Monday, 9 July 2018
Shelburne Hotel
We began our work today with a project: cleaning out some old dead pots of plants up on the hotel’s second floor decks and balconies. I had not been up there for a decade. I must say that I no longer prance easily up the stairs.
Before we went in, I took photos outside because the grey cloudy light made the garden look quite fine.
Ok, enough of that! Up the stairs we went with a couple of buckets of potting soil. Allan did almost all the schlepping of soil and eventually plants today.
In the deck off room 4, we found two pots to redo and one that was salvageable. We could tell they had mostly been filled with perennials from the garden. I had not realized till recently that there were still pots up on these decks.
This deck used to be shared with room 10 ( think) but it is now all 4’s.
To replace the pot with no hole, Allan brought in the potted rose from the porch above the pub deck. Now we won’t have to worry about watering it and having waterfalls cascading onto the diners.
With two big pots empty and the dry soil and plants in garbage bags, we emptied and refilled the small pots on the three south balconies.
The three south balconies and the room 4 deck can only be accessed when no one has rented those rooms. So the three south balconies would get succulents that don’t need much water.
We turned to the front deck, which is accessed by two rooms and also from the hallway. There is a water faucet there that must be got working again so the plants can be watered. (The next morning I happened to see our friend Don Anderson the plumber, who cares for the Shelburne, and he will make that happen.) Otherwise we have to find an empty room, fill a small bucket at the bathroom sink, and clean up any mess we make, or haul water up the stairs. I look forward to having that faucet back.
I fought the English ivy out of the pot and Allan cleaned the other pot of dead plants. I decided a nandina, to match, would be best for now. It is actually a bit too sunny for them here, but later they can go in the garden. It will be a battle (maybe impossible!) to get the one out of the pot with the small opening. I would rather do that battle this fall.
Big garbage bags of dead plants and dry rooty soil were hauled downstairs by Allan, along with multiple buckets. I was worried when he came back upstairs looking quite spent.
I had to go into my favourite room, the one above the pub that has the second story porch that used to have a potted rose.
Back to deck four with the rose, and a pot with fresh soil.
I had to go down the stairs backwards; fortunately, I know of a set of stairs that does not go to the lobby.
More garden admiration on the way out:
I thought maybe the English Nursery, just a few blocks south, might have a nandina. It did not, but I did get three good succulents and a pretty scabiosa there.
We returned to the Shelburne and went upstairs just to put three Sedum ‘October Daphne’ in the three balcony pots. Well….Allan went upstairs.
I put some water in the pot with no hole to see if it would drain at all.
And then off we went, supposedly to water in Long Beach. A light misty rain began. I was suddenly so exhausted I could not face watering the Long Beach planters. The half hour of mist made it possible to put the watering off till tomorrow (we decided after a drive through town to make sure).
I felt so deeply tired that I could have laid down in the dirt and slept..and I am not a napper at all. Yet I gave the Planter Box a call and learned that they had a nice nandina….and we were off!
I had planned to finish the Shelburne pots Wednesday…but I couldn’t wait. We would have gone to the Basket Case, too, had they not been closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Garden hint of the week: When we got back to the Shelburne, I was fussing with the nandina to get a dandelion out of the root ball. Allan had a genius idea and pulled the root out with pliers.
All the plants got schlepped up to the second floor by Allan. (We had left some potting soil up there.)
The center balcony got a (sort of) matching nandina.
New pots are going to be acquired by next year. The planting in the crock is temporary and not ideal because that crock has no hole. It won’t get too much water this summer. I hope.
The replanted pot on the number four deck has a rescued dahlia with one stem and an almost invisible dahlia in the middle that I took pity on. I now think I should have put the tiny dahlia in the garden and put something better in the middle.
We added to the south balcony pots.
Here are some views from those three balconies:
And some interiors of those three rooms:
Down the stairs again, one trip for me, several for Allan, who had a second wind.
I fixed up one more dead pot on a downstairs deck.
After all that, we still had to water…
Ilwaco.
Allan got the water trailer and watered the street trees and planters while I watered the boatyard.
A touch of finger blight:
I weeded four buckets of weeds and then did the watering.
Several of the boat owners were most complimentary about the garden today, including one from Westport who recognized the names of Terri and Bill, whose garden is on the July 14th tour.
I had to go around the big boats twice to get to the hoses.
After finishing the boatyard watering, I truly could hardly walk.
Allan took me home and then went back out to water the post office and fire station (our volunteer gardens).
I am anxiously counting the days until the July 14th tour.
A lot of work packed into this day. But oh how all your gardens look beautiful!
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Thank you.
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The Shelburne is looking fantastic! I will finally be able to see it in person tomorrow as well as all your other gardens when we do our “Skyler Tour” Looking forward to your next garden tour blogs. Couldn’t make it to all the tours in your area so you do a nice job showing us what we missed.
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Enjoy!! You will see Steve and John’s Bayside Garden. Be sure to tell them you’re on the blog tour also. Steve would get a kick out of that, I think.
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PS you are welcome to let yourself in to tour our garden. Please ignore weeds and any distressed plants and shut all the deer gates firmly. (Check the latching.) Go to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and head east for a little over three blocks. I bet you will be able to find it. Our name is over the garage door. Or you could ask Steve and John at the Bayside Garden where we live 😉 You might see Melissa and David in the garden next door to Steve and John’s too.
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Hi Skyler. I am replying for my sister Dawn. Thank you for the offer to tour your very own garden. Unfortunately we didn’t see your reply until returning. I have been to your garden a few years ago and loved it! . . .and it was a joy to meet you and Allan. There were lots of people at Steve and John’s place, so we did not get a chance to meet them, but certainly enjoyed their amazing garden and view of the bay. I could stare at that view all day.
Thank you again for your kind offer! We did enjoy touring your public gardens, the Shelburne, and the Post Office gardens. It is amazing how many gardens you tend! Debbie, Dawn, Dana and Laura
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Thank you. I’m glad you were able to tour here and see so much!
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Love the expression “it worked a treat” 🙂
You sure are making things beautiful at the Shelbourne — and thanks for the tour!
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Thanks! As you know, i am a UK-o-Phile.
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The garden does indeed look very good. I hope the balconies will soon be just as nice.
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Thanks, Mr T!
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tee hee. That allium in the second picture looked like it photo bombed.
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😀
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Wow! Thanks for the interior shots of the Shelburne Hotel; they sent me off to search for more information about the place. Fascinating history. One day we’ll have to get out that way and stay there. I’m such a homebody though…
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I hear you re being a homebody but I wish you would visit.
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Hi again, Skyler. I just wanted to mention we loved the Santolina plants in your gardens. We were not familiar with it (other than on your blog). It is so cute! I will watch for it here, but don’t remember seeing in local nurseries. Do you grow from seed? Maybe it needs a coastal climate and sandy soil?
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I buy them as small plants. I think they do well as long as they don’t have wet feet all the time. The foliage smells good, too. Lemony.
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