4 April: parking lot garden, day one

Before we begin, let me remind you of an event happening on Saturday April 11, of particular interest to vegetable gardeners:

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Saturday, 4 April 2015

We had a plan to start weeding the so-called berms—the parking lot gardens in Long Beach.  Several other things had to come first, most especially a trip to ….

The Basket Case Greenhouse

….as they had just gotten in their first big perennial order of the season from Blooming Nursery.  Let me recommend a few of the most awesome plants now available (although since I am publishing six days late, some might be sold out, especially if I have gotten back there again!)

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’; the foliage tends to revert to green so I plant it anew every year. The flowers are gorgeous whatever the foliage colour is.

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ in early summer

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ after it has coloured up into blue

Erysimum, three kinds. This is ‘Apricot Twist’. In front is ‘Winter Orchid’ which is stunning right now in my garden from one I planted last year.

On the east wall of the Red Barn last year: Erysimum ‘Winter Orchid’

I bought two of the golden “Lemon Fizz’ santolina after taking this photo. A great perennial for the beach.

two kinds of pineapple sage: to the right is “Golden Delicious’

My good friends Shadow and Walter

Allan’s photo: Shadow

Allan’s photo: the greeters

Allan’s photo

There is also a good selection of assorted Agastaches (hyssops), one of my favourite perennials.

Agastache ‘Summer Glow’

an Agastache. I like spikes.

[Edited to add that by 7-9-15 I had bought all the Cotton Candy and Summer Glow Agastaches (hyssop) but some other colours remain.]

Enough rhapsodizing about Basket Case plants!  We next had a small planting mission at

The Anchorage Cottages

where I had recently noticed an empty-ish large planter.

Chamaecyparis trees by the road at The Anchorage

I bet those trees were chosen by Dan Hinkley, because his sister in law used to own the Anchorage, and he and his spouse, Robert Jones, designed and planted part or all of the Anchorage garden, or so I was told years ago.

This container with Tulip ‘Angelique’ got some ‘Bowles Black’ violas from the Basket Case.

And this big container got a pink Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’.

Camassia in the entry garden near the office

There were lots of little children running around, and I wondered if that explained the small tragedy by the center courtyard:

bearded iris broken before it could bloom

Allan’s photo

[Edited to add:  I later learned that a company, who shall be unnamed, who came to perform a task, dragged some of their gear through here and whacked off those irises.  The childrens’ reputation was redeemed.]

Leaving the Anchorage, we headed to Long Beach town…but when I checked my phone, I saw that I had a voicemail from Fred at The Basket Case.  I knew immediately what had happened…some plants had surely been left behind.  Remember that photo above of me with the greeting committee? When  Allan took it, he was standing right over the flat of plants in question, and that is all I will say about that.  So back we went…

Basket Case, again

I took a photo of the arbour of glorious pink Clematis montana…another plant that they carry for sale.

The plants that had been left behind had been placed on this ladder. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

This leaving behind sort of thing happens at least once a year, and it might be a good thing it happened on the first big day.  I am reminded to keep my mind sharp while I am there.

Long Beach

We began by planting in the Veterans Field garden three each of white Gauras ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and ‘So White’, another plant that is excellent and available at the Basket Case.  [Edited to add:  It was, till I bought them all, but surely Fred will order more.  Some of the pink foliage variety of Gaura is available at The Planter Box.] Two Phygelius ‘Cherry Red’ replaced the two tatty blue oat grasses that I hoiked out of the curved Vet field bed a few weeks ago.

Gaura last summer; Allan planted three in the new garden on the other side of Veterans Field and three more in the curved bed by the flag pavilion.

The weather had become so miserably cold, with a whipping icy wind, and the sky to the west was so dark that I said that, as soon as the plants were in, we would abort our work day and go home till dinnertime.

Allan’s photo of the flag pavilion…BRRRR!

While Allan did the planting, I walked over to deadhead some spent narcissi that I’d noticed in a planter on the main street and used the opportunity to check on the four barrels in Fish Alley.

I was glad I checked Fish Alley because I found a huge dandelion in one of the barrels.

and the center plants had died…

and some edge plants were gone and the soil was low.

I am quite sure that people help themselves to the “hens and chickens” that we have planted in these barrels. It would be thoughtful if they did not take them ALL!!!   We want to go as drought tolerant as possible here because we have to bucket water these barrels and it is a longish slog.

It is a long walk with two buckets of water to get to the westernmost barrels.

I deadheaded and weeded the planter by Campiche Gallery at the stoplight…

Tulip ‘Formosa’ in that planter…

And then walked back to join Allan.  Still thinking we would go home soon, I decided to pop a pink-leaved Gaura (from The Planter Box) into the planter across from the police station; one of two had died over the winter, and I like a matched set.  Some pleasant tourists were admiring and photographing all the tulips.

They especially liked these Tulip ‘Akebono’, and so do I.

We still thought the weather miserable enough to go home.  We had one indoor errand to run first.  Heather Ramsay of NIVA green had a book to lend to Allan:  River Horse by William Least Heat Moon.  I took the opportunity to top up my stash of photos for the NIVA green Facebook page.

NIVA green

a cool whirly light

beachy tea towels embroidered by local artisan Shellie Thomas

beach in a box

and a chance to buy a sympathy card for Susie and Bill, whose beloved cat Spanky had died a couple of days ago.

As we walked back to Veterans Field, we noticed that the wind had died down and the sky had turned blue to the west.  So we set up to weed the north parking lot garden, our main mission of the day.  The city crew and we call them “berms” even though, because they are level, they are not berms.  I will now regale you with our befores and afters.

before

before

after

before

after

Allan’s before

and after

I added some seeds of red poppies to the sunnier bare areas.

after

many buckets filled

We did not get the whole north berm done and hoped to have good enough weather to return on the next day.

After dumping our debris, we met Kathleen at the new Thai restaurant.  Dinner at 5:30 meant that we stopped work earlier than we might have otherwise.  The town was so full of tourists that we wanted to beat a potential dinner rush, and a rapidly dropping air temperature meant we were happy enough to quit early.

in the restaurant: Allan’s photo

The fresh rolls were crispy, tasty and beautiful.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

a salmon salad delicate and light…

Allan’s photo

yellow curry for Allan

Pad Thai for Kathleen was not quite as al dente as we all prefer.

The food tasted just fine and yet it lacked the intense spice and the four flavours that I associate with Thai food.  In the words of wikipedia:  “Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. It is known for its complex interplay of at least three and up to four or five fundamental taste senses in each dish or the overall meal: sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy.”   The names of menu items at the new restaurant’s menu were mostly Americanized and we felt that the spiciness had been toned down to appeal to everyone.  For people who usually find Thai food too spicy, these preparations would be ideal.

Our discussion beyond Thai spices was of books, and Kathleen recommended several that are now on my to-read list:

Lies my Teacher Taught Me

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919

The White Cascade

The Care and Management of Lies

The Language of Houses

My book list is laughably long.  I need more reading days.

Since The Care and Management of Lies is about WWI in the UK, I recommended the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, and in fact Kathleen picked it up from me to borrow the very next day on her way back to her workaday world up north.

home

At home, I remembered to photograph my Akebia that is right by where we park, in full fragrant chocolatey bloom.

Akebia quinata

front garden path

Tulips and Anthriscus ‘Ravenswing’

I spent the evening blogging about my lovely reading yesterday, which I am so glad I took, as tomorrow we hope to finish weeding the “berms”.