Tuesday, 3 September 2019
An autumn work board list has appeared.
The annual “Rod Run to the End of the World” and its sister event, the Ilwaco Slow Drag, will be this weekend. And then the tourist season officially ends.
J’s Garden
We weeded, deadheaded, mowed the pocket lawn.
I am pleased to see how well the new Zepherine Drouhin rose is doing (right, below). Allan says he tucked the canes into the trellis after this photo was taken.
Port of Ilwaco
We tidied the Howerton Avenue curbside beds from the east to the west.
Allan tackled some of the annoying Euphorbia ‘Fen’s Ruby’…
But before he got going on this patch of it…
…I cried out NOOO in dismay. I do want it gone (into the garbage). However, Friday night is Slow Drag at the Port and my theory is the more ground cover in the gardens, the less likely people will stand or sit in them. Last year, this bed was by the place where the vehicles lined up for the starting line.
I was sorry that the Ilwaco Bakery was closed today. No special treat for us.
The woodsy end of the At the Helm Hotel curbside garden:
Last year, we roped off my favourite bed by the Ilwaco Pavilion because it had some fragile new plants. This year, I think it is tough enough to stand on its own.
I am more worried about the Time Enough Books garden, which was excellent this year and is too big to rope off. I have no concerns about the end of it that is almost all ceanothus.
We watered half the beds; the tougher, more droughty ones at east and west end can do without because of last weekend’s bit of rain. I continue to consider them an experiment in drought tolerance, mostly because they are the hardest by far to water, requiring double-hose-dragging.
Rather to my surprise, we got done in time to weed the entire boatyard garden as well.
Among the usual litter (not a huge amount), Allan found a can that had held an interesting looking drink.
I wish we had some photos of how good the boatyard it still looking. But neither of us took any.
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
The sidewalk and patio chairs were damp and water dripped into the rain barrels…
…but despite a fine mist on our windshield…
…the local weather apps all said that we had had no recordable rain at all. The wind forecast of 25 mph concerned me. Fortunately, the wind did not arrive till late in our work day.
In my view from the driveway, the fremontodendron is still blooming, and has bloomed non stop since May.
Long Beach
We deadheaded the welcome sign.
We watered the downtown street trees and planters, which we had dared leave unwatered since last Thursday. Just a few cosmos and one chrysanthemum were slightly stressed.
My photos while watering:
Town was quiet because kids have returned to school.
I have a couple of wild spots where I drop off snails. They always try for the Great Escape first.
I told a tourist wearing a shirt that said something like “Don’t talk to me, I’m a grumpy old man” that I had to admire the cat accompanying him and his partner.
Allan’s photos while watering:
We weeded the Veterans Field gardens. I find the corner garden so frustrating because of its horsetail and the weird sprinkler pattern that has some of it wet and some bone dry.
Fifth Street Park got a good weeding and trimming in the NW quadrant.
I was pleased to see that our friends Cathy and Captain Bob have taken a long vacation from their café before rather than after Rod Run.
The colours are becoming more autumnal with Solidago ‘Fireworks’ and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ in golden bloom.
I like the silver santolinas in front, new this year. They don’t go all the way to the end because other plants fill up the space there.
Ilwaco
We mulched the curbside garden by David Jensen’s architecture office with bagged soil amendment Gardner and Bloome Harvest Supreme. That bed has been lagging and refusing to grow any seeds I’ve sown. I hope some enrichment will help.
We got to erase that little job from the work board, and it is not even autumn yet!
Allan bucket watered the Ilwaco street trees and planters while I hose watered the boatyard garden.
I had time to do some weeding along the back of the fence.
My end of summer burnout is reflected by still not having a good photo of the boatyard garden looking pretty fine.
We finished our watering day by watering our volunteer gardens at the post office and fire station.
At home, after watering, I looked to see if my night blooming cereus will open tonight.
It sure looks ready but hasn’t opened yet.
In the evening, I wrote to the city and the Ilwaco merchants our letter of resignation from the Ilwaco planters job . I will be glad when Allan is done with the last bucket watering…maybe three more times. We have both injured ourselves with pulled muscles and backs “out” from that job over the past decade, nothing bad enough to seek medical attention, but it’s been one heck of a tough job for two aging people. I don’t feel poignant about it…yet. Mr. Tootlepedal had a particularly insightful comment about our decision to resign: “That sounds like an excellent decision to me even if it will be hard to see someone else doing things all wrong (and perhaps even harder if they do things perfectly).”
I do have all sorts of thoughts about what I hope the next person should and shouldn’t do. I hope to never see anything like a phormium in each planter! But I will keep my own counsel on what I think if I don’t like what comes next. And if it someone attains the perfection that eluded us, I might feel a little jealous.
You can see a reprise of the planters, way back in 2010, here.
You and Allen have done a great job with the planters and deserve to take a break from hard physical labor, plus the angst of destroyed plants and undeserved complaints.
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Thanks, Tracy!
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Mr. Tootlepedal has the right of it, but no matter which way it transpires, you have the satisfaction of years of creating beauty. And residents and visitors the joy of experiencing that beauty.
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Thank you, friend.
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I liked the painted lady. Ours have all disappeared. I hope that you can sit back a bit and enjoy a job well done over the years.
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Thank you for identifying my butterfly.
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