Thursday, 26 July 2018
The Depot Restaurant
weeding, deadheading, watering….
Amazingly, the dierama wands have not been broken by parking cars.
Long Beach
We started by tidying the garden at city hall.
We watered the planters, and these two are the only other photos I took on the main drag.
Allan’s photos:
After downtown, we watered the eight planters on Sid Snyder Drive.
We next checked on the welcome sign, where the cosmos are refusing to bloom, and gave them some bloom fertilizer.
I have had all sorts of cosmos problems this year. At the Shelburne, some are fine (especially the new one called Cupcake) but others are tall with no flowers. At Diane’s garden and the Depot and Long Beach’s Fifth Street Park, some that should be tall Sensation mix are short (but not short enough to be a mislabeled Sonata mix). I did not fertilize each little plant while planting this year, having read that fertilizer can make them shoot up tall with no flowers.
I have always had cosmos in the welcome sign, and have had this problem before but not this badly. I think perhaps I need to give up there and try a different plant—something with enough height to stand up to the Geranium ‘Rozanne’, something that will take our cool climate (no zinnias, for example), and an annual so that it can come out for the spring bulbs (and for horsetail clean up).
Shelburne Hotel
This is where I had been longing to be. We watered, weeded, deadheaded.
I resolved that we must mulch the frustratingly sparse looking north end.
The most northern, outside the fence bed was apparently a repository for all sorts of extra perennials, and all we have done to it is weed it. I’d like to make it more interesting next year.
I don’t know why I didn’t already make it better; we started this job in late February, as I recall.
We also learned that one more upstairs room had a balcony with a miserable little pot of half dead plants.
We will replant it with something next week.
I looked at the garden from various sidewalk aspects.
I longed to finish the day with a meal in the pub, but we had to leave so that we could water…
Ilwaco.
I gave the boatyard an hour of weeding and a half hour of watering while Allan watered the street trees and planters.
Across the street from the smaller boats to the left is my old garden. The fellow who bought it from me, an accomplished and creative carpenter, has it almost paid off. I would love to see the remodeling he has done. I dream sometimes about going there and finidng it all changed.
My “please don’t pick me” sign on the Echinops appears to be working.
Meanwhile, Allan had pulled the flower-jacked gladiolus corms.
I still do not know who sticks glads in the planters. It is not working out well as the flowers get so frequently stolen.
I went with Allan to weed while he watered the fire station garden when he’d finished the planters (at 8 PM).
When we got home at twilight, I was pleased to see that the Norwood house had been painted a pretty pale blue by Precision Coast Painting, which had accomplished this excellent job quickly and quietly without a noisy paint sprayer.
I always look forward to seeing the Shelburne garden! Also, am enjoying the photos of the little sparrow who watches you water the boatyard garden.
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Help me out; is it a sparrow or chickadee?
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From previous photos this looks like a white-crowned sparrow to me.
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My cosmos have again refused to fill out, and remain thin and sparsely flowered. It is almost as if they have been gentically modified to no longer be big and blowsy.
Like sweet williams here, which have lost their lovely sweet scent.
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I would hate to have to give up on cosmos. Sad about the sweet williams!
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We are having trouble with some of our cosmos growing rather tall and bushy and not blooming so I will be interested to see how your ones turn out.
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It is frustrating to have such troubles from my favourite annual. All the shorter varieties and the new mid height Cupcake mix are doing well. Do Scottish cupcakes ever get baked in pastel coloured crinkly paper cups? That is what Cupcake cosmos flowers evoke.
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My cosmos are doing okay but what is exceeding expectations this year and out performing them are white margerite daisies.
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