23 October: City Hall

Saturday, 23 October 2021

J Crew Cottage

We have been neglecting all gardens other than Long Beach. Allan mowed at the Js and I weeded, and, before we left, we had a chat with once and future mayor Mike.

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Long Beach

Once again, the weather forecast was wrong and we had clear and not too windy weather. (The big wind, a powerful “double bomb cyclone” storm “like one never before seen” but off the coastline—we hope— is forecast for Sunday through Monday.)

It is easiest to do city hall when it is closed, so off we went.

The east side was weedy and overgrown, no surprise.

Under the unpruned hydrangea (which was swamping two rhododendrons and hanging out into the parking area), I found more ridiculously planted plants: two dead lithodora (one of my most disliked plants!) crammed in with an established brunnera and a cyclamen that we had planted years ago and which were so happy to see some light.

The miscanthus missed its spring shearing!

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the ramp to the front door

Meanwhile, Allan pulled loads of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (not planted by us) on the west side, as we were trying to get as much debris as possible to take to city works in hopes that it would be open on Saturday….since the lock was changed yesterday without us being given a key.

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West side mess

We hared over there before two thirty. Sometimes we think the gate closes at three on Saturdays. I had the idea of putting the wheelbarrow blocking the open gate with a note saying “Don’t lock us in!”

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It would have been nice to get some mulch but I was so nervous about being locked in that we didn’t.

Back at city hall, we worked on the west side.

There is no before photo of where I trimmed Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’ that had flopped forward onto the sidewalk.

On the north side, creeping buttercup had been allowed to take over so badly that it was trailing over the wall onto the sidewalk. I felt simply irked at the neglect of the previous year. We also found some more plants crammed into weeds. (None of this was done or not done by the city crew; the 2021 gardener had been an outside contractor like we had been. But not like we had been, because we were obsessed with achieving perfection.)

If we only had a key to the city works gate, we could have finished city hall and erased it from the work board. Without a key, we would have to take the non compostable buckets of heavy mucky weeds home, unload them from the trailer, and reload them on the next work day and then unload them again at city works. I was annoyed. We simply did not have enough time to get all of the buttercup.

The horrid mess remains

Heavy buckets that will have to be unloaded, reloaded, and unloaded again

When I die, will I get a momument for 20 years of service?

At home, I came up with a solution for keeping the buckets close to the driveway but dry from the coming storm which promises two inches of rain.