19 May: healing gift and visit

Saturday, 19 May 2018

I woke early in anxious misery about the Agastache catastrophe and, instead of having the day off with morning and afternoon to tidy a bit of the garden for much anticipated company, we were out chasing down the few other Estella Indigo that were planted in various places, and every one of them, no matter the location, even one in a brand new pot with new soil, had the same dire look.  But I don’t want to continue this sad tale day after day after day, even though it went on for three more days.  The cultivars affected were Summer Fiesta, Estella Indigo, Golden Jubilee, and (later) Cotton Candy.  The leaves looked even worse the next day.

I kept this one in quarantine, and by May 21 it looked like this.  I had definitely made the right decision to pull them; can’t have something so diseased on show in public gardens.

whatever it is, it’s bad.

We zoomed up to the Planter Box where I got replacement plants for three LB planters and the Depot.

Co-owner Raymond looked at our bag of bad plants and agreed something bad was brewing.  He advised us to look for fallen leaves…and like fools, we had not, so we went back to the planters and sure enough found some diseased leaves to pick up.

We yanked a ‘Summer Fiesta’ at the Depot….put in I can’t even remember what instead…and admired the new planting in front by Roxanne of the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Something good did happen on our outing.  A blog reader, MaryAnn,  had been visiting family in England and had brought back and mailed me a present which arrived at the post office today.  I practically wept with delight:

“Plants you can’t kill!” might be quite a useful article right now.  AND Gardener’s World gloves and special seeds. This made my day so much better.

We got home in time for Allan to mow the lawn and for me to water some plants but only a couple of buckets full of weeding got done.  I found that my own Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’ looked terrible….

Even though the ones from a different batch, at the Shelburne, had still looked lovely.

perfection at the Shelburne

And my lovely sweep of Estella Indigo and Summer Fiesta were all bad.  I was bereft but pulled and discarded them.  I cannot risk it spreading to other plants, especially not to the assorted agastaches that have nicely perennialized.  I did ponder finding a hobby that features inanimate objects…pottery, or boating.

I spent part of the day not weeding but instead brooding over a dish of water with cut up leaves that one online source said might reveal foliar nematodes.  Maybe if I could have found my long lost 12x magnifier.

science experiment, useless with a magnifying glass

Finally, in late afternoon, a blog reader, Kilyn, and spouse Peter from British Columbia came to visit; they had been traveling and were staying at the Cape Disappointment campground.  Of course, I was at first preoccupied with my Agastache Catastrophe, especially since early in our visit I got a call from Expert Friend who had consulted an agastache grower and learned about the dreaded Downy Mildew possibility.  Kilyn had the most comforting thing to say about it, that clearly because the plants were on public view, and there was no one to monitor their health but me, they had to be removed, and the sad episode could therefore be OVER, instead of further anxiety, fretting, worrying, going back and forth to check on them, and so on.  She has a volunteer garden in her town, so she knows what it is like to have plants in the public eye.

With that, I was able to relax (even though at almost dark, after dinner and after they had returned to Cape Disappointment park, Allan and I did go on a drive to remove two more plants whose location I had remembered).

Kilyn and Peter gave Allan a couple of books about kayaking, and gave me a set of mysteries.

We then took an extensive tour round the garden.  Kilyn met Skooter at the compost bins.

Peter heads down Willows Loop East.

I showed them my blue wall (tarp over crab pots next door):

Kilyn has read our blog from the beginning, a most unusual feat, and told Peter the whole story about how the bogsy wood used to be riverfront.  I was amazed.

Peter suggested that he help Allan move our very heavy stone bench from way up front, where it was leaning on a long, to the bogsy wood edge where eventually I will make a place for it.  (We could not set it up till I get the place figured out).

Halfway down Rozanne Loop West, they had to reconnoiter a bit and get on the same side.

They had been on different sides of the bench till Peter said they had to carry it from the same side, which is a lesson that my former spouse, Robert, had imparted to me about carrying lumber or plywood or driftwood.  It does work better.

After an hour or more wandering the garden, we all repaired to Salt Pub for a sumptuous meal with a view.  Few photos were taken because of so much good conversation.

Peter (in his glorious Australian accent) insightfully asked how much time we spend in our garden as compared to our clients.  I answered maybe 99% clients gardens at this time of year, and later on at least 80%.  Since what I want is to create my own little paradise, that gave me something to think about.  (That is complicated by a desire to create beautiful gardens for the public.)

I loved hearing about how today they had done the “blog tour” of the peninsula and had gone to the Saturday market and the Don Nisbett Art Gallery (and Don gave Kilyn an autographed Crabby Gardener card), and up to Oysterville and back, and crab rolls at Captain Bob’s Chowder and coffee at Abbracci Coffee Bar!

Kilyn and I talked about beloved blogs; she also reads Moosey’s Country Garden, the Tootlepedal blog, The Miserable Gardener,Danger Garden, and Bonney Lassie.  Peter and Allan talked about bicycling and boating.

She showed us photos of her garden, including this bicycle wheel and glass plate garden art that she made.

inspirational

We talked about how to live in retirement by economizing, one example being not dining out much.  When they travel, they pack their groceries and make meals while trailer camping except for special treats like the blog tour meals today.

I would miss regular restaurant dining (and the good feeling of supporting the local economy), but I do think the time spent in my garden would make up for it.

Speaking of dining out, here is some of our dinner:

Willapa Bay seafood poutine

crab roll

my favourite, the tuna melt with side salad

After dinner:

Peter and Kilyn in the Salt courtyard. (Be sure to recycle.) Allan’s photo

Kilyn and me

I couldn’t have imagined a better, more uplifting event to bring this week to a close.