The Depot Restaurant garden 2012

We have done a small flower bed at Seaview’s Depot Restaurant (our favourite!) for several years.  Here is how the north side garden bed looked in the mid 90s:

Depot garden before

Sometime around maybe 2007 we started to garden there.  (This is the sort of moment when I really miss iPhoto and its dates in my defunct computer.  I could reload it year by year from discs but am hoping to find an expert who can extract it into my new computer in one fell swoop.)

And here is is during the first year after we made a flower garden there.

I had been wanting to get rid of that strip of lawn for several years, especially since restaurant owner Nancy wanted more colour that could be seen from the street.  In 2012, we were given the go ahead and …

8 May 2012, 11:16 AM

8 May 1:39 PM

8 May 5:54 PM

We waited til the next day to plant because the Soil Energy mulch was hot.

22 June, the garden coming on

22 June, under the northeast window

Above, my favourite perennials, Ergyngium ‘Sapphire Blue’, Cistus, and Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’.

22 June, early summer rain

28 June

The new part of the garden is planted mostly with Savlia viridis (painted sage) and assorted tall Cosmos grown at The Planter Box.

28 June

Cosmos

3 July

3 July

The lattice is behind the garden covered with hops.

22 July, Dierama (angel’s fishing rod) on east wall

23 July

23 July

The shrub to the left is Leycesteria formosa (Himalyan honeysuckle), a particular favourite of Chef Michael’s.

12 September

12 September, exactly the way I wanted it to turn out!

12 September, cosmos and Solidago (goldenrod) ‘Fireworks’

21 September, Salvia viridis (painted sage) overhung with Leycesteria formosa

21 September

21 Sept; the hops went crazy with improved soil.

21 September

21 Sept from the NE corner of the restaurant.

foreground: Schizostylis (pink, blooms late), Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ (yellow), Acidanthera (white)

On October 30th:  Here’s a first: the hops we grow at The DEPOT Restaurant were included in an ale made by Astoria’s Fort George Brewery.

30 Oct, Co-Hoperative Ale

drawing a glass

and very delicious it was.

Not only that, but the Fort George harvesters did an impressive job of picking the hops without trampling the garden.  Thank you!

On December 5th, the Cistus and Ageranthymum were still blooming (both from The Basket Case Greenhouse).

5 Dec, Cistus

5 Dec, blooming Schizostylis

The cosmos had gone over and we pulled them, and mulched the new garden with a yard of scrumptious washed dairy manure from The Planter Box.  (Photos to be inserted, perhaps, if/when I get my iPhoto revived…if I took any that day.)

At Chef Michael’s request, we stuck some greens and some bits of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ dried flowerheads into the windowboxes to replace dead annuals.

windowbox

windowbox with holly sprigs, evergreen huckleberry, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, red and yellow twig dogwood

(Preview:  I am pleased to tell you these still looked passably good on February 10th 2013!)

Nancy had wanted colour that showed from the street to draw attention to the restaurant, and at the end of the season, she told us that with the new garden bed expansion, “You knocked it out the park!”