25 Feb 2007: a day of not reading

While pondering the pouring rain and peering through water-drenched windows wishing I could go out and prune my own sword ferns, I remembered the new plants I had bought at Portland Avenue Nursery in Tacoma on the way home from the garden show.  There was not much to buy, except for some Burp/wood hellebores which I refuse to buy because I am boycotting them. I was not best pleased to see a flat of horridly invasive and damaging English ivy for sale and grumpily told them to look at the noivyleague website.  But I did find two new-to-me sedums, along the lines of Autumn Joy, on the sale table, one called ‘Neon’ and one called ‘Munstead Dark Red’, and a very reasonably priced Heuchera ‘Lime Rickey.’

Also featured were some nicely blooming yellow or brick red Hamamelis mollis (winter blooming witch hazel), but I already have those.

I got my copy of “A Garden, A Pig, and Me” from Moosey, and am so thrilled that her name is in the book. I read it immediately, and recommend it…if you can find it.  Moosey is my great journal inspiration.  We traded books; I sent her a copy of the humourous garden memoir ‘Crazy About Gardening’ by Des Kennedy, which is required reading for all gardeners.  It cost us each about $15 to ship the books between the USA and New Zealand so I do hope she likes mine as much as I like hers.

I have a weeks’ worth of Daily Astorian newspapers to catch up on, and a Sunday Oregonian.  If I can exert the willpower to AVOID the crossword puzzles, I might get some reading done…OH!…and the sun is out (for five minutes?) so I just must nip out and prune some sword ferns.  I will regret it if I miss the opportunity, and then get too busy, and thus miss the chance to see the new fronds unfurl.

(left) The small glossy plant in the lower right is a special Mahonia ‘gracilipes’ from Heronswood; after seeing it in a Dan Hinkley slide show I had to have it and bought one for $45.  After languishing for five years it finally looks healthy but still lacks the glossy white undersides that his slide depicted.  I hope that comes with age.  The right hand picture shows golden “ghost bramble” Rubus which both Hinkley and Ann Lovejoy used to recommend and now I think both of them have decided it is invasive.  But look–oh how lovely it is.

(Hours later) Uh oh, what happened to my quiet afternoon of reading?  First I trimmed “just one” sword fern…which led to more and more, especially when joined by Allan, who is always quick to pitch in when he sees a job to do.  (He has a wonderful knack of showing up to help just when I am about the move a large shrub.)  The ferns on the bank (where mountain goat Allan did the ones requiring the most agility) and those along the road are trimmed…some of the native blackberry pulled along my side of the road because every year I have an as yet unrealized vision of that garden looking ornamental.

[2012 note: a goal briefly achieved in 2009 when our garden was on the Peninsula garden tour!]

Maddy observes while sitting on a “hot and spicy” Oregano plant

Then I decided I simply had to move another of my three columnar boxwoods further back in the garden across from the pond.  (I can’t think of clever names for the different areas). Allan appeared just in time to heave it out of the hole. That led to moving the third and last columnar boxwood further back….alone, as by then Allan was well occupied salvaging some blocks to make a low retaining wall in his garden area. (Later, he cleaned up my sword fern mess as well as his.) I yanked a once blooming single pink rugosa style rose which runs like crazy and tomorrow it will go to live as invasively as it likes on the parking lot berms in Long Beach.  I planted some lilies:  Species album, rubrum, and Black Dragon where the boxwoods were.  My garden will be less tasteful and less evergreen this year.

Maddy, a good garden companion, with Heuchera ‘Marmalade’

So much for reading. I had a choice of such good books lined up to start today, too! A sequel to “A Year by the Sea: Notes of an Unfinished Woman” by Joan Anderson or a sequel to “Paths of Desire” by Dominique Browning.   Or a huge garden photo book by Dominique Browning (editor) called “The New Garden Paradise “…a stack of Fine Gardening magazines from the library…and that week’s worth of Astorians.