As I continue to catch up with the work blog….
July 30
We begin at the Port where the garden at Time Enough Books needs some water.
I admire the Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ which is at its peak in the gardens on the north side of the Port Office.
Then…on to Gene’s garden in south Long Beach. It is still looking very good from the tour, but I am going to be guiding a garden club tour there on August 7, so we want to make sure it is deadheaded thoroughly to keep the cosmos going. (I have no idea why I write some posts in present and some in past tense, if any editor types are wondering.)
I never tire of painted sage and hope my 50? readers don’t either!
Some fragrant lilies would be amazing along the east fence of this courtyard. Gene would have to diligently protect the new sprouts from slugs. The scent would fill up the space.
Next, we go to Jo’s, also with the purpose of watering and deadheading while Jo and Bob are out of town. (I can only say this because I am writing it three weeks later!)
Jo is missing some of her lilies and I hope they will still be blooming when she and Bob return. (They were, I am happy to say!)
We then return to Ilwaco to spend a long session weeding in Ann’s garden
It doesn’t look like much, but I planted a small river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (just three) down a slope on the west side of the garden.
It will look good sprawling and climbing near Ann’s stunning blue hydrangea.
July 31
We begin at the Depot where a passerby has a wonderful Saint Bernard. This, of course, causes me to strike up a conversation in order to pet the dog.
It turns out the dog’s person is on the board (President, I think) of the Water Music Festival, so he knows who I am (in that I do the Facebook page for the Music in the Gardens tour) but due to face blindness I did not recognize him. Have also forgotten the name of the wonderful sweet dog, but have not forgotten that the website of the man’s guest cottage has a photo of the dog as a pup. Years ago, when the larger cottage and the guest cottage belonged to Bev Rolfe, Robert and I put in a garden there.
He is a dry mouth St Bernard; I did not even know there was such a thing. My cousin raised St Bernards and I remember the massive drool along with the sweet personalities. (We were handed towels upon entering the house.)
Alert reader Kathleen Shaw informs me that this is not a chickadee but instead a sparrow. She thinks it is a white crowned sparrow.
Next, we make a stop at The Planter Box to take some photos for a pre-tour sneak peeks album for the Edible Gardens page, another project of mine. Ray Millner has a glorious veg garden just north of the garden center.
Then on up the Peninsula to Marilyn’s, which will also be on the Aug 7th little garden club tour, so I want to make sure it is deadheaded.
Heading back down to Ocean Park, we check on the Wiegardt Gallery garden….
Next: Oman Builders Supply where the garden is showing some stress from not getting enough water. Our job here is not to water, and it is complicated because one needs a long hose and a key (which we have) to turn on the faucet, and time to stand around and water if the soakers are not doing a good enough job (they are not!)
Next, we spend the usual time thoroughly weeding and deadheading at Klipsan Beach Cottages. I am pleased that a dahlia which did not do much last year is spectacular now. We planted it in a pot because the garden has a snail problem.
KBC is another Facebook page that I do, and I am way behind on uploading garden photos there, which I used to do on a weekly basis…till this year when I started blogging here daily.
The KBC sweet peas are doing better than at any of our other gardens.
As with all the gardens, the lilies are fabulous this week.
I feel there is no such thing as lily overload, although I do wish they did not all go through an awkward stage after blooming while we wait for the stem to die back (and clip a little off every week).
You can see Allan on the left, above, pruning the New Dawn rose over the south gate. While I swan about taking lily photos. Really, I do work.
Next, we go to Golden Sands Assisted Living. This time, my expectactions that the watering problems will be fixed are very low. I know it is too soon, but I hope the wheels of progress have begun to turn. So we hand water (with our long hose) the whole courtyard. We have to drag our own hose in because theirs are firmly fixed to the ineffective twirly sprinklers.
It’s gone rather dull now that the blue scabiosa has gone over. It would look so much better if we had time to groom and weed rather than standing around hose watering.
Daylilies are a plant that gets overused in a situation like this because it is so easy to get them for free. Here they sit, not doing much at all.
Whoever is living in my mom’s old room can’t see out the window because of overgrown shrubs. It is not our job to fix that, but I would if I had the time.
The NW quadrant is still pitiful due to lack of mulch. (Need I even add…no time…)
Next, we go for our weekly session at Andersen’s RV Park. A man who introduces himself as Bob the Basket Maker (I think) has set himself up there for a few weeks making wonderful baskets.
Walking back, I see a view of the garden that I usually do not see from that far to the west. The camera does not show it the way my eyes see it, but a severely squashed by telephoto shot sort of does…
Down at the garden shed border, the Alchemilla (lady’s mantle) so very much needs deadheading, but we are about to run out of daylight so we just do not have time.
I love following the journey, even more so now that I’ve visited many of these gardens myself!
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