Saturday, 6 June 2015
My weekend was not shaping up to be all about the planting of the ladies in waiting. I could not plant any in the shade gardens because of the potential wind fall of tree branches. With the expectation of company, and some concern that wind might cancel the afternoon hours of the Saturday Market, I walked down to the port at mid morning to get a Pink Poppy treat. Checking on the curbside garden by the Bruce Peterson photography gallery, I found it was dry, learned from Wendi P. where the hose is, watered, pulled a few handful of weeds….THEN on to the market.
I also encountered Our Kathleen by the same booth. It is a popular stop. Kathleen and I firmed up our plans for dinner.Coming home, I thought our ceanothus looked grand from our neighbours’ yard (Jared and Jessika who own Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm).
In the a couple of hours before guests arrived, I managed to get almost all the stray pots picked up from the patio, the one place out of the north wind as it is tucked against the south side of the house. The north wind, common in summer, is rarely as powerful as it has been for the last three days. Because of its drying effect, Allan had gone out to water the Ilwaco planters with the water trailer. I even got a few weeds pulled before I heard voices. Portland garden writers Ann and Kate emerged from Ann’s sea-foam green Fiat with their hair flying in the wind. After walking around the non-treed parts of the garden (because, sadly, it was too windily dangerous to show them the paths, swale, and fairy doors in the bogsy woods), we settled by the patio table with a lime bundt cake from Pink Poppy Bakery, acquired fresh from the market two hours before. When I began to pull some weeds around the base of my chair, Kate, a professional gardener, could not stop herself from weeding the patio near where she sat.Let me name drop a bit by telling you that she wrote some of the entries for the amazing Flora plant encyclopedia; my battered copy of the two volume set has been much perused.
Allan joined us at last with a tale of watering difficulties: At the Ilwaco city works yard, he had found the water trailer completely boxed in, and had had to come home to get the work trailer and buckets to water 27 planters and 12 street trees, with about 900 pounds of water to lift. (I should have noticed that the trailer was not in front of the house when I returned from the market.) Allan added to our patio party when he brought out another treat: some Starvation Alley organic cranberry juice concentrate and some tonic water.Then came more photo taking time. You may see some of the photos on Ann’s blog.
It occurred to me that Kate and Ann might want to join us for dinner, so to my delight we changed our reservation at the Depot from two people (me and Kathleen) to five people. I knew that Kathleen would enjoy their sympatico company. We would have to bundle up and sit on the outdoor dining deck (which does have propane heaters).I hope that all our readers like food photos. Here we go:
As we finished our repast, Ann suggested we walk one block west to the Sou’wester Lodge to see the evening music performance. I had put “Gerle Haggard” on my calendar, and then had decided I didn’t have the energy, as I have on every Sou’wester musical evening since work season began. Now inspired by our friends, we decided to all go. Merle Haggard (“All Girl, All Merle”) was so excellent and I was so delighted to be there that I resolved to stop skipping musical evenings in favour of après-gardening collapse.
T’was indeed a great afternoon and evening. Thank you for everything — sharing stories of life as professional horticulturists, the beautiful garden setting, and the delish cake and cran spritzers. You live in a great community — I can’t wait to return.
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We look forward to future visits.
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Happy gardeners, live music, and yummy food – what’s not to like? Thanks for a great tour!
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I love food photos especially from the Depot!
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Good to hear, because some people make fun of people photographing their dinners 😉
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I am sorry about the wind. It is hard to escape from it.
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Nice to see all the smiles and also your beautiful garden.
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Thank you!
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Looks like a fantastic time was had by all 😀
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What a beautiful garden!! I love it! full of colour! I loved seeing the pictures of you, Alan, Kate and Ann, and remembering it was almost a year ago when I met you all!
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Thanks, Lisa. Wish you could have joined us.
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