28 May: to the north and back

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

We begin with our compost bucket switch at Olde Towne Café. I had a very quick sit down with Luanne and Bonnie.

It looks like I am actually having coffee; this sit down only lasted about three minutes!

Allan thought this spent Oriental poppy in one of Luanne’s planters looked like a hat with a veil.

Long Beach

In Long Beach, we stopped to deadhead the cosmos in the Veteran’s Field garden….

and Allan took some very nice pics of our red white and blue colour scheme (NOT red geraniums, blue lobelia, and white petunias!).

viola, alyssum, Salvia ‘May Night’, Geum, blue oat grass, Berberis ‘Crimson Pygmy’

violas and alyssum and dianthus

Vet Field planter with cosmos, Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ and viola

Anchorage Cottages

We did what I have been meaning to do for some time: cut down the stinky Viburnums near the office. There was no way to cut them nicely and prettily at this time of year, so we cut them RIGHT to the ground!

Viburnum at Anchorage Cottages, blooming in March of 2013

today: a decisive move!

This time I swear I will not let them get away from me and will keep them cut low. They had gotten to more than the height of the bottom of the windowboxes. In the rain, the viburnums stink terribly.

A few green sprouts soften the blow.

a decisive measure!

center courtyard; still did not have time to pull the scilla foliage

the other bed near the office with a Canadian Explorer rose, and Ceanothus and Barberry, with drifts of Geranium ‘A T Johnson’ allowed to take over underneath (and catmint on the edge)

Nurseries

We then had a round of shopping to get some plants for Jo.

some Cosmos and an Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ at the Planter Box

a blue hyssop at The Basket Case

I also bought some more trailies for the Anchorage window boxes. While I looked at a plant availability list for the next plant shipment, Allan took the viburnum debris to dump at Peninsula Landscape Supply just a few blocks up Sandridge Road.

Peninsula Landscape Supply

When he returned to the Basket Case, we saw a bald eagle way up in a snag. That’s why the tiniest poodle is not allowed to run around the yard!

his eye on the poodle

Klipsan Beach Cottages

On up the Peninsula we drove to Klipsan Beach Cottages.

the rhodo by where we park

 

a stunning variation on pinky-whites

The honeysuckle that Allan pruned last week looks very fine.

Mary’s special plant from Far Reaches Farm

Callistemon. I am envious. It likes this warm wall.

rainy day rose

The drizzly rain meant we would not have to water the Ilwaco planters till Saturday! We therefore did not mind it at all. It will have kept the Long Beach planters wet, as well. (The planters do need watering even after rain if they have dried out, but they have not had a chance to dry out since we last watered them.)

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’

I wish I’d remember to buy myself this glorious rose.

Dianthus ‘Charles Musgrave’

close up, another plant I wish to re-acquire for myself. Must remember to snag a little piece!

alliums

more roses

the first tall lilies

Asiatic lilies

The cardiocrinum bud. Snails have gotten all the leaves; I hope the flower blooms before the snails get it, too!

view from the garden to the ocean view cottages

about an hour’s worth of debris

through one of the gates, as we are on our way out.

Wiegardt Studio and Gallery

I had a mission in mind at the Wiegardt Gallery: to just put an edge, with the half moon edger, on the curve of the entry garden.

before

I found it difficult to drive the edger through parts of the lawn edge and much bad language ensued.  Just after I finally got to the end of the cutting part of the job, Eric emerged! I had thought no one was there.  Fortunately, he had been in his upstairs north facing studio and had not heard my conversation with the edger.  (Allan had had to listen as he was working along behind me pulling up the strip of sod.)

Eric said that putting an edge on the garden was like putting a frame on a painting.

after

the handsome old house

allium assortment

I got more ambitious than I had planned…

and edged the whole front garden.

Allium schubertii: Eric thinks they look like sputniks.

I held up the water gauge to show the allium’s enormous size.

The west side wall garden (below) really needs help.  I added the Ilex ‘Sky Pencil’ and it is still rather dull.  Years ago, there were two Lavatera ‘Barnsley’, back when the house was pink, and before Lavateras started to not do as well here on the Peninsula.  Then there was an Escallonia at each end; I seem to recall Eric thought they were too big, so we cut them down.  It needs some way to anchor the garden to the tall building.

west side, so blah, hope Todd can figure out a solution! 😉

The west side does have a good feature right now:  lots of Allium bulgaricum, (syn. Nectroscordum siculum).  Allan noticed all the bees going into the tubular flowers and got some photos:

I simply could not pick just one, as all the bees are so fat and adorable.

Ilwaco

We ended our workday back south in Ilwaco, checking all the Ilwaco planters to make sure the new plants are doing ok and don’t yet need watering.  (They don’t because of considerable rain.)

just south of the planter blocks, the boatyard garden

We assessed the planter situation and decided several more of the old Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ need to be replaced.  They get sad, old and woody after a couple years.  Oh goodie, another plant shopping session on Thursday!