28-30 July: 3 day weekend

Friday, 28 July 2017

Bored with staying off my feet, I did putter in the garden a bit, and blogged.  In the evening, we had our weekly meeting of the North Beach Garden Gang at the Cove Restaurant.

our view

in the foyer

We shared two desserts, this lemony one…

and this chocolatey one

When I got home, I found my night blooming cereus bud had opened.  It seemed too late to call Devery over to see it.

Our friend Tony had multiple flowers on his huge specimen of this plant every year.

Tony’s photo from 2016

Tony’s photo from 2016

Tony’s plant, of which I have a year old cutting growing well.

Fortunately, I have one more bud on mine, and when Devery visited me in the garden later in the weekend, she assured me it would never be too late to call her to come see such a sight.

This plant is from a cutting which was given to me by my friend Pat Reese from Seattle after we visited her home to see hers blooming.  When it flowers, I always remember the summer of 2003.  I had just separated from my spouse, Robert, and he had just moved out of our little house behind the boatyard.  For the very first time, the plant bloomed.  I typed to the members of a Seattle email list to which I subscribed, a list that had been born out of the Webgrrls group, “My night blooming cereus is blooming and there’s nobody here to see it!”  One of them typed back, “Yes, there is.  You are there.”

Saturday, 29 July 2017

Some more garden puttering and watering.  I got my new set of ladies in waiting all planted.

I think this tall heather is ugly after it blooms because the flowers brown off, but now it is redeeming itself again…

…with golden new foliage.  Still ugly underneath, though.

ladies in waiting

Allan mowed the lawn and watered the boatyard garden.  He also rescued plants and all the soil out of an Ilwaco planter that was not draining properly.

The erysimum is a goner.

It turned out that it had no drainage hole.  It so mystified me with these planters that every now and then, one of them will fill up with water and prove to have no drainage hole when dug out.  It makes me wonder why it takes so long for the problem to show up.

gloopy

In three other planters, he replaced sad old Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ with baby new ones.

At the boatyard, a boat person who thought it was a volunteer garden wanted to give Allan money (which he declined).

Stretching hoses all down the outside makes it possible to water AND weed the garden.

lilies at the boatyard

and sweet peas

Allan also watered the community building garden, where some snazzy little alliums are blooming.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Allan went boating (tomorrow’s post) and I puttered and received company.  Newlyweds Tony and Scott (married after many many years together) came to visit the garden and brought their adorable pomeranians, Rudy and Bailey.

in the front garden

Scrophularia variegata

Skooter and Smokey

Smokey requesting a belly rub

cardoons, tetrapanax, lilies

back garden lilies and the urn from MaryBeth

Stipa barbata

moving in the light wind

lilies

Skooter chillaxing

Skooter was quite shocked when the dogs arrived.  I do not think he has been around dogs before.  His back went up, he yowled and hissed and retreated into the house.

Frosty and Smokey, on the other hand, were brought up with two nice dogs (since passed away from very old age).

Rudy, Bailey, Frosty

Frosty was the most interested,

Tony heading off to the bogsy woods.

Scott and the poms in the salmonberry tunnel

astilbes

poms exploring

I gathered the four guests together for a photo. You will recognize Tony from his night blooming cereus selfies!

Tony and Bailey, Scott and Rudy

Rudy

and more Rudy

We moved to the shade for a long chat.

After our guests departed, Calvin reappeared.

Frosty by the back cat door

After that wonderful visit, the highlight of my weekend, I repaired indoors to polish off several chapters of an interesting book that is about to be overdue.  While I don’t succumb to shiny objects, I have often been known to overshoot my budget on plant acquisitions.  I wanted to understand why people spend on shiny objects and gew gaws way beyond their means.