Thursday, 18 July 2019
Our company arrived from Canada: Kilyn and Peter. They came bearing gifts of books, a box of Builders Tea, some British throat lozenges for winter ills, some pastries from the local bakery and some British biscuits.
You may know Kilyn as the reader who comments as Steveston Gardener. Her spouse, Peter, is a delightfully droll Australian.
We had our own garden as ready for touring as time and energy allowed—pretty good, if I dare say so, and the unweeded parts can be called “rewilded”.
Our Garden
We’d had this much rain in the past two days, giving us the gift of this day off.
In the back garden, I immediately realized the Cripps Pink apple tree was half its former height. Rain, wind, and the weight of too many apples had snapped off the top. Peter demonstrates how heavy with apples the snapped trunks are. What a shame.
When Kilyn took a photo of the little pond, I saw that raccoons, or perhaps Skooter, had knocked several blue pottery pieces into the depths. Allan fixed it. We were all excited to see the one fish. I had assumed it had been eaten weeks ago.
Those are the sort of things that would be a disaster on a garden tour day but are just fine with good friends.
By going garden touring in Ocean Shores this weekend, I will miss three days of lily-opening time.
That timing proves the wisdom of anyone setting a garden tour date for this weekend as peak lily time reliably begins now.
After touring into every corner and path of the garden…
followed by some sitting in the shade…
…we needed to pass another hour or so before the main feature of the day and so we repaired to
The Boreas Inn.
After touring the entry garden and the west lawn beds…
…we had a tour of the inn…
…and a visit with Susie in the west-facing sunroom.
We then were off…
…for an afternoon at
The Bayside Garden.
Upon arrival, Peter said he almost cried on the way up the driveway “because it is so beautiful, and,” he added, “I’m not a gardener.”
Kilyn is the impassioned gardener and garden blog reader. She faithfully reads (among others) my two favourites, The Tootlepedal blog and The Miserable Gardener.
We both best like blogs that show imperfections rather than, as she puts it, carefully curated photos.
A trio of Rhododendron pachysanthum was first to be thoroughly admired.
We viewed every part of the garden.
We all expected Orange Rocket to be columnar. It is not.
We visited my most special favourite pet of a rhododendron:
How to hide an ugly electric box:
Steve says he’d now choose something other than laurel, and the vine to the right is fatshedera.
We closed our tour in the kitchen with coffee and homemade muffins and some garden talk.
Later in the evening, we met again with Kilyn and Peter for dinner at
The Depot Restaurant.
After feasting, we walked west one block to tour
The Sou’wester Lodge and trailer court.
I do believe that the next time they visit, Kilyn and Peter will be parking their caravan here.
We suggested the Peter “place a call” at the phone booth and could hear his laughter.
Kilyn tried it next.
Jessica Schlief is doing a spectacular job on the Sou’wester gardens.
Tomorrow, the four of us leave to take two different routes to meet again at Saturday’s garden tour in Ocean Shores.
A great time with a fantastic tour leader and social director. And the Bayside Garden – pictures cannot do the scope and grandeur of it justice.
Oh, there is a voice crying out here…”those are our TimTams – Aussie bikkies!” 😄
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That garden does look to be very well worth a visit.
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Tim-Tams! One of Australia’s gifts to the world! Nummy.
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Have never had them before. Looking forward to the perfect tea time.
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Very beautiful gardens! What a view from the Bayside garden. It appears that there is no deer damage and/or deer fencing? Lucky you!
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Deer do browse the Bayside Garden. I’m surprised they don’t do more damage.
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Wonderful day of touring beautiful gardens, including your own! The view from the bayside garden is breathtaking. I love the photo of the evergreen huckleberry glade.
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