pre-touring and work

Our day began with a brief stop at the Basket Case to buy three plants to fill spaces in Long Beach planters.  Of course, we bought a flat of plants once I had walked through a couple of times, including another Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’, so now there are but three left!

Of other plants that I feel are treasures of which only a few are left, you can see (below) on the left, an Azara microphylla, beautiful little tree (one left!) with vanilla or chocolate scented flowers in late winter, and on the right, Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’ (only a couple left) and a wonderfully crisp looking white Phygelius.

choice selections

We then met Nancy, garden tour organizer, at one of the 2013 gardens to get some teaser photos for the Music in the Gardens tour Facebook page, and I was deeply impressed.  I don’t want to give too much away but:

sneaking a peak!

It is one of my favourite kinds of gardens, with room after room, each with a different feel.  It is the sort of garden I especially admire (ironic because of my business!), where all the work is done by the owners.

We tore ourselves away reluctantly.  Allan went to work at Andersen’s RV Park while Nancy and I went south to see two other gardens that would be on the tour.  She was impressed with both.  While at the first garden (Jo’s), I got some birds for Mr. Tootlepedal.

a baby?  It could fly.

a hummingbird. I need to learn how to change the shutter speed on my simple digicam.

Nancy and I then went to the nearby Boreas Inn so I could show her our deer resistant west side garden beds there, and I took the opportunity to show off the inside of the inn, as well.  It is an honour to be associated with such a gorgeous place.  This gave me some different views of the garden.

looking at entry garden from upstairs (through impressionist screen)

the best west window view, all the way to the ocean

That’s the tree featured in our post about having to clean up after other garden services!  I would drop a couple of feet off the top of it so one is not always fighting it for the view.  Or I would, shockingly, cut it down and plant another Eucalyptus off to the side.  They grow fast and I do love them.

After this pleasant hour or more of goofing off, I rejoined Allan at Andersen’s and we both worked on weeding the big west side garden.

west garden, 2:28 PM

I had three brainstorms while there.  The first was to widen a path to make it more inviting to walk past the blowsy poppies to the bench, moving rocks and replanting some small poppy seedlings further in to the bed.

in progress

The second was that the area around the big piece of driftwood should turn back into lawn.  The plants there are infested with couch grass, and it is the last place we get around to weeding.

2:28 PM, a big “before” mess

The very energetic Al is a staffer there who is always looking for a project.  All I had to do was mention my idea to him, and he was off to get the big weedeater.

2:33 PM, “No Sooner Said Than Done” Al.

3:12 PM

3:23 PM (Payson Hall is in the background)

I also made a straight rather than curved line at another edge of the west garden, to eliminate a dull and weedy area that would better off as mown grass.

more sensible

I hope I am getting older and wiser and not just older and lazier, but it makes sense to remove a few difficult spots in order to put more attention on the beautiful parts of the garden.

west bed, 3:37 PM

Payson Hall planters

picket fence garden

We made a quick trip to the Planter Box to get one plant (a red Geum) that I needed to balance a Long Beach planter, and while we were there, we picked up some annuals for an area that the inimitable Al had weeded for us earlier that day.  That was so wonderful because the weeding had been on my list of projects and I did not have to do it!

two hardworking Allans

Al hung some floats on the fence that used to be on the driftwood around which he had weedeated, while Allan planted the annuals and I weeded a sweet pea area.  Those two are the two hardest working people I have ever known.

My original plan had been to do Klipsan Beach Cottages and Wiegardt Gallery as well as Andersen’s, but at almost five o clock I decided we should save them for tomorrow and head back south to do the Anchorage Cottages garden….

Anchorage courtyard

…and plant the rest of the Long Beach plants so I can call that planting project done for 2013!  What an accomplishment.  Every space in every planter is now filled, or so I believe.  I had time to check the block and half of tree and planter gardens that I skipped yesterday so we could go nursery shopping.

under a street tree: This looks like a conifer, but it is Hebe ‘Boughton’s Dome’

There are a few street trees under which I would like to add more perennials, perhaps hardy fuchsias.   The tree gardens are a pain to water, so I may have missed the time frame when the plants would easily establish and not need coddling.

7:18 PM, a planter glows with golden marjoram

Finally, we weeded the streetside garden at Time Enough Books, long overdue for the removal of tiny grasses.   The difficult to work in light of late evening brought the day to a close….

Time Enough garden, 8:11 PM

evening light over the boat storage yard

Home at last, Allan mowed some lawn while I dealt with tomorrow’s plants (for Gene’s garden) and picked up some of the empty flowerpots strewn around the garden.  If we can get Gene’s planting, weeding at KBC and Wiegardt Gallery, and a brief stop at Golden Sands done tomorrow, we can have the next day off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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more plant shopping

We woke to pouring rain and I got the idea that it would be a great day to go to Costco and get some plants to complete a few areas…at Back Alley gardens in Gearhart.  But then the sun came out and we went to work after all.

We finished weeding the garden at the east end of Howerton:

at Howerton and Elizabeth

And did a weeding job at the Red Barn Arena.

before and after at Red Barn

a horsey view

By then I was still feeling the urge to go to Gearhart, partly because of a tiresome wind and partly just because I knew I would probably find some special plants there.  And we needed canned cat food in quantity; as Allan said, that was important to five members of the household (Frosty, Smokey, Mary, Maddy, and Calvin).  First, we would have to make sure Long Beach was reasonably ready for the weekend so we went to the Fifth Street Park and Allan weeded it while I walked and checked four and a half blocks of the tree and planter gardens.

Fifth Street park, NW corner

planter detail with Veronica (blue)

planter detail with Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’

Cosmos and Bee

Bees buzzed about in many of the planters.

across from Home at the Beach

It was rather stressful getting far enough along by 3 PM to have time to get to Back Alley Gardens (across the river and down the coast a bit) before they close at five.  We both hustled.  I did not do the four northernmost planters but did get to all the others and got the Veterans Field garden weeded and deadheaded as well.  We had a brief turnaround time at home to make room in the car and drop off the trailer and then we were on the road.

I had called ahead to Back Alley and learned that they mostly had annuals at this time, with one new shipment of perennials having arrived today and more expected tomorrow.  Tomorrow and Saturday would not do for our shopping trip because of work.  By Sunday the weather was predicted to be good and I knew I would want to be in my own garden IF we could get the day off.  So it had to be today, and I was sure I would find something worthwhile.

Back Alley Gardens and The Natural Nook

Sure enough, right inside the display area entrance, I found two plants I wanted, a Salvia and an Agastache.

some of the plant tables

on the Back Alley deck

Agastache and Salvia

At Back Alley

I hope we can find time to go back in a couple of weeks when the nursery has acquired, as they plan to, more cool perennials.

I did find a little over a square flat of interesting plants, including Hebe ‘Quicksilver’, and had a good gardening business talk with one of the owners.

Hebe ‘Quicksilver’

The Natural Nook side of the business has home decor and a florist shop.

The Natural Nook florist car

and a welcome sign for dogs

Allan wanted a fern for his garden and, failing to find one at Back Alley that he did not already have, proposed we go south past Seaside to 7 Dees.  I thought it might be an excursion doomed to failure as they might close at five.  Their website assured me they stayed open till six (at least the Portland store does!), so we went south.  And indeed when we got there, it turned out they are now open till seven PM.

7 Dees garden center

The plant selection was much better than it had been on my visits there last year. I still miss the olden days when it was Raintree Nursery and had, I feel, more unusual plants and a more personal feel.  It is where I first discovered my favourite perennial, Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’, which I bought because it had a sign saying it was the favourite of one of the staffers…back in the Raintree days.

The access through the nursery is better now, with level paths and only a few stairs, and they have changed it around somewhat over the winter and added some appealing decor.

at 7 Dees, Allan looks at ferns

gazebo and baskets

planted chair

rustic door with view of lower level

shop cat

dinnertime

plummy pots

Gunnera leaf cascade fountain; I like this!

I bought a blue and gold Tradescantia for myself, having fallen in love with it years ago in Lucy Hardiman’s garden, even though every time I have tried one the slugs have gotten it.

gold Tradescantia…maybe this time…

I can’t resist brown leaves.

had to have it

I think I already have this so resisted.

tried and failed to talk Allan into this for his shade garden

It was only on the drive home that I found out Allan had resisted the above Saxifrage…or I probably would have bought it.

pulsatilla seedheads

We headed home via two tedious grocery shopping stops at Costco and Fred Meyer.  I will not admit the chain that we stopped at to get two reasonably priced Heucheras.  (Hint:  The plants there were DRY.  Caveat:  It was not a Walmart, whose door I will NEVER darken.  Excuse: Even my most liberal friends Tom and Judy shop for plants there despite the conservative reputation of the chain.  Reason:  Heuchs were much much less expensive than at 7 Dees and I spend sooo much on plants…)

At home, we now are back in the world of unplanted plants.  They all got a deep burbling in one of the rain barrels, and the chain store plants (ok, Home Depot) were especially thirsty.

in the car to go with us tomorrow

on a shelf waiting to be squeezed in here

to fill in Gene and Peggy’s garden

Allan’s fern and those artichokes for Leanne…they were being eaten by a slug!

I hope by Monday evening to be back to an everything-planted state, except for the artichokes.

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last big planting day

Today was not a hellish planting day because the batches of plants were small and very few of them were in time consuming and fiddly six packs.

I think we have every garden pretty much planted up now!

We made two stops at the Depot Restaurant, first to assess the situation and plant a couple of Rosemary, then back to plant some more yellow annuals in the east facing whiskey barrel. Still not much going on with the Cosmos other than green growth.

still coming on

Then a stop at Gene’s garden to assess how many perennials are needed to fill out the streetside bed, and then on to the nurseries.

At The Planter Box, I got one flat of short cosmos for the Long Beach welcome sign. The Cosmos for sale are looking just wonderful, and I wish people would go buy some to make the whole Peninsula more beautiful. They are my favourite annual.

Planter Box Cosmos

I also very much like these annual Coreopsis:

the brown and white one is ‘Jive’

We also got some of their annual Salpiglossis (also an unusual find; when it starts to bloom it will sell like mad) and some of their excellent variegated thymes (for the Bolstadt Beach approach).

Then on to The Basket Case, where I admired Rosa mutabilis in bloom…

It is only around $12 in a gallon pot!

and wondered why no one but me is buying the amazing Lobelia tupa:

Lobelia tupa (Devils’ Cardinal Flower), very choice and unusual.

There are still many gorgeous baskets. I just don’t have time to think about getting one or more for me right now.

Nancy’s basket artistry

On the beach approach, plants from the two nurseries combined to fill up the planters with plants that will take the salt and wind and little water. The one thing they will not survive is people who swipe them, so we hope these will not be too tempting. (Actually, they might survive just fine in a thieves garden, but they are lost to Long Beach and me when that happens.)

beachy planter on the Bolstadt beach approach

We still need more plants in Gene’s Peggy Memorial Garden, but after today’s additions, it is coming along. Soon the flowering will begin and it will be a pleasant surprise for passersby, we hope.

Gene and Peggy’s garden

The one big established plant in the streetside bed is the lavender at the corner. Bees were all over it.

all abuzz with bees

The backside of the Long Beach welcome sign (the side that says “Thank you”) had been showing colour with some Cosmos ‘Sonata’. My big idea of using just Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ for a big yellow show on the front side was not working out yet because the Agyrs were not flowering, so we put 24 cosmos ‘Cutesy’ on the “Welcome” side.

The back was better, but now they match. Bulb foliage will be removed soon.

The annuals on the edge are also slow to bloom this year…so much cold and rain. But I much prefer this for planting weather than the hot spell we had a couple of weeks ago. We are saving lots of time by not having to water everything in.

After our second stop at the Depot Restaurant, we went back up to Jo’s garden in Long Beach to plant just eight more plants, some short Cosmos, three Salpiglossis, a Verbena bonariensis…and dashed away without even a hello and no time to weed. I just wanted to get all the plants in! Doing Jo’s AFTER the Depot meant backing and forthing but we wanted to get the Depot done before they open at five.

At Larry and Robert’s in Ilwaco, we planted pots on their front steps and added some more annuals (Sanvitalia and Salpiglossis) to the boat. There the Cosmos ‘Cutesy’ or ‘Sonata’ are showing a bit of colour.

garden boat

Then came about the umpteenth squall of the day, this time a fierce one, so we went home since we were but half a block away and hoped it would pass.

from the garage

I passed the time by planting four more tomatoes in my greenhouse, out of the rain. (Planter Box had some nice new ones for sale today.) From the greenhouse door, the sky looked promisingly light around the edges.

to the southwest and to the west

You can see it got worse before it got better…but there was that white edge.

I ran out of potting soil and ended up putting a tomato in a pot that once held a Datura. I hope it will be safe to eat!

In the house, a poppy glowed on the kitchen windowsill, promising me the weather was brightening up.

We decided we had to go back out, and in a light drizzle planted a few perennials in the garden at the west end of Howerton (mostly Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’). Then down to the east end we went with hopes of weeding that bed at last. Cold wet windy rain ensues so we postponed the job again…

east end…pretty but very weedy.

The very last three Gauras were slated for the boatyard. We drove down Lake Street and saw the classic “light around the edges” view but still had to plant in the rain.

heading west on Lake

With the Gauras in, I gave up on the outdoors and decided to do the very necessary task of transferring a month’s worth of paper plant lists onto spreadsheets for each job. I booted the computer, got myself a cup of tea…and the weather became glorious. Of course.

from my window

How frustrating! But I knew I had better do the paperwork. Allan offered to go back out and weed that east end garden. By now it was 7. Two hours later, he returned with a report that he got over halfway done….and with much difficult thinking and adding and deciphering my notes, I took the same amount of time to transfer all my scribbled lists.

And now….these are the only plants that remain to be planted:

three artichokes for Leanne, one four o clock for Golden Sands, one green echinacea for Wiegardt!!

 

 

 

 

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annuals hell 2013 officially over!

Today we got the last of the Cosmos planted. I could think of two unplanted places that might take some, so I suppose I might buy a few more six packs, but maybe not! It is a shame that there are still some very nice Cosmos at the Planter Box that need a home. I suggest local gardeners go buy some. Oh, but not all the Cutesies. I am dissatisfied with having Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ as the only tall plant on the LB welcome sign, south side. The north side, with Cosmos, looks better. So I think we will add four six packs of cutesy cosmos there. (It, like ‘Sonata’, is short.)

Today, we were surprised by a fierce rainstorm while at the bank, so we went to Olde Towne, just a block away. We wound up staying a bit after the rain stopped, just because life is pleasant there.

Olde Towne Café

We put in Luanne’s two flower containers the two different colours of Salvia patens grown by the Planter Box. Not sure what the blue one was called in the seed catalog but the pink is called “Patio Pink”. I adore Salvia patens and before this year have only seen it in cobalt blue and “Cambridge” (light) blue.

The cobalt blue (left) is still my favourite.

We stopped at Larry and Robert’s to put two Petunia ‘Pretty Much Picasso’ in the boat and two Salvia patens in the pots on the front steps. I just needed a home for my last four Salvia patens, and now they are dealt with!

Larry and Robert’s east side

I discussed with Larry some exciting plans for the back yard, now that they have had their old deck removed!

Next, on to Mayor Mike’s…but a pause to wait out more of this:

intense squall; not worried because ’twas light around the edges.

In the front corner, closest to the street, I planted a signature patch of three Cosmos and three painted sage, and three more of each elsewhere in the garden. Now the painted sage is all planted (but there are a very few more six packs available at The Planter Box; tell ’em I said it is ok to sell them to you!)

corner signature

I pulled a big patch of horrible scilla: a precursor to the end of the day… Should have taken a photo of how bad the area it was in looked before pulling and how nice afterward. More on this later!

scilla by the bucket (with a spent iris)

Allan did a beautiful job of weeding the path and path edges:

well done

Oriental poppies

I probably would not plant Oriental poppies in such a small garden because they leave such a gap when they are done.

Below is that little daisy…What is it? One sees it in photos of famous British gardens, between stair pavers or on walls…

I have forgotten its name!

We then spent over an hour at Cheri’s garden, where I planted one of the two Penstemon ‘Burgundy Brew’ that I thought should go to oenophile clients. And six cosmos. I forgot to take any photos at Cheri’s garden even though I meant to show how well filled in is the area where we put transplants that needed to be moved last month from the future outdoor cat run. I was distracted by another rain squall and then an amusing conversation with Charlie (who asked us when we were going to retire…oddly, a thought I had just been pondering myself!).

We then went to our last job of the day, Ann’s garden, which we have sorely neglected all month because it is not a major destination for annuals.

south border, before and after, weeded by Allan

Ann has the oddest weed, one that is unfamiliar to me. It looks just like a forget me not but has small greenish flowers, maybe with a tiny it of blue, so is useless and yet as invasive as forget me nots are! The foliage is kind of yellowy at this time of year. It was all over the edge garden, above left.

Now, here is why I hate, hate, hate, scilla (blue bells). Ann, and my grandmother, and many other gardens have the big coarse one, but I was just reading that the delicate Siberian Squill is also quite pesky. My grandma’s garden was over run with lank dying horrid scilla foliage in springtime, swamping and burying other plants, and so is Ann’s and several other gardens I know. It has appeared in areas of my own garden from where it had been growing in the lawn.

scilla, rampant and hideous

The lank dying foliage is a home for slugs, and smothers other plants, and mingles with the narcissi so that when one pulls the scilla out, out comes a good narcissi bulb by mistake. So annoying! We pulled buckets and buckets and buckets of it and only got four smallish areas done. This is why I cried “NOOOOOOOO!” when I saw that someone had in a kindly meant and sharing way planted some in a new garden we had created for a friend. Fortunately, our friend believed my warning and is removing it….but slowly, so as not to hurt HER friend’s feelings.

The lily of the valley that we have weeded out twice, roots and all (we hoped) has, but of course, sprouted back. This is another plant someone might share with you. Don’t accept it!

here it comes again

I was glad to get back into this interesting garden, despite my dismay with there being scilla everywhere (as I knew there would be from the fact that everywhere one digs, one finds white scilla bulbs). I managed to fit in five six packs of cosmos, in hope that the deer will leave it alone. (They usually do.) I Sluggo-ed heavily because so many slugs were hiding in the scilla leaves.

frilly Oriental poppies

peony and iris…after much removal of scilla and that weird faux-forget me not.

Ann’s enclosed veg garden is looking wonderful.

I hope we can spend a whole day here next week.

Our last small task was to plant one pink Calibrachoa to fill the planter in front of Peninsula Sanitation office. This entailed a drive past the boatyard where we saw two boats named after friends of ours.

for Nancy and Mary

We were too wet and cold from having been considerably rained on while weeding Ann’s garden to spend the last half hour of daylight weeding the east end garden bed on Howerton at the Port. Tomorrow? At home, before getting dry, I popped in three remaining cosmos and can now declare that annuals hell is over. These are the only unplanted plants in our possession now:

all that is left!

Two rosemary for the Depot, a Burgundy Brew for Gene, a four o clock donated by Planter Box for Golden Sands, three artichokes for Leanne (Casa Pacifica), a ‘Green Jewel’ echinacea for the Wiegardt Gallery, a golden thyme for a beach approach planter and a Verbascum ‘Jackie in Yellow’ for Erin’s garden to which we STILL have not been this year. (Someone else has been weeding there, thank goodness!)

We need more yellow flowering plants for Erin. Why NOT use Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ even though it is an annual? Some short cosmos to punch up the effect at the welcome sign. Eight more beachy perennials for the Bolstadt beach approach planters. Some plants for Larry and Robert’s front stairs pots. (Kind of shady there. I think they want colour, though, flowers, not a tasteful perennial planting.) Those will be fun to gather and do not represent a descent back into planting hell.

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still almost done with annuals

Considerable wind and rain led to a late start on our second day off accomplishments.  However, I believe it is time to declare the end of annuals planting hell, just not quite yet the end of planting.  Some gardening friends will find this amazing:  I did get every single plant of mine planted in my garden.  Allan helped with an Azara microphylla which was stuck in its pot.  By helped I mean freed it from the pot and planted it.  Other than that, I got all my cosmos and painted sage planted and even some bean seeds.  And some annoyingly small purple broccoli seeds.  Wish me luck because I am not much good at growing veg and even worse at finding time to harvest them.

These are the only plants left to plant, some at Ann’s, some at Mike’s, one at Gene’s, one at Cheri’s, two at the Depot, a couple at Larry and Robert’s, three at Dan and Leanne’s.  I am hoping to get the Ilwaco contigent all in the ground tomorrow, weather permitting:

the remaining line-up

Getting all my plants’ roots in the ground is an accomplishment, to be sure, but cleaning up afterwards wasn’t because we went to the 6:30 PM show of Star Trek: Into Darkness,  leaving the garden in quite a state.  I was ever so pleased with the film, especially the reverse echoing of a certain scene in The Wrath of Khan.  I wish I had torn myself away from planting to go see Iron Man 3 before it left town.  It won’t be as impressive on my 32 year old television set.  But I will have subtitles so won’t miss any dialog.

So, the tomatoes are planted up in the greenhouse, but the greenhouse is a mess.

I take the shelves out, and then the framework helps support the tomatoes.

The plants are in the ground, but the garden is in a state of minor chaos.

Typically, I had let a triad of ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss Chard get taller than me without eating any.  The seed heads look like some sort of conifer.

going to seed

I may get some help picking up all the plant droppings, as Allan will want to mow the lawn at the next opportunity.

Two of my water tubs are rather a mess.  The one on the left needs to have last year’s dead growth cut out, and I have left it far too late.  On the right, there may be no hope, but those pots are going to be awfully heavy to pull out of the water.

in a sad state

My river of blue Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is showing just a few blue flowers.  Unfortunately, I could not find all the Allium albopilosum to move them further out last fall, and the ones that remain in the river are already being swallowed.  I thought they would float on top like round glass balls but the geranium is much bigger than I had expected.

Rozanne river drowns Alliums!

This year I am going to mark each Allium for saving.  I know from sad experience that they do not like being moved at this time.

The patio containers are planted, but the patio is all messy; the Cosmos is moved from next to the greenhouse and the bean seeds planted, but the weeds are scattered higglety pigglety.

Here are some good things:

Dianthus and Alliums

an iris

Primula vialii

Camassia leichtlinii alba

wind battered ornamental rhubarb, like red velvet

Agastache , Iris, and Persicaria

(The lawn along this part is all creeping buttercup.  I won’t use weed and feed, so that’s just the way it is.  Would love an organic solution other than digging.)

Parahebe ‘Waterfall Mist’

Parahebe perfoliata

When I ordered Parahebe from a catalog with text but no photos, I thought it would be the one I had grown before (Parahebe perfoliata), with Eucalyptus-looking leaves and blue flowers.   It isn’t, but I love the low white one, and I think if I shear it after blooming (which I did not do last year), it might rebloom.

Osteospermum and Penstemon came through the winter in a big pot!

Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (potato vine)

Thalictrum ‘Illuminator’

Finally, although my bird photography skills are poor, here is a bird for Mr. Tootlepedal.

For excellent daily bird (and garden, and cycling) photo, visit the Tootlepedal blog.

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first day off

I procrastinated all morning, but there were reasons: catching up on the blog, and bad (ish) weather. Maybe I was sick of planting plants, but I had many to plant here and needed to get started. Finally I got myself outside with the memory that I had very much been looking forward to another go-round of pulling Impatiens (jewelweed, touch me not) out of the front border.

2:38 PM, front garden

after editing

I need to learn to mark the spot where I take my before photo to make the results more clear!

I was amazed at how big this cardoon has gotten since last time I noticed:

humungous

Another task that I had been longing to do in the back garden was to use the hedge shears to lop back the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. It gets so lush that it flops open. Last year for the garden tour I had to use all sorts of short bits of rebar to hold it up and make it halfway decent looking. By chopping it at this time of year, the plant stays more compact and still flowers, but with smaller, not so heavy flowers so it does not fall open. I recently did the same to all the ‘Autumn Joy’ in the Long Beach planters.

before

Unfortunately, when I tried to use the hedge shears my right arm protested mightily. It has been plaguing me for two days….”planter’s arm”, apparently. Allan stepped in and did the job.

after (but not picked up yet)

The creeping sorrel in the raspberry patch had suddenly leaped to almost as tall as the berry canes.

Yikes! When did that happen?

After running some errands of his own, Allan stepped in here also and did a wonderful job.

Thank you, Allan!

By then, I was heavily into planting annuals and perennials. I told myself I would get at least thirty plants planted before I let myself get back to the enjoyable task of weeding, and I am sure I surpassed that number. While planting on the west side of the house, I kept catching myself thinking “Nora and Devery will like these.” (Devery was Nora’s wonderful caregiver.) Then I would remember with a huge pang that Nora was gone. I had made sure over the last two years that the west side garden that she can, I mean could, see from her front window was vibrant with bright colour.

Tomorrow planting hell will surely conclude, because all I have left to plant are these:

holding area on east side of house

(Not as bad as it looks, because some of those are in permanent pots. Probably about ten plants there that need planting.)

And this line up on the path to Allan’s shop:

mostly cosmos and painted sage, and some of the cosmos will go to Ann’s on Tuesday.

Then there are some tomatoes in the greenhouse, and I could have done them during the blustery morning inside the greenhouse, had I remembered them!

tomatoes

Oh, drat, and these also, which I almost forgot were waiting next to the greenhouse.

more cosmos. I like them.

So tomorrow will be the planting of the six packs of cosmos all over this garden.

The relatively small amount of cosmos that will be left for Ann, along with two Penstemon ‘Burgundy Brew’ for two wine connoisseur clients, two Rosemary for Chef Michael at the Depot, and …oh….I should get some blue and white painted sage for the mayor’s garden….Those plants that are left are not enough to constitute a hellish amount of planting. So I am fervently hoping that by eight PM tomorrow I can declare annuals planting hell over for 2013.

My right arm will be grateful.

At almost dusk, I took a walk around the garden to photograph plants that had caught my eye during an afternoon of planting. (Like most gardeners do, I walk round and round with a perennial pot in hand trying to figure out where it could go.)

Clematis on east fence…most blooming on my neighbours’ side!

another east fence clematis

Siberian Iris

Smokey toured with me.

shade bed

I so look forward to a satisfying weeding of that shade bed. It was too windy to weed this close to the bogsy wood today, especially since the alder right over the shade bed has died! It is a great snag for birds but I fear a big branch breaking off in wind so I stay out from under on days like today, with gusts of 26 mph!

ominous

I wonder why this one alder died. I did not pile soil deeply around its base or anything bad… I skittered back to safety away from the tree.

west border (Hi, Mary’s red boat shed!)

a new rose by the west gate

another new rose (and…horsetail)

The new roses are from Heirloom roses, and I am going to sort out their names later this year!

I do NOT remember planting these iris. I think they are too big to be from the ones Kathleen Sayce gave to me and Ann….

view down west path to the bogsy wood edge

In the front garden, some truly accidental colour matching pleased my eye.

Imagine this astrantia…

when this clematis that is behind it gets big enough to show above the astrantia.

And the Allium bulgaricum also matches!

In closing, Allan’s excellent garden in the dusk…

perfectly weeded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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annuals planting hell almost over!

This was not the final day of planting.  There are still some cosmos to plant in Ann’s garden, a very few plants (about ten!) that I want to add to Long Beach, and quite a few plants for my own garden.  But the big planting jobs are all done now. What a relief.

So as we headed to first job, we got our mail and there was a catalog for….bulb planting hell!

bulb catalog with the last big batch of annuals

Bulb hell has its own quality, but is easier.  My clients, who have all become friends, and I go in together for bulbs from Van Engelen, and then there are hundreds of bulbs in my garage while I sort out everyone’s order.  And plant them.  With annuals, we keep having to go out to get more, and more, and more, and although plant shopping is enormously fun, it is time consuming and not very lucrative (because it is hard to charge for the time accurately, since much is spent schmoozing about plants, and we don’t resell the plants at a profit because we want all our clients to get the best plants possible and the biggest amount for their budgets!).  Bulbs hell includes the anxiety of getting them all in the ground, despite weather, by early December.

Saturday, we first we planted at the Ilwaco boatyard in increasing drizzle.  Here is another lesson in Round Up weedkiller damage.  A few weeks back the boatyard crew sprayed behind the fence with weedkiller, trying to kill the horsetail.  While the horsetail is still happy as can be, some of the boatyard plants are still blighted by drift.  (The crew boss promises this will not happen again.)

yellowed poppy foliage, happy horsetail

blue globe thistle was hit

I feel fortunate at so little damage.  When I have time I will prune out the bad parts.  If the weedkiller had caused as much damage as it did at Marilyn’s garden, where a one foot or more strip on each side of a path was affected by someone spraying Round Up (Am I still brooding about this?  Kinda.), the long, narrow boatyard garden would have been a goner.

The annual poppies seemed particularly susceptible (and you can see how, in this section we have not yet weeded, the horsetail just brayed with laughter and had no damage at all).

Poppies are a delicate flower.

The garden looks fine overall.  We planted the newer areas with cosmos and painted sage, and left the center area, three years old, to perennials and reseeded poppies.

newest section

Our plans to also weed the middle section were thwarted by heavy rain, so we went to Olde Towne Café for lunch and hoped for the weather to lighten.  It didn’t.

weather view from Olde Towne

I have set for myself an enjoyable obligation of photographing the Saturday Market for the Discover Ilwaco Facebook page.  Lately, because we have been working Saturdays, Allan has helped by taking photographs, too.  We feel for the market vendors as this is the second bad weather Saturday in a row!  In three previous years of photographing the market (only missed two Saturdays due to garden events!), I don’t remember two dire weeks back to back.

Allan took this from the Port Office deck.

Japanese maples for sale, and Portside Café booth. (That’s the yellow café in whose street planter we plant yellow flowers.)

a line up of flowers in stone vases

Allan and I both photographed the spectacular lupines at the Marie Powell Gallery.  His photo is much more clever.

my photo

Allan’s photo

Those sea thrift (pink, foreground) are a bugger to deadhead later in the year but I love them.

After a wet walk through the market, it was back to work.   We got perhaps the last batch of cosmos for work at The Planter Box, where the tomatoes were irresistibly healthy looking (so I got three):

Planter Box tomatoes

They have dozens of quite a few interesting varieties, so get ’em!

At The Basket Case, we picked up some Armeria (sea thrift) to fill in any spaces we might find in the Bolstadt beach approach planters.

Here are three more perennials that I did not mention in my rave review of Basket Case perennials:

Helenium (Helen’s Flower)

Basket Case has at least two kinds of Helenium, a tall mid to late summer plant with warm tones of daisy-like flowers.  I got me one of this new one.   These might not even bloom before Fred and Nancy close in midsummer, so only the discerning buyer will realize how great a plant this is.

Eupatorium ‘Gateway’

This Joe Pye weed is a little shorter than the others, claiming to grow “only” to five feet, with great big fluffy pink flowers that butterflies love.  My opinion is that it likes lots of summer water.  I adore this plant and bought one even though I probably already have it (but my Joe Pye gets taller than five feet! which might be just because it is mulched with cow fiber!).

There were only a couple of these left yesterday!

Helianthemum

This orange Helianthemum is ‘Ben Nevis’.  These plants are great for growing on a rock wall.  I have found they do not bloom all summer, but the trailing foliage remains good.  Also comes in pink and yellow; not sure which other cultivars Basket Case has in stock.  I believe The Planter Box also has some cultivars of Helianthemum (rock rose).  Don’t be confused because Cistus (an excellent shrub which Basket Case also carries) is also called rock rose.

Dianthus ‘Raspberry Swirl’ and ‘Fancy Knickers’

Cute names, gorgeous plants.  “Pinks” are not always pink!  These are nice big healthy Dianthus.   I’m getting myself two more Raspberry Swirls if there are any left next time!

The rain continued to fall and we made the decision that we could not finish the weeding at Andersen’s RV Park this weekend.  We feel that to work in rain, with dripping raincoats, just makes vacationing guests feel sad for us and brings down the jolly weekender feeling!   We hope the guests there will see the pretty things (all the planters and containers are looking great, and plants well outnumber weeds in the garden beds).  I am too tired to give up my two days off because of not meeting the Andersen’s goal that I had set for us.

Allan also said he felt it was more important to check on the beach approach planters because more foot traffic walks by them, so we did.  We quickly used up the perennials we had bought for the Bolstadt approach planters (six Armeria, two Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’) and found space for about eight more tough perennials which we will buy and add later this week.

Allan weeding the Lisa Bonney memorial planter

One of the planters surprised me with this beautiful columbine!

not as miserable a job as it looks because the weather was not cold…or windy

The beach approach garden is weedy again, of course!  But when we get around to doing it again, it will not be as miserable a job as the first weeding of the year.

beach approach, west end

Adorably, the Armeria (sea thrift) has reseeded at the end of the lawn.  I have read that it grows wild on the sea cliffs in Wales.

sea thrift

approach garden looking west

looking east; rugosa roses about to bloom

rugosa roses in bud

The rugosa roses are thuggish and a pain to weed around, but they will earn their keep from now till frost, first with flowers of pink, magenta, or white, and then with big orangey red hips.  They are also known as “The Tomato Rose” because of the size of the hips (about which some tourists ask us, “Are those tomatoes?”) and “The Salt Spray Rose” because they can take beachy conditions.

Dianthus in a beach approach planter, at least seven years old.

and a hardy geranium

rain brings the colours out

I wish the volunteers, back in the day, had not planted chocolate mint in the easternmost planter.

why?

It has choked out the other plants, except for dog daisies.  Someone in passing commented to me last year how lush and wonderful the planter used to be.  Well…yes, before someone stuck the mint in there and it got well established.  The Nepeta (catmint, not a mint, not invasive) is buried with just one flower showing.

mint vs. catmint: no contest

With about fifty of these planters to care for, we redo poorly planted old ones at a rate of maybe two a year.  We might eventually get to this one, which would involve having to dig it out, soil and all, and start over…or we might just decide the mint is fragrant and has a pretty flower and just let it be mostly one thing.

We were still in the rain as we left the beach approach for our next job.

the Long Beach arch

We had some plants for the tiny World Kite Museum garden on the Sid Snyder Beach approach.  While Allan weeded it, I walked the approach and weeded the seven planters along its north side.  I must admit some of the weeding was just cosmetic because we had much still to do and it was six o clock.

Kite garden with Cosmos ‘Cutesy’, painted sage, one one sanguisorba added to the remaining perennials.

There seems to be a big fail in the volunteer mowing, in that it does not include weed-eating, apparently!   We are not really in the weedeating business, but last year after declining to hand weed all along the shrub border, below, we did weed eat it a few times.  I think we will have to step up to weed eat around our little garden, as well.

the shrub parking lot border, which we most decidely do not have time to weed.

The soil in the tiny flower garden was weird in spots.  When we redid it last year, we mulched with some bagged soil amendments.  Over the winter, it has turned into a weird rooty sawdusty substance in some areas and despite the rain was very dry.  Where are the roots coming from?  They are definitely roots, not fungi.  It is odd.  I pulled some out to have a good look.

weird and unsettling

Surely the escallonia on one side or hebe on the other could not be encroaching with this many roots?

We hope to take a yard of cow fiber up to Marilyn’s garden soon to mulch the edges where we had to replant (due to round up, blah blah blah!) and I will save out a few buckets full for this garden.  It could take about a half an inch of mulch.

Next we went back down to Ilwaco.  We stopped at the boatyard to photograph some boats for Discover Ilwaco, and I pondered the amount of horsetail in the middle area where we have not yet weeded.

oh dear, oh dear

One hopes the two well weeded ends of the garden will keep passersby happy.

in the boatyard

We finally did the last of Saturday’s planting at the Port of Ilwaco office garden with some Cosmos ‘Cutesy’, since we want the flowers to remain short in order to show off the Basket Case baskets that hang above.  Or maybe I should still add a very few salpiglossis.

port office garden

There are some tiny little seedling that we are leaving in the garden till I figure out what they are.  I usually can identify seedlings….but these look like painted sage, which is unlikely as I had never planted it here, nor do I ever find it to re-seed this prolifically.

my favourite perennials, Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’, in the port office garden

Basket Case plants above and below

just south of Port Office garden

Rain had stopped!  The gardens on the Howerton side of the office glowed with California poppies.

Howerton gardens (photo taken earlier in the day)

Finally, at 8 PM, we weeded the gardens at the east end of Howerton.  What had caught my eye when driving past earlier were the dead leaves (now picked off) on the Eryngium there.

bad leaves now plucked!  This was caused by the hot spell around Mother’s Day.

Howerton by Queen La De Da’s Art Castle

The Howerton garden that was most recently done (below) is the very westernmost one;  it was filled in with plants divided from other areas, and they will size up to fill the space but maybe it needs a little something more to be added.

garden to right….perhaps a few more wind tolerant perennials…

Along with Andersen’s RV Park, we did not get to the weeding at the Howerton garden section at the very west end of the street.  And both will have to wait because, having caught up with this blog, I am about to commence on two days off.  (I can feel that Howerton Street weeding project tugging at me, but I will try to resist.)

When I get my own cosmos and painted sage, container plants and perennials,  planted in my own garden, I will officially declare Annuals Planting Hell 2013 over!

I have worked 18 days in a row and Allan has worked 20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nora

The most significant thing of the day or the month, is that my dear neighbour Nora died today.  She was 89 and had lived on this block her whole life.  By the time I knew her, she could no longer garden.  I spent an hour this evening with her grand daughter looking at old photos and was finally able to see Nora’s garden in all its former glory.  Nora’s caregivers in her last years would plant some pots for her on her back patio, but Elisha showed me photos of the back garden as it was….overflowing with flowers.  She had a row of roses running down the driveway all the way to the back yard, which later went to lawn when she could no longer care for them.  (Not sure if there will be a photo of that, but her grand daughter described it.)  So I hope to be able to share more about Nora in this blog as time goes on and I copy some of the photos.  She was the best right-next-door neighbour I have ever had, and if our timelines had merged at a time when we could both garden, we would be have been great gardening friends.  One photo shows her with a rose for which she won a prize.

The rest of today will go in the next entry.

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another annuals day

Having collected enough plants to finish the Long Beach planters, we stuffed more plants into the last three blocks worth at the beginning to today’s workday.   A couple of Salvia patens went into the Veterans Field garden.  They are so very blue, but I could only squeeze two in.

I am very pleased with how it is looking right now, although a lot of the bright red is from ranunculus that will be over soon.

Some of the blue in the tricolor Veterans Field garden is provided by my favourite plant, Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’.

I thought I still needed a couple more uppies and trailies that I had forgotten to get yesterday.  And, as it seems to be true every day, we needed more cosmos for tomorrow.  This entailed stops at Basket Case and Planter Box, but first we did a quick tidy at The Anchorage Cottages.  Allan cut the ugly tips off of the top of the Arbutus while I did a bit of deadheading and weeding.  The windowboxes are looking good.

window box with trailies and uppies

Way back in wintertime, the staff cut back some of the Pampas grass while it was in its first stage of flowering.  I happened to notice and got them to stop after they had cut just the ones by the sport court.  Then Allan cut back the rest of them at the proper time around the end of Feb. or early March.  There is a big difference in how they look now.  I had no idea cutting them early would cause them to look so unhappy (I just wanted to protect the new plumes at their most  attractive stage), but the results by the sport court look very sad:

sport court pampas

rather hideous closeup

I wonder why they look so terrible compared to the ones we cut by one of the cottages and on the lawn, also photographed today:

by the entry drive

on the lawn

I would never have planted them by the driveway or the sport court, ONLY on the lawn.  They get in the way in the other areas.  I wonder if Dan Hinkley planted them;  years ago, the sister of his partner owned the Anchorage and Heronswood did a design of the courtyard gardens!

After our trip to the two nurseries, with the car and trailer reloaded with plants, we went to Andersen’s RV Park.  They were filling up for the three day weekend.

Andersen’s on the Ocean

The Flanders Field poppies are just starting to show colour.

the poppy garden

We planted some cosmos down by the garden shed, godetia (one of Lorna’s favourite annuals) there, in the picket fence garden and a few by the back office door, and six Salvia patens (also a favourite of Lorna’s) in the Payson Hall planters.  Except for the picket fence garden, the whole place needs to be weeded but we did not have time because we had two more jobs to attend to, and it was already 4:30 when we left.   There goes my dream of tomorrow off, because I won’t be able to enjoy a day off if Andersen’s is still weedy on a holiday weekend.

picket fence garden

The half day lost to rain yesterday would have been invaluable for weeding Andersen’s.  I am glad that it has saved us much watering elsewhere, so it was worth having the torrential downpour.

After that, we went all the way up to Surfside to check on Marilyn’s garden.  What a relief to find that the replacement plants in the area that had been tragically round upped  were not looking blighted by any residual weedkiller.  With the owners’ permission, Allan had made and installed signs that we fervently hope will prevent a repeat spraying.

I still do not understand why the sprayer guy thinks that dead brown weeds (and dead pretty flower seedlings) are an improvement.

Along both sides of the path, signs of round up blight remain.  I will have to give up on the blighted Alliums, but I hate to.  The bulbs are expensive, and I had planted many because of the garden being scheduled for the July garden tour.

sprayed Alliums look like this

Further back, out of the overspray zone, they look like they should.

You can see how bare it is along the edges where before the garden was billowy and spilly.  But it should fill in by tour day.  If the nozzleheads stay away from it.

Finally, at a quarter til six, we got to Klipsan Beach Cottages as we had promised we would today, and got a considerable amount of garden editing done by seven.

south gate, before

south gate, an hour later, with Bad Aster removed

East gate, before; too much elephant garlic

east gate, after

The garden looked stunning, as usual.

hydrangea and hardy fuchsia

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’

Dutch Iris

Allium bulgaricum

bearded iris

Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’ in bloom!

Allan installed the fairy door that he had given Mary and Denny for Christmas; he had built steps for it and had to measure and cut exactly how they fit to the chosen tree.

fairy door

We just had time on the way home to plant four more plants in the Long Beach planters and have a bit of daylight left to sort tomorrow’s plants:  Cosmos and painted sage for the Ilwaco boatyard (and then weeding Andersen’s).  I will take a bit of time first for the Saturday Market at the port.

Our neighbour Mary, two doors down, brought her little dog, Missy, for a visit.

Missy!

At just two pounds, Missy is even smaller than Judy and Tom’s little Beep.

My dream now is to get Sunday and Monday off to plant all the plants-in-waiting in my own garden, after which annuals hell will truly be over with only a very few plants left to put in here and there.  I have lost track of how many days in a row we have worked but I believe it is over twenty now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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great perennials at the Basket Case

It kind of bothers me that local gardeners are missing out on the wonderful collection of perennials offered by The Basket Case Greenhouse at 12106 Sandridge Road.  Maybe because a lot of them are not yet blooming, people do not realize how beautiful they will be.  Basket Case owners Fred and Nancy try to close the nursery each year sometime in July (reopening in very early spring), so get them while you can! I would not even reveal the secrets of this outstanding collection if it were not for the fact that I have already bought mine!

Here are some of my favourites.  Get ’em while you can!

Lobelia tupa

The tag says “Devil’s cardinal flower”.  This perennial might not come through a cold wet winter, but with good sized plants like these, you should get a good show the first year.

Lobelia tupa

It has been a plant of great desirability for me ever since I saw it almost in bloom at Joy Creek nursery some years back.

in bud

It was so hard to find that I searched for it in Seattle nurseries and was able, at the time, to find only three!  Yet here they are at the Basket Case just waiting for you….Unless I decide I have to have them all.  (I think I have already purchased almost a full flat!)   My great gardening friend Sheila says she has killed it twice, and I have heard other tales of woe, but if one has it for one season it would be worth it.  Check out the gallery of images.

Perovskia ‘Lacey Blue’

There is only ONE of these left.  I bought all the others or talked clients into buying them.  This Russian sage is worthwhile for the gorgeous foliage alone.

Perovskia ‘Lacey Blue’

It is supposed to be compact, so might be good for containers.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

I have these in almost every one of my gardens.  It has the usual coreopsis flowers but on stems that get up to eight feet tall.  I just find it so very fun and amusing to grow!  One you have a good clump of it, you can divide it and give it to friends.  That’s the only reason I have not purchased many more of these plants this year.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

Protect it from slugs;  they seem to like the new shoots, but I have not lost a plant of this to slugs OR weather in three years.

Here it is blooming as tall as the greenhouse at Klipsan Beach Cottages in October 2012.

fun!

Sanguisorbas

Nobody but me seems to “get” the burnets!   The sanguisorba collection at The Basket case is not your usual herby burnet that seeds around and has small flowers.  These have assorted big feathery plumes that I love and have sought out every since I saw a seminar slideshow by Piet Oudolf at the Seattle garden show years ago.

Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’ and another

The “Red Thunder’ one is new to me this year.  I have forgotten which is the one on the right, above, but there is only one of it left.  I bought all the others!  You will see an assortment of three or four kinds in the park in front of Captain Bob’s Chowder and Marsh’s in Long Beach this summer, and in my own garden I have as many kinds as I have been able to find over the years.  The only thing that has prevented me from buying all of those ‘Red Thunder’ ones is that the deer do eat sanguisorbas so that limits the gardens I can plant them in.

Chelone obliqua

It used to be most unusual to find this in a nursery.  I had to mail order mine before this year when Basket Case started to carry them.  The “turtlehead” flowers bloom in the late summer.  The only reason there is still a batch of these at Basket Case is that I have not got around to buying them yet, but I will, if someone does not beat me to it.  It likes part shade and moisty soil.  It bloomed for me last year in dry shade but the foliage did not look happy so I have moved mine into a wetter area.

Chelone obliqua…pink turtlehead

I had one in my former, dampish garden along a stream that was spectacular in late summer, but I didn’t have a digital camera during most of my time there so I don’t have a record of its glory.

Scrophularia variegata

With a name like that, no wonder the tag says variegated figwort.  This is another plant that is still at the Basket Case only because we have a small car and can’t fit everything in that we want.

Rene Eisenbart wrote in the Oregonian:  “one of the choicest variegated foliage plants the perennial world has to offer. Extremely bright and full of optimism, with conspicuously large and crinkled leaves, it has a rigid upright habit that makes it a beacon in the garden.”

I had better get back there and buy all the rest of these, unless someone beats me to it.  I need them!

Penstemons

I have found penstemons to be drought resistant and so far the deer have left them alone except for the occasional experimental nibble.  Basket Case has a good selection, including this one new to me:

Penstemon ‘Burgundy Brew’

There are not very many of these left, and I just thought of how a client of ours who likes wine really should have one of these.  And now I can think of two clients who are wine connoiseurs.  Make that three.   Are there even enough of these left for me?  Basket Case has also had ‘Apple Blossom’ and ‘Thorn’ this year and I have bought some of each.  Burgundy Brew is said to have unusually large flowers.  Good thing I am going back to Basket Case within two days so I can snag at least one more of these.

Verbascum ‘Jackie in Yellow’

Verbascum ‘Clementine’ was a big hit earlier this season at the Basket Case and I think it is sold out, but there is still perhaps only ONE plant of the gorgeous, drought tolerant, sunny border plant ‘Jackie in Yellow’ left.

Verbascum ‘Jackie in Yellow’

I have never tried these as cut flowers but Google tells me they are good in bouquets.

Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’

Fred tells me I am the only one who has bought this plant, and I am astonished.  The foliage is striking.

Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’

But when it blooms, it should be a knock out.  The plain green leafed Knautia macedonica is one of the most admired plants in our garden at the Wiegardt Gallery.  Looks like this one will have the same dark flowers.

Knautia at Wiegardt Gallery (the tall burgundy one)

I just bought six more ‘Thunder and Lightnings’ today but there are a few left.  For now.  I have decided they might look spiffing in some of the Long Beach planters!

Phygelius

There are at least three cultivars of this available. They are all good, deer resistant and sun loving, drought tolerant plants.  Hummingbirds love them.  They can be runners but I have never found them to be a problem because I like getting the offshoots.  The one that really struck my fancy this year was the white one (I think it is called ‘Snow White’) because it is unusual.

Phygelius

I do not understand why these are not being bought up!  Note on the left of the photos, you can just see the one (I forget the name) with gorgeous gold foliage.

Rosa mutabilis

This rose was spectacular in my old garden.  I think there are three left of the six that Basket Case got in this year.  I bought the other three.  Don’t miss out!

Rosa mutabilis

Here it is in my old garden:

Agastache (Hyssop)

The Agastaches that I planted from Basket Case last year were the hit of my garden when it was on the garden tour and through the summer whenever someone visited.

Agastaches

I think I bought all the Golden Jubilee and the apricot and salmon coloured one might be gone, but there are still some Acapulco Orange and some with the very amusing name ‘Black Adder’ and possibly some violet-blue ones.

The leaves often smell deliciously of licorice.  I am in love with all of these.

an Agastache from Basket Case last summer in my garden

Eryngiums

Finally, my favourite perennials, the Eryngiums.  The Basket Case has two on offer, the first being one that was introduced just a few years ago and cost about $30 a gallon then.

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’

Because I collect them, I had to have it then.   I have found that the pretty foliage tends to want to revert to green after a year or two, but the flower is so spectacular that I love it anyway.  Now that Basket Case has them for a reasonable price, I will just get new ones each year for the foliage colour.

There are still four left!

Here it is flowering, with blue thistle-like balls, in my garden last year on tour day:

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ in flower

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ is probably THE most asked about flower in any of my gardens.  I use it in every single one.  The deer leave it alone, the flowers are an incredible blue, and they dry on the plant in an attractive way.

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

People go into businesses, even the Port Office, and ask what this plant is.  The Basket Case is on its second shipment of these and has a few left.

Here it is in the Hornbuckle garden on May 8th this year:

green buds

Here it is yesterday in my friend Nancy’s garden:

just colouring up, 5-23-13

June 2012, a bee magnet

2011, at the Wiegardt Gallery

It’s a wonderful plant that never fails to get attention and compliments.

So when you visit the Basket Case, don’t just look at their wonderful selection of annuals.  Look closely at the tags in the perennials house, because all those plants that just look green and maybe not very exciting now will do great things in the garden, and they long to get out of their pots and into the ground.

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