10-11 Sept: two mulchings and a dinner

Tuesday, 10 September 2019

The mini-birdbath that Debbie W. gave me on garden tour day looks cute filled with rain.

Boreas Inn

We got fifteen bags of Gardner and Bloome Harvest Supreme to mulch the west beds at the Boreas…first ten, and then Allan went to get five more.  We made them go further by mixing in the last of the spring mulch pile, a bulk delivery than had been extra sandy and grey looking.  The beds had looked discouragingly grey all summer.  We should have just added the bagged mulch last spring but…we hadn’t.  I am too budget minded and have an ongoing problem with spending other people’s money, even when I should.

Allan took all the photos of the project.

The bulk mulch had been kept on and under tarps.

I kept telling Allan “Don’t make it too grey!”

I was able to erase “mulch Boreas” from the work board, although I noticed later in the week that I had written “pull phormiums” rather than crocosmia.  Thank goodness our target will be the much easier crocosmia.  I have eliminated almost all phormiums from gardens that we care for.

In the evening, we treated Our Kathleen to an early birthday dinner at

The Depot Restaurant.

summer salad

Duck Shanghai for Kathleen, with orange blackberry sauce and ginger and five spice sticky rice

Prawns Bangkok for Allan

I could eat a soup bowl full of the Steak Killian’s scallion sauce.

a birthday brownie

and blackberry trifle

We had a leisurely two hour feast.  For once, we were not the last table to leave because all the mulching work suddenly caught up with me and so we were the second to last.

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Wednesday, 11 September 2019

Allan put on a trailer side because we had mulching plans today.

Before work, we checked on a house out of our usual routine, to make sure that there were no big pruning issues (like leaning trees).  It had a lovely secret garden feel.

The Depot Restaurant

Chef Michael had asked us to prune along the edge of the side yard of the house that serves as the restaurant office.

before

during

after (Allan’s photos)

While Allan loaded the last of the debris, I checked on the Depot garden.

We had intended to take the debris home for chipping, but there was so much, and some was thorny salmonberry, so we took it to the dump.

There I saw a stumpery.

On the way out, we scored a great little dustbin for a planter, for only $5.00

Diane’s Garden

We did such a quick check of the Red Barn garden that I did not count it as work, and spent an hour at Diane’s tidying her garden.  Some of the sweet peas are still floriferous enough to leave for one more week.  All Allan’s photos here.

The roadside garden:

The septic vault garden:

cosmos

cosmos

It was 70 degrees, rather hot for us, and time for wee break.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

I had to see what was new and found a Panicum ‘Blood Brothers’ that was irresistible.  We encountered Todd there and had an amusing chat, all fun and leisurely and off the clock of any job.

Peninsula Landscape Supply

We got a yard of the new kind of mulch…

Allan’s photo

…and took it to

The Port of Ilwaco

…to fluff up some of the beds that had been walked and sat upon during Slow Drag.

weeding

I have made a place for some new plants, when the steady autumn rains come.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo, nicely fluffed formerly trampled area

I checked on the south port office garden while Allan put the last of the mulch on nearby curbside beds.

Cosmos ‘Cupcake’

The temperature had mercifully dropped to make for a beautiful evening.

All out of mulch, we checked on the curbside bed at At the Helm Hotel, where Allan noticed the dogwood berries.

My favourite bed by the Ilwaco pavilion:

On the way home, we saw that of the two Sunflowers of Mystery in the Ilwaco planters, one had been cut (not broken) off.  I was again mildly disappointed in human behavior…and reflected that the planters will soon be Not Our Problem.

A day later, two friends informed me that they had each (separately) seen a woman picking herself a big bouquet of flowers at the boatyard. One of them pointed out to her the several do not pick signs. The woman’s response: “I ain’t hurtin’ nothin’.”

I have toyed with the idea of making a public cutting garden somewhere else in town for people who need a bouquet so badly and who have no money for flowers and nowhere to grow them. I just think it would end in tears, probably mine.

The workboard got a little shorter.

 

 

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10 April: to Surfside and back

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

We made a trip as far as lower Surfside, a half an hour north, to visit our accountant (Sandy Nelson; she’s very good)  to finalize our 2018 tax return.

We stopped on the way at The Basket Case Greenhouse to pick up a flat of ratibidia (a darling plant) which Roxanne had grown for me last summer.  It had wintered over outside and proved to be quite hardy.

Penny’s greeting(Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

A new mosaic table by Roxanne’s mum, Anna:

Allan’s photo

Buddy and Penny (Allan’s photo)

I had hoped to go to The Planter Box nursery, also, but had cut the time too fine.

After our accounting appointment, we had lunch in an Ocean Park café and bookstore and yarn shop all in one.

It has other local handmade books (Allan’s photo) but Allan’s is still not there.

plenty of yarn

I thought the flowers might be from Todd Wiegardt’s garden…

…because in the past he has cared for the entry garden:

From the window, I could see the newish restaurant, Mycovio’s…

…where we had such a wonderful meal with Seattle Carol earlier this year that I long to go there again.  It doesn’t take reservations and so seems like an iffy, long drive in the evening.  Oh, it was so good.

On the way home, I looked at our local weekly paper and found this photo that shows what is now “the meander line” and once was waterfront at the south edge of our property (which is out of the photo, to the right).

I was happy to be indoors again at home, reading and watching the last three episodes of The A to Z of TV [British] Gardening.  Allan braved the weather to make the front fence more secure from deer.

Last night, I had started, and this evening I continued, a book by Monty Don about making what is now known as the Longmeadow garden.

I had mistakenly thought that it was not available from our library.  Actually, it is, and I had forgotten I’d ordered it and so had acquired the book mailorder from the UK.  It and the library book arrived about the same time.  I returned the library one, to my later regret.

Why regret? Because my mail order copy had a sweet smell that gave me instant migraine.  In googling how to get rid of the smell (put the book, opened on a screen, into a box with some charcoal), I learned that sellers often put used dryer sheets into books to try to get rid of a cigarette smoke smell.  I bet that is what happened.

With two rainy days to read it, I couldn’t wait for the library book to return and so I read the whole book in two days with a wet handkerchief held to my nose and breathing only through my mouth!  It was worth it.  I will have more to say about it in tomorrow’s post.

 

 

 

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27 Sept: doggy kitty day

Thursday, 27 September 2018

We admired a sunflower cottage in Seaview on our way to work.  This is a garden I toured a couple of years ago, but I cannot for the life of me dredge up that old post.

The Depot Restaurant

With no watering necessary thanks to rain, we just weeded and deadheaded.  Chef Michael expressed his satisfaction with our rhododendron pruning job from last week.

Sanguisorba ‘Dali Marble’

I found a rock.

from Nevada!

A mole had made three hills back by the rhododendron.  I snagged the nice sifted soil to even out a patch of lawn at home by the bogsy woods.

On our way to our next task, we had confirmation that the weather was much too hot.

Long Beach

We checked the welcome sign, deadheading the four agyranthemum, and I wondered why I continue to live in hope that these cosmos will flower this year.  It is time for them to go, but not on such a miserably hot day.

We tidied the corner garden at Veterans Field.  I want to make it shrubbier.  More shrubby, less fussy.  Cistus, maybe.

Diane’s garden

I got to pet my very good old friend Misty.

a patch of shade

Allan’s photo

Deadheading took an hour!

raised box garden

Allan’s photo

a mole in the raised bed?? (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo of a reseeded pansy in the gravel

roadside garden

We deadheaded the barrels next door at The Red Barn and once again did not see that darling orange barn cat, Cosmo.  I think it has been three weeks now.

driving north

The Basket Case Greenhouse

We stopped in at The Basket Case for a browse and to say hello.  The family cat had a litter of kittens 12 weeks ago.  (Like me with a cat long ago, the humans had not known how early one must get a cat spayed.)  The homes for these little darlings had fallen through.  By the time you read this, they will be up for adoption at the South Pacific County Humane Society.

I was sorely tempted and probably was only saved by having had another vet bill for Skooter yesterday.

tiny mama kitty

kittens

Allan’s photo

I resisted.  If I had been on staycation, I probably would have taken two.

Back in the greenhouses, I petted both Penny and Buddy.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

My buddy, Buddy

Darrell (Allan’s photo)

Darrell and Roxanne (and some Geranium ‘Rozanne’ for the LB planter we re-did last week)  (Allan’s photo)

tin goats

Ocean Park interlude

We had a gardening themed t shirt to drop off at our friend Terran’s house.  She has just started her own gardening business, BeeKissed Gardening, and we recommend her highly.

Terran’s front door window (Allan’s photo)

Terran’s work trailer, on the same base as our trailer.

Because of the Timberland Library meeting last night, we wanted to take a look at the Meeting Tree by the Ocean Park branch.

Ocean Park Library

inside

The Meeting Tree goes back to when Ocean Park first came into being as a church camp.

a community meeting spot since 1883

Allan’s photo

This property south of the library is for sale.  Last night at the meeting a woman said it used to belong to her family and she intends to buy it back, build her house at the other end and preserve this historic tree.

There I met a friendly dog named Daisy Duke.

bumper sticker on Daisy’s vehicle

I like the spiky summer blooming heather in the library garden much better than the plain white flat winter blooming heather at the Ilwaco branch.

compost bin behind the library!

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We spent an hour and a half tidying the garden and doing another stage of fall clean up.

Timmie

the pond island

the pond island

Allan’s photo

fall colour on hamamelis

south gate to the fenced garden

the birdbath view

driveway garden with Tiger Eye sumac

a visit with Donna and doggies

On the way home, we visited our friend Donna and met her new puppy.

a beachy, cottage-y townhouse

Donna’s older dog, Blue, took a shine to Allan.

And to me.

new puppy Savannah

puppy bliss

Blue (Allan’s photo)

Blue and Savannah (Allan’s photos)

sleepy after play

Ilwaco Halloween….And so it begins…

When we got home at dusk, we found Jody across the street had won the imaginary prize for being the first to start on Halloween.

We had better start thinking about putting our Halloween lights out.

 

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15 April: work between rains

Sunday, 15 April 2018

Instead of me finishing my cutting garden book, we took advantage of a break in the rain to put in a couple of hours at the Shelburne on two things that had been bothering me.

But first, I picked a bouquet to take with us.

window box

and another window box

Muscari botyroides ‘Superstar’

some tulips hoping to open

The rain has been hard on the tulips; it is a challenge to find nice ones to pick that are not rain-spotted.  The peony flowering tulips are in the worst state, of course.  Even the single flowers are battered.  This is one of those years when I resolve to never again grow anything but single tulips.

sad mushy double tulips

the rain gauges (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

flowers on the way

The Shelburne Hotel

My project was to get some ferns removed from the roots of a rose in the front garden, and Allan’s was to prune a climbing rose in the back garden that may not have been pruned for years.  It had much dead whippy growth.

Allan’s photos:

before

before

Pruning canes with leaves does remove some of this year’s flowers.  However, the canes were so all over the place that it had to be done.  I would have had it done sooner but was unclear whether or not this arbor will be preserved.  It is more likely to be so if it does not look like a mess!

after

I am flummoxed by the formerly espaliered Asian pear trees on the west fence.  What to do?

(right) The pear has shot straight up in the past nine years.  The center tree is a limbed up hawthorn.

I got the center Asian pear tree looking a little better after I took this photo; it seems this one was not allowed to shoot straight up.

The third one has also been allowed to grow straight up. Its top growth does provide a screen from a window of a nearby house, so….might be valuable like this.

In the front garden:

looking south

base of the second rose today, where before it was all mucked up with a trashy fern.  It was almost buried in soft fern fronds.  And MINT.

Long Beach

We drove through town, stopping to deadhead under one tree, and then decided that the weather, which had just become miserably wet and windy, required the rest of the deadheading to wait.

Allan’s photos

Basket Case Greenhouse

A rainy day is a good time to check on the latest new plants at local nurseries.

Basket Case Greenhouse

We acquired some violas, at the request of Sous Chef Casey of the Shelburne, who wants them for edible flower garnishes.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

I cannot resist agastaches.

On the way home, we decided to not plant all the violas in the rain; four went into pots by the front door where they will be handy for garnishing.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

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2-3 April: mulching and a post script

Monday, 2 April 2018

I woke to the realization that the day had workable weather and that we should mulch the port.  But wait, my next thought was that the zillion pound concrete bench was still in the trailer; it has been riding with us for a week now while I wait for a chance to pounce on someone strong for a favour (helping Allan move it).  I had the brilliant idea then that he could back the trailer up to the soft grass outside the back garden and just push the bench off and leave it there.  It worked!  (We will still need some help to actually set the bench up, eventually.)

Allan did not seem best pleased to have a work day suddenly sprung on him.  I was eager to mulch because the weather forecast looks dire later in the week.  Calvin was so much better—purring and playful— that I decided to wait to take him for an asthma shot.  It is not good for his heart or liver, and it had only been about six weeks since the last shot.

Cal, perky and playful

His previous human, who had him from kittenhood to age seven, had not fed him regularly.  He was obsessed with food and after moving in with us, he soon looked like he had swallowed a beach ball.

All the day’s pieces fell into place with a couple of phone calls and messages.  I had a taker on the rugosa roses, who came to pick them up before we left.

The veterinary clinic can see Cal tomorrow, or this afternoon if he got to feeling poorly again, and just enough of the mulch we need was in stock at Peninsula Landscape Supply.

Gravel was being loaded while we were there.

Soil Energy mulch (Allan’s photo)

Back to the Port of Ilwaco we drove with a yard of Soil Energy, which we applied to the curbside garden at the east end of Howerton Avenue; it had been looking battered and low since we removed drifts of tired old Nassela tenuissima grass.

before:

sad and beaten down

after: I hope the poppies I planted not long ago won’t be buried too deep.

Before:

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

An irksome cold wind blew right across the parking lot from the marina.

Brrrr.

Our work was high pressure and aerobic so that we would have time to get a second load of mulch before P.L.S. closes at three o clock.

after:

Allan’s photo

 

Allan’s photo

That bed only took half an hour to mulch, and we had enough left to begin on the curbside bed at the west end of Howerton.

Allan’s photo

We got this far at the west end. (Allan’s photo)

Back to Peninsula Landscape Supply for a second load:

Allan’s photo

On the way south again, we made a social visit to the Basket Case Greenhouse.

with Roxanne

daphnes and hydrangeas

violas

and more violas

We returned to the west end of Howerton at the Port and mulched two sections.

before

before

Muscari ‘Ocean Magic’

two kinds of muscari and some sea thrift

I must confess that we buried some weeds: grass and creeping sorrel.  Out of sight, out of mind for a couple more weeks.

before, with dog daisies (Allan’s photo)

While I raked, Allan ran the strimmer down the sidewalk that goes to the marina.

looking west

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

looking east

Some more mulch went on the beds by the Ilwaco pavilion.

Allan’s photo, as we began to mulch

an interesting boat nearby (Allan’s photo)

Then we had some deadheading to do along the port.  As I suspected, the most deadheads were on the south side of the port office where we don’t see them on a drive by.

Along the curbside beds, I was annoyed to find that a lot of narcissi picking had been happening….and this, by the ArtPort Gallery:

picking AND pulling out (Allan’s photo)

We planted so very many narcissi over the last few years that we should have a much better show, if flower-jackers would just leave them alone.

species tulips (Allan’s photo)

In the Time Enough Books curbside garden, I was thrilled to see a new-to-me bulb that I planted last fall.

“Bellevalia paradoxa is a bulb forming plant in the genus Bellevalia of the Asparagaceae family, formerly classified in the Muscari genus, under which name it is commonly sold as Muscari paradoxum.”

Bellevalia paradoxa and muscari

Bellevalia paradoxa and muscari

Bellevalia paradoxa

Bellevalia paradoxa

Bellevalia paradoxa (Allan’s photo)

I am very taken with it!

We finished the work day with a tidy up at the J’s cottage.

Bug’s Eye view of the pocket lawn before mowing (Allan’s photo)

And at home, I got my own sweet peas (and some poppies) planted at last while Allan mowed the lawn.

Frosty greeting us (Allan’s photo)

The work board got some satisfying erasures.

Next up, two volunteer gardens, the fire station (a new project from scratch and the post office (just a tidy).

In the evening, Calvin seemed well, played with his most vigorous toy, a set of three balls in slots that go round and round and make a lot of noise, usually during the most serious part of the evening’s telly watching.  He tossed his catnip Kitty Karrot into the air and seemed like his old self.

Tuesday, 3 April 2018

Tomorrow, I’ll share the Tuesday work day.  But I do not want to spin out the hope that Calvin is better.  Tuesday morning, he again seemed just fine, purring, the usual morning greeting and pets.  I decided that despite his seeming recovery, he had better have his shot today, to avoid a relapse over the weekend.  I made an appointment for 2:15 and we went to work on a project near home.  At 12:15, we came home for a bit to close the cat doors and confine him to a room so that he’d be easier to wrangle into his box later.  (That is never an easy thing.  He hates the box and wails and cries.  He is so afraid of people that I think that Our Kathleen is the only friend who ever managed to briefly get near him.)

In the house today, he walked up to me panting.  This is an emergency sign with cats so within minutes we had him at the veterinary clinic.  His condition had worsened so suddenly that he was whisked into the back to be given oxygen.  We were asked to leave him for a couple of hours for treatment. I still thought he would be ok, like the last time he had a sudden panting attack a couple of months ago.  Not this time, though.  Within an hour, we had a call that he was failing fast and we left wheelbarrow and all behind and rushed back in.  We had to make the hard decision.  Based on what happened with Smoky and how last minute efforts for a very sick cat just prolonged his misery, we decided it was Time for Calvin to go.  I will spare you the details about how hard he was breathing and…. just…it was time.  I think it was time.  Was it time?  Animal guardians never know for certain, do we?  Nor will I ever know if I made a terrible decision to wait for the shot instead of taking him in yesterday.  Would he be with us tonight if I had?  It might have bought some more time, or not.  I had no idea how fast respiratory distress to that degree can come on in a cat.  I could maunder on about this for paragraphs.  Instead, I will just leave you with this dear photo of Calvin and his bestie, Smoky, last autumn.

 

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13 October: project and reward

Friday, 13 October 2017

At long last, we were going to replace the roadside garden at Diane’s.

At the post office, Allan found some decorating going on.

Basket Case Greenhouse

We went to Basket Case first to buy baled mulch.  Peninsula Landscape Supply has gone to its winter hours of Tues-Thurs-Sat only.  Besides, sometimes applying bales of Gardner and Bloome Soil Conditioner goes faster by far than offloading bulk mulch, so labor time saved makes up for the more expensive (and better) product.

My good friends Penny and Buddy came to greet me.

I love Buddy so much! (Penny, too.)

Roxanne was sorting seeds.  (Allan’s photo)

Roxanne had recently been to see the marvellous Janet Jackson and told us that Michael Jackson had appeared as a hologram while she performed one of his songs.  Oh, I would love to have seen that.

fairy gardens for sale

a subtly color-echoing container

Allan loaded up seven bales of Gardner and Bloome, the last of the pallet, wet and heavy.  He lifts the things I can no longer lift because my leg would give out.  It worries me that he had to do that. 

Roxanne said a new delivery would come today.  As we were about to leave, the delivery truck rolled up full of nice dry comparatively lightweight bales.  If only we had had one of our slow to start mornings, we could have gotten dry bales.  Roxanne and Darrell do have a plan to add some sort of cover to the soil amendments storage area, among the many improvements they have made to the structures at the nursery.

Diane’s garden

Here is a reminder of what the garden looked like before it had to be removed for the new septic installation.

Diane’s roadside garden August 2016

Diane’s streetside garden  May 2016 (Allan’s photo)

California poppies in Diane’s roadside garden, July 2015.

Diane’s roadside garden August 2013

The trees are gone now and the garden area is more level.  I think the new version will be better.

today, before (Allan’s photo)

Our first mission was to remove the hard-to-maintain strip of sod outside the fence.  The fence was originally going to be built at the edge of the new lawn, and then got moved inboard because of reasons.

before (Allan’s photo)

The half moon edger line had to be cut on the inside, to avoid grass growing up right under the fence.

Peeling the sod off in two strips.  There’s nowhere to run to get away from traffic now!

Diane comes out to chat.

The full length with one strip done (Allan’s photo). It was quite tiring.

The bales were so wet they made puddles in the trailer. SO heavy. Poor Allan.

Allan wheelbarrowed the nice pieces of sod to the back yard, because Diane can pass them on to someone who is putting in a new lawn.

Allan’s photo

We took the scrappy little weird shaped pieces home.

adding the mulch

Local author Lorrie Haight stops to ask for a plant ID in the driveway corner garden. (Cosmos)

Allan raking mulch

That is our local trash collector waving at us.

A further connection: Diane retired last year as the owner of Peninsula Sanitation.

inside view after adding back the river rock edge (they were in a pile in the corner garden)   Allan’s photo

after (Allan’s photo)

I put in one new Euphorbia ‘Blue Glacier’ and divisions of one of the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ that was saved from the previous incarnation of this garden.

all done for now

Diane’s roadside garden as it looked one year ago.  I like the new look much better; those were not especially attractive trees.

Allan weeded the raised septic bed in the back yard while I deadheaded containers and give Diane’s sweet old dog, Misty, a belly rub.  We put some old bricks all around the top edge of the raised bed.  Too tired to take photos of any of that.

At home, we patched a low piece of lawn with the scrappy sod bits.

patch job

I am curious to see, with the lawn patched, how much rain water will stand in this newly cleared area next to the lawn.

We had a short spell of relaxation (collapse) before going to our North Beach Garden Gang dinner at

Salt Pub

Salt Hotel

I had my favourite drink, the vodka Sea Cucumber, while admiring the names of the wines.

Roller Girl Jammer wine!

our view

jerk spiced clam fritters

Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) pronounced her clam chowder to be excellent.

dinner salad

my favourite smoked tuna sandwich

On the way home, we drove by Lucy Dagger’s house one block east to admire her Halloween decorations.

Missy “Lucy Dagger’s” house

We now have a very welcome four day weekend, the last planned long weekend for awhile as Bulb Time begins with the arrival of my order next Wednesday.  (Yikes.)  Getting our Halloween lights put up is one of Allan’s priorities.  After a busy Saturday, my big plan is gardening at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 October: Ilwaco and KBC

Thursday, 5 October 2017

While divesting ourselves of the Ilwaco street tree branches that we had pruned yesterday evening, we  admired of the east end of the marina.

I found out later that the floating enclosure is a pen…

…for young salmon, used in a recent study of some sort.

Butch, the owner of Coho Charters (the red building) is my go to person for fishing questions.

We headed north, with a brief stop at the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Allan’s photo, getting rady for Halloween

a selection of new plants at the Basket Case

including nice Euphorbia ‘Glacier Blue’

Next stop: picking up a yard of Soil Energy at Peninsula Landscape Supply. We were worried because the Soil Energy pile had been way low last time, and might be all gone.  When we arrived, we saw a truck and trailer ahead of us.  Who were these people competing with us for the last of the pile, I thought anxiously….until I saw they were our good friends Judy and Larry.

Allan’s photo

Larry, Judy, me: friends with similar goals

We were glad there was enough in the Soil Energy bin for two loads.

We parked off to the side and the mulch came to us. (Allan’s photo)

Klipsan Beach Cottages  

Our first actual job of the day was a tidying and some cutting back at KBC.

Allan dug out a daylily, the same kind that he dug out for me in my own garden recently.

It is prone to daylily leaf streak. (Allan’s photo).  The flowers are hardy fuchsia.

before cutting back Thalictrum ‘Elin’

and after

The thalictrum will come home with us for Halloween decor.

Allan cut down one part of the rugosa rose.  The whole shrub is going to come down later.

After. Now you can see through to the lower fenced garden.

As you can see, the day was (too) warm and bright.

view in the east gate

the birdbath view

the inner bench circle

a huge bud on the Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’

fall colour on hamamelis

Allan captured the moment when Mary noticed the leaf colour.

We didn’t see Denny today.  He had had a knee replacement (his second) on Tuesday and was at home napping.

                           Long Beach

On the way south, we checked up on the beach approach gardens and the Long Beach city hall garden.  This weekend’s two days of clamming will generate a lot of passersby.

the foyer at city hall (Allan’s photo)

MaryBeth stopped by when she saw us at City Hall.  She gave us a present that she had been carrying with her for the next time our paths crossed.

After checking on the Sid Snyder approach planters…

the westernmost Sid Snyder planter (Allan’s photo)

…we made sure the World Kite Museum garden looked good, because their annual One Sky One World event is this weekend.  The philosophy of One Sky, One World is needed more than ever now.

Pleased with the new containers at the kite museum.

Ilwaco

The south third of the Ilwaco boatyard garden was our destination for the yard of Soil Energy that we’d been hauling with us.

looking south from the gate, before

soil applied by bucket

cutting back Pennisetum macrourum from the sidewalk

and after….I had suddenly realized the garden should start where the paved sidewalk starts.

The dredge has been at work lately, clearing mud from the channel which is so necessary for the marina to thrive.

scooping up mud

and depositing it on a barge.

boats

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We still have sweet peas blooming on the fence.

sweet peas all the way to the top

bright red sweet peas

We had run out of Soil Energy about twenty feet from the end of the garden, so another load will be necessary.  The end needs such a small amount that I sort of cheated and erased boatyard mulching from the work list, changing it to mulching at the port and Time Enough Books.

The summer is long gone and I still have not accomplished one thorough, end to end good weeding at home.

At home: The garden gift from MaryBeth.

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El Compadre Mexican Restaurant

We had this week’s North Beach Garden Gang dinner with Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) at El Compadre.

hard to get a good photo of the inlaid tables that I admire so much.

Allan’s photo

tiled window frames

As often happens, we were the last to leave.

Now for an extra long weekend, during the quiet time before fall clean up and bulbs.  My goal is to not leave my property for four days while I accomplish some gardening.  Allan has some boating goals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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13 Sept: to KBC and back

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

The work board has sprouted a list for fall.

The top “later” project at Diane’s, restoring the roadside garden, has to wait for a new fence.

While I struggled to get going, Allan hauled my clipped salmonberries from the bogsy woods and loaded them into the trailer.

It’s about a 200 foot drag. (Allan’s photo)

J’s garden

We began across the street. While painters are working on the house and garage, we had let the blackberries come through from the yard next door.  How did that happen so fast?

before

Allan’s photo

after

This load went to the dump.

The Depot Restaurant

The soil was damp enough so that we did not have to water.

north side of dining deck

autumnal Solidago ‘Fireworks’

Agastache ‘Mexican Giant’

Basket Case window box and planter

and another Basket Case window box and planter

We had time to do a good clipping of the escallonia that always wants to block the railway history sign.  (No photos of that project.  I was having a very hard time getting myself in gear for today.)

The Red Barn

While Allan got started on weeding and watering, I had a look at a horse.

tail brushing

“One Last Cruise”, nickname Cruise, named because he was the last foal of his breeder.

That was Mr. Amy with Cruise, and here comes Amy her ownself.

Allan’s photo

Diane’s garden

I then walked across the field to Diane’s garden.

My good friend Misty awaits her belly rub.

Oh, look, fence posts!  Looks like the fence is going to go up sooner than I thought.  I hope we can remove the strip of sod that will be outside the fence; that would be very hard to maintain.  Of course, it will be harder to remove the sod edge once the fence is in.

Holly peeking out from the porch. Soon she will have a big place to play.

Basket Case Greenhouse

I was on a quest for Lavender ‘Hidcote Blue’, but I had bought them all last time.  I will check at The Planter Box next week.  It was still pleasant to visit with Darrell and Roxanne..

Basket Case

The Dodge truck display that Basket Case put together for Rod Run.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

schmoozing with owner Darrel

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We did a lot of deadheading and cutting back of rose canes.  I made it so this hydrangea shows again:

A before and after would have been dramatic. Rugosa rose with a rambling red rose threaded through it.

Allan pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ to make a better view through the deer fence.

before

after

I’m going to ask if I can do a severe pruning of that big rugosa rose later on.  (Mary was away for the week, and I did not have time today, anyway.)

the east gate

gate detail; the glass ball was my idea!

It is sad that my former partner, Robert, got post polio syndrome and could no longer do heavy work like welding.  He was so talented at it.

east gate

He called this one the Fish Gate.

south gate

sit spot with Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’…and a sprout, in the foreground.

seeds of tree peony

The leaves of the peony always get crispy and ugly in the late summer, so I pick more off every week.

ugly tree peony leaves (Allan’s photo); I wonder if this is normal or if they are diseased?

Allan found that the fairy door had gone missing!

home regained

Billardia longiflora

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’ (Allan’s photo)

cottages on the ridge

Long Beach

We decided that we had time to get a head start on Long Beach tasks by tidying Veterans Field.  On the way, we saw a new garden at a cottage that I always admire.

“Kite Flyers Only” Cottage

The Long Beach Peninsula could have an amazing cottage tour of its own if enough people could be found to open their cottages to strangers.

Veterans Field flag pavilion garden

Vet Field corner garden, cosmos (Allan’s photos)

cosmos and eryngium

home

While Allan mowed the tiny lawn in the J’s back garden, I somehow got a burst of energy after watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse and decided to rescue a container of bamboo from being overrun with hops and honeysuckle.

Allan’s shed repair photo from two days ago shows the before.

tonight: rescued bamboo

this much debris! J9 wants some hops for decorating.

Skooter

 

 

 

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5 July: work and art

Wednesday, 5 July 2017 (part one)

Allan had not gotten enough sleep because of Skooter’s 2 AM antics:

Skooter somehow attained the highest bookshelf.

We set off on our work rounds that take us north once a week, along with a plan for a garden tour (which will be tomorrow’s post).

Port of Ilwaco

We began by bucket watering the drive over garden, a small pocket between two driveways,  at the port.

It had been driven over.  (Allan’s photo)

driving by the boat yard

The Depot Restaurant

southeast of dining deck (Allan’s photo)

north side of dining deck

The Escallonia ‘Pink Princess’, which wants to be ten feet tall, is growing again to hide the Clamshell Railroad sign.  The restaurant was a train depot in days of old.

I’ve suggested removing the escallonia.  Chef Michael thinks, I am sure correctly, that it keeps a bad driver from running into the corner of the building.

after

The Red Barn

These helianthus have to go.  They don’t get enough water.  (Allan’s photo)

After watering the garden and the planted barrels, we walked next door to

Diane’s garden.

We had to walk along the highway because the field we usually cross was occupied.

These tire tracks did not inspire confidence.

One of the back yard planters

I got to see my good friend Misty, although she went straight into the house when Diane brought her home from errands.  Then Holly came out of the truck.

Do I hafta sit?

not for long!

Whiskey was also visiting.

So ready to play with Holly.

We drove back to the beach side on Sid Snyder Road to…

The Anchorage Cottages

Many guest vehicles were in the parking lot, so we parked behind the office, giving you a different entry view as I walked around the west side of the cottages.

We were greeted by our good friend Mitzu, who has had to take tranquilizers because of a week’s worth of fireworks noise.

Mitzu has had a stressful week of fear.  (Allan’s photo)

I weeded and deadheaded; Allan fertilized all the containers and the window boxes.

center courtyard, Rose ‘New Dawn’

by the office

We drove across Pioneer Road to the bay side to see what new plants might have arrived at

The Basket Case Greenhouse.

successfully growing a tomato in a bag of soil

greeted by my friend Penny

a real sweetheart

Darrell in the center greenhouse (Allan’s photo)

gazanias coming forward

gazanias

gazanias

We drove back to the ocean side on Cranberry Road to make a delivery to

Jim Unwin’s Hobbit Studio.

We were giving Jim and Annie a Feliway cat comfort diffuser that I no longer needed, for Annie to try to help their two cats get along better.  This entailed a tour of the art studio, which we have visited before on the peninsula wide studio tour that takes place every Thanksgiving weekend.

Jim’s Hobbit Studio

Jim at his work bench.

a double silhouette and a little sailboat (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

art ingredients

Annie’s rose (Allan’s photo)

We drove north to

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’ taller than the fence (Allan’s photo)

Tetrapanax

red dragonfly (Allan’s photo)

June bug

lily and roses

birdbath view

east gate

garden art from the Forsythea shop in Astoria

Mary’s new rose

Our good friend Bella was in the basement and did not want to come out.  She is terrified of fireworks and despite being given tranquilizers and having music played for her to drown out the noise, she has tried to dig through the floor, has hidden in the closet, and has climbed into the bathtub for safety.

She had her paw over one ear.

Nine days of fireworks fear for peninsula animals (Allan’s photo); from June 28th to July 5th.  Ridiculously long.

on the basement couch

We drove further north, almost to Nahcotta, for a garden tour which will be tomorrow’s post, and then south to do some watering of the curbside gardens at

The Port of Ilwaco.

Ilwaco pavilion curbside garden (Allan’s photo)

Something happened at the port.  (Allan’s photo)

the condor (Allan’s photo)

Westernmost bed needs its daisies clipped or pulled.  Next week.

a fasciated Linaria stem in the Salt Hotel garden

eryngium, yarrow, and parsley

Join us tomorrow on the garden tour that delighted us today.

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7 June: work before play

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Another two part post, as this blog falls further behind real time.  Our day had only four jobs, two of them brief, and would end with a tour of THE Oysterville garden, which always deserves its own post.

The Red Barn Arena

Amy and her barrel racing horse

Allan’s string trimming alternative to using round up right behind the garden

My friend Disney, the mother whippet, who likes me. It is her son who snubs me. Unless I have a treat.

Diane’s garden

new lawn going in by Steve Clarke and crew

All we did was fertilize and deadhead the three groups of back yard pots.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

I had a check to deliver and a few plants to seek.

middle greenhouse

north greenhouse

Middle greenhouse; all three greenhouses have many choices.

Allan’s photo

I love this peachy diascia, and that is my favourite tender fuchsia, Pink Marshmallow.

I got myself an Orange Rocket Barberry, shown here with Roxanne. This time, I won’t forget to water it. I’ve killed two Orange Rockets by neglect in the first year.

a poster by the sales desk

The Anchorage Cottages

Allan pruned the center courtyard viburnums to keep them from coming forward into the perennial border.

Allan’s photo: before, coming too far forward

 before (Note that I do not like the look of the Arbutus on the right.  I gave it some Dr Earth fert.)

after

Mitzu supervising

during

after

Dutch Iris

with gorgeous markings

‘Eye of the Tiger’ Dutch Iris

Dutch Iris and Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (blue potato vine)

Two of the four windowboxes

Climbing hydrangea

north end garden

climbing rose and ceanothus

The Planter Box

I wanted 18 more painted sage for me, and more Dr Earth rhododendron fertilizer, and then I saw some Cosmos ‘Double Click’ and ‘Seashells’ and ended up with two full flats of plants.  Oops.

at The Planter Box entrance

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We spent an hour in intensive grooming of the garden.

east side of fenced garden with Climbine Cecile Brunner rose and honeysuckle

looking in the east gate

birdbath view

Allium ‘Mount Everest’

The gold is Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

clematis

Mary had a little time to work with me. She is picking snails that are hiding in a daylily.

Allan had planned to clean up buttercups along the roadside edge of the swale (by the road up to the cottages).  He found that the housekeeping and grounds crew had done a beautiful job there, so he did not have to.

Allan’s photo: well done, and not by us.

Allan’s photo

This gave him time to do a good clean up on the outside of the fenced garden.

Podophyllum (Allan’s photo)

bindweed on the weigela! (Allan’s photos)

Allan’s photo: One of Mary’s snails on the run.

We then went north to THE Oysterville garden: Tomorrow’s post. On the way, we took a scenic route through Ocean Park.  Allan’s photos:

on Park Avenue

While I went into the Oysterville garden, Allan detoured on foot to the bay to look at the boats.

Oysterville by the bay

These are all part of the Oysterville regatta, a July event that seems to be an invitational event sort of for the Oysterville crowd.    Everyone uses the same kind of boat so that skill is the factor in winning, followed by a barbecue.

On the way home down Sandridge Road, we saw that (as expected) Steve Clarke and Co had completed laying Diane and Larry’s new lawn to perfection.  We did not stop; it did look like there will be room to create a very narrow remake of our roadside garden although I’m concerned about it being closer to the road, thus more nervewracking to work on.  We shall see!

In Ilwaco, we drove down Howerton to assess the gardens and saw both artist Don Nisbett and Butch of Coho Charters.

Fisherman Butch

Butch said, “No matter what they say about you, I still think you do a great job!”

 

 

 

 

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