in Seaview

I’ve been taking a tincture called Ethos 2:1, mostly CBD, on the recommendation of a friend.  As promised, it does not get me high but what I think it has done is almost eliminate my back spasms.  I doubt it’s a placebo effect because I combine all new medications with a big dose of skepticism.

We acquired these photos, two blocks from the pot shop, of a garden I enjoy in passing.

peeking over the fence

Across the street from that garden, I asked Allan to photograph the deck railing that I quite like.  The garden is good, too.  We had a communication breakdown over getting a photo that included the garden on the corner of the property.  Maybe next week.

Long Beach

Allan thought a drive-through coffee would be helpful for the day.

Horses had been through the drive through before us!

at the drive through window

I thought all we had to do in Long Beach was to give the planter at the end of Sid Snyder Drive some water (done!) and then dump yesterday’s debris.  On the way to city works, we found one more thing to do.

Minnie Culbertson Park, before

after

I had seen an ad in the local paper about a wee dahlia “farm” in the town. (I left off the line with the phone number:)

Of course, we had to have a look.

gardener Dale picking a bouquet for a visitor

He said there will be lots more dahlias starting next week.  He was also offering lots of little plants for sale in cute little containers:

My grandma would have loved the wooden shoe.

Allan’s photo

Dale’s pond had sprung a leak.  You can see it will be good-looking when re-filled.

Basket Case Greenhouse

We needed soil and plants for an Ilwaco planter.

new shade cloth entryway

Allan’s photo

Buddy wanted to get in our van and Allan handed him to me.

Roxanne and I joked that I was taking him home.

I gave this little darling back most reluctantly.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We’d postponed our weekly cleanup of KBC because of Wednesday’s heat.  I clipped a whole lot of brown lady’s mantle out of the driveway garden and have no photos to show for that.  After working, we took photos for the KBC Facebook page (which I administrate).

The sky was still grey with a smoke haze from the fires in Canada.

lawn border

in the fenced garden

I cannot ID this special plant, a gift from Mary’s plantsman brother, with golden yew.

Veronicastrum and Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’ (kind of a fail photographing white, as usual)

Dierama (Angel’s Fishing Rod)

birdbath view

Allan’s photo

the pond island

I see they bought those string lights that were “shiny objects” to me last time we went to Costco.  If I see them for sale again, I will not resist. Or maybe I will resist because we don’t have effective outdoor outlets.  Oh well!

The Anchorage Cottages

On the way south, we made the briefest stop at the Anchorage.  Since we had been there Monday this week, I felt we should do a second quick deadheading.

I am quite worked up about how this dierema is darker than any of my others.

This thrills me.  I wonder if it would come true from seeds.

in the office courtyard (Allan’s photo)

When it was built, partly by moving WWII cottages from Cape Disappointment, the Anchorage was Ocean Front. Now, because of beach accretion, it is about a half mile from the beach.  A path leads through piney woods to the shore.

Astilbe and Fuchsia ‘Pat’s Dream’

As I had begun to deadhead, I’d asked Allan to photograph an adorable caravan in the car lot at the corner.

such a cute face

I smile in response.

Would make a great guest house.

Ilwaco

We drove past the boatyard garden to see the crowds of strolling art walk patrons that I had imagined…and saw no one at all till we drove past the galleries along the port.

We had every intention of immediately finishing the day by planting up the Ilwaco planter that got dug out, due to poor drainage, last weekend.  That is, until I looked at my Ilwaco Facebook feed on my phone to see if there were some last minute Art Walk posts that I could share to Discover Ilwaco.

I saw this photo from the museum!

The exhibit opening was on a topic that interests us.  We had planned to see it later in the month because of a reluctance for peopling (me) and simply wanting to get the work day done.  But the snacks called to us and soon we were there.

Join the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum as we explore the history of “Derbyville” and the early years of salmon derbies, recreational fishing, and the emergence of the charter-boat fishing industry on the Long Beach Peninsula. This exhibit will be on view August 4 – October 7, 2017.

the big room (The plates were about to get replenished)

Allan’s photo.  Someone at the museum said “No one’s ever brought us flowers before.”  That gives me a new bouquet target.

center: Dan and his wife had just toured our garden today (by invitation).  (Allan’s photo)

We did not have time to thoroughly peruse the exhibit.  I can see it is one that I will very much enjoy.

I like this sort of display.

This history goes back to when our garden was riverfront property, before the port was built out on fill.

Information about the mayor, for whom our street of curbside gardens at the Port if named:

We had to get back to work and plant the planter by the fire station.

Allan made the small hole, added this week by the city crew, bigger.

new plants getting firmed up

red for the fire station, including Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

At home, our neighbor Mary from two doors down brought us some freshly caught salmon and, of course, I dragged her back to see the towering, fragrant lilies.

Skooter indicated that he would like to have a campfire some evening soon.

Now for two days off, with some more lily guests invited.

3 August: hot but working

Thursday, 3 August 2017

Ilwaco Post Office garden

I realized that the tall lilies are getting pulled down by a rather pretty and pretty annoying perennial sweet pea vine that volunteered in this garden.  I waited too long to try to eliminate it and now am stuck with this look.  I’d break the lilies if I fought with the vine now.

Rudbeckias donated by Our Kathleen

I’d like to have balls of silver santolina running all across the front.  But I have no budget, and no one has good ones for sale at the moment.  I will stick in more cuttings this fall.

Long Beach

We weeded Veterans Field gardens.  The Jake the Alligator Man birthday party event will be there this weekend, with lots of bands and some “Bride of Jake” contestants.  I won’t be going because, great though the event is, for me it can’t compete with a day off at home.

Just before heading to the main street to water…

Today, we decided the trees needed watering again because of the heat.  That meant I again watered most of the planters.  The trees, while fewer, are harder to water because the faucet connector is underground in each one.  Watering was a good job for this 80°F day.

SO HOT.  Yet 81 felt so much better than yesterday’s 95.

Photos from my walkabout:

Bees loving Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

Tigridia

I wanted to take a photo of this round ball of lavender, but it was missing some lavender colour….

Because someone had picked themselves a bunch, coming armed with clippers, and leaving stubs.

The other side! I thought….only to find…

…another batch had been picked.

An accountant from Powell Seillor had something to show me.

She had found a beautiful sunflower painted rock!

bonus art on the back

tigridia

more tigridia

and more

My “Ann Lovejoy” plant, pink oenothera, has reseeded at the curb.

Gladiolus papilio

Gladiolus papilio inside

worth a close look

For a refreshing scent on a hot day, smell the santolina foliage.  Lemony!

I love the white catananche

Because Jake the Alligator Man resides in Marsh’s museum, I gave some attention to that corner of Fifth Street Park.  I planted some new lilies last fall.  Apparently, I did not read the description well, because they are ridiculously short.  I like lilies to be at least four feet tall.

Ridiculously short!  Will move them to a planter somewhere.

huge flowers and one foot tall = just silly

Love Helenium!

the carousel

We get lots of compliments on the flowers (and the Basket Case hanging baskets; I always say where they are from).  Sometimes when I am elsewhere, I think about how people are enjoying the flowers right at that moment.

I noticed a huge blackberry in the back of Third Street Park and was unable to pull it down and clip it.

gazebo in Third Street Park

At the Bolstad intersection, I spotted an ugly plant problem kitty corner from where I was watering.

brown flowers on lady’s mantle

only had time to clip some of it

 

I adore agastaches.

Allan’s walkabout photos:

sidewalk traffic jam

I noticed this cutie, too, and remembered my friend Coco who moved away.

NIVA green

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ by Wind World Kites

a cool bike

audience

I sent Allan after the big blackberry.  His photos:

before

also a fireweed (rosebay willowherb)

I had noticed we were losing the sidewalk to rugosa roses on the south wall of the police station, so we finished downtown Long Beach by trimming them to make room for all the Jake brides to sashay by.

Allan’s photos:

Allan tidied the corner garden in Veterans Field while I worried over my foot, replacing the bandage on my sad little toe and removing the Superfeet insert to make the toe feel better, even though that makes the heel feel so much worse.

a sad moment

We hauled water out to just one planter on the dry Bolstad approach…

the Lisa Bonney memorial planter

And we checked up on the city hall garden.  The office staff was sad that someone had stolen the “Horton Hears a Who” flower, the elephant garlic,  I told them I will plant dozens here in autumn.

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and clipped elephant garlic (Allan’s photo)

Ilwaco

Allan watered the street trees and planters while I weeded at the boatyard garden.

I weeded from the north end to here…

and as far as the gate.

Tomorrow morning we will finish the southern section.  Our…

…is that there will be an art walk at the port Friday evening, with a few downtown businesses joining in.

Cosmos ‘Seashells’

I suddenly realized I was no longer hot and miserable.  The sun had dropped enough to make the temperature enjoyable.

More of those ridiculous new short lilies, almost hidden.

a helianthus that I acquired from Andersen’s RV Park…quite a runner.

street tree poppies (Allan’s photo)

poppies resseded at the curb near a planter (Allan’s photo)

Helenium (but which one?) at the boatyard (Allan’s photo)

desperately trying to get the horsetail by the gate

the gate

We stopped at seven.  One more hour and I could have had it all weeded to the south end.  However, we were having our North Beach Garden Gang dinner a day early this week because Melissa was going to Portland Friday to visit her mum.

We did not have far to go because our destination was Salt Hotel at the port. (It was busy and we got a seat toward the middle, thus no window views for your entertainment.  We could see the view with diners that might not appreciate being photographed.)

delicious smoked tuna melt with salad subbed for fried

Melissa’s burger

crab mac (Allan’s photo)

nachos for Dave (Allan’s photo)

Tomorrow, we will finish weeding the boatyard.  I also noticed, before dinner, that the Time Enough Books curbside garden needs watering for art night.  I would like to make three art night bouquets for my favourite businesses, and we need to get to the Klipsan Beach Cottages garden, which got postponed due to heat, and we need new plants for the empty Ilwaco planter which now DOES have a hole drilled by the city crew.

2 August: five garden guests

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

I was pleased we had rearranged our schedule to take off this hot day which lived up to the forecast: 95°F.  When I first opened all our windows, I distinctly smelled wood smoke and wondered why anyone would be having a fire on such a hot day.  Looking at the news, as I always do first thing, I saw that the smoke had reached us all the way from wildfires burning in British Columbia, Canada.

That gave me even more reason to stay inside, although I was so enervated by the heat that I frittered away hours by reading news stories, could not even pick up the mystery I had started the night before,  and finally managed to write a blog post at around 3 PM.

Allan found this large frog in the St Fiacre fountain by the front porch.

In the late afternoon, as planned, Sean and Jim from Gearhart (northwest Oregon Coast) and their neighbours, Sarah and Larry, came to tour our garden.  They had had lunch at the Cove and then begun a garden tour day in Oysterville by  visiting THE Oysterville garden.  Sean has provided me with photos of their garden touring:

in the Oysterville garden

Oysterville garden cupola

Sean, Sarah, and Larry in the hydrangea allée at the Oysterville garden

Hydrangea ‘Incrediball’

Sarah strolls the north side of the Oysterville garden

They then visited Steve and John’s bayside garden.

windows with bay view; I like the clipped huckleberry glade in back and white

the upper garden

Sean and John

Sean’s portrait of John

the north side of the bayside garden

John the conifer man

Sarah, Larry, and Steve

And then they came to our garden.

Sean immediately noticed the broken china “waves” behind the garden boat.  Most people don’t seem to notice that.

Sean’s composite photo

Allan’s photo

Sean’s photo

Skooter had joined us. (Allan’s photo)

Skooter knows Sean, because Sean, a nurse, used to visit Skooter’s former guardian, Marilyn.

Skooter and Sean (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Skooter (Sean’s photo)

You can see some plants wilting because of the heat.  I’m pointing out the cute new fence panels.

admiring a pulmonaria

Allan and Sean, who had retrieved a piece of Stipa barbata, the amazingly fluffly ornamental grass.

detail: Sean, Stipa barbata, and to the right, Stipa gigantea

Stipa barbata fluffy bits blown onto the lawn

The strange smoky haze in the air made the garden seem slightly soft focus to my eyes.

After a really good walk around, we had a photo session on the kitty bench.  Sarah requested getting the lilies in the photo, so I did two angles.

Larry, Sarah, Sean

Larry, Sarah, Sean

the lilies

Sean’s photo

Sean’s photo

the view from the kitty bench

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ backed with lilies

elephant garlic flower (Sean’s photo)

The last garden ritual is smelling the peanut butter-y leaves of the Melianthus major over the front fence.

Allan’s photo

After our guests departed, I looked at the bud on my night blooming cereus and thought it might open tonight.  I texted a heads up to our neighbour, Devery.

6:50 PM

A package had arrived and was found by the garage door instead of the front porch.  It almost got a sprinkler turned on that would have soaked it.  Inside was a book that Allan had ordered for me.

The dust jacket

front cover

I was thrilled to open it and find the Little Ships.

The Moonstone was in the movie, Dunkirk.

I want a day to just sit and read it, along with a novel that Allan ordered for me from the library.

couldn’t sound more perfect for a reading day

Just before dusk, the cereus flower (perhaps someone will tell me that it’s not quite a cereus and what its actual name is) began to open.  (A reader did comment with the actual name: Epiphyllum oxypetalum.  Thank you!)

8:24 PM

I texted Devery that it was ON. She came over and we had margaritas and watched, getting up every now and then for a closer look. (I apologized for the house being messy and she replied, “Oh please, how many times have I been over here?”  The best quotation I have heard about having a messy house is “I’d ask you to excuse the mess, but that would imply exception.  This happens to be the rule.” I should paint that on my front door.)

8:55 PM

9 PM

I told Devery how the plant was a cutting from the plant of a friend and former housecleaning client of mine, Patricia Reese, way back in Seattle.  In about 1991, Robert and I had gone over to her house at night to see it bloom.

Pat Reese on her porch, Greenwood neighbourhood, Seattle, 1991.  Upper right corner is thumbtack as this is on a bulletin board in my room.

Pat, a retired teacher, was a basket maker.  On a shelf near the plant, I have two little baskets that she sent me when she moved from her home into an assisted living apartment in 2015.  Devery held them up so I could show you the baskets and the flower together.

9:30 PM

I showed Devery these photos that I showed you last week of our friend Tony’s selfies with his much more floriferous plant, of which I now have a cutting.

And, of course, I told her the story I’ve told you, about how the plant from Pat first bloomed for me in 2003 soon after Robert and I parted ways, and how I bemoaned to an email group that it was blooming “and there is no one here to see it,” and one of my imaginary friends from the list replied, “There’s someone there to see it; you’re there!”

The hour or so of watching the flower gave us a good chance to learn some of  Devery’s life stories, as well.

In a way, we had a sixth garden guest today.  Two days later, at the Basket Case, we ran into a local expert gardener, Amy.  Although we did not have much time to visit because we were late (as usual), she said she had spent that hot Wednesday “with” us, reading our blog.  I recommended the Tootlepedal blog to her as more good reading, and I add here a recommendation for two other prolific blogs that I adore: The Miserable Gardener and  Moosey’s Country Garden