beach approach, day two

On the way to resume the hard task of weeding the beach approach garden on Bolstadt, we stopped at Olde Towne to check on progress of my favourite ever coffee shop.  The sink was hooked up, but Chester would not let me take a picture of him turning the water on.  They still have to have the  inspection (although we are sure that will go well)  before they can officially open, and Chester drolly said that if people saw a photo of running the water, they would start coming in for coffee!

It is hooked up!

I feel urgency about tidying up the little gardens under the trees in Ilwaco, but since the mid morning was still chilly and misty, we decided to postpone it till the end of the day.  I made the same plan yesterday and did NOT get the tree pocket gardens done.

To pass a bit of time till the skies cleared (as I felt they would because the sky was light around the edges), we stopped at Stylin’ Boutique so that I could take some photos as teasers for the next Peninsula Cash Mob (April 13th at Stylin’).

Stylin’

And I got to meet shop dogs Buddy and Sadie, both of whom I found delightful.

Buddy and Sadie

By then, I really had put off work long enough, so we headed to the approach.  But on the way, Allan made a little detour and we admired the narcissi that we had planted at Margaret’s garden last fall, in the little beds we made along the street the previous spring.  The beds seem to be doing well and benefiting greatly from an autumnal mulch of dairy manure.

Margaret’s narcissi

Now why in the world did I plant all yellow in one spot and all white in another?  I think that they would look better mixed up, but will I remember to do so later on?

cute little beachy cottage

And…here we go, on the approach, at the spot where we left off yesterday after doing three and a quarter of the twelve and a half sections.  I did hope to get three more done today.

looking east toward the arch

That whole ground level haze of green is almost entirely grass and clover…Oh dear.

Today we were asked three times what the power boxes are on the north side of the street.  Two questioners thought they were for hooking up motor homes, and one had the correct thought, that they were probably for kite festival, a beautiful and beloved local event.  That they are, for when fair booths are set up all along both sides of the street, leading to much back and forth foot traffic right across the garden.  And that is why we planted, from a native plant nursery that offered them for a very low price, Rugosa roses on the beach approach garden.  That is why the garden is no longer full of pretty little annuals and perennials.  It needs something strong enough to stand up to the festival.  See:

The Walk of Shame 2001 (about halfway down the page)

The Walk of Shame 2002 (partway down the page)

The Walk of Shame 2003 (toward the bottom of the page)

The Walk of Shame 2004 (a particularly gruesome one with befores and afters!)

and Kite Festival from a gardener’s perspective, 2007

This is why when we weed the approach now, we wrestle the weeds out from among prickly roses, and pull rose runners off from the very sides of the garden so they don’t overhang into the sidewalk area.    Many people do comment on how much they love the roses in bloom, but I miss the prettier garden of old.  However, the old garden needed watering in the summer, but the roses don’t, so that is a big plus because the beach approach is a bugger to water and involves many hose hook ups and hose dragging.

After two sections, I needed a break and went to my favourite shop, NIVA green, to buy a birthday present for my favourite coffee shop owner, Luanne…and I returned with two Tiger Paws from the Cottage Bakery.  A big gooey chocolate and maple Tiger Paw does the trick of giving us strength to keep going for a couple more hours far more than any healthy lunch I have ever eaten.  I hate to admit such a bad thing, but it is true.

On the way back to the approach, I admired the narcissi along the north side of city hall, a planting I like because they have become  a nice mix of white and yellow over the years.  This is a place where I plant some extra special cultivars (but don’t keep track of which ones).

city hall narcissi

city hall

Finally, fueled by sugar, we finished the third section.  I truly had thought we might not make it that far, and I would have found that very disappointing.  Here is how much closer we are to the arch:

so near yet so far.

There are six sections and a bit to go (the bit at the far end past the last planter), but one of them is so terrible that there,  we pretty much let nature win.

The worst section of all!

This whole section (between a planter and a sidewalk cut-through) is infested with what we call tube grass.  A rush, actually.  Wetlands run on the south side of the sidewalk and lawn, and I am sure that this particular section had the rush underneath it when the garden was made.  We pull out a few clumps of velvet grass in here and then…shocking indeed…we just let the “tube grass” win!  We simply do not have time to engage in a battle for supremacy over mother nature here. I hope passersby, if they are gardeners, feel sympathy and understanding, and that non gardeners just walk on by to a nicer section.

On the way home, we deadheaded the Narcissi at the Long Beach welcome sign.  We have been so busy that we never did stop to get a photo of it at its peak, before it had mostly deadheads.

past its narcissi peak

There are tulips coming on:  red and yellow for this side, and pink and white for the other side.  If we continue to be lucky, the deer will not move in on them.  (Last year, they ominously nibbled a few at the far end.)

We got back to Ilwaco to see more progress at Olde Towne!

Espresso sign in the window

And…we did NOT get the tree pocket gardens done in Ilwaco…yet again.  Tomorrow, we must do them first thing.

I walked around my own garden to pick some flowers for my neighbour and saw some exciting things…

lily shoots!  (and, argh, horsetail)

If these lilies are this far along, I simply must get planted…so late!…the bag of lilies that is still languishing in the garage for lack of time.

Look at the colour on this emerging ornamental rhubarb!

so bright! (and….dwarf fireweed, argh).

And, eying me from my neighbour Nora’s window, her granddaughter’s cat, Coco!

Coco!