an artist’s retreat for sale

Saturday, 25 February 2017

After peering over the fence on Thursday at a fascinating property that Our Kathleen had told me about, we got a comment on our blog from Charlene that made me feel compelled to see inside.

“I was on that property, for a gathering, and it’s more than incredible. I walked around for a couple hours and still didn’t see everything. You would come upon a garden item, and stand and look, to see what he had repurposed to make it. He would go to Boeing surplus and buy all these ordinary things and come back and make magician garden areas and displays. He is a pure inventor. I just did not want to leave! If you get a chance to visit it, go.”

So I called the realty company today and said I don’t want to buy it (even if I sort of do) but that I would love to blog about it…and the listing agent was happy to show us around. Here is the  Artist garden link and the description:

“This is so much more than 4 vacant land parcels. Enter the gates and you enter a private garden like no other. 100s of plants in containers, a grove of bamboo, mature trees and beautiful one-off gazebos and garden features. All of this is anchored by a grand pavilion made from steel and found materials in the grand style of The Rural Studio and Samuel Mockbee. The site features a private well, 2 RV cleanouts, 100 amp power, sleeping area, kitchen and bathroom, and 40′ steel storage container.”  The agent is Mark Magee at 503-860-5596.

Samuel Mockbee’s goal was providing “shelter for the soul.”  I feel that here on this property.

On Thursday, the two big gates were closed.

Today, one was open.

the road in

Meeting Mark’s dog, Ajax.

sweet Ajax

The owner collected salvage and turned it into art. Mark told us that some viewers wonder what they would do with all that “junk”.  The sort of people I know would be thrilled to have it.

Allan’s photo

 

English ivy was the only horticultural problem that I saw.

Allan’s photo

and moles…  The construction to the left had fallen apart this past winter.

now (Allan’s photo)

Here it was in happier times.

At the center of the property is a large pavilion.

south end of the pavilion

 

Here are three photos of the pavilion from the real estate listing:

a party from the past

This maybe went back to before the pavilion was covered.

In the pavilion today. The glowing end walls are made of automative floor mats.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

north of the pavilion

Allan’s photo

the north end of the pavilion

Allan’s photo

On the south back side of the property is the large storage container and all sorts of ingredients for more projects.  The entire property is fenced, tall enough to keep out deer.

Allan’s photo

storage unit and potential extra living space (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

lights (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

fence (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

east end of the property

At the east end of the large property are two joined sheds.

a breezeway in between the sheds

center breezeway

woodsy view, close to the back edge of the property

One side has a working kitchen and bathroom.

bathroom (Allan’s photo); also has a shower

and a door to the outside

The other could be the sleeping space.

If I were, say, 40, I would still have the energy to say I could so easily live in this space.  We could convert the 40 foot storage container into more housing, or bring in an RV to one of the two RV sites.  To add an actual house, manufactured or stick built, one would have to have a new septic system installed. Earlier in my life, I’d have found it easy to live with what’s there now.

the view back out to the pavilion

built on a grand and massive scale

more ingredients by the sheds (Allan’s photo)

You might have to make a few dump runs if you couldn’t figure out how to use every last thing.

Clearly, many plans were unrealized here.

Allan’s photo

I can easily imagine a delightful alternative life here.  I can’t leave my home and garden to take it on….but maybe you can?

I asked realtor Mark Magee to please let me know if he has any more listings that are amazing secret soul nurturing hideaways like this. I would love to see them and blog about them.  After all, it was my blog posts about it that brought the perfect new owner to the original Tangly Cottage.

 

Read Full Post »

26 Feb: lunch and political postcards

Saturday, 25 February 2017

We had the pleasure of lunching at Salt Pub with two regular blog readers and Facebook friends, Lizanne and Gina.

Allan’s photo

Over lunch, one topic of conversation was real estate, as I had been haunted by the idea of looking at the dreamy four-lot property up north.  Just before we ate, I arranged to do so.

view from Salt Pub

nachos

pub burger

After lunch, I returned the excellent advance copy of Radium Girls to Karla at Time Enough Books…

and after a quick stop at home to grab our postcard making kit, we joined Lizanne and Gina to prowl around the exterior of a darling house for sale in Seaview.

Lizanne, me, Gina

dreamy Seaview

Gina is of Snooter-Doots fame and is a favourite afar of our cats because she made their catnip Kitty Karrots.

tiny Seaview cottage called Shoebox Inn

We cared for the garden once a year, several years ago.

Since Allan and I were heading north to look at the enticing property for sale, we decided to join the last half hour of a post card party in progress at Naquaiya Studio in Ocean Park.

narcissi at the art studio (Allan’s photo)

  This blog is a faithful retelling of the quotidian lives of two working class gardeners, including the non gardening bits.  Some days are focused on non gardening activities, moreso lately. 

The postcard event is an offshoot of Indivisible.  Its main focus is a mass mailing of protest postcards to Preznit DT in mid March.  It may have no effect but to strengthen our resistance, and that is enough to make it worthwhile.  And the conversation among a group of fierce old woman is satisfying.  Like Lawrence O’ Donnell, we hope for impeachment, or perhaps resignation, and that he’ll take white nationalist Steve Bannon with him when he goes home to his luxurious life as a citizen.

The creative party had been going strong for 2 1/2 hours before we got there with impressive results.  I may have blurred out a word or two for those with the most delicate of sensibilities:

 

Good job, postcard artists.

I concentrated in my brief half hour on my own little idea: To send a postcard of thanks to the Associated Press, Time Magazine, and USA today for refusing to attend a press conference in which the NY Times, CNN, and other news outfits were denied entrance. Allan made three postcards, as well.

I do hope that someone at a office desk will get some pleasure and amusement from them.

Allan’s and mine

Our friend and artist Joe Patina had been leaving as we arrived.  He’d left behind a pile of vintage postcards which are much to lovely to go to DT.  I am in the process of photographing them to share on my Grandma’s Scrapbooks blog.

Now it was time to drive north and get a look inside the tall gates we had peered over on Friday.  That will be tomorrow’s post.

Afterwards, on the way home in the late afternoon, we saw swans on Black Lake.

Allan’s photo

I noticed Lake Street looking colorful.

While I blogged, Allan string trimmed the garden bed edges and gathered up and cut to firewood size the fallen branches of the winter.

hellebore, dogwood, alder fall

an animal path going into the south end of Nora’s garden next door.

Tomorrow: an artist’s haven for sale

Read Full Post »

25 Feb: snow day

Friday, 25 February 2017

I woke and looked out the screened south window to this:

And went back to sleep, secure in having a day off.

Meanwhile, our friend and former client Ann had taken some photos when the snow was at its best:

photo by Ann Saari

photo by Ann Saari

Ann’s back garden.

photo by Ann Saari; high school stadium in background

photo by Ann Saari

By the time I got up, Allan had taken a few snow photos.

Smokey had been outside already.

I finally got up, after getting a solid sleep, and found there was still a bit of snow left.

Smokey and Frosty being unusually brotherly.

I was pleased to have a reading day.  I’d been lent an advance copy of an excellent book:

fascinating and remarkable

This passage is exactly why I think it is so important to remember people:

Its release date is early May.

By two thirty, the snow had melted.  But nothing could tear me from my book except for the need to write two blog posts (yesterday and today).

I have only 75 pages of 400 left to go and am sure that after watching Rachel Maddow and Grimm, I will finish it tonight.

Read Full Post »

16 Feb: jobs and dreamy garden

Thursday, 23 February 2017

I had complete faith, when I saw the fairly decent weather, that we could complete three more spring clean ups today.

The Red Barn

our good friend Rosie (Allan’s photo)

at The Red Barn Arena

the farrier and our client, Diane

Rosie loves eating hoof trimmings

Farrier’s truck (Allan’s photo)

We care for five containers and a narrow garden bed at the barn.

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ had not made it well through winter.

removal project; now the narcissi will show up.

sad Erysimum

We unhooked the trailer in order to go next door to Diane’s garden; her driveway was too full to turn around with our full rig.

Ice on water nearby shows how cold the air still felt.

Diane’s garden

At the barn, we had learned from Diane that the new septic still has not been installed.  That means that re-doing her roadside garden won’t happen till perhaps the end of March.

Stipa gigantea, driveway entry (Allan’s photos)

after

The trees have been cut down along the roadside garden and the stumps will be removed.  The county mowing truck mowed down the heathers and rosemary, the only plants we left behind when we dismantled the garden last fall….probably because it no longer looked like a garden (and it is part of the roadside verge).

hydrangea, before pruning

after

Diane reminded me that I had spoken of pruning her old blueberries.  We removed 1/3 of the old growth, hoping to encourage better berrying.

before

after

Allan had a long walk, twice, back to the debris pile at the barn.

My dear friend Mistie, aged 10, who is doing much better than she was last fall, got a good belly rub and hugging.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We made our second spring clean up trip to KBC to cut back the ferns.

Denny, Mary, and Bella

darling Bella

view in fenced garden, east gate

crocuses and Iris reticulata

crocuses

and more crocuses

 

clean up of the driveway garden, before

during

and after talking to Mary about how she wants room to plant some dwarf conifers here.

east end of pond island bed, before and after trimming ferns

the pond, before

Allan’s brave crossing

before (Allan’s photo)

after

after (Allan’s photo)

The pond island has many ferns, most of them awkward to reach.

before

after

by cottage eight, before and after (Allan’s photos)

near cottage one (Allan’s photos).  Those ferns probably got missed in last year’s pruning.

Allan rescued St. Francis.

the dog memorial garden for Misty, Debbie, and Raven

the first narcissi in the A Frame garden

Allan noticed them, too.

Pieris

rhododendrons

primroses

hamamelis (witch hazel) and the cottages on the ridge

I never did get to KBC over the winter to read more cottage journals.  I got too entrenched in my reading chair at home.  Maybe next winter.

by the clam cleaning shed

the last fern of the day

The temperature had dropped drastically.  We were glad to be done.

The crocuses had closed up.  (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

a dreamy garden

In the van, just before leaving, I checked my messages and saw that Our Kathleen had sent me a real estate link.  Although we are not house hunting, she knows we like to see interesting properties.

Here is the link.

“This is so much more than 4 vacant land parcels. Enter the gates and you enter a private garden like no other. 100s of plants in containers, a grove of bamboo, mature trees and beautiful one-off gazebos and garden features. All of this is anchored by a grand pavilion made from steel and found materials in the grand style of The Rural Studio and Samuel Mockbee. The site features a private well, 2 RV cleanouts, 100amp power, sleeping area, kitchen and bathroom, and 40′ steel storage container.”

I swiped these three photos, because I suppose at some time the real estate listing will go away.

amazing pavilion

a party from the past

a paradise!

I had to see, so we drove about fifty blocks north, only to find another aspect of the property’s perfection:

It has two big gated driveways and you cannot see in, at all—complete privacy.

The other gate

Allan stood on a bucket and said no one was there. He took some photos over the gate…because I was desperate to see inside and I was too sore from work to stand on a bucket.

It is glorious.

Even though there is no house in there, the description included a sleeping area, kitchen, and bathroom.  Oh, if I were even five years younger…I feel too old to uproot my Ilwaco garden.

While fantasizing about living in the 40 foot storage container, I had to firmly remind myself of the advantages of living near a bookstore, post office, library, hospital, and Salt Pub.  And yet…this one will haunt me for awhile.  It had 4000 more square feet than our property does.  I did some online snooping and found the owners are just a bit more than a decade older than us.  That increased my feeling of being too old to move.

Maybe you can buy it and invite us over.

Salt Pub

Tonight, Our Kathleen was in town for our weekly North Beach Garden Gang meeting.  Sadly, Dave and Melissa were unable to attend.

the view

Our Kathleen (Allan’s photo)

pub burger

tacos

smoked tuna melt

vanilla creme brulee

We stayed till after closing time, as I figured we would, and that is why I skipped a blogging day.  I was so tired that I forgot to erase three more jobs from the workboard until the following morning.

Read Full Post »

22 Feb: just three

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

out the kitchen window, moss in old dogwood

Smokey admiring the garden from the front steps.

When we started work today, I got the big idea we might get FOUR jobs done: Norwood, Mayor Mike, Diane’s and Red Barn.  We got a late start because of a storm passing through at mid morning.  When we did begin, the air felt icy despite sunshine. The commute to our first job, just two doors down, was even shorter than yesterday’s commute to the J’s cottage across the street.

Norwood garden

Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) take care of the biggest job here, the annual pruning of the hedge.  Today, we weeded and clipped in the narrow beds around the house.

before, on the cold and shady side

after

Allan’s photos

I think those three barberries are planned for removal.  Not to pass the buck, but I do think Sea Star Dave would be just the fellow to do it!

the easiest part,  in the sun…before

and after (with weeds and montbretia leaves pulled)

This bed especially could benefit from some mulch.  I think with such narrow beds, the most economical method (for labor) would be bales of Gardner and Bloome rather than a trip to get a yard of mulch.  Shall we?

before, lavender

after.  The fuchsias may leaf out or may have to be cut all the way back.

I wondered if this, with the black berries, was privet, and later got it confirmed to be so.  Maybe usually it is pruned so hard one doesn’t see the berries.  I want one.

We got done just in time for rain.

We took a break at home to wait out the rain, then headed out to Mike’s garden a few blocks to the east.

Frosty and Skooter

our neighbour Yarrow (Allan’s photo)

Mike’s garden

Allan clipped part of the pampas grass.  We’ll leave the moderately good looking uprights for now.

before and after

forgot a before, so this is a during.

Decided to prune the hardy fuchsia down this year.

trying not to step on any tulip foliage

before (Allan’s photos)

after

after

after

This time I pruned down the buddleia.

Pieris in bloom

front corner

Iris siberica ‘Eye Catcher’

Because the temperature kept dropping, we almost bailed out on work at 3 PM.  I had remembered that Diane’s garden has a big hydrangea to prune (that in previous years has taken me by surprise), so I did not want to squeeze that and the Red Barn garden onto the end of the day.  Deluded by a bit of sunshine, we decided to go on to

Coulter Park.

Coulter Park is just north of Dennis Company in Long Beach

back entrance from Ocean Beach Boulevard

west side with hardy fuchsias, before

after

northwest corner, before (Allan’s photos).  Something oily had been dumped in the corner, maybe killing an old siberian iris.

after.  What bad thing happened here?

the north side rose bed, horribly infested with salmonberry from under the fence

pruning out some big old canes

later, slightly pruned.  Refining this area is now on the “projects” list.

I still would like to talk to Parks Manager Mike about removing these roses and replacing them with non-thorny single trunked shrubs, to make it easier to control the dratted salmonberry invaders.

two pieris and a flowering currant against bright sunshine

north side (behind the old train depot) with siberian iris, before

after

By four thirty, my hands were too cold to feel what I was doing.

At home, I erased Coulter, Norwood, and Mike’s:

While the spring clean up list dwindles, the project list grows.

Tomorrow may not allow any blogging time.

 

Read Full Post »

21 Feb: 3 accomplishments

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Jay and Jodie’s

We had unexpectedly workable weather and began across the street at the J’s cottage.  I’d been itching to cut back the sword ferns.  We’d begun this job last year in mid summer and so had not been able to clip them thoroughly.

before, looking west

lots of little shotweeds coming up (lower right)

gathering clipped fern fronds

after

before, looking east

after

really need to get some mulch for shrubs that were planted too high

crocuses

In the back garden, Allan found pots needing drainage.

After popping home for a drill, he fixed the problem.

Partway through the job, I took a 20 minute break to walk down to the nearby fire station with a local firefighter who is planning to beautify the landscape there.

me and John

I said that with proper notice, I’d volunteer to help weed and also to help select plants. It was a volunteer project I’d been planning to do myself…someday…so am glad someone else has taken it in hand.

Long Beach

In the early afternoon, we tackled the Heron Pond, at the corner of Bolstad and Pacific.  You can look at it any time on the Heroncam.

before

Oh, how I loathe the salal in this garden, obviously not planted by us.  Last year I pulled and pulled and clipped it along the front here.  Of course, the dastardly stuff is back.

salal all up in the armeria (sea thrift) along the edge of the pond.

This is a case where the human does not win.  I didn’t even try to fight the damn stuff this year, just clipped some of it back.  That and aegepodium (variegated bishops weed) are my two most loathed plants.  Just don’t fall for them!

after

before

after (silver santolina trimmed)

fish hiding place (Allan’s photo)

Another pale fish that has eluded the heron.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photos, before

after.  Allan climbed out to the waterfall to trim the ferns.

We then weeded and sheared grasses in three little pop outs on Ocean Beach Boulevard.  We found to our surprise that the cold wind that we’d felt at the pond garden was much less annoying here at the first two pop outs. We had almost quit for the day after the pond; I was glad we had persisted.

Allan’s photos:

before.  Second pop out is on the other side of the crosswalk.

after

before

after

from the back

after

Barbara from the Planter Box drove by and stopped to catch up.

The second little pop out was not especially photogenic before OR after.  For the last two years, someone has adopted it and planted annuals toward the front, so we simply weeded it and will wait to see what happens.

Half a block north, a citizen has been experimenting in his front yard with escallonia topiary.

a chair

a critter in progress

Someone has already cut back the dwarf pampas grass in the BIG pop out so we drove right by it to the third and fourth little ones, a block north of city hall.

third little pop out, before

after

fourth, before (such a sad mugo pine, that had to be trimmed last year for traffic sightlines)

after

The wind had gotten deathly cold and so every little weed did not get pulled today.

I think that mugo pine has to totally go away…sometime.  These tiny garden beds get no supplemental water and are probably browsed by deer so I’ll have to ponder on it.

A citizen stopped for veg gardening advice.  I referred her to The Planter Box.

Brrr.

After dumping our debris, we were so glad to get home.  Before enjoying the warmth of the house, we had a little chat with our new neighbour, Devery, who was looking spiffing as always in, today in a checked jacket with a matching hat.  I’m so looking forward to sitting in the garden with her this summer when warm weather returns.  At present, it’s hard to picture summer because I have done almost no spring clean up on my own garden.

I was able to erase three spring clean up jobs from the work board.

Read Full Post »

19-20 Feb: two demos

Sunday, 19 February 2017

We had a rainy day off. While I continued to read Bad Feminist and got caught up on the Tootlepedal blog, Allan went to Time Enough Books to get some photos of Karla and the signs she had made for a Town Hall (Tuesday) with Representative Jaime Beutler, who is a Republican politician well known for opposing the Affordable Health Care Act and for not showing up to vote.  In fact, she has one of the worst voting absentee records of all.

The Tuesday event is an hour and a half away, so we won’t be going.

However, Allan and I did go to a demonstration in Astoria on President’s Day…

Monday, 20 February 2017

“Not My President Day”

approaching the busy intersection where cars come from both the coast highway and the Astoria bridge and turn onto the main highway through town (Commercial Street), heading east to Portland.

It was a good turn out despite a chilly rain, with a group on each of three corners of the intersection.  At its lunch hour peak, 60-70 folks were in attendance.

Many vehicles honked in approval.  We got a few one finger salutes, which surely meant “You folks are number one for turning out in such bad weather!”

Northwest corner

Southwest corner

a real sweetheart

view from southeast corner.  That is Allan in yellow.

They drove all the way from South Bend.

“Support Families Not Deportation”

very good dog

my favourite sign

our friend Carol from Ilwaco

We all followed instruction number two, being friendly to the passersby no matter what their attitude.

1. BE SAFE: Do not block cross-walks, intersections, and leave sidewalks accessible to pedestrians.
2. BE POSITIVE: Be nice to each other, drivers, and pedestrians. Ignore hecklers. Do not engage!
3. MAKE FRIENDS: Please–talk to as many people as you can. Network, exchange ideas, and feel free to engage with Indivisible co-organizers about any ideas you have.

me and Allan (Carol’s photo)

the youngest protestor

Allan’s photos of the demonstration:

 

 

 

I have to admit that by the last half hour of the two hour long demo, we were checking our watches for how much longer.

For the last fifteen minutes, when many folks had had to go back to work after their lunch break, those of us remaining consolidated ourselves on one corner.

Allan collected the last sign.

He was the last protestor because he had helped put signs away.

We had parked by the lovely Flavel House Museum.

Flavel House back yard

Afterwards, glad to be out of the dreary weather, Allan and I had lunch at the Blue Scorcher Bakery.

got the last slice of my favourite treat

In the Blue Scorcher

yummy breakfast burritos

We shopped for Dr Bronner’s Soap at the charming little Astoria Co-op.

If you bring a bag, the co op gives one nickel to local causes of your choice.

A shopping for big items at Costco resulted in a bulb purchase.

because we are still a gardening blog, most of the time

Then back across the Columbia River to home.

Read Full Post »

18 Feb: park and planters

Saturday, 18 February 2017

Long Beach

I had big plans to get four things crossed off the work list.  We started with the tree that has pesky rugosa roses and with the planter nearest to it.

planter yesterday

After cutting out the poky thing by the bench, I felt inspired to remove as much hesperantha and tired old ornamental grass as possible.

Allan helping with the biggest grass

during

after

Meanwhile, Allan went after the annoying patch of volunteer rugosa roses, roots and all.  (Because they are pesky and the roots run like fury, we will have to watch for returning sprouts.)

before

a thuggish rose

after

Next, we wanted to polish off the first spring clean up of Fifth Street Park.

Allan started with the hydrangea in the southeast corner.

before

Allan’s photos: before

after

I wanted the right hand one a little more upright.  Easy to fix later.

It was a busy day because of a three day weekend.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

My first project was the patch of hesperantha (formerly schizostylis) by the restroom.

before

after

By pulling a lot of the hesperantha, and getting its annoying self out of the other plants (like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, which Allan clipped after the above photo), we will still have plenty for next fall while having a tidier garden bed now.

I did the same to the nearby street tree garden:

before

after

In a nearby planter, I found…

a tiny painted rock

and emerging tulip foliage.

The northwest quadrant of the park also got a hesperantha going-over.

before

after

Here’s what it looks like on a good summer day. (This was in 2014.)

Allan had joined me before I finished.  We’d got caught in a torrent of rain but had an escape at hand.

inside Captain Bob’s  Chowder

looking out: clean up abandoned for half an hour

delicious fish tacos (before applying a yummy creamy tequila sauce)

As the rain intensity decreased, my Dark Sky app was accurate about it stopping in 15 minutes.  The prediction of drizzle for the following hour was, happily, inaccurate.

By the end of the rain squall, I knew we would only get two out of four planned projects done today.  The temperature had dropped and a chilly wind kicked up.  We went to the two northernmost blocks and finished the planters and street trees.

crocuses and iris reticulata (Allan’s photo)

Iris reticulata ‘Clairette’

Iris reticulata

crocuses

more crocuses

In the last planter of the day, we cut back the escallonia. Why a volunteer, back in the day, planted Escallonia ‘Pink Princess’ in two of the planters is beyond me.  It would like to be at least 15 feet tall.  By chopping it hard now, I won’t have to be clipping it all summer long.

halfway done

and I did NOT see that piece of trash till I looked at this photo!  (Later: Allan says he saw it and disposed of it.)

done… The green santolina on each end also got clipped.

Before we dumped our full load of debris, I popped into NIVA green (my favourite shop).  Almost a month ago I had taken some photos for its Facebook page.  Every time I chose photos to post, I could not bear to post one of a copper clad “stump” because I wanted it for myself.  It was a bit pricey and yet it had haunted me. Would it still be there a month later?

in mid January

Yes! Twice,  people had put holds on it and then not come back to pick it up.

It is mine now!  (It’s hollow copper clad aluminium, I’m told, so probably not for outdoors.)

Just after we dumped our debris, as Allan was locking the gate of the city works yard, the rain returned.  Perfect timing.

At home, I got to erase two items but not the pond and popouts.  Maybe tomorrow, or maybe not with wind and rain predicted.

Read Full Post »

17 Feb: ornamental grass cleanup

Friday, 17 February 2017

Skooter likes to turn on Allan’s computer, so Allan found something for him to watch.

Ilwaco

Because Karla at Time Enough Books had a book to lend me, we started the workday at the port.  Allan did a bit of clipping:

before clipping one tatty old Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’

I picked up the book and had a chat with Karla.  She’s noticed that I read a lot of non fiction on social justice topics.

the book in question, an advance reading copy

I will get to it as soon as I finish reading Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay.

Bookstore staff member Scout looks more worried that she is.

Depot Restaurant

Our first big work mission was the clipping of ornamental grasses around the dining deck of the Depot.

before, south and east sides of deck

giant miscanthus (Allan’s photo)

before (Allan’s photos)

after

after

We also got the one miscanthus at the house next door (which is the office for the restaurant).

Allan’s photos: before

after

Just as we were about to leave, Todd showed up to work on the garden of the Hobbit Haven.

I love the Depot’s next door neighbours’ sign.

Long Beach

Allan and I devoted the rest of the day to Long Beach.

First, City Hall, before and after (all Allan’s photos):

west side, before

after

passersby

I decided this hebe needed clipping because the office staff likes to see out.

just starting…took it 2/3 of the way down.

after

Next came the southwest quadrant of Fifth Street Park.  Allan did all of that project for today.

before

before

after

I asked Allan to leave the hesperantha (used to be schizostylis; Todd reminded me of the name change when we saw him earlier in the day) for me to clean up, because I know there are some delicate sprouts of Camassia in there.  Last year they almost got clipped; Melissa was helping that day and is the one who saved them.  I’ll get to this area tomorrow.

after. We’ll prune the roses soon.

Meanwhile, I took the green wheelie bin around two blocks worth of planters.

Iris reticulata…’Eye Catcher’, I think

crocuses and a couple of iris

more crocuses

and more crocuses

an annoying amount of HESPERANTHA in a planter.  No time for pulling today.

same planter.  Poky nasty yucca?? thing? keeps coming up by the sitting bench.  Its roots go deep.  Will clip back later, need big loppers to get the trunk way down low.  Why??  Planted by original volunteer, as is all of this particular planter.

skipped this tree till tomorrow.  I have much regret for not yanking out the very first bit of rugosa rose that volunteered in here.

I was cutting back santolinas to the new growth at the base.  Had skipped the ones across the street so as not to overwhelm wheelie bin with debris.

For the same reason, I had skipped a tree near Fifth Street.  When I rejoined Allan, his park project was done.  He tidied under this tree while I addressed some dead gaura stems in the northeast quadrant of Fifth Street Park.

tree garden before.

after, with hesperantha still to tidy up

Hesperantha spreads like fury.  It’s best to just yank out a lot of it, and you’ll still have enough.

me, gaura debris, and the wheelie bin

Together, after moving the van and trailer, Allan and I tackled one more tree garden and the planter I had skipped because of debris hauling limitations.

Allan’s tree project, with Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’, before

after

In the planter, I was going to do patient santolina clipping to the new growth.

Then I saw a tuft way down at soil level.

That particular santolina might be 15 years old.  I decided to cut off all the big stems and see what happens!

did the same thing to one of three on the other side….

I might be sorry later.

On the way home, we drove past the Port of Ilwaco curbside gardens.  I reflected on the many grasses and sedums needing to be cut back.  Our last task, at sunset, was to pick up a piece of litter.

Allan’s photo, looking west down Howerton

At home: Still can’t cross off Fifth Street till the hesperantha and one big hydrangea are dealt with. Can’t cross off street trees and planters because we have more to do.  However, I had the pleasure of erasing City Hall and the Depot.

Goal for tomorrow, if weather allows: Finish Fifth Street and the street trees and planters and the pop outs and the pond.  Much glorious erasing could end a day like that.

 

Read Full Post »

16 Feb: glue sticks and clippers

Thursday, 16 February 2017

I took a walk toward the back of the garden to clip some branches for a friend.

Now that I have a neighbour next door, I should plan ahead to make this a nicer looking  area instead of a debris pile.

center bed: much to do

west bed area where I cleared out some fuchsias shows room for new plants

My goal was to clip a few winter blooming honeysuckle branches to take with me today.

Lonicera fragrantissima

We drove all the way up to Surfside to a former job, Marilyn’s garden.

Arriving ten minutes early, we took a brief drive through Surfside.

Surfside Canal

Then we had a hard time finding a turn around road and were slightly late.  We became verklempt driving by the old location of Steve’s Great Day Café.

Chris and Wally’s Garden

Arriving at Marilyn’s former garden, we met with the new owners and with Dave and Melissa, who are going to do the spring clean up.

the garden today

We’re all ever so pleased that the new owners have a great interest in the garden.

Allan’s photo

surveying the bunny tail grass

neighbour cat, Alice

Marilyn’s daughter had given Chris and Wally some photos of the house before the garden was ever installed.

and right after we had first created the garden, about 11 years ago.

Dave admires the tiny chocolate scented blooms of the Azara microphylla

The new folks might do a fence as a privacy backdrop, an idea that I love.

When Dave and Mel get the grasses clipped back, the garden will be almost flat again.  Here you can see a slideshow of how it transforms through the year.

Postcard Party

Here’s where our new glue sticks came into play, along with some old seed catalogs.  Local artist Michelle Naquaiya had organized one of several postcard making parties.  The idea is to send a bazillion postcards from all over the nation to D. Trump on March 15th.  Of course, my large contingent of local resisters are not sending them to express pleasure or admiration.  I suggested that arty postcards sent to any politician might be passed around more and thus get read more.  (We hear that it takes longer for a letter in an envelope to even get opened because of anthrax scares.)  I also wanted to make some thank you post cards for two of our good Washington State politicians, Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

Allan’s photo

Naquaiya studio

card stock for postcards

You can use old cereal and other food boxes for card stock.  I used to enjoy making postcards back before email!  It took me back to the days of looking at the collages in my grandma’s scrapbooks.

Postcard Party at play

tea, snacks, and art.  (Allan brought chocolate chip cookies.)

ingredients

I was thrilled to meet again a woman whose garden I had photographed for the edible garden tour two years ago.  Little did I know that we shared a passion for leftist politics as well as quirky garden art.  She has the same name and similar mannerisms as someone I knew long ago so I remembered her…after a little while.  It took longer than it should have because of my face blindness.

Allan’s photo

Some of our results in two hours:

My thank yous to Patty and Maria

I was using material from seed catalogs.  I don’t imagine Mother Nature as a young blonde gal, but she’s all  had (and I am sure is a lovely person). I realized later that using seed catalogs inspired environmentalism as my main topic. 

Allan’s messages had a theme:

Our overseas readers might not know how important this is to working class self employed people.  Before the ACA (“Obamacare”), we were literally paying 1/3 of our annual income on mediocre health insurance.

I need to work on my handwriting.

Here are some of the other creations.

Enter a caption

 

Preznit!

and the classic one

It was, of course, satisfying and comforting to sit in a group of like minded and oh so funny folk.  A few of the post cards are just too outspoken, although hilarious, to share here.  (I think they might get well passed around a government office!)  Living here at the edge of the coast, there are no government offices to usefully picket within a two hour drive, and perhaps just once a year a bigshot politician might show up for a town hall meeting.  Phone calls and postcards and community are what we have on offer. I doubt it would make any difference to Preznit DT if the entire White House filled up with postcards.  However, it gave us much enjoyment to have an art project to do while we talked politics.  As Michelle wrote the next day, we made about 50 postcards, “All with personal messages, clever and creative remarks and original art..  We were 10 people who had a good time. It feels good to write down what you feel in this resistance. It’s a small something we can do to have impact.”

After two hours, the party wound up and Allan and I departed to do a little over an hour of clean up at…

Klipsan Beach Cottages.

I think for the next while, a KBC day and art studio day are going to be coordinated events.

Bella was tail thumpingly happy to see us.

the fenced gardem

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be clipped back

Allan’s before and after

Allan’s photo, new sedum growth

 

hydrangeas and ferns to clip

Iris reticulata

pruning Hydrangea ‘Izu No Hana’

The tree peony must not be cut back!

Denny supervises

Bella!

after

The debris pile consists of clean up after yesterday’s wind storm, and today’s clippings.

Allan’s photo

After our industrious day, and after having forgotten to bring the lunch box of emergency snacks, we were suddenly ravenous.  We treated ourselves to dinner at

Salt Pub

The view:

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

There goes our canine friend Ernie! (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s lobster bisque

delicious pho

We hope for a good enough weather day tomorrow to finish cleaning up Fifth Street Park in Long Beach.  Today, I couldn’t cross a thing off the work board.  We must return soon to KBC to finish trimming sword ferns all around the landscape.  We’re planning to do so on a postcard party day. Perhaps you might like to join us.

 

Read Full Post »