12 June: Long Beach and Ilwaco

Friday, 12 June 2015

at home

right next to my new table

my new breakfasting view, to the north

and east; breakfast is much more scenic now.

and then…off to work.

The Depot Restaurant

While weeding and watering, I contemplated that not much of anything exciting is going on yet in the Depot garden.

The cosmos took a battering from the wind.

The new Sanguisorba ‘Dali Marble’ was distressingly thirsty. (We have to hose water this new area.)

At least the Basket Case Greenhouse annuals are exciting.

Nancy Aust does these plantings.

planted by Basket Case Nancy

Long Beach

In Long Beach, we skipped the welcome sign because we did not have time for it today, and went straight to Fish Alley to re-do the four whiskey barrels.  I headed over to Veterans Field to check on the gardens before the Columbia Pacific Farmers Market opening day and then rejoined Allan in the Fish Alley.

The market vendors setting up.

Allan took a series of photos of the Fish Alley project:

before, the kicked-apart old wooden barrel

plants in new (smaller) barrel

I am not sure if all the plants are going to thrive on this transplant.  Those that look peaky by next week will be replaced.

before

After: The Gaura ‘So White’ did not look happy to be moved.

When all that remained was clean up, I left to start watering the planters.  The clean up was not easy as each old whiskey barrel was one third full of river rock (a surprise to both me and Allan) that had to be shifted into buckets.  Allan watered the street tree pocket gardens when he had Fish Alley all tidy again.

Cerinthe major purpurascens in planter by Gazebo Park

city crew member repainting the seahorse

I love to see tourists posing in the Long Beach frying pan (my photos taken from across the street while watering).

“Go like this!”

pink Oenothera and California poppies, a complementary combo

close up, Oenother and poppies

When I attended a life-changing lecture by Ann Lovejoy in 1998, she used the botanical name Oenothera, but then said “just ask for an evening primrose, the pink one!”.  When I heard Ee-nothera, I never would have guessed it started with an 0.

in the same planter

Fifth Street Park got a quick checkup.

Due some misunderstanding about who was watering what, I got done with the planters and there were still eight trees to water.  I tried, and did manage to successfully water two out of the four I attempted.  I am simply terrible at hooking the hose up to the tree connections.  If not for Allan, those pocket gardens would simply dry up.  Despite delays, I was thrilled that we got done in time to do our weekly session at…

The Anchorage Cottages

north wall shade bed at the Anchorage

Center courtyard

New Dawn rose

Good from every angle right now.

Ilwaco

Allan left me at the boatyard to weed and water and took off to get the water trailer and make the rounds of the street trees and planters.

One of the planters had a…present?? for us.

Allan’s photo

new paint jov (white trim instead of blue and purple) on the Portside Café

The owners of the Portside told us this morning (at the post office) that the planter outside has been messed with lately, by a human or perhaps by a stray cat.  They take extra good care, watering and fertilizing and weeding this planter so it is one of the happiest.

It looks a bit disheveled. I see Allan’s shadow.

I’m glad the café is still yellow, as I chose plants to match.

I got four buckets of horse tail and dandelions and so on out of the Ilwaco boatyard and could have gotten much much more had I more time.

Was this a theft attempt or did the north wind knock this fennel over?  Looks like someone tried to dig it out.

evening shadows

ceanothus and California poppies

shows about one fourth of the garden

blue globe thistle

When time came to water, a struggle ensued as the faucets to the north side of the gate had either hoses running up into boats…

I can’t get at that hose!

Or no hoses at all…

Usually there are more old hoses kicking around.

I watered the south stretch with the big hose that is always there for washing boats, and looked in despair at having to drag it to the north end.  I thought about The Deadliest Catch and what the Bering Sea crab fishermen would think about my whinging to myself, “I have to drag this hose a whole block, and my thumb is cold from making the water spray, WAHHH!”  Call the WAHmbulance.

Allan returned, helped me drag the hoses, and left again to water the Time Enough Books garden.  He rejoined me at the boatyard as I was finishing up the watering.

Allan’s photo: We water from the inside of the fence.

It was 8 PM.

Miss Claudia, a big metal boat

Miss Claudia from the side

He dropped me off at home and went to water one more place: the Ilwaco post office:

Ilwaco post office at dusk.

At home, the Hymenocallus (Peruvian daffodil) looked so good with even more flowers open that I must share:

from the back

Peruvian daffodil

looking down…I was too tired to move the hose.

front porch basket with Callie ‘Lemon Slice’, being clambered on by Dicentra scandens (bleeding heart vine, left, now called Lamprocapnos, I am sorry to say)

Now: two days off!  I MUST get most if not all of my ladies in waiting into the ground.

Bonus book report:

read it, loved it

my favourite passage