15 May: home planting and project

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Again, I lost sleep over the Job in Jeopardy.  These nights of five hours or less of sleep are wearing me down.  I had remembered that one of the old women at the place had asked to borrow our three tiered light table, and we had brought it to her on loan last year, and she uses it for African violets and plant starts, and if we no longer have the job we will have to take it away.  I plan to try to grow seedlings with it when I retire.  I researched how much a new one would cost…over $600 so I can’t just give it away.   I feel bad to maybe have to take it away from her.

As I write this three days later, that situation is resolved, but I will stick to the narrative flow and save the denouement for the proper day.

Although we had work we could have done, like finishing the last bit of the last parking lot berm in Long Beach, I took the day off to plant my own cosmos, and Allan to work on his new arbor.

A drizzle greeted me when I went out the back door.  I thought of the overdue library book that looked like it was mostly photos, and went back in and sat down to read it.

Smokey liked that idea.

I heard Thomas Rainier speak on this subject at last year’s Hardy Plant Weekend.

I thought to myself that people who understand interesting plantings might not even be able to see this beautiful plant community as something other than messy:

Native plantscapes go back to weeds unless something “an awful lot like gardening” is applied:

Nature is tough, tenacious, and buoyant and it is never too late. -Thomas Rainier

This speaks to me of the Job in Jeopardy:

Below: Brilliance! Why do I not plant chives at the port?  I will now!

Chives: so plentiful, I can get starts for free for the curbside beds!

Sadly, I realized there was a great deal of well written text in the book so I had to give it up and return it to the library or I would not get my cosmos in the ground today.  I will re order it.

Smokey squirmed and fought being removed from the Reading Lap.

Allan had dug a deep hole to sink to arbor posts.  He found the water table about the length of an entire post hole digger deep.

I got my cosmos all planted, and any other strays of mine, and took a walk round to admire the garden.

We had had this much glorious rain.

looking south from the patio

cosmos in the garden boat

Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (blue potato vine)

Maxine’s white rose (from a cutting from the garden of our first gardening client, Maxine Daly, Jo’s mom)

east bed

middle bed

I chopped the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ but did not clean it up.  Shearing will make it chubbier.

Rosa glauca managing to emerge from the river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Rose ‘Radway Sunrise’

Todd knows the name of this little iris. I don’t without a lot of research.

my plan for tomorrow: weed this

and this

probably won’t have time for this

‘Night Owl’ rose. If I could get up earlier, I might get all three weedy beds done.

Planting at work awaits but I need one more day off.

I felt very irked looking at these cosmos that are awaiting word about the Job in Jeopardy.

the remaining work list

By the end of the day, I was able to cross “HERE” off the cosmos list.  I also was well chuffed with myself for managing to put fish fertilizer on ALL my container plants, inspired by Melissa doing so regularly for the containers at The Oysterville Garden.

almost sunset

At almost sunset, Allan raised the last beam for the new arbour…a long one of two boards spliced together.

first beam going up (Allan’s photo)

first beam (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo: He did remember to take the sign down before the beam covered it.

second beam

out the front gate because too long for a sharp turn in the garden

loop attached to the ladder

raising one corner

and the other corner

At this point, I had to go in and do half month billing for some jobs.

1997 (age 73):

May 15: Started planting spring bulbs.  Put 4 o’clocks in UDFB [Upper Driveway Flower Bed] along RR ties; lilies in front of white rhody; giant cannas in PRFG-W [Patio Right Flower Bed West??].  Pulled a lot of sweet woodruff in front to make room for dahlias.  Planted crocosmia and something else in PRFB-W in front of giant cannas.

1998 (age 74):

May 15: Still cold and rainy so I worked in kitchen planting seeds.