20 June: evading wind

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

We woke to one of those soaking misty rains that appeared to have been falling all night; I had heard the dripping into the rain barrel outside my window at 2 AM.  This led to a slow start on the day.

As I was carrying a change of clothes to the van, I saw three young women walking by saying “Oh, what a cute garden! Look, it says Tangly Cottage!”  Then the speaker saw me and said. “Oh, it’s YOUR garden, no wonder, you garden for the whole community!”  That was nice.

Allan took two photos while dumping a wheelbarrow for me in the back garden:

Primula vialii fallen over

Cobwebs on the sprinklers show we have not yet had to use them this year.

I’m sure the windblown Ilwaco post office garden needs attention.  I just looked at it because it was so wet.  It was a winter clothes day because of a strong wind and I did not want to start out with damp sleeves and pants.

I had a few lambs ear starts from cleaning up the port office garden’s sidewalk area after the storm.  The Freedom Market garden, which I have so far failed to make beautiful, seemed like a good spot for them.

The curbside garden is attractive.

Allan planting the lambs ears in the shop’s own garden, where they might not get stepped on when they resprout.

I found several big dandelions in the curbside garden.

All the port gardens are on schedule for a thorough weeding next week before the July 1st fireworks show.

We had debris left over from Thursday’s post-storm clean up in Long Beach.  Our first stop was to dump it at city works.

The killdeer parents got very upset when we arrived because they have two little babies.

The mother birds tried to guide us away from the babies by fluttering and making a lot of noise and pretending to have a broken wing.

Allan’s photo

the broken wind feint?

Eventually, she seems to have realized we were not much of a threat so she rejoined her babies.

Our plan today had been to do Long Beach and Ilwaco watering, but with the extra rain and with the strong, annoying wind, we decided to do two more sheltered gardens instead.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

At KBC, we could hear the wind roaring through the tops of the surrounding trees.  In the garden, all was more peaceful as we tidied up storm damage.  Mary and Denny had been on a trip for a dear friend’s birthday over the weekend, and the staff and other residents told them that the wind had been fierce and the place had been a mess of small fallen branches and leaves, all cleaned up by the time Mary and Denny returned home.

The main plant that I had expected to be affected by wind was the towering Thalictrum ‘Elin’.

And indeed it was.

had to cut some of it off

Mary watches the struggle.

It took me and Allan and some long black string to truss it up in a way that I hoped looked moderately natural.  Allan went under the rugosa roses to find a strong enough branch to fasten the string loop to.

It doesn’t look too unnatural.

This rose had many rain sodden flowers and few leaves; I ended up choosing to cut it way back and fertilize with Dr Earth.

After a long work session, I took some photos for the KBC Facebook page.

east gate

Dianthus ‘Charles Musgrave’

birdbath view

Allium nigrum

driveway garden

Right now is the beautiful time for lady’s mantle’s chartreuse flower sprays.

The Anchorage Cottages

Our good friend Mitzu greets us.  (Allan’s photo)

Another somewhat sheltered garden is the Anchorage.  The wind does whip across the parking lot, but some moments of shelter can be found in the garden.  As we entered the driveway, I saw some sightline pruning needed to be done on a large shore pine by the street.  That led to some more pruning of dead branches on the chaemacyparis trees  by the road and to the removal of a dead willow, the whippy thin-leaved kind.

Beth and Mitzu all got involved in the pruning and hauling, and then Allan fertilized all the planters and window boxes while I weeded (and planted some starts from my bucket of extra lambs ears).

two of four window boxes

the other two; I try to coordinate the flowers with the signs.

center courtyard

New Dawn rose, would be quite perfect except she gets blackspot.

north garden

north garden

Allan’s photo

I pruned the rhododendron before Beth started to express worry about it reaching up to the gutters again.  I like it to provide some window privacy for that cottage.

Long Beach

On the way home, we assessed what work needed doing in Fifth Street Park and admired the lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis); I usually am off this plant until the all to brief period when it blooms.

It is all chartreuse and frothy.

hideous horsetail edging in the damp southwest bed.

I asked Allan for a photo of the lady’s mantle on the east side of the park.

evidence of rain

When we got home, I suddenly felt inspired to remove the bricks from the edge of a former garden bed in the nearby Norwood lawn so I could cross it off my work list.  I did not take my camera.  The garden bed is now defunct and will become part of the lawn; it is right inside a hedge and is competing too much with roots and has been allowed to go back to grass.  I used most of the bricks to make a little path to the faucet.

one down on the work list

19 June: boating on the Naselle

  Monday, 19 June 2017

Allan goes boating on the Naselle River

It’s going to be the first day of summer tomorrow. Today is going to be the first kayak expedition since last November.

Back in October 2014 I thought I could launch at the Willapa Refuge, head all the way upriver to the town of Naselle and back in one day. In six and a half hours I made it just past the 101 bridge, up the Ellsworth Slough and back.  The bit of the river around the town of Naselle I paddled once in February 2015. There is no launch in between unless I pull off the road and drag the boat across a field, which is possible, but too athletic.

Today it’s the lower route

 

The fog was still out hiding the bridge across the Columbia to Astoria

 

Same view later from on the way home

The tide was plus five foot but would be going down all afternoon. The Naselle River stays deep enough for a kayak all the way up to the town of Naselle even when the Willapa Bay is mostly mud. The plan was to launch from Naselle and go out with the tide. The current would be on my side but there would be a headwind with gusts to 20 mph. If I took a sail, I could sail back and maybe cover the almost 20-mile trip.

The boat launch with enough concrete to walk on.

When I returned after the trip, the launch was concrete deprived.

At the low tide of 2.2 feet, it’s muddy

It’s sticky, sucking off your shoes, covering your boat muddy.

Fortunately, it was easier to launch than it was to return and I set out.

I thought I’d snap a picture after just avoiding the overhanging trees

Watching for sunken trees and things that go bump.

A fallen tree had blocked three-quarters of the river. I think it used to be an island that is now being washed away.

The root ball and channel are off on the left.

Tree branch ribs

This helps show the tidal range. It’s plus 1.6 foot now.

A toy for a water fun

Someone had done a long climb to get that rope up.

A backhoe scoop had been installed the right, a modest garden is now on the top deck.

The rear deck and a doorway for someone else to explore. I did wonder if it opened.

Another old boat up on the shore

There was very little breeze through the woods. When I got out of the trees the wind picked up to to 15 to 20 mph

A furled sail makes upwind paddling easier

Before this boat, my usual experience was that I had to fold up the sail to get home. Tacking back and forth trying to work back upwind with my dad’s boat would usually just be back and forth but no upwind progress until I got the oars out. Small sailboats usually don’t come with oarlocks but I find them handy.

Around the bend, I partially unfurled the sail as it was gusty from 15 to 20 mph. Too much sail at once can be too exciting and actually slower.

Someone left these pilings in the way to zig zag through

Less than eight miles per hour but it seemed fast.

This is the bit of river I see when driving north of the curved 101 bridge over the Naselle River.

I ducked up into a calm Ellsworth slough to put on some warmer, dryer clothes and grab some lunch.

The 101 bridge, the goal.

Made it

Now the wind was at my back. The river isn’t straight, nor does the wind keep coming from the same direction as the terrain changes. This makes the sail sometimes flip from hanging off one side to hanging off the other side. The boom running along the bottom of the sail will whack the inattentive sailor as it flips to the other side giving notice that the boat will be instantly leaning the other way.

The internet suggested I could hold the sail out if I cut a notch in the paddle.

When the sail wanted to switch sides it would wrestle the paddle away.

Low-tech worked better.

It was an easy 6 mph glide back up to the woodsy part of the river. That beats 3.5 average paddling speed. That made the extra time setting up a sail worth it.

On the way back I saw this leftover relic from logging.

Someone has a nice garden with a river view which I’ve never noticed from the road.

I thought I saw a herd of deer scramble up from the shore. When I ‘developed the film’ I saw that someone is raising goats.

Into the woods and the wind was quiet

As the signboards used to say along the freeway, “If you lived here, you’d be home now.”

Or, more affordable, here.

I’d settle for this and a good tent.

Six ten and nearly home, the landing is just beyond this bridge in Naselle.

Something to look at, maybe salvage if it’s a sailboard.

It’s got tent poles. Here’s another use for a water proof camera…use it under water.

Perhaps it blew into the river during one of our windstorms. Perhaps it was trash tossed off the bridge

Now to do the responsible thing because creatures could drown in it. It won’t decompose.

dragging it back

Dragging stuff up the muddy landing

A tent ready for a leaf bag from the car.

So, two hours after spotting the tent, I was heading home to clean off the mud and to cook up a late dinner.

 

‘MapMyTracks’, a phone app.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17-18 June: Allan’s community-minded days

Saturday, 17 June

Allan did not go boating today after all; instead he went to volunteer on a building project at the playground several blocks east of us, arriving at 10:40.  The volunteer effort started at nine, which is rather too early for night owls.

as seen on Facebook

The park is at the east end of the flat part of town.

9:40 AM:

Swing set frame was up and concrete was being mixed, and poured at their base.

Holes for the sailing ship play structure were being dug.

Art for the occasion by Don Nisbett

Poles were laid out for the ship’s deck.

10:50 AM:

Parks and Rec member Nick was hauling a bag one at a time and mixing.

First thing I did was to move a small stack over to the mixer.

Another heavy load, a good use for a two tired wheelbarrow – we’ve found them difficult to maneuver around the gardens so have stuck with a single tire style.

11:00 AM:

Post hole digging and a depth measuring tool that I think is referenced to a laser on the tripod in the background.

Hard packed rocky soil, dense sand.

11:20 AM:

checking the depth of the hole

Note how our excellent Fiskars shovel has a good “ledge” for your foot to press on.

photo by Jarrod Karnofski

checking level on the swing sets as the concrete cured

Our friend Joe (Don and Jenna’s teenage son) on the digging crew.

an old plastic pipe that caused problems

12:10 PM:

device on tripod is a Self-Leveling Rotary Laser

The instructions to assemble the shorter mast

Jarrod drilling for a rivet that will keep the post from spinning.

The taller mast being assembled next to us with a crows nest on the right.

1:05 PM:

the ship’s bow and all its curves being sorted

A sample of the tools we got to borrow

Nick had all the bags ready to mix.

Rechecking the instructions

1:25 PM:

A bow view as the posts aren’t centered in their holes anymore as we make things fit.

1:40 PM:

The shorter mast going up.

photo by Vinessa or Jarrod Karnofski

I ended up at the hole carefully booting down the base so it would not flip up as the muscles worked it up past the balance point.

1:55 PM:

Its up, it’s balanced and it’s heavy. Nick holds it steady.

2:15 PM:

Using cinch straps as the deck goes in.

The trowel is a much borrowed tool as the holes need to be shifted.

5 PM:

The last project of moving the these holes is done. .

Another round of concrete is poured.

The bow is to the facing left with the anchor chain behind. The black gangway steps leading away at the right.

One of the volunteers admiring the project as cleanup continues.

Our Jenna (Queen La De Da) was there with refreshments. (photo by Vinessa Karnofski)

Sunday, 18 June 2017

Allan realized he had not gotten a photo showing all the playground accomplishment. He went back to the park Sunday morning for these photos:

Clearly, the dream of getting it done in one day had not come true.  Another volunteer work day is scheduled for Friday, June 16th.  We are arranging our work schedule so that Allan can participate.  Perhaps you, too, would like to show up and help, as this post conveniently will appear early on that same morning.  We hope the whole double masted “sailing ship” will be done by the end of that day.

At home on Sunday, Allan did a project that had been bugging him ever since a recent plumbing repair day, when the bamboo poles were falling over in the way of the under-house access and the electric meter.

before

after, with rebar pieces to keep the bamboo in place (one hopes).

With that accomplished, he went over the the Ilwaco Community Building to work on his own particular job of maintaining the garden there.

before

after

deadheaded rhododendrons along the sidewalk

before

after

Brodiaea laxa coccinea

little santolina started this spring by shoving a cutting into the ground

We’ve tried increasing the interest of this heather/salal garden with bulbs and poppies and starts of sedums.

The tiered garden was windblown.

poppies and mahonia

Allan certainly deserved a boating day after all this, and tomorrow he’ll get one.

 

16-19 June: my four day weekend

Friday, 16 June 2017

Finally, the four days I had so been looking forward to had arrived.  Unfortunately, Friday was not entirely a day off, although the work tasks were small ones.  (Most of Allan’s rather different weekend will follow in tomorrow’s post.)

Longtime readers may notice we are not going to Hardy Plant Study Weekend this year.  That’s because it is in Canada.  Too far to go in gardening season. I do miss the touring of many gardens. 

I was hoping to get at least two done of the home goals on the work board.

This is the rather amazing amount of rain we’d had.

J’s house reflected.

At the J’s, I placed two Pistachio hydrangeas, dug up the two pitiful ones, and left the planting for Allan.

The less sad of the two pitifuls can try out life behind the birdbath.

Allan’s photo

more stupid landscape fabric removed (Allan’s photo)

hydrangeas spaced out for more room

a snail hoping for a ride

Allan also kindly did some weeding next door at Devery’s; some grasses were daunting her.

before

after

He took a tired old hebe out of his own garden:

and replaced it with a new one.

I had gotten inspired by a photo on the Tootlepedal blog to want a lattice piece to make a vine go over the front porch entry.  Allan found some wire that did just the trick. The vine in question dies back in fall so this wire may come in handy for Halloween decor.

Allan’s photo.  Vine is Lamprocapnos scandens (yellow bleeding heart vine)

While running errands, he also added two Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ to our barrel planter at The Depot Restaurant (easier in afternoon than in the evening when the parking lot is full). There he found a monster bindweed that we had missed.

Oops.

At home, I applied some blood meal to certain plants, just to give them a boost.  This attracted attention from next door.

our handsome neighbour, Rudder

The storm had rearranged the old rose by the back garden entrance. Much clipping ensued.

Later, Devery next door got the roses.

You may recall that the Ladies in Waiting area was pretty full again this week. I seriously applied myself to planting in the afternoon and early evening, with a big anxious push to get done at the very end.

all planted! every last one!

I put my tradescantia, called Sweet Kate, not Blue and Gold, in a hanging basket to see how long it takes snails to find it.  

Alliums and Geum (Allan’s photo)

At the very last bit of time at home, I got the Great Wall of China reinstalled, with Allan’s help on the highest plate.

The last minute planting rush was because we needed to leave early for our North Beach Garden Gang dinner in order to plant a few things at the port on the way.

Allan plants an asclepias in the drive-over garden by the port.

We felt super special to drive down Waterfront Way (not a driving road except for port workers).

We filled in some of the storm gaps with cosmos at the port office garden, and added stakes to protect them, I hope, when the baskets get re-hung.

south of the port office (Allan’s photo)

On the way to dinner, I was pleased to see that the baskets in Long Beach, after their storm pummeling, are already looking better.  So I no longer have to worry about 35 mph storms and hanging baskets.

taken on the move

a lovely sight which I messaged to Basket Case Roxanne

The Cove Restaurant

Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) had actually worked through the storm in The Oysterville Garden.  Their fortitude amazes me.

plant talk

our weekly reward (Allan’s photo)

Caesar salad

clams

fish and chips

lasagne

the view

Saturday, 17 June 2017

Allan and the van were gone when I got up; I had no idea where.  Boating?  Tomorrow’s post will tell.

With low energy, my curse of the beginning of every weekend, I got some but not all weeding done in the front garden.  It had been the first to get weeded last time so was the weediest now.

Smokey taking refreshment

Three of the cats spent most of the afternoon indoors.

Smokey

Frosty

Calvin caught just about to yawn

front garden before

Skooter

Skooter and Rosa ‘Jude the Obscure’

Jude the Obscure

part of the driveway garden, before

Skooter supervising

Our Kathleen dropped by so I could give her money to maybe get Allan and I tickets at Elixir Coffee in South Bend for the upcoming garden tour.  On Saturday, it was exactly four weeks away; I am counting the days.  When there is something I want very much to see, I always fear something going wrong.  Having tickets in advance would help my anxiety. Kathleen and I had a good long natter because I planned to weed till 8 PM.  It felt good to sit and talk.

the tour that I am eagerly anticipating

I had begun to weed again when rain came…just as predicted.  I had not taken the forecast seriously.

driveway garden, after

more driveway garden, weeded

Drenched, I got this far and stopped.

Alliums

Skooter amusing himself with a water drip.

I did not mind at all changing into dry clothes and reading some chapters of this excellent (and long) novel for awhile.

It is about a young woman whose friend is shot by the police, unfortunately a current subject in the news here in the USA….always.

Sunday, 18 June 2017

rain gauge

another rain gauge

Calvin.  The board across the cat door is to make it smaller in order to keep raccoons out.

While weeding the front garden, I woke someone from a nap.

With the front garden mostly done, I got started on the back.  Except for the ever rampant dwarf fireweed, it was not as weedy.  The day had turned into fine weather (perhaps a bit too warm!) and I was glad for evening cloud cover. We were finally able to have the first campfire of 2017.

Rose ‘Radway Sunrise’

Mom’s “red velvet” rose and a tail

Allium albopilosum under threat of being swallowed by Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Three cats lead the way to get the picnic basket from the kitchen.

Allan at the woodpile

fog over the port, beyond the garden

Allan’s photo

bellows to get wet wood started (Allan’s photo)

roasting corn (Allan’s photo)

It came out perfect!

A defunct garden bench cooks the first campfire dinner of the year.

In the dark, we could hear foghorns on the river.  It was idyllic, but for one thing: The city has made the street light on the other side of our house a bright white one.

It used to be a subtle reddish amber.  Drat.  I will have to sit with my back to it for campfires because it GLARES.  If only I could plant an instant tall tree!

Monday, 19 June 2017

We continued the rare luxury of a four day weekend.  This might not occur again till late July, if then.  Allan went boating while I continued weeding the back garden.

a box of hardy begonias

I wanted to switch tasks to weeding the swale, but it was too windy to work under the trees.

Pulling swale buttercups would make a big difference quickly.

Stipa gigantea

Skooter using my hat as a pillow

He slept here all day.

a pretty rose

There are still areas of small dwarf fireweed.

Let’s look at this instead.

This formerly fireweed swathe is much better now.

Pleased to see my Cephalanthus ‘Sugar Shack’ coming back from the dead.

rambling roses on the arbor (Maxine’s rose, Paul’s Himalayan Musk, Mermaid)

from Friday: Maxine’s rose is a hit with bees.  (Allan’s photo)

I certainly did not weed as well as I would have for a client.  However, I declare the second weeding done.  The next go round will be a GOOD weeding.  I kind of cheated by making the front garden’s difficult northeast corner a separate project.  I call it the Stink Mint corner because of a smelly-foliaged weed. And the work list got longer because of a phone call today.

 

15 June: day of the unusual storm

Thursday, 15 June 2017

The storm did not veer away or fizzle out.  It appeared as predicted with 47 mph wind gusts at the port and 1.36 inches of rain (with three hours of rain left to go in the day as I write this).

Skooter had no desire to go outside.

reading

I finished my book.  (We’ll get to some garden photos after this reading time.)

This is the same author whose reading we attended at Time Enough Books last week.

author Kathleen Alcalá at Time Enough Books

The entire book is wonderful…except for one brief passage when the slim and beautiful author expresses her distaste for seeing overweight people buying pallets of food at Costco. (The day I read that paragraph, I in fact went shopping at Costco!)  At her reading, I mentioned to her that passage and gently suggested she read Body of Truth by Harriet Brown, and I hope she does.  I wrote it down for her.

Nevertheless, every other paragraph in the book gets my top rating.

Here are a few of my favourite parts.

About Michele Obama’s White House garden, and her book American Grown, in better days:

I loved that The Deepest Roots mentions Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens, a book written by a Bainbridge Islander.  I used to own a copy and just loved it even though I don’t have chickens.  (I need to get that book for Melissa!)

Description of the author’s garden:

I appreciate the mention of Jamaica Kinkaid.

Kinkaid’s book is excellent.

In my teens and twenties, I used to frequently take the ferry to the town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island for a fun day out.  I doubt I would recognize Winslow now.

I like the woman who just calmly read:

for readers who are fungus fans:

Think about this:

I love the quiet in the garden, when no one in the neighborhood is mowing or string trimming!

Sharing food garden at Town and Country Market:

People have suggested that we have a food forest growing in Long Beach and Ilwaco.  The problem is that our windy weather is not very conducive to fruit trees on the ocean side of the Peninsula.  I was excited to Google and read about the town of “Incredible, edible Todmorden” in England.

I want to grow these:

It is useful to know that white camassia is poisonous to eat!

She imagines a post apocalyptic world:

I looked to my right and was pleased to see a wall of books.

And those are just novels and memoirs; the gardening and nature books are on another wall.

This is a beautiful book and I can think of several people who would love it as much as I do (and I have already bought a copy for one of them).

I looked back in my own archives and found these photos, from sometime between 1970 and 1973, of some trips that my friend Montana Mary and I took to Bainbridge Island.

on the ferry, with Seattle as the backdrop

We would go to the grocery store and buy apple beer, which was a non alcoholic drink that amused us.

Winslow, Eagle Harbor

Winslow by the ferry dock

I believe this is all built up by now.

We used always to walk down to this beach near the ferry dock.

We walked along a county road all the way to Fay Bainbridge State Park and back. It is now a busy road.

Mary on the quiet road.

That was quite a walk from Eagle Harbor. Mary and I often took long all day walks; back then I could live up to my last name of Walker.

Coming back to the present stormy afternoon, I checked the Heroncam.  Dark and rainy in Long Beach.

I followed the book with a thorough catch up on reading my favourite blog, by Mr Tootlepedal.  If I read it a couple of weeks late, I can also enjoy the witty and informative comment section.

At 6 Pm, the wind had finally slowed.  We went out to check for storm damage and to assess whether or not we could enjoy the four day weekend I had so been hoping for.

My rambling rose flowers had not blown off.

Eryngium ‘Big Blue’

Port of Ilwaco

The gardens were not as damaged as I had feared.

The boatyard garden:

Stipa gigantea had suffered.

yesterday

today

still have red poppies

On Howerton Avenue, the worse damage was to these sea thrift on the north side of the bookstore!

Long Beach

welcome sign

The baskets did not look as bad as I had feared.  The leaves did not get turned to blackened mush like during the strong freak summer storm of late August 2015.

That storm has wind of 56 mph and more.  Long Beach probably had 35-40 mph this time and the damage was not severe.

still looks good in what is probably the windiest planter

The bigger Geranium ‘Rozanne’ were the most windblown of the planter plants.

Had to deadhead these Dutch iris…

The south side of the police station was the biggest crisis.

We fixed it so we could have tomorrow off.

earlier this week

today

I did cut off the asphodel flower.

Fifth Street Park not too bad.

Allan’s photo

protected baskets on north side

Port of Ilwaco Office

We saved this for last because I knew there would be some work there and I did not want to start out wet and cold.  I was thrilled to see the port staff had put up hooks to protect the hanging baskets by putting them on the north side of the building.

a beautiful sight

gale warning storm flags (Allan’s photo)

south side

after some staking and clipping and waterfalls falling on us from the deck above

home

rain gauge plus water buckets I filled before the storm so the barrels could refill; rose flopped across the path

Snails on my new tradescantia.  NOT cute.  I was not nice to them.

yesterday

today

Otherwise, very little damage.

Recently transplanted paperbark maple is still happy.

Now we can have the four days off that I have been wanting, and I’m hoping for good enough weather to get a lot of weeding and planting done. Allan’s plans may be more adventurous.

 

 

 

 

 

14 June: a detailed work day

Wednesday, 14 June 2017

We had planned a short workday in order to tour a glorious local garden, a tour that was postponed because one of our friends was under the weather.  Instead of adding more jobs, we just spent more time at each one on the schedule and got a lot done.

Before leaving for work, I got an ocular migraine…pain free but you see lights hanging in the air in front of you.  These are rare for me and always leave a feeling of tiredness.

An ocular migraine looks like this: a bright flashing geometric pattern hanging out in front of you.

Ilwaco Post Office

We did not take time to weed there.  Might as well wait till after the windstorm.

A friend whose garden Robert and I created years ago came to get her mail, as we all do because there is no home delivery in our beach towns. (I still miss having home delivery after 25 years of living on the peninsula.) She complimented the garden and I said I hoped no one would complain that they could not read the name through the Stipa gigantea, because its transparency is the whole point.

She said that if anyone did complain, it would prove that “they have no taste.”

We saw this local family on our way out of town.

The Depot Restaurant

…got a thorough weeding.

Allium going to seed (Allan’s photo)

a total wow of a Rodgersia flower

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ against Lonicera ‘Baggeson’s Gold’

Allan’s photo

Diane’s garden

We weeded at the Red Barn garden but not a single photo was taken, and then walked next door to Diane’s.

The beautiful lawn, installed by Steve Clarke and crew, is in.  The future roadside garden is closer to the road! It used to line up with the green utility hatch that you can now see at the edge of the lawn about a third of the way along.  It was a tad bit disconcerting to pull some dandelions along the edge today.

There will be a fence at the lawn edge so unless I can vault it, there will be no escape!  Thus it is going to be a more low maintenance garden than before.  Diane says the local fence builders are busy, so the garden will probably not be recreated this year.

Someone was on the front porch and got her nose petted.

Holly!

Diane brought Holly out for some puppy time.

In the back yard, Misty got a belly rub.

my very good longtime friend Misty

Allan’s photo

patio containers

Allan’s photo

The roadside garden’s Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ in pots.

more belly rubbing

The Basket Case Greenhouse

On the way north, we stopped in at Basket Case just for three bags of potting soil and a couple of Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’.  (I did not plant them this year at the Depot or the welcome sign because they require so much deadheading, and am now regretting that decision.)

I ended up spending well over a hundred dollars because they’d gotten a whole selection of cool new plants.

Coreopsis ‘Jethro Till’; I love spoon type petals.

They have Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’

A few of these in my own planters were irresistibly amusing.

angelonias!

Allan’s photo

callas (Allan’s photo)

Cleomes are an unusual find!

OOOPS, how did that happen?

Other cool plants on offer:  Some different cosmos that Roxanne has grown from seed, Hydrangea ‘Pistachio’ (one of the ones I had been looking for overseas last week!), Salvia patens, and much more.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We were able to get much weeding done, and found some good plants in containers that were shoved in a corner so had the fun of rearranging the pots so the best plants showed up.  Mary had time to come out and weed with us and have a good natter.  She is one of the few clients from whom I welcome that,  because her conversation is not too fast for gardening speed.

One of Allan’s projects was to make room for pots by removing some of the running Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ that had moved in under a rose and a currant.

before (Allan’s photos

after (and then I pulled the rose campion, too)

me and Mary allegedly weeding

Our KBC Mary (Allan’s photo)

Bella waiting patiently for Mary to take her to the beach.  (Allan’s photo)

One of those variegated bulbous oat grass had reverted to green, which is why I don’t plant them anymore.

It’s at the base of the rose.  (Allan’s photo) He dug it out.

When we were done, I took photos for the KBC Facebook page.

from the west gate of the fenced garden

birdbath view. West gate is at the end of the straight path.

looking in the east gate

These lilies are short this year and only show from outside the fence.

Allan’s photo

Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

Someone IDed this rose for me and of course, I have forgotten.

KnockOut Roses (Allan’s photo)

Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh Poppy)  Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Behind the boxwoods is a sit spot where the pots show better now.

Callistemon viridiflorus

Salvia patens well protected (I hope) with some Sluggo

honeysuckle and Climbing Cecile Brunner rose over the east gate

Billardia longiflora flowers will be followed by blue berries.

Allium schubertii

It has been awhile since I have mentioned that the iron pieces on the garden, including the gates, were made by my former Tangly Cottage partner, Robert Sullivan.

driveway garden and Mary and Denny’s private deck

Long Beach

On the way home, we planted just four plants in Long Beach, in areas where I don’t think tomorrow’s projected 50 mph wind will hurt them.

popping Jethro Tull into the big Lewis and Clark Square planter (Allan’s photo)

I am so worried about the hanging baskets. I can’t remember how much wind it took to damage them badly in a freak storm of late August 2015. This is a test of how they will hold up to 40-50 mph.

Wind was already loudly flapping the Abracci Coffee Bar sign.

Ilwaco boatyard garden

Just in case the garden gets blown to bits, we took some photos before going home.

Stipa gigantea

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The double red triangular gale warning flags were flying over the port office.

home

When we got home, there was almost no wind at all.  I walked around and took some before the storm photos.  You may see them again if there is a dramatic before and after.

between our house and Devery’s will be a wind tunnel.

rambling roses

blue potato vine and roses

looking in the west gate

looking west to our bogsy wood

roses

bogsy wood trees

looking back toward the house

still waiting for the first campfire

mom’s “velvet rose”

I don’t want my Stipa all broken by wind.

Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’ and Enkianthus

Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’

Philadelphus

Rose ‘Radway Sunrise’ and Aquilegia

Will a column bent from wind from the north go the other way with wind from the south?

I’ve had no time lately to turn my compost.

the rose that came with the house

once blooming, wish I knew what it was

I took down all the plates from the Great Wall of China.

Looking out the window to photograph my newly stocked table of ladies in waiting, I found Allan doing some lawn mower maintenance.

Our tadpoles are growing (Allan’s photo)

This storm might mess with my delicious plan for a four day weekend Friday through Monday, all to be spent (by me) weeding and planting at home.  We might have to go out for post storm tidying work on Friday instead.  Tomorrow was scheduled for watering LB and Ilwaco.  With two inches of rain predicted, it will likely be a reading day and I hope to catch up on the Tootlepedal blog.

 

 

 

12-13 June: two south end days

Monday, 12 June 2017

Ilwaco

First, a check up on the Norwood’s new hydrangeas.

Allan’s photo: damp enough

I had one plant to trial at Time Enough Books garden to see if it as as drought tolerant as claimed.

Oenothera ‘Sunset Boulevard’ planted too close to others, but these things happen.

said hi to Scout in the bookstore

next door to Time Enough Books

Long Beach

We went to city works with the big idea of getting mulch from our new pile and doing a bit of mulching on the beach approach.  Well.  The pile HAD been there.  We managed to scrape up eight buckets worth.

Sometimes the city crew needs it, too.

scrapings

beach approach weeding’

mulching

One area weeded and mulched shows passersby that someone is trying!

Anchorage Cottages

The wind was a miserable 25 mph, so we went to the more sheltered garden at The Anchorage.

Our good friend Mitzu greets us.

It was so cold I had my winter clothes on and I wore my winter scarf for awhile!

pruning two more viburnums so that the window boxes show better

before (Allan’s photos)

after

Long Beach

I had a mid afternoon dentist appointment.  We just had time to weed a couple of planters out on Sid Snyder Drive.

new plants tagged with poignant “I like it here” (etc.) tags are still there!

Allan’s photos:  He went back out to the end planter.  Does this closer photo show some plants missing?  Nope, it looks different because the transplanted Nasella tenuissima grass looked so brown that I had asked him to clip it back.

He started on one of the little popouts…

but he ran out of time to finish weeding it.

He found a painted rock:

Something about lying down in the dentist chair and then standing up again made me so dizzy afterwards that we simply had to go to Captain Bob’s Chowder for sustenance.

Captain Bob’s delicious crab rolls, heaped high because tomorrow is Captain Bob and Cathy’s two days off

More weeding followed.

Helenium in Fifth Street Park

weeding

J9 stopped by.

The tree garden in front of Abbracci Coffee Bar was a mess.  Before…

after disposing of dead bulb foliage and weeds and editing the rampant hesperantha

Asphodel still blooming.

The harsh cold wind continued.  When we got home, I was thinking of weeding in the J’s back garden and then this happened…

…so I was done for the day.  Cold, windy and wet was just too much.

I had some rather delightful news during the day; I heard that the manager of a certain place that fired us so that she could hire a young man because young men need jobs…you know the story….has been fired.  Might be true or might be a rumour.   Sad part is that the garden we did there is said to have gone “back to a jungle”.  But I couldn’t face getting it back to what it was (and the place is still run by a corporation, after all).

Tuesday, 13 June 2017

back garden, rambling roses starting to bloom

Because of the cold wind, I wanted to stay home with these two.

I was not pleased to see this weather forecast for Thursday.  The two inches of rain is welcome, as it will save us a day of watering and perhaps give me a reading day.  But the wind??

I worry for the Long Beach and Port of Ilwaco hanging baskets.

The J’s

We did the weeding we had meant to do last night, before the cold drizzle.

Here’s an odd thing, and Todd says he has seen it, too, this spring.  The hydrangea leaves are coming out tiny on the center one, and the sad one to the left, that is trying to regrow, is putting out normal sized.  I believe all three of these hydrangeas were a matched set.

back garden roses

At the post office, I hope no one feels they cannot read the town name through the Stipa gigantea.  Because its transparency is the whole point.

Loading Dock Village

The garden owner had indeed done a lot of weeding.  There was still some left for us.

before

after

Allan did the back half because he can step up just fine.

back side after weeding (Allan’s photo)

the view

some folks enjoying the view

Before leaving Ilwaco, we checked the Ilwaco planters for water.  They were damp…but damp enough to hold till Thursday?  To avoid a big watering session, we bucket watered about half of them.

new plant and tag still intact! (Allan’s photo)

on First Avenue

Long Beach

New mulch had arrived at city works!  We did not have much time for the beach approach.  Nevertheless, we got another little section weeded and mulched with eight buckets full.

 

really shows how someone is trying!

We watered and fertilized the main street planters, six blocks worth.  I cannot count on that two inches of rain to materialize.  Using the fertilizer sprayers helps discourage folks from calling out “Don’t you know it is going to rain?”

Allan’s photo: Geranium ‘Rozanne’ recovering nicely from its plumbing repair trauma

Allan’s photo: The city crew edges the Coulter Park circle very  nicely!

volunteer columbines in a planter (Allan’s photo)

Centaurea montana (Allan’s photo)

first bloom of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (Allan’s photo)

Fish Alley planter (Allan’s photo)

Cerinthe major purpurascens (Allan’s photo)

Below: This planter filled with shrubby things from volunteer days bugs me most of the year because it is off balance (hebe on only one side) and the rose has a brief bloom time.  But, oh, right now it is great:

The hebe was buzzing with camera shy bees.

In Fifth Street Park

Allan’s photo

painted rock found in a planter…

cleverly done

 

Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’, whose floppy foliage bugs me so much lately, is about to bloom and remind me how fabulous she is.

I’m worried about the baskets getting thrashed by the wind.

The wind had almost stopped in the early evening.

Allan weeded the pocket park behind Lewis and Clark Square while I started on the big popout.

The fig tree we planted for the Kabob Cottage restaurant is figging out and I feel sad to see this photo Allan took because I miss that place.

poignant figs

Some excitement at the Fun Rides:

new ride…apples?

We reunited and finished weeding the big pop out.  In this raised garden, nature has won over all our efforts to make the garden more than Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’.

before

after

We swept with some ferns and the rake because the broom was back at the Loading Dock Village.

Before going home, we bucket watered the other half of the Ilwaco planters and were glad to find our broom where we had left it.

Allan found the energy to mow the Norwood lawn…

before the dandelions bloomed!