8 April: too cold!

Friday, 8 April 2016

From almost 83 degrees yesterday, our weather plunged to a chilly 50 degrees with a 25 mile an hour icy cold north wind.  I would have welcomed back the heat that I had complained about yesterday, because even with warm clothes and winter scarf, I was chilled to the bone and pushed around by the wind.

Ilwaco

My favourite tulip, ‘Green Wave’, at the Ilwaco post office

I had remembered to soak some sweet peas and planted them at the Ilwaco post office.  We then deadheaded at the port office because there will be a preview of the Saturday Market tomorrow along Waterfront Way.  The little port office garden needed some mulch, so we zipped home, got some, and drove down Waterfront Way to deliver it (because we are special; only port workers and Saturday market vendors get to drive here).

Waterfront Way

port office garden

mulched

our view

got a hug and some dark chocolate kisses from artist Don Nisbett, whose gallery is next door to the port office 

Last night at about 1 AM, I saw this on Facebook:

one of our planters, GONE

We checked on the location.  It was all cleaned up.  We tracked the pile of soil down at the Ilwaco City Works yard and rescued the valuable soil, two buckets worth, some bulbs, and some bit of the concrete planter for memorial garden edging at home.

Dag nab hit and run drivers!

One less planter to admire, plant, and water, because the city does not really have the budget to replace it.  The planters cost a couple hundred dollars, I’ve been told.

The Depot Restaurant

We deadheaded and weeded.

Tulip ‘Virichic’

a delicately rimmed narcissi

The Anchorage Cottages

north wall garden

Narcissus ‘Thalia’

We now know these cottages were moved here from Fort Canby after WWII.

Center courtyard: The annoying wild scilla looks great right now.

Tulip ‘Strong Gold’ and Hebe ‘Quicksilver’

Narcissi

by the office

foreground: a pot of ‘Green Star’ tulips all broken off but one.  What happened here?

Tulip ‘Green Wave’ coming on

Long Beach

I had been looking forward to a day of tidying parks and planters.

By Veterans Field: the big frying pan awaits Saturday’s Clam Festival.  (Allan’s photo)

We got warm coffee drinks at the Great Escape Drive Through Espresso (Allan’s photo). The barista says sometimes the crosswind will blow coffee right out of her pitcher .

The wind made work kind of miserable.  I left Allan to weed Fifth Street Park and made the rounds of two blocks of planters and street tree gardens.

golden marjoram and a geranium, by the frozen yogurt shop

Cerinthe major purpurascens

note to self: that rhododenron looks sickly (left); must be pruned

street tree garden

Carousel, Tulip ‘Strong Gold’, Narcissi ‘Baby Moon’ (blooming three weeks early than it should)

Tulip ‘Orange Princess’

Asphodeline ‘Lutea’, how I love thee.

Narcissus ‘Baby Moon’

Muscari ‘Plumosum’

Tulip ‘Rococo’…and some picked tulips.

Fifth Street Park, still rather drab

With Fifth Street Park done, Allan and I went to look at the north parking lot berm.  I had thought of weeding it today, but we found so many cars parked by it that we couldn’t do it, so we went on to Coulter Park (also on the list for today, as there will be a mermaid event in the building there for this weekend’s clam festival).

Coulter Park: I left Allan working and went on to check two more blocks of planters.

Who pruned this tree by Dennis Co?  I want to cut off the ugly stubs.

Tulip ‘Formosa’..used to bloom in early to mid May.

another gorgeous Narcissus

essence of spring

City Hall

just stunning how these hosta shoots start out purple

I popped quickly into my favourite shop. NIVA green, for some photos for its Facebook page.

in NIVA green

tin lamps by proprietor/artist Heather Ramsay

green tulips in the planter by NIVA green

As I patrolled the town, I learned from a source (second hand) that the horrid shopkeeper who was so awful a few days ago has been told by the powers that be that the flowers in the planters are NOT to be picked.  Shopkeeper’s response was that s/he pays taxes and so has every right to pick the flowers, and shopkeeper was told that the taxes do NOT work that way.  I am deeply appreciative of the Powers that Be for backing me up in this.

On the way back to Allan, I weeded the circular bed in the front of Coulter Park, and found to my delight that Allan had finished the back of the park.  He thinks, so correctly, that the roses on the weedy salmonberry infested side should be replaced with something non thorny because it is such a bugger to weed around them.  City crew is too busy rebuilding a ball field to bug them about this, but I hope eventually we can get this area cleared and replant it.

before (Allan’s photo)

birdsfoot trefoil around the roses (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Coulter Park azalea (Allan’s photo)

sword fern, before (Allan’s photos)

and after

Coulter Park after

Coulter Park

We ended the workday with a trip to the north parking lot garden, where the project became a quick removal of large blackberries because I could not stand one more minute of cold wind.

cold wind from near the berm (Allan’s photo)

TOO COLD to continue; the rest can wait for next week or better weather.

We dumped the debris and bailed out of work.

Coulter Park: done and erased!  All sweet peas gardens planted.

I will be thrilled if we can get “berms” erased before the board fills up again for annuals planting time (coming in about three weeks).

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 72):

April 8: The GE repairman came and said the dishwasher motor is shot.  I’ll not be in a hurry to buy a new one.  I spent several hours transplanting tomato seedlings into individual pots.  Put the flea stuff on Tabby.

1998 (age 73):

April 8:  11:00-4:45  Ron the tiller man stopped by to see if I can leave the leaves, twigs, etc to be tilled into the soil.  It was too deep so I spent the rest of the afternoon picking all that stuff and piling it on top of the old compost box which means I won’t be able to sieve that soil for baskets, etc.  When I stopped at 4:45 I was so tired I went to bed till 7:00.