27 April: exhausting and satisfying

On Monday, our friend J9 dropped by some delicious mulligatawny soup as a belated birthday present.  She also showed me this postcard I had sent her 25 years ago. I met her in 1993 when I was working at the Sou’wester Lodge and she was a guest.  She came with her old dog, Cassie, and her lovebird, B-bird.

J9 , Cassie, B.Bird in 1993.

Thursday, 27 April 2017

at home before work

Akebia on the arbor

Akebia

Allan’s photo, wild cucumber vine

Port of Ilwaco

We did a brief deadheading all along Howerton Avenue because of the Saturday Market’s early opening this year (on April 29 to coincide with the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival).

east end

 

sneaky dandelion

Allan’s photo

heading west for more deadheads

Note to self: Must trim up these shrubs before the May 6 children’s parade!

I am thinking of cutting the wax myrtle all the way down, because usually they come back quite nicely.  However, the one a couple of gardens west has not revived from being chopped last fall.

hmmm.  I don’t really want it here, anyway.

The maybe dead wax myrtle is part of this garden by the Ilwaco Pavilion.

I tire of BIG shrubs that were planted at the port (not by me) and need frequent pruning to preserve traffic sightlines.

The driveover garden got driven over (or something).

some smashing happened…

This is why it’s “the driveover garden”.

Port office garden with some orange tulips…

and spaces for at least two new plants

Next, we finished a rough weeding of the boatyard, to be repeated next week in a more perfect way before the children’s parade.

before

a boat coming in (Allan’s photo)

an hour later (boat was being power washed, too)

at the south end, a tangle of bindweed left unpulled for now

Sunday, before we go to an afternoon Indivisible event at Black Lake, I hope we can find time to make a trench or gap by pulling grasses along the back of the chain link fence.  I’ve done it in previous years and it is easier than it sounds.

While he was taking a couple of boat photos (below), Allan talked to the port manager, Guy, and his dad, also Guy, who happens to be our lawyer.  The elder Guy commented that our garden at Diane’s was gone.  It is nice to know the roadside garden was noticed.  Allan reassured him it is not gone for good and that we will be recreating it.

Allan’s boat photos:

Long Beach

We went to the beach approach with the hope of getting one more section done.  I decided to shake things up by weeding four sections of thick rugosa roses.  There is no way to weed the centers of those sections without thorns and eye pokings, so they actually go faster than the more open sections.  I also wanted to get the roadside edge dealt with before all the traffic arrives for the weekend’s clam festival.

a painted rock by where we parked  (Allan’s photo)

before, looking west

Allan’s photo

another painted rock (Allan’s photo)

more edge pulling of roses (Allan’s photo)

4.25 hours later

before, looking east, 1:45 PM

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

6:10 PM

Allan’s photo

 A dog named June out by the restrooms.   Part boxer part Great Pyrenees! (Allan’s photo)

During the job:

I might have left some clover “for the bees”.

Allan pruned some but not all the stubs on mugo pines that keep getting cut back (not always by us) for traffic sightlines.  

after

I’d like to find time to tidy up all the pines.  Some of them look so beaten by all the wind that I’m not sure they will provide any soothing greenness this year.

in the wheelbarrow: an accidental narcissus casualty

Fortunately, Martha walked by with her dog Ray, so I was able to give her the flowers.  She said it was the most beautiful casualty she had ever seen.

The lawn ponds across the sidewalk are finally drying up.

thick grass in the thickest rose thicket

I am hoping that next fall, we can cut back the three thickest rose sections to the ground, giving us a chance to weed in fall and early spring.  Meanwhile, I hope the roses distract passersby from the weeds.

At the city works yard, a killdeer was finding food amongst the green debris.

at home

I can’t erase “boatyard” from the work board till it is done well next week.  I decided to count today’s beach approach sections as three done, two to go.  We have one, the worst  section (rugosa roses and swamp rushes, almost impossible), untouched, and I’d like to do some further weeding of the ones I worked on today, probably less work than a whole section would take.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

‘Tomorrow: a check of all planters and of Veterans Field before the clam festival, and maybe time to finish weeding one berm.

I had been planning to go to a climate vigil in Seaside on Saturday.  It would have been fun to see Pam Fleming’s downtown gardens.  A combination of exhaustion and of not looking forward to the actual ride down there and of my own garden being a mess has me seriously considering Saturday being a day off at home.

Read Full Post »

19 March: last spring clean up job

By which I mean the last spring clean up job of 2017; I hope not the last of our career, as we plan to keep working at least part time for several more years.

Sunday, 19 March 2017

We were pleased to have a good weather day for weeding and clipping the boatyard garden.

before, looking south

Allan cleaned up the small bed just around the corner:

before (Allan’s photos)

after

weeds and self seeded poppies

and lots of escholtzia (California poppy) seedlings

Allan’s photo

north end of garden, before (Allan’s photos)

and after

Some of the very old woody lavenders needed to go away.  Allan did the digging:

before

after

before

after.  We also trimmed a lot of santolinas.

The last big clumps of Miscanthus inside the fence.

after

I have forgotten which one this is.  I have learned so many plant names in the last two years that I thought I would remember and don’t.  I need to make a list as I learn them, because my memory does not grab on like it used to.

Edited to add: I found the name.  Not a miscanthus. Pennisetum macrourum. 

The garden still had a few crocuses…

But I had expected there to be daffodils, especially since I had planted about 100 of the same one as is blooming right now in the Long Beach welcome sign.  As I began working in the garden, I realized Every Single Damn One had been PICKED.  Not by deer (which would be unusual because narcissi are poisonous) but by humans.  Each stem was cut down low.  The foliage was not nipped at all like a deer would do.

stolen, every single one!

empty stems

A boat guy said that he had seen “a couple messing around in the garden” earlier that morning.  Or the thievery could have happened over the weekend or late last week.  It must have taken awhile to pick every single flower. So much for creating a great big beautiful show.

It was not a gardener thief, and I know that because I found a number of bulbs pulled out and just left lying on top.  A gardener thief would have considered the bulbs to be extra bounty.

bulb pulled out and left behind

I persisted at the job.  It would have been enjoyable to work among flowers instead of in a garden with only a few crocuses.  About a third of the way along, I thought we would never get it finished today.  By the time we passed the gate and only had about one third left, I thought we would get done after all.  And we did.

looking south from the gate

The new owners of Marilyn’s garden stopped their vehicle to say hello.  They are happy with Dave and Melissa’s spring clean up work at their new home.  I am so glad the garden is in the hands of people who appreciate it.

Passersby did not have much to admire.  I enjoyed when a small family passed, and the dad was reading aloud as he walked.  I thought he said, “When she wanted to have her morning coffee there, she simply lifted him down into the garden.”  I wondered from which story that comes.  Google let me find it!  Pippi Longstocking:

south end, weeded (Allan’s photo)

I took my after photos from the van because I was too sore to walk.

It would look a lot more interesting with 100 narcissi.

We had not put up our polite “do not pick” signs yet.  Allan dropped me off at home and went to dump debris, and on the way back he put up the two signs that were still in good enough condition.  The words “horse” and “barn door” come to mind.  We have caught people picking flowers right smack dab under these signs before.  I do think signage might deter some.

Wouldn’t it look nice if there actually were some flowers to leave?

At home, I was pleased to erase the last spring clean up job from the work board.

Tomorrow, I had been hoping for good weather.  Now the forecast calls for rain.  We need to check up on the Anchorage Cottages garden, and I want to photograph all the narcissi in Long Beach, while they are still there.

 

Read Full Post »

16 March: 2 tasks

Thursday, 16 March 2017

At the post office, on our way to work, Allan found a note in our box asking him to talk to the postmaster.  A postal patron had urgently needed to know the identification of a plant “that looks like a coleus”.

Here it is: a greigii tulip.

The foliage is as great as the flower to come.

I realized it was time to apply some sluggo.

Ilwaco City Hall ready for St Patrick’s Day

Long Beach

We hoped to accomplish two tasks on the project list today.  The first was pruning and weeding the five roses in the back of Coulter Park.  They are exceedingly difficult because of weeds, including salmonberry, coming under the fence.  The neighbouring house has but a tiny strip between house and fence that would be almost impossible for the homeowner to maintain, and in that strip dwell salmonberries, blackberries, and birds-foot trefoil that long to join up with the roses.

the dreaded rose bed, before

south side of park with pieris

Pieris and Ribes (flowering currant)

There was another ribes in that gap that turned up its toes a few years ago, as ribes are wont to do.

Allan trimmed up in the garden next to the old train depot.

before

after trimming sword fern

rose bed; line cut with half moon edger (Allan’s photo)

I was inspired to do two lines of half moon edging.

after

a pretty patch of primroses

One dead rhododendron (azalea) has thrown this old threesome off balance.

one of the two good rhodos (Allan’s photo)

We had two cold and windy squalls of heavy rain pass through; we sat them out in the van to avoid getting drenched and miserable.  (During the second one, we went to the Great Escape espresso drive through for invigorating sustenance.)

To add to our load of debris, we decided to do a bit of pruning on an escallonia at city hall.

city hall, west side

before (Allan’s photos)

and after

city hall hellebore

telephoto through the arch (Allan’s photo)

We dumped our debris at city works and filled up all our buckets with Soil Energy mulch.  (The crew had got us a pile from Peninsula Landscape Supply.)

a pile of riches

first load 

On the Bolstad approach, we filled up the lower spots in the planters.

before

after

looking east

not a good day for a picnic

And we added some mulch to city hall west side garden.

city hall after pruning, lily bulb planting, weeding, mulching

The last five buckets went into Fifth Street Park.  Yesterday, drenched from rain, we had left behind a messy patch of sorrel:

yesterday

today

mulched

A lily bulb had worked its way to the top of the soil.  This is just one third of how big it was, after I divided it:

Allan’s photo

We followed our first load of mulching with a break for delicious crab rolls at Captain Bob’s Chowder.

Captain Bob’s crab rolls

Back we went to city works to get another load of mulch.  Jackpot! I saw two good pallets on the pile.

Thank you, Allan.

Now I need just two more for my triple compost bin.

A red wing blackbird serenaded us.  (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Full load of mulch buckets (Allan’s photo)

This load went to the big welcome sign garden.  It had gotten low after pulling out last year’s annuals and absorbs a large amount of soil.

before

We found loads of shotweed to pull.

mulching carefully around bulbs

after

back side

after

I am sorry to report that deer are eating the tulips along the east end of the front side.  I hope they don’t eat them all.  One of these years, we may have to give up on tulips here.

well chomped

So glad deer do not eat narcissi, my favourite flower

On the way home, we stopped briefly at the Depot Restaurant to pour some water on the two sheltered window boxes, and there we discovered a sad situation.

a flattie!

The spare is weirdly located under the front seats.  Everything there had to be moved and the t-bar thingie assembled to loosen a bolt in the floor that holds the spare tire in place.

complicated!

underneath

the culprit

Fortunately, Allan had all the tools (even two jacks for extra safety).

Despite having to look at the instruction book, Allan got the tire changed in 40 minutes and we were back on our way home.  But tomorrow will be devoted to getting a the good (fairly new, now punctured) tire repaired.

one more big  task on the workboard

When the boatyard spring clean up is done (I hope by Sunday evening), the board will be gloriously blank for a moment and will then fill up with the beach approach clean up and more.

Read Full Post »

15 March: roses at last

Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Two nights of poor sleep from assorted aches and pains did not dissuade me from willingness to work in a light drizzle.  I couldn’t stand not having the Fifth Street Park roses pruned. My usual goal is to have roses all pruned between Presidents Day and March 1.  This year, the weather has not been conducive.

Fifth Street Park

tree garden nearby with primroses

I pruned by the restroom entrance, with fish bicycle rack…before

working from the Wiegel Cottage side. The restroom building also looks cottagey.

This fence has a double line of fence boards, making for a dead zone of rose canes inside.  Un-gettatable.

The drizzle stopped soon into the job and we had pleasant weather until increasingly hard rain in the last half hour.

after….the rose is ‘Super Dorothy’

Meanwhile, Allan removed a messy patch of hesperantha (formerly schizostylis).  They will come back, no doubt.

before

after

before and after

He then pruned the Super Dorothy roses on the south fence.

before

after

That white fence was erected by the hotel next door.  I predict it is going to get weedy between tall white fence and low concrete wall and that neither the hotel staff nor us will be able to get at said weeds.

I had turned my attention to weeding in the northwest quadrant of the park, where wildly invasive alliums are a problem.  For last year’s first clean up, in early 2016, Melissa and Dave had helped us.  She had gone after those alliums with much more determination to get every bulb.  I had been curious if her effort would pay off.  No, there were just as many as always.

northwest quadrant, before

damnable thread like alliums have fairly inconsequential flowers in summer.

Full disclosure: I may have planted a few clumps many years ago.  Sorry now, if so.

a nice clump of ‘Ice Follies’ or some such

after (but not done)

My former spouse had come by on his bike while I was weeding.  We’d had a good time commiserating about politics.

I had gotten my hopes up about having time to also tidy the roses in Coulter Park…till the rain came.

We were fairly well drenched.

While dumping debris at city works (where Allan did all the hard work), I was thrilled to see that the city now has a pile of mulch for us.  Perhaps if we have good weather tomorrow, we will do some mulching in Long Beach.

 

Ilwaco

On the way home, we scouted for pallets at a spot that sometimes has free ones.  We scored two.  Allan did all the heavy lifting.  The scavenging spot also had an unusual offering: a pile of driftwood, maybe cleaned off the shore bank at the marina.

Got some good decorative pieces.

We did not try for the wood in two big bins.

A block from home:

Ocean Thunder and Ocean Lightning parked on Lake Street

home with a good haul.  Have enough pallets now for the first bin. Need four more to make three bins.

I had planted a few lilies in Fifth Street Park and planted more at home.  The weather had gotten fine again.

lily time

planted with a bit of bulb food

It has been windy.

bogsy wood (Allan’s photo)

work board tonight with just three pressing things

It won’t take long to re-fill the board when those last three spring clean up tasks are done.

 

Read Full Post »

12 March: to Skamokawa and back

Sunday, 12 March 2017

Because we had a political meeting in Naselle this afternoon, we had decided to leave home in time to drive half an hour further and visit a museum in Skamokawa.

driving along the Columbia River

I was not best pleased that it was a beautiful day and would have been excellent for weeding the boatyard garden.

two wrecks?

Here is what the white remnant of a boat looked like in 1995, in the same little bay:

For some reason, it had been deemed unsalvageable.

As we drove along, I pondered the fact that the many conifers along our roads are why our landscapes look more somber than the airier ones that Mr Tootlepedal photographs in Scotland.

scenery heavy with evergreens

We arrived at our destination in Skamokawa: Redmen Hall, which I had read was hosting an exhibit about tugboats and steamers on the Columbia.

The view from the parking lot

A back door offered easy access without all those stairs…and a disheartening sign.

NOOOOOOOO

Across the highway, below, is a general store and café where we have stopped before.  I thought that, because of Skamokawa being such a small town, I might luck into a museum docent there.

looking down on the grocery store and post office

Redmen Hall from below

In a room right on the river, behind the store, an antiques sale was on for the day.

antiques in a light filled room

I used to have an apple like this till my good friend Sophie (a dog) broke it…for which she was forgiven.

I found two things to buy.  One is a present so I cannot show it!

And sure enough, when I mentioned having driven from Ilwaco to find the museum was closed, I learned that one of the docents was ill, and another one offered to open it for us.

behind the store/café

Off the deck by the store, a boater was buzzing around.  I am sure Allan wished he was out boating, too.

Allan’s photo

We followed the docent back up to Redmen Hall.  The hall was once a school house.  Amazingly, it used be down where the highway is.  When the road was put through, the building got moved up the hill with “steam donkeys” (not really donkeys!).

The old school house remembered.

Allan went straight up to the bell tower. (I did not.)

Step on a pedal to open the shutters for the view.

The views from the bell tower.

river town from high above (and a boat ramp)

On the second floor, well designed historical panels go all around the walls of a big open room.

What Skamokawa means

interpretive panels

the kind docent who let us in.  The way the panels are put together reminds me of my grandma’s scrapbooks.

when the road went through

a dance where “ladies may walk on their partners feet, and no questions will be asked”.

another strong woman

river pictures (Allan’s photo)

A glass case held birds provided by the Audubon Society…

an erstwhile Mr Grumpy had fine plumage.

the view

We dropped a contribution into the money jar and also spent a pretty penny in the well -stocked gift shop, including two books (quiet, because one is a present), a documentary called Work is Our Joy (about gillnetting), and some notecards.  If we’d had time, we could have watched Work is Our Joy right in the museum.  I will enjoy it from my comfy chair at home.  I already identify with the title.

One of three nooks of books.

Well represented: the books of Grays River author Robert Pyle

Musician Doug is the spouse of our friend Beth; they live nearby but we had had no time to look them up.

river town art

most of our purchases

The hall is open Thursdays through Sundays from noon to four.  We recommend a visit.

We had a little over half an hour to to get back to our Indivisible meeting in Naselle.  I could not resist a side trip to the historic 1905 Grays River covered bridge.

on the way

Tying in with our visit to Redmen Hall: author Robert Michael Pyle lives in a house with a view of the covered bridge.  I thought it would be kind of nosy to add a photo of his house, so here is the bridge.

under the bridge (Allan’s photo)

The river running fast and high.  (Allan’s photo)

In particularly stormy times, the river has flooded the valley.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Here we go.

the other end

Before we turned around, I had to get a closer look at two trees beside  the parking area.

going in for a closer look

moss and licorice fern

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

assorted critters

Ooops.  I suddenly realized time had slipped by and we would be 25 minutes late to the meeting at Hunters Inn, Naselle.  I told myself that it was ok; we have been to almost every liberal political meeting available since November so we could be late to just one.

part of the gathering

postcards laid out on three booths

One member brought this.

We discussed, shared ideas, and laid some plans for future events.

On the way home, Allan and I detoured to look at a garden we had admired when attending last month’s meeting.

The garden in question is next door to Naselle Timberland Library. (Allan’s photo)

lots of narcissi about to bloom (Allan’s photo)

Next door: a large garden which I intend to look at every time we have a Naselle meeting.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

pieris and the church next door

Right across the street sits another charming house.

I wonder if there will be sweet peas on that fence in summer. Or that could be a dog path!

wrap around porch

a tree with personality

Allan’s photo

As we got close to home, I looked at the weather forecast and must admit I did begin to fret about losing what might be the only nice gardening day this week.  Remembering that we now have light till after 7 PM (yay for daylight saving time!), I resolved to get two hours work done in my own garden.

While clipping some Joe Pye weed, I gave an experimental dig at a large fuchsia.

one of two many fuchsia magellanica

To my surprise, it shifted, so Allan helped me pull it out.

after…Ok, he pulled, I watched and encouraged.

project: clean up middle bed, before…

and after

Woe!! One of two matched asophedels has disappeared from the right hand pot.

I will snag this asphodel from a different pot.

Frosty

bogsy wood swale

Oh for more time in the garden; so much to do.

Skooter obsessing about the frogs.

The unfortunate forecast:

Resolved: no more daytime meetings on nice days till we have spring clean up done!

Read Full Post »

10 March: spring clean up at the Port

 

Friday, 10 March 2017

Skooter thinks the morning light is just too bright.

We had a break from the rain.  The predicted wind did not arrive, making it even better. Work ensued.

at home: Tulip kaufmanniana ‘The First’

While it looks like that tulip is growing in straw, it is actually in the old growth from Geranium ‘Rozanne’.

Allan noticed and photographed the same tulips.

We went down to the port, just a block south, to finish the garden beds along Howerton Avenue.  Of course, I had high hopes, thinking we could finish there, AND the boatyard, and maybe even prune roses in Long Beach.  Not bloody likely, as it turned out; my ambitions are usually greater than reality.

Curbside gardens run from east to west all along Howerton, on the landward side of the buildings.

Howerton and Elizabeth, looking west, before

after, 1.5 hours later

Partway through that first garden bed, three ibuprofen were required.

I’m kind of old and my arthritic legs ache like fury sometime when I am working.

Allan’s photos of the east end bed, before and after:

before

after

He also yanked a dead lavender out of the CoHo Charters garden bed because I felt it was bringing down the tone.

It was really most sincerely dead.

space for something new

 

Next, I made an executive decision that we simply had to get the sword and deer ferns cut back in a pocket garden in front of the former Shorebank building.  Otherwise, they will bother me all summer long…and they do show very much from the sidewalk.

before

clipping

 

A sweet 7 month old dog had jumped out a truck and came running up to me.  I held on to her till her daddy got her back.  Reminded me of my escape artist black lab, Bertie Woofter.

Oh, how she wanted to keep running.

The deer fern looked especially unsightly

 

20 minutes later.  I felt so much better at this being done.

Allan’s photo

We had done all the gardens in between the east and west end last week, so we skipped right ahead to the garden by Salt Hotel.  Allan did most of the clipping of santolinas in the river rock bed; I find that difficult to walk on nowadays.

before

half an hour later, almost after

Allan had dug out one tatty old blue fescue and, to fill the hole it left, he got a piece of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ from the garden to the west.  Someone called out from the upstairs window of the adjacent building, which now houses the marijuana store, “Why are you taking plants?”  We were thrilled that the folks there are watching out for the garden.  Allan thanked them for their vigilance.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, about to be divided

and in its new home

I had clipped all the sword ferns in the Salt’s containers along the sidewalk…because I could not stand not to do so.  The pub readerboard said “beef on weck”; I had to google it and found it was a roast beef dip sandwich.  Good thing I did not google it till I got home or I might have found a lunch break irresistible, and we still had much to do.

Next came the two beds at the west end.  These took much longer than I had expected.

before, looking west

an hour and a half later

We saw our former next door neighbour, Killer.  It had been interesting to move in and learn our neighbour was called Killer.  It means “fish killer”.

I divided and put some sedums and some golden oregano into the pot shop’s garden bed.

narcissi (Allan’s photo)

another dog on the run

In the parking lot across the street, forklifts buzzed around loading crab pots onto trucks.

Last night, when I looked out my south window, I could see the lights from the Ilwaco Pavilion building (a view that disappears when leaves come on the salmonberries and willows at the south end of our property).  This morning, the view had changed to stacks of crab pots.

We drove to the Ilwaco Community Building just to stick some starts of santolina in a sunny bed.  It is an easy plant to start right in the ground just by poking in a short hardwood cutting.

Ilwaco Community Building and its garden beds

sticking cuttings

view of shade garden from inside the building’s corridor.

crocuses at the library entrance (Allan’s photo)

Galanthus nivalis ‘Flora Pleno’ double snowdrop (Allan’s photo)

narcissi (Allan’s photo)

 

We ended the day down at the boatyard, which of course we did not get near to done.

The long, narrow garden runs along the fence by 1st Ave South.

 

boatyard, looking south, before

an hour later

Euphorbia in bloom and a disheartening number of weeds and pleasing number of poppy seedlings

so weedy

We ran into one big problem: We had created so much debris that we had to break in order to dump.  I went home at that point because it was but an hour till dark.  If I had realized that Allan had the energy to go till dark, I could have stayed at the boatyard and done more clipping while he disposed of the first load of debris.  My brain is not fully work functional yet and I did not even think of that solution, one we have used many times in the past.

I long for a good weather full work day at the boatyard.  The weeds came out like butter (smooth and easy) and it would be a pleasure to spend a day perfecting this long narrow garden.  There is still so much to do here.

boatyard garden, looking south from the gate

and looking north from the gate

The boatyard had a line of boats in every spot along the fence.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The only item of collateral damage today

The cats were happy I came home early.

Skooter and Calvin

Allan returned to the boatyard and worked till dark.

before

after

Rain and wind are again predicted for the weekend, which is just as well because we have political meetings during both days.  At this point, I am feeling behind on work and it would be frustrating to miss a good weather day with indoor events.

workboard tonight, still did not get to erase first clean up

 

Read Full Post »

1 March: Ilwaco projects

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Because I believed the weather forecast (rain and wind) and the wind flag flying over the port office, I decided we had better do a project more sheltered than working at the port gardens.  They and the beach approach garden are the worst jobs in bad weather.

I called Peninsula Landscape Supply and learned they are back to their daily hours instead of limited winter hours.  So off we went to get a load of mulch.

steaming hot soil energy

Note: When the mulch is hot, wait for it to cool before planting new plants in it.

one cubic yard

Elijah Blue fescue at Peninsula Landscape Supply

J’s garden

Our first mulching project used a little over half a yard, at the J’s garden across the street.  There, when previous owner had planted a pretty little garden, she planted many of the shrubs humped up on mounds.  Strange.  Too hard to dig a hole? By now, years later, their roots were exposed.  I have been looking forward to fixing this.

Soil Energy (Allan’s photo)

bucket application

before

after

before (hydrangeas in the center, back, are so humped up they are falling sideways)

after

after

before

after

fluffed up rose beds by back patio

Norwood garden

We had enough mulch left to do the Norwood garden beds, two doors down from us.

Allan’s photos:

The soil in the narrow bed in the back had looked quite poor and grey when we weeded earlier this month.  Now the bed looks rich and happy.

then

now

happy Euonymous

Port of Ilwaco

As we had worked on the two mulching projects, I realized the weather forecast had been quite wrong.  We could have pleasantly done the spring clean up all along the port.  With a few hours left in the day, we decided to get as much done there as we could.

Allan clipping sword fern behind (north side) the port office building

before and after

south side port office, before

after some clipping and two buckets of mulch added

I especially love narcissi with strongly reflexed petals.

Just across a little lawn is the marina, and the tide was high.

We decided to get as many of the Howerton Avenue curbside gardens done as possible, concentrating on the most walked-by ones, especially ones with the larger ornamental grasses.

red twig dogwood at the old Shorebank building

Shorebank: crocuses and kinnikinnick

by Ilwaco pavilion, before

and after

“drive over garden” before

and after trimming the santolinas (four different cultivars)

Fort George Brewery (office), before

and after (Allan’s photos)

Art Port Gallery, before

after

by Art Port Gallery

We surprised ourselves by getting all of the garden beds done except for the west and east ends. While not enough to erase the job from the work board, we should be able to finish it in just a couple more hours.

Home after 5 PM: Skooter was waiting.

Allan’s photo

Skooter and Frosty

Skooter, Frosty…and Calvin!  (Allan’s photo)

Somehow Allan found the energy to nip across the street and mow the J’s little lawn.

before and after

Even though they are invasive, I cannot help loving the yellow ranunculus (lesser celandine) in the lawn.  It’s not the most evil creeping buttercup.  I asked Allan to mow around it.  It will go dormant in the summer.  Sometimes I am just weak about plants.  But it is a cutie.

I’d love another nice day tomorrow so we could finish the port and the boatyard gardens and have the first spring clean up done!

work board tonight

Read Full Post »