15 July: post tour touring

Saturday, 15 July 2017

On our way home from the Visions of Paradise tour, we drove by a garden where I knew a great gardener lived, someone I used to know but had not seen since 2003.  I blogged about a previous garden of hers here.

Kate’s garden

driving slowly past the front garden

We drove past the corner, where I learned later that Kate is trying to kill off horrible horsetail..

a scene of battle against horsetail

…and I could not see down into the secret garden below except for glimpsing one foxtail lily glowing in sunlight.  Trying to spy more successfully, we turned the corner but could not see in because of an effective privacy barrier of a steep slope of blackberries.  Up the road, we turned around at the courthouse and came back to head on home…and there was Kate just pulling into her driveway.  She had also been on the garden tour and had thought she glimpsed me in one of the gardens.

She warmly invited us in and began our tour by showing us her latest visions of art, intricate assemblages around masks cast from faces of herself and her friends.

Most of the pieces were accompanied by poem fragments, which Kate read to us.  One was by Mary Oliver.  I confess I had not heard of her but I intend to read her work.

After being enveloped in the magical world of Kate’s home, she took us out the back door to see her garden.

on the back porch, with garden books

This is so Kate.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The garden lay below the porch in a hidden space that felt like a bowl of light.  It gives the impression of an entirely sunken garden because of the house on one side and two steep banks.

a fountain was burbling in the shade against the wall.

Here my camera battery died and I switched to my iPhone.

ornamental and edible

a little fountain

Kate was amazed I had managed to glimpse that one foxtail lily from above.

rebar and hoops from an old whiskey barrel

an outhouse (with a bucket)

an enviable ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud

It loves this sheltered spot.

Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’

Forest Pansy redbud (Allan’s photo)

huge buddleia flower

Allan’s photo

in a little leanto greenhouse

double rain barrel (Allan’s photo)

the house from below

leaf tapestry

shed in a corner of the garden (with lean to greenhouse on one side)

Allan’s photo

back up on the porch:

lifting the veil

another veil lifted

more of Kate’s art in the kitchen

one of Kate’s “rug” paintings

detail

When I knew her years ago, she used to paint scenes like the one above on furniture.

from the front porch (Allan’s photo)

She walked us outside and we looked at the corner where her horsetail battle is waged.

I told Kate that she is an artistic genius. Then Allan and I had to depart because we were due back at home to meet friends.

A Naselle garden

On the way, we of course drove the Naselle and river route rather than the OUTSIDE lane of the Willapa Curves.  Besides, I wanted to check out a garden that we had seen when attending an Indivisible meeting in Naselle last winter.  We have only seen this garden by skirting around the outside, from the street and from the Naselle Timberland Library parking lot.

In the winter, this swalewas full of rain water.

view from the library parking lot

This was IN the library parking lot.

from the street

Running fairly late by now, I texted our friends that we would soon be joining them.  They were already in our garden waiting.

Apres-tour in our garden

Debbie (Rainyside Gardeners) and Jeanne had gone on the Peninsula garden tour that day.  (Perhaps three years ago, I had introduced Debbie to our local tour and since then she has been invited back to write about it.)  We arrived home and immediately set about making a campfire so that we could all relax and talk about garden touring.  I set Skooter free from the convalescent room so he could join us. He ran joyously from one end of the back garden to the other after his week indoors. 

Allan, Debbie, Jeanne, and Devery from next door

Debbie, author of Gardening for the Homebrewer, had found some perry (a pear cider made from a certain type of pear) at Sid’s market in Seaview.  It was delicious and I intend to acquire more.

campfire food