Monday, 17 June 2019
We’d had a bit of rain overnight. This much in the new barrel:
This much in the red rain gauge:
We had a nice visit from our neighbour three doors down, bringing us some empty pots for future plant sales. We talked about asclepias for attracting butterflies and I showed him the three I have, none blooming yet.
Of course, I took him back to see Paul’s Himalayan Musk. I cropped him almost out because I don’t know how he would feel about being blog fodder.
Port of lwaco Boatyard
Because the extreme weediness of the north end of the boatyard garden had been on my mind, we started there today. I immediately had to go back home for an allergy pill because of all the velvet grass inside the fence. My idea of getting Allan to string trim it ended there; releasing all the pollen would be intolerable.
The seed pods give it its second common name. The flowers inspired “love in a mist” and the pods, “devil in the bush.”
I remembered how when I first moved here and lived at the Sou’wester resort, I picked flowers each week for the rooms. I hadn’t seen the pink flowered velvet grass back in Seattle and found it so beautiful that I used it as a bouquet centerpiece. I wondered that evening why I was sneezing so much, and I wonder now how the guests reacted! I think it is Holcus lanatus, and in the UK it is called Yorkshire Fog.
While we were working, a new boat from Bellingham came in on the Marine TraveLift.
I have been craving a comfrey plant because of watching Monty Don make comfrey tea (fertilizer) on Gardeners’ World. I know it is a runner. I had tried to eliminate it from my Seattle garden. While weeding at the north end of the boatyard, I saw that the garden across the street has a vast stand of comfrey! I will beg myself a start or at least a bucket of leaves. I have given this gardener plants before, so the request should go well. I wish I had noticed the plants when I saw her out sweeping as we arrived!
Obsessing mentally over the comfrey, I applied myself to weeding.
We got the worst areas done, probably 1/3 of the garden north of the gate. I was pleased.
That woman told her friends that this was the second time she had walked by the border today.
I did not plant that orange montbretia. It was there when I started this garden as a volunteer project years ago.
The weeds of the boatyard:
Long Beach
On the way to our next project, Allan checked on a shirt that he is getting embroidered.
You will see the results soon.
Before a late afternoon dental appointment for me, we tackled the blackberry situation in Third Street Park.
I cut down this dead azalea that has finally given up completely.
The blackberries are high up over the west side rhododendrons.
They are mostly coming from between two fences and so are impossible to remove. The chain link fence belongs to a hotel and the wood fence to the city.
After Allan got twice this much blackberry cut…
…a hat of blackberry canes still adorned the top of the rhododendrons. And many bees were getting angry at us for taking their flowers.
We decided to let the bees have the flowers until the rhododendron is done blooming (and maybe the blackberries, too.)
The park looks better without that dead azalea.
It still has a sad rhododendron that is too big for our little chainsaw.
We went to the north parking lot berm to add a few blackberry canes to our load. I saw that someone has been doing a fine job of weeding the center berm, the one we rarely touch because of lack of time.
I found out later it is being done by a community service worker, who is doing a fine job.
On the north berm, we found a pine that has turned up its toes, also too big for our chainsaw. I alerted the city crew when we dumped our debris and also complimented the weeding job.
After a pleasant and satisfactory teeth cleaning, we headed back to Ilwaco.
Ilwaco Community Building
We pulled some dead bulb foliage that had been bothering me on every drive by lately.
If you pull the yellowed brodiaea foliage sideways, you can remove it while leaving most of the upright flower stems intact.
I have no idea why there is a big clump of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ awkwardly placed by the entrance, but as soon as it starts to die back this year, it is going down to the tiered garden. We did not plant it, and it seems to have appeared in the last couple of years.
We drove to At the Helm Hotel to water six little plants recently planted in the curbside garden. Allan took a photo of the south side of the hotel and its new patio.
It looked like this in 2010:
This is our view of the pub through the window.
I could have gone there last Saturday but it was my at home project day. It is still not open full time as I write this, but probably will be by the time you read it. (It is.)
Our curbside garden there:
We also had new baby plants to water at our post office garden, where I was inspired to prune the privet.
We were home at the astonishingly early hour of 6:30 PM!
Wow, this post makes me tired. You got so much done and the flowering plant photos are so pretty.
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You accomplished a lot in a day! The gardens are beautiful, as always. The one at ATH hotel and pub looks sweet. Thank you for the update on their opening.
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I love reading your blog posts- so inspiring. I have some gallon pots of Bocking 4 comfrey that I started from root cuttings if you would like to try one or two. I too was inspired by Monty Don to start a comfrey patch. Bocking 4 doesn’t spread by seed. I’m in Astoria – would be happy to share.
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I would love some! Do you ever come to this side of the river?
I don’t get over there much but I do keep meaning to…
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