Saturday, 16 July 2016
After a gloriously satisfying garden tour day, we spent a couple of hours in Aberdeen before the hour and a half drive home. We parked at this intersection to go to our first destination.
We visited the garden store which had been one of the ticket sellers for the tour. I was smitten with the Dramm sprinklers. The clerk told us how the works are different from other sprinklers and make them last indefinitely instead of the usual breaking down after a year. (Allan remembers exactly what was said and may fill in here.) I imagined how much better these colourful sprinklers would look on our sprinkler posts, but even on sale they were about $30 each and I felt I could only afford one. Can you guess which colour I picked? Marshall’s would be a worthwhile detour if we still went to Seattle sometimes. Next, we explored Sucher and Sons Star Wars Shop. The mural on the side of the building is what had brought our attention to the shop when we had visited Aberdeen in March for a medical appointment. I searched Trip Advisor for a place to eat and found a well-reviewed Salvadoran restaurant. (A lunch spot in Cosmopolis, called Luna Rana, had been recommended to us by one of the Master Gardeners: “Best potato salad at any restaurant, and the sandwiches are terrific.” It closed at four so we missed out on the tater salad.) and…home again to pick up our mail at our little post office.I’m left with many thoughts about why Aberdeen appeals to me so much. It feels like a working class area without as much of a class divide as exists here at the beach. I’d like to live in a place that had so many avid gardeners but is still not a big city.
The unpretentious nature of the Aberdeen garden tour, the consistently excellent gardens, the perfect garden grooming and plant diversity, and the welcoming host of knowledgeable volunteers at each garden had given us such a good day. I look forward to next year’s tour and hope that I can encourage more gardening friends to make the drive to attend, whether it is in Aberdeen or one of its neighbouring towns.
Buried here at the bottom of this extra post, is this news: I recently removed myself as administrator of the Facebook page for the local Long Beach Peninsula garden tour because of creative differences. That is a big change in my life, at least from April through July of each year. Because creating a beautiful page had been so important to me for the past four or five years, I found an able person to pass the page on to so that I felt comfortable with the decision (rather than just abandoning it to an uncertain fate). I wish them good gardens and continued success and we will buy tickets to attend their tour on any year that it does not conflict with the Aberdeen area tour.
Never having been a believer in the “when one door closes, another always opens” theory, I was pleased that in this case it all worked out for the best with our discovery of the Aberdeen Master Gardener tour. I can honestly say that even on tours in Seattle and Portland, it is rare to experience a tour where every garden is one that I find inspirational, beautiful, and satisfying. So from a disheartening situation, a new door did open and I was glad to share in the previous seven posts the hidden gardens “behind the garden gate” that we otherwise would have missed.
Next: back to the workaday world as I long for time in my own garden (and Allan longs for time to go boating).
Really enjoyed the Aberdeen garden pics and comments! I hope I can attend next year..thank you for sharing!
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We hope to see you there. We were told that they alternate towns between Montesano, Aberdeen, Hoquiam (not in any particular order, I don’t think).
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Seems like all the plants you mention in this post have recently come into my life. I acquired a ‘Soft Touch’ Mahonia at a half price sale recently and am looking forward to finding a spot for it in the garden. I have very little shade so am limited as to where it can go. Right now it’s patiently waiting to be planted until the weather cools in October. That pile of plants is growing and needs daily watering! I acquired my first heuchera recently as well. I put it in a pot on the back porch. I’ve avoided this plant because I dislike burgundy plants, however this one has all green leaves and stems and I adore the ruffly, roundy shaped leave. I have a non-variegated Fatshedera that I’m struggling to get going in the front. I’ve long admired the variegated form too but I resist as much as possible to buy any variegated plants because I realized that these types of plants are best viewed close up rather than far away. And since the pure, blazing sunshine of the back garden is the only place to experience close up plants I don’t have any back there. The bright sunshine washes out the variegation. But I do love that plant in your photo and I’m sorry you missed that bargain! Anyway, somehow I ended up owning a life sized Yoda like the one in your photo. Mine doesn’t have a light saber and sits on a stand which elevates him to about five feet tall. He lives in my office and work and often is hauled out for displays. I’ve really enjoyed your posts about the Aberdeen tour!
Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, Ryan Gainey passed away this week. I’m pretty crushed. http://www.decaturish.com/2016/07/fatal-fire-reported-at-second-home-of-decatur-gardner-ryan-gainey/
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I just wrote on my current blog post (running ten days behind) about being devastated by Ryan Gainey’s death. I loved him from afar and am just horrified and miserable about it.
Your Yoda sounds like a great garden asset.
I moved to this garden because I wanted a big sunny garden and almost immediately was seeking shade. Turns out a double wide is so low that it doesn’t even make much shade on the north side.
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I so agree with you about Ryan. I’ve only visited his garden twice and wish I had visited it more. I was planning to do so again this year but the huge tree fell on his house so his garden wasn’t on the Atlanta Botanical Gardens mother’s day tour. His is the most inspirational garden I have ever visited. Really. I think about it often when struggling to design my own garden. I marvel on how a small, in-town lot he was able to create several distinct garden rooms. Here’s a link to some photos I took when I visited a few years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fluffyflowers/albums/72157630013628645
And when you see the Silybum marianum (milk thistle) photos realize that Rosemary Verey gave him the seeds from her own garden at Barnsley House. Must add that plant to my own garden so I can laugh when I tell folks the name!
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Ohhhhh. I wish i had gone. Did you ever see his video Creating the Romantic Garden? You can buy it on VHS on Amazon if you can find an VCR to watch it on. I so wish they would release it on DVD. So hard for him when that tree fell. Oh how I wish he had not gone into the house to save the dogs. But imagine his heartbreak if he had survived? But I want him alive. I can’t seem to shake how sad I feel.
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I heard Rosemary speak twice in Seattle. Once she stopped to chat with someone in the same row I was sitting in. I felt faint!
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I’ve never seen the video and, believe it or not, I still own a VCR. I’m going to order a copy today. Thanks for the tip! What luck for you to see and hear Rosemary Verey. Super jealous! There is a new biography out about Rosemary written by Barbara Paul Robinson. Ken Druse had a great interview with her here: http://kendruse.typepad.com/ken_drusereal_dirt/2015/11/ken-druse-real-dirt-10-19-12.html
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That book will be a must read. Please let me know what you think of the video.
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