Friday, 31 July 2015
Even though I’m sure it seems dull to many, I find days off without leaving my home and garden to be idyllic.
I spent Friday planting some of the ladies in waiting and here I present the plants and tags for my own information and the amusement of other CPNs (certified plant nuts). Before I got tucked into the task, CPN (and chef) Ann from Portland came over with her spouse, John, and a delivery of some ‘Xera Cobalt’ Agapanthus from Xera Plants. (CPN=Certified Plant Nut.)
Her father, Frank W. Amato, publishes Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine and the Flyfishing and Tying Journal so Ann took a photo of the boats on the street scene for him.
That daylily at the front got dug out. It has been pouting and drooping all year and was given every chance to improve.
Because the Xera tag had the word “containers”, I decided that’s where it would go.
Meanwhile, Allan worked on a project.
I planted some of my new Agastaches (an obsession) in the front garden.
I think the tags might be boring to some; I have heard that Steve likes to read them, so at least one reader does.
I find Agastache difficult to say. I knew it was not Aga-stash, but for a long time I was saying it like I was aghast about something. . Here’s a good article about them (including various pronunciations, one of which does say “Aghast!”). Here is Agastache pronounced by Emma.
Later: I got the definitive pronunciation from garden writer Bob Nold, and am aGHAST that I have been pronouncing it per Emma for a few months:
Thanks, Bob, as it is obsessively important to me to try to pronounce plant names correctly.
Saturday, 1 August 2015
There are all sorts of big projects in the garden that I could/should be doing. Other than planting, I am low on energy for things like digging out sod to make gravel paths.
On Saturday, I actually left the property to walk down to the Portside Café to meet Our Kathleen for lunch; she was down for her semi-monthly visit. It has taken us this long, what with garden tours and events, to find time to try out the Portside with new owners Debbie and Lauri. I strolled west down the meander line from the back of my garden to the café.
Portside Café
Allan at work
As we dined, we saw Allan drive past with the water trailer; he had to water the Ilwaco planters. He’d need to quit that job to have true three day weekends in summer.
Ilwaco Saturday Market
I had assumed, since we had dined at one, that Kathleen would have already been to the Saturday Market. She had not, so I walked most of the length of the market with her.
I petted the darling pig, and she wagged her tail. And as she walked along, when something amused her, she again wagged her tail like a happy dog. Allan had been to the market on his own and had also seen the pig.
at home
I frittered the late afternoon and evening away with garden blogging, as I was still catching up on garden tour posts from Music in the Gardens.
Sunday, 2 August 2015
On the next day, a cold strong wind blew and I did not set foot out of the house except for a half an hour of bundled up plant watering. I occupied myself with photo sorting and finishing the Music in the Gardens tour blog entries. The cats appreciate a day like that.
Allan took a boating trip on Sunday. It did not work out quite as he had planned, as the person he had arranged to go with canceled after he had arrived at her house. My editorial comment: I did not like that, as he had gotten up extra early (for us). However, he was resourceful and he regrouped and went out on his own on the other side of the bay. I am going to make that a bonus post for tonight so that this one is not too ridiculously long.
Even after a boating trip, Allan managed to weed and water the Ilwaco Community Building garden, a job to which he has dedicated himself once a week.
I DO love reading the plant tags–keep ’em coming. And I had no idea about the pronunciation of agastache. Now it’s a much more fun plant. I get your obsession!
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Hope you saw the update that per Bob Nold, it is AGAStache, and why!
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That looks like a market that I would like to visit.
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When I first started liking agastache, I researched the pronunciation because after the time early in my gardening life when I was just getting serious about it and embarrassed myself by asking for a cotton easter, I decided I would never do that again.
Other than that, loving all the new-to-me plants and it is clear how long it has been since I’ve been out to a nursery or read up on new introductions. And lastly, I confess, I have a serious case of agapanthus envy.
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Cotton Easter is the classic beginner mistake!
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