16 February: annexation

Since I last wrote…

An ice storm that caused a great deal of damage and which caused power outages in Portland that in some cases are still out five days later came unnervingly close to us, stopping at Chinook just a few miles east along the Columbia River. Our power only went out for a few hours.

From our local paper, The Chinook Observer:

You can see a video of the falling ice here. And you can visit Loree’s blog from Portland to see the shocking amount of ice at Danger Garden.

Tuesday, 16 February 2021

At home

I spent several days during the cold weather watching shows about about the Chelsea Flower Show. Imagine if during the Seattle flower show, local telly had 15-18 shows, including two per day in prime time, covering every detail of the event. I clearly was born in the wrong country. You can watch several years worth of the shows here ; if the link doesn’t take you to the shows, use the drop down menu for gardening.

Today, I ventured outside to see if my outdoor veg garden had frozen. It still looks good, with a few leaves on offer for a mess of greens.

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I was surprised at how low the grey rain gauge was, as it seems to have been raining unceasingly. It doesn’t have a leak; the yellow one looked the same.

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Even though the weather has been below freezing for several nights, it had not been cold enough to kill the azolla in the ponds.

During the stretch of bad weather, I’d been thinking a lot about the willow grove and had dreamed of expanding a path over onto Alicia’s property next to the seasonal pond. I used to call this imperialization, but annexation seems a politer word. Although it did not feel like gardening weather today, I walked out there to have a look and realized my vision was unachievable. The bank is angled and slick, with branches growing along it, and the mound of old garden debris (weeds and sod, not fit for the compost bins) was steep along the side of it.

The mound, which has good and “bad” (montbretia) perennials in it.

I pushed the pile of holly and ivy to where I could reach it from a Alicia’s lawn and wheelbarrowed some it up to the wheelie bin.

On Alicia’s side of the fence

And then, with the weather better than I thought, I saw that the sod and weeds had broken down into good soil and went back to the garage for a shovel. I shoveled some of it out and mulched some persicaria that I’d planted under the nearest sideways willow tree branch and then clipped some branches to go in the twiggy fence I’m making at the other east of the grove.

The pile, somewhat broken down

When Allan made the mistake of coming out to see what I was doing, I got him to help me move an old plank from the Bogsy Wood to the willow grove, where it will show better.

I hopefully mentioned my idea of moving some log pieces from Alicia’s yard to the east end of the willows grove. Soon, he reappeared with the hand cart.

Alicia’s pile from a dead tree

The cart only broke once (a wheel came off, fixable).

Trunk pieces in place to start a barrier at the east end

Adding to the branch twiggy fence

Two of the trunk pieces might make good frog viewing seats for people who can sit down low.

Maybe a raccoon footprint

When a heavy rain squall began, Allan bailed out and took these photos on the way back to the house.

I persevered long enough to add the rest of my branches. After:

Looking east

Looking west

I was glad to get back inside for more Chelsea Flower Show.

Reading

I recently finished a short gardening book. I have often recommended the book The Inward Garden by Julie Moir Messervy. This more recent book has the same ideas, condensed.

One of her themes is that we seek a garden which is based on our childhood memories and which falls into one of several archetypes.

In my previous garden, I was sure that my archetype was the cave, and maybe it was then. But now, rereading the choices, I think it is the harbor.

I adore an author who writes openly about anxiety. I don’t remember that from the earlier book, but it might have been there.

I delighted in this story, because often when I am on a drive (always as the passenger), I will look at each house that we pass and say to myself yes or no about whether I find it appealing.

When I read about this garden tour (actual name: Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill)…

…I did a bit of preliminary searching and found this. When I finish blogging today (I’m writing this two days later on a rainy day), I intend to find more. Down the rabbit hole!

Finally, this is so true.