Thursday, 4 April 2019
The weather surprised us with a workable day.
Long Beach
We plunged right back into weeding the Bolstad beach approach, with the hope to finish three sections, by which I mean three HALF sections; I have divided it up more in my mind to make it psychologically easier.
Allan’s photos tell the tale.
By this point, I really wondered if we were going to make it to the end…which would be three short sections. It was one of the harder, more grassy areas.
I was determined but exhausted.
It would be nice to be able to leave the clover and birdsfoot trefoil and vetch for pollinators. I want to but I don’t think people would understand. What do you think?
Allan doesn’t like the vetch because it climbs all over the roses in a cloud of pink….and the birdsfoot in a cloud of yellow.
We did it! You can see there are grasses still at the very base of some of the roses. My arthritic right hand, going into its 65th year, just cannot get those out very well anymore. Once the roses leaf out, the grasses there will be pretty much hidden. That’s just the way it is. In a more refined garden, I would manage it (or delegate).
We were delighted to reach our goal. On the way south, we deadheaded two blocks worth of narcissi in Long Beach….
…and the Long Beach welcome sign.
I have begun to notice that there is little sign of the pink and white tulips on the back of the sign.
The front looks floriferous.
But when I got in close, I found several tulips like this…drooping, and when I pull them, the stem comes right out.
This says to me that voles have taken up residence in the planter and are eating the bulbs. This means that for next year, the tulips would have to be planted in cages or pots covered with mesh….or this might be the last year that tulips will be the spring show at the welcome sign.
Voles won’t eat narcissus bulbs so the spring show might have to be all daffodils; some are late blooming…but then there is so much bulb foliage to deal with. How very tiresome to have to ponder this.
With our work in Long Beach done, I did a quick check up on the Shelburne Hotel garden while Allan did some grocery shopping across the street.
The garden is looking fine and needed only a small bit of deadheading.
I had received in the mail a plant order….I was happy to see it but I wished the plants (some agastaches) were in some sort of little pot (even fiber, to save on plastic) rather than just loose and needing immediate attention.
I have to admit that I was so tired, I just bunged them into a bucket and will deal with them tomorrow.
The work board tonight:
At the Long Beach welcome sign, maybe try interspersing large buried pots of tulips with pots of narcissus, then pull the lot after blooming. You can cut large pots down to make them more shallow. Store pots (at least the more hardy narcissus) for next year?
Would the vetch and trefoil be a solution in the planters that are the most theft prone? I have left vetch to tangle in my garden beds, and would be tempted to leave some of it in the beach approach. Stick in a wildlife habitat sign in the beach approach bed. “Pollinators Love Me!”
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Two great ideas.
I’ve been thinking of using pots. Excellent idea to cut them down.
Also I’d been pondering a sign re vetch etc. you have solved my dilemma re wording.
Wild beach pea is in a couple of the westernmost planters and is excellent.
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I love the tulip ‘Lilac Wonder.’ That is too bad about the tulips in front of the welcome sign. The bright red and yellow tulips show up well from a distance.
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Yes, they do,… will probably try planting them in pots.
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First fingerblight and then voles. Where will it all end? I like those little tulips.
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Between humans and nature, it’s always something.
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Voles?! I have heard of them, but never seen them. I just wrote about gophers because they are starting to act up. We are pretty good about trapping them, but we must trap discretely because the landscapes are so public.
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Skooter brought a vole in over the winter and was playing with it in the bathtub. I rescued the cute little critter and took it back outside. Hmmmmm.
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You might find this to be amusing:
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Very cute and amusing.
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Thank you, but he was not ‘that’ cute.
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Awfully glad we don’t have gophers! A friend of mine in Montana had her cabin invaded by pack rats!
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Gads! Rats are the worst of what we get here. The raccoons do not often move into the buildings, and the skunks take the hint when we relocate them. Deer are the most destructive to the garden, but so far, only one decided to live in the home.
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A deer in a human home?
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It was supposed to be a human home.
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