9 October, 2013: north end jobs
I don’t know when I switched to the writing “Oct 9” instead of “9 Oct”. As a longtime Anglophile, it is time I get back the the Anglo/European date style even if it looks odd to some.
After an inspirational tour of Lisa’s new garden, we went on to three north end jobs, with a stop at Peninsula Landscape Supply to pick up three more buckets of river rock for the Larry and Robert garden.
At Eric Wiegardt’s gallery, I pulled some cranesbill geraniums and weeds here and there while Allan cleared an area that was ALL pesky cranesbill ‘A.T. Johnson’ and just a bit of ajuga, leaving…just a bit of ajuga.
The geranium is especially pointless in this garden because deer eat off the haze of insipid pale pink flowers.
Next, we drove north to Marilyn’s garden. Something odd had happened on the south end of the garden. A path, like something had been dragged, went through to the next yard and a Barberry ‘Helmond’s Pillar’ was knocked right over! Allan righted it again while I pulled some spent Cosmos and painted sage.
On the way back to Ocean Park, we stopped and had a look at a rental possibility for our friend J9, who hopes to move back to the Peninsula. Perhaps the block we looked at is not for her…
Onward to Klipsan Beach Cottages for more fall cleanup. I personally would choose to leave Thalictrum ‘Elin’ (below, left) up all winter. I love the colour of the stems and the structure. I have come to realize that not everyone sees the architectural beauty in dormant plants, so I cut it back.
Allan cut down some ferns and I pruned a buddleia and while I did some other work, Allan cut down a whole passel of Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ behind the bench.
I worked in the area to the south of the greenhouse (just east of the bench spot), tying up some flopped Melianthus major and Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’, weeding and pulling out dead-ish foliage.
This area has two different Melianthus and a lovely rose (not blooming today). It used to be all raspberries.
The garden still has much beauty to offer.
I hope guests can see the beauty in the tawny stalks of Artemisia ‘Guizhou’, because i am not ready to let it go.
On the way to Marilyn’s garden, the van had started to make an odd noise…a grinding sound. All the way from Marilyn’s to Klipsan Beach Cottages, Allan was listening and trying to diagnose it. It seemed to be coming from the undercarriage. When I would ask for his theories or how serious it might be, I was admonished to “Listen!” Leaving KBC, more listening ensued and some slight speeding up, slowing down, and brake work. Could it be a brake shoe? The universal joint? I questioned whether we might have to take it into the shop, and if so, when, and would we be able to get across the river to pick up our lawnmower from the Astoria repair shop (without realizing my ultimate fear of breaking down on the bridge), and did the Saturn still work? (The Saturn shifter is getting stiffer and more problematic.) These questions were spread out over seventeen miles, but…”Listen!” One thought crossed my mind…could it be as simple as a…but…”LISTEN!” I thought to myself about what a difficulty it would be to take the van in for repair, and wondered again if it could be as simple as a br…. “LISTEN!”
When we stopped in front of Larry and Robert’s house to drop off the river rock buckets, Allan looked underneath the van. He popped back up and suggested I do the same. There indeed was a BR…ANCH! caught in the spare tire which (kind of oddly) is located underneath the vehicle.
In our own driveway half a block away, Allan obligingly got a better photo.
I hope this was the cause of all our van trouble today.
I had just enough daylight to drag most of Sunday’s debris to the new debris pile.
Sometimes, WordPress informs me, readers will have to view an ad at the bottom of a post (unless I pony up for a more expensive blog). So here’s one of my choice. Water Music Festival is this weekend and is the event for which Music in the Gardens tour is a fundraiser. Both benefit music programs in the schools. We hear the Saturday evening concert is sold out, but the other two performances will be excellent and as I post this, seating is still available for those shows.
That your passion lies in Gardening is so apparent from the lovely pictures you have posted. As you think of this passion what is it truly about the garden work that inspires?
Shakti
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I, for one, count myself with you in seeing the “architectural beauty in dormant plants” 🙂
Surely hoping you got to the “root” of the problem with the van!
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I love dormant plants too. I’m going to have to look up that Thalictrum ‘Elin,’ those stems are beautiful. I once ran over a piece of tape which stuck to my tire and flapped all the way home.
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That sedum was looking really good.
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