Thursday, 8 November 2018
First, a postscript to Halloween and the 6×6 art auction. Wendy Murry is the artist on whose 6×6 piece I always bid. Some of her work from the past, that I am so glad to own:
and my favourite:
She told me that she would not be in the art auction this year because of being so busy but that she had made me a piece of art anyway. On Halloween, she brought it to me, and this morning I remembered to photograph it for you. It is a depiction of Dead Man’s Cove at Cape Disappointment.
Here is a real life view.
I am pleased and touched and grateful.
Ilwaco mulching
Today we began by loading all the buckets of mulch and applying more buckets-full to our volunteer garden at the Ilwaco Fire Department.
I think there might be a narrow bed on the east side that is just nothing; I should have a look and maybe put more Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, of which I have an endless supply, into it.
Next, we mulched our volunteer garden at the Post Office, where we used up the rest of the load of 25 five gallon buckets and 17 four gallon buckets. That’s 193 gallons; 201 and a bit equals one cubic yard, according to my calculations.
I removed some under-performing Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ to make room for a bulb of my Lily Conca D’Or. Look how big it is after several years in the ground!
It went in the back corner.
I have mixed feelings about all that grass in the front. I asked the opinion of a passerby, who said she liked it.
Mike’s garden
Back at home, we reloaded all the buckets and applied them at Mike’s garden, a few blocks to the east.
Someone else is going to remove this tatty old lilac:
And we will return soon to prune the Escallonia iveyi behind it.
Back home…
I was in suspense whether filling all the buckets for the Shelburne would use the mulch up, or whether we would have enough left for Diane’s garden. I was so happy that some was left over.
The Shelburne Hotel
We delivered another full complement of buckets to the Shelburne.
We usually leave the right-in-front parking spots for guests. Not today, when we had such heavy work to do.
We not only mulched but also moved some hardy fuchsias and a hydrangea to more eye-catching locations. I planted two of my Lily Conca D’Or, some violas, and some starts of a white veronicastrum. Three big clumps of white astilbe that had appeared in full sun got moved to happier shady spots.
I removed a lot of badasters. and must remember to put some divisions of good asters in for autumnal beauty in 2019.
In case you are wondering what Soil Energy consists of: “Soil Energy combines composted wood products, aged screened sawdust, screened sand, composted chicken manure, lime, fertilizer and iron. (pH 6.2, brown tan in color, 38.9% organic matter).”
We finished after sunset.
The windows of the pub (left, below) glowed so enticingly that we went in for a work reward.

Jambalaya (ordered with no oysters, please!) with a side salad, fried chicken sandwich and small chopped salad
At home, the work board reflects that Diane’s is the only mulching job left.
Oh how wonderful to be gifted art by an artist you admire! It is a lovely piece.
And yay for mulching almost completed!
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Thank you!
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How nice to get a gift of art and how good to have moved a mountain of mulch.
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🙂
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That lily bulb is epic! I do not grow them; but my colleague wants them. I think they would do better here (in his garden) than they do in my garden in the Santa Clara Valley. The climate is more like the northwestern climates. He has grown them in the past, and they survive for a few years. They do not get very big, but at least they survive. They probably would do as well as they do elsewhere if we took better care of them. I suppose I will find out if he gets some. Now that the season is done, he can get the leftovers really cheap (if there are any leftover). I do not think that it matters if we plant them so late because even if they were planted on time, they would not have gotten any chill anyway. If I remember correctly, some bulbs would be pre-chilled for planting late. The ground does not freeze, so we can plant at any time.
I got through almost all of bulb season without getting any!
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I once dug up a lily bulb that had gotten twice that size, I kid you not.
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SWEET! I know that ‘some’ people can grow them. They just do not do so well for me.
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Love the Dead Man’s cove piece! Thanks for the link to the photos. You and Allan so deserved a nice dinner at the Shelburne.
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Thank you!
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