9 March: beach approach

Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Long Beach

On the Bolstad beach approach road, we cut back ornamental grasses and pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and wild lupine foliage and fixed some bad pruning on some mugo pines.

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18 February: popouts and parks

Thursday, 18 February 2022

Long Beach

I had actually been thinking of more ornamental grass shearing at the port today. However, I had heard it might snow on Monday, and the grasses that are still uncut would look pretty in snow. So we went to Long Beach instead.

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12 April: Long Beach and Shelburne

Friday, 12 April 2019

Long Beach

We checked on the Long Beach welcome sign, where the vole damage does not seem to have increased at all, thank goodness.

I did not examine the tulips closely.  Ignorance is bliss.

We deadheaded two blocks worth of planters downtown.

I don’t think I have grown Tulip ‘Suncatcher’ before.

Suncatcher…very showy.

Allan’s photo

The tulips and the tulip foliage look great despite all the rain.

in front of Stormin’ Norman’s

We then took last time’s debris to city works and picked up a buckets-load of Soil Energy mulch.

Allan’s photo

And then, out to the beach approach to see how far we could get with the mulch on the sections we had already weeded.

We barely had enough for the first (westernmost) long section, the longest of all of them.  Then, on to weeding, hoping to get at least one half section done.

a thorny job

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo (telephoto; we were far from that close to the background hotel)

This week is spring break so the town is full of happy tourists.

Rain came, steaming on the road.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We only got one half section done…

Allan’s photo

…and we still have this far to go.

Vehicle above is on the wrong side of the road to politely avoid us, unlike many who cut it very fine as they pass us, despite our traffic cones and Allan’s safety vest.

We dumped today’s debris and finished deadheading the other four blocks of downtown planters.

Tulip ‘Akebono’ is one of my favourites.

I love Akebono’s green sepals and delicate, thin red edge (which does not seem as visible on these).

Allan’s camera picked up the red edge, on the yellow, behind the red tulip.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Tulip ‘Green Star’ (Allan’s photo)

Tulip ‘Green Star’ (Allan’s photo)

I am partial to all the viridiflora tulips.

‘Akebono’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

😦 Allan’s photo

more Green Star (Allan’s photo)

I’m thrilled to see buds on my asphodeline.

I was not thrilled to find evidence of finger blight by Fifth Street Park.

Some flowers were just picked and dropped; perhaps someone yelled at the thief?

broken, not clipped with secateurs

And some were downright taken.  There should be five or six orange tulips in each of these clumps.

The ones across the street were as they should be.

The weather had become pleasant again after the rain and wind that drove us off the beach approach, and so we did a big tidy up of the northwest quadrant of Fifth Street Park.

our audience (Allan’s photo)

before (Allan’s photo)

There was way too much Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, hesperantha, and the ever maddening horsetail (the little scrimmy one) and some kind of belligerently spreading skinny allium.

after (Allan’s photo)

after

I might use some kind of annual along the front, so that it can be cleaned more easily of weeds in the autumn and winter.

Unfortunately, we had much more to do so no time to have a late lunch at Captain Bob’s Chowder.

camassia in the southwest quadrant

We deadheaded the last two blocks….

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

…and the Sid Snyder beach approach planters, where we saw two darling dogs…

…and a remarkably cute goat.

We deadheaded at the Kite Museum and almost got stuck dumping our debris at City Works.

Allan’s photo

Shelburne Hotel

While Allan did our grocery shopping across the street, I deadheaded at the Shelburne and noted an influx of weeds, mostly sorrel and creeping buttercup, that must be dealt with by next weekend.  I resolved that the next nice day would be partly spent there.

hmmmmm….what happened here?

I put down Sluggo all along the fence where I had planted sweet peas.  I could see a few of them, tiny and threadlike, emerging.

looking north

looking south

Looking south from the north end….In the distance, walking away, is Seaview Sara’s spouse and their dog, Jet; I had finally met the lovely dog for the first time.

Tulip ‘Akebono’ again

only one tiny hint of the red edge

Tulip ‘Spring Green’

Tulip ‘Queensland’

Tulip sylvestris

I had finally learned, from Monty Don on Gardeners’ World, that T. sylvestris is fragrant.  I rarely think to smell a tulip.  I did, and it has a beautiful scent.

not sure which one this is!

The work board has gotten ever so slightly shorter.

 

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8 April: windy work in Long Beach

Monday, 8 April 2019

Long Beach

All but two photos today are by Allan.

Before we even got to Long Beach, I felt that the weather was too windy for weeding on the beach approach. We kept going because of a cheque awaiting us at city hall. While we were there, we deadheaded the city hall garden.

Even though I had every intention of just dumping debris left over from our previous beach approach session and then going home, I suddenly decided that we simply must do one section of the approach garden. And so we did, despite the pushy, cold wind.

It was good that we’d finished this part last time; it would have been sloshy work today:

Weeding this “end cap” was our goal:

We met two darling dogs. The eight month old shepherd is Athena.

Some narcissi has appeared at the edge of the beach grass.

We did meet our goal.

We now have this far to go.

Ilwaco Fire Dept volunteer garden

As we neared home, Allan suggested we check on one of our two volunteer gardens.

An early poppy:

Dutch iris buds:

Tulip greigii foliage:

A fancy tulip:

At home, in the evening, we watched a film that I had learned about in a Gardeners’ World special about allotments. We rented it from YouTube.

It is a complete delight and well worth seeking out.

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1 April: beach approach and Boreas

Yesterday’s post about gardening partners elicited such good comments that I was inspired to remember and add some photos of Bryan helping in the garden. I had forgotten about that. Go back one day and have a look if you were one of the readers who responded to that post. I think you will like them.

Monday, 1 April 2019

Long Beach

Before we began our project, we saw our friend Jan and her nice, soft-to-pet dog out by the beach approach.

Allan’s photo

We set out to weed one section of the Bolstad beach approach and to plant assorted California poppies (me) in the planters out there.  I know I said I had totally given up after the recent disheartening plant theft but….hope springs eternal.

While planting, I found more plant theft holes.

We found a santolina that had grown from cuttings tossed (by me) behind the planter; Allan dug it up and I put it in one planter to replace a big stolen one…for what it is worth.

Allan’s photo

I also dug a couple of starts of the native beach grass with its wide blue blades, where it was growing right by the road. It has mostly been pushed out by European beach grass.  Maybe it will be left alone to grow in the hardest hit planter…

…or maybe not. So much has been stolen that the grass might as well fill up the whole planter.

I got to see our very good friend Mitzu, who was on her way to a beach walk.

I thought that maybe the Lisa Bonney memorial planter (which is just a few feet from where she was killed) had been left untouched by thieves.  Loved ones of hers have planted new plants in it.

Then I looked closer:

one side still complete…

stolen well established sea thrift from the other side

I left about four of the planters unplanted with the poppies in a moment of panic when I thought I had lost my camera.  (It was in the van.) So that task did not get erased from the work list.

The beach approach garden, at the beginning, looking east:

Satellite view:

the long narrow Bolstad garden

Allan’s photo

I remember that moment from late last fall, on the last or almost the last workday, when I stood at this spot and felt an odd surge of enthusiasm for weeding this blocks long garden in the spring.  I wish I could feel it again.

Allan’s photo

While weeding the westernmost section of the approach, I had a brainstorm.  Instead of saying that the approach garden has thirteen sections (counting two end caps as one section), I will divide it further.  Each section has a clear halfway point, and so I am putting 26 sections on the work board.  That way, on a day like today when we have other places to be, at least I get to erase one number.  And my right hand is so arthritic now that combining the beach approach with other, less painfully repetitive tasks, is a good idea.

Allan’s photo, after today’s work

Boreas Inn

I planted a few plants, including a Verbascum ‘Cotswold King’ and ‘Southern Charm’ and a Salvia ‘Amistad’ in the west side gardens, along with more poppy seeds.

Allan’s photo

I have learned from Monty Don and Carol Klein that I should have more success with the sort of seeds that one covers only lightly if I press them down hard.

Allan wheelbarrowed some bucketed mulch to the east entry garden, followed by mulching and then pruning a hardy fuchsia (me) and trimming some ivy (Allan).

what’s left of the five yards of Soil Energy (Allan’s photo)

before

after

entry garden sit spot

Allan’s project, before

after

We would never plant English ivy.  It is considered a noxious weed now but is firmly entrenched in some places.

The work board tonight, with revised beach approach sections.

 

 

 

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8 August: to KBC and back

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Do you see a repetitive nature to our titles? That is because our work rounds are quite repetitive these days.

The Depot Restaurant

deadheading and watering

lilies

sign of late summer: Solidago ‘Fireworks’ about to bloom

The Red Barn needed watering, and then we went next door to

Diane’s garden

for deadheading and weeding.

In the raised garden bed:

statice (whose foliage rosette looks so much like dandelion that people are tempted to weed it out)

more statice

nasturtium

allium and bee

echinacea

pots by the house:

roadside garden:

perovskia (Russian sage)

I did put some little sedums in front of the water meter area.

pink lemonade blueberries by the house

Klipsan Beach Cottages

As we drove across 227th from the sunny bay side to the beach side of the peninsula, I was thrilled to see fog.

The end of the road is the driveway where we go in to park north of KBC.

Unfortunately, the sun soon came out again.

In the KBC fenced garden:

Rudbeckia

This blue hydrangea had been completely covered over by roses.

agapanthus

Hydrangea ‘Izu No Hana’

Long Beach

We finished the day by weeding five sections of the Long Beach Bolstad approach road, preparing for kite festival being there in a couple of weeks.

In the furthest west very dry planters, someone had placed a bird house and someone had taken up residence.

Allan’s photo

a wee chipmunk (Allan’s photo)

So it’s a mouse house.

Someone had beautifully planted up the Lisa Bonney memorial planter.  I think whoever it is is also watering it. I hope.

Allan’s photo

We started weeding and pulling up old wild lupines out of the beach approach garden.

before

after (Allan’s photo)

This garden gets no supplemental water.  We are in a severe drought and there has been only the lightest of rain.

It is satisfying when a lupine comes out in one big clump.  They will have reseeded themselves for next year.

Allan’s photo

before

after (Allan’s photo)

We got this much done in just a couple of hours:

And we have this far to go:

We have done the hardest part.  The closer in to town, the thicker the roses are and the fewer weeds.

roses where we left off

As always, many questions were asked about the hips.

We had time to weed the flag plaza pavilion at Veterans Field, where the flags showed the pleasant lack of wind.

Shelburne Pub

We arrived at the Shelburne Hotel with enough time to deadhead and give the garden an extra watering….

looking north

looking south

…before taking J9 to the pub for a very belated birthday dinner.

tasty vegan nachos

jambalaya for J9 (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s cheesecake with cranberry

 

 

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12 June: Ilwaco, Long Beach, Shelburne

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

at home, an allium about to doff its cap

J’s garden

We weeded and watered.

Allan used his new blower to remove the rhododendron leaves from river rock, something otherwise difficult to do.

Allan’s photo

Ilwaco Fire Station

We checked up on our three month old volunteer garden.  I wish it would fill in faster.

Mike’s garden

More weeding.

Dianthus ‘Charles Musgrave’

Alan worked on the woodsy back garden area, which we have neglected due to lack of time.  His photos:

after

Long Beach

We collected another bucket brigade of Soil Energy mulch from our pile at City Works and mulched one of the 13 sections out on the beach approach.

rugosa roses

 

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

single rugosa rose…

and doubles (Allan’s photos)

After coveting (again) the stone troughs of the Oysterville garden, I had cast my eye covetously on these old concrete thingies at city works that were removed when the water meter system in town was changed to something more modern.

Allan’s photo

Shelburne Hotel

Today we had time to give the garden some thorough attention.  I have realized while working here that it is the only place where I get the same sense of peace, kind of a floaty feeling, that I get in my own garden.  Not quite as much peace, because I cannot check on it every day, but almost as much.

a Shelburne frog (Allan’s photo)

A blog reader named Tina came up to me and introduced herself.  I always find that surprising and pleasing.

looking south from the north end

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and ‘Jade Frost’, beloved of bees

Allan’s photo

callas with fallen rhododendron flowers (Allan’s photo)

the old rhododendron (Allan’s photo)

looking north from the entryway

In back, the totem pole garden

front garden, from the sidewalk as one approaches from the south

Port of Ilwaco

Because we did not have to water, we were able to work along a good long stretch of the curbside gardens just weeding.

east end of Howerton Ave

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

CoHo Charters

Allan weeded the Coho lava rocks.

passersby (Allan’s photos)

 

They were on their way to the store about ten blocks away.

Ilwaco Pavilion

The cry of outrage disturbing the evening peace of Ilwaco was me upon seeing that someone had stolen all the flowering stems off of one of the eryngiums in the newly planted area.

finger blight

Those plants were moved from the south side garden of the port office, which now looks like this:

Time Enough Books is doing a good job with their little planters this year.

More curbside Eryngium photos by Allan:

It was a ten hour day.

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4 May: Long Beach part 2

Friday, 4 May 2018

Ilwaco Fire Station garden

Before work, we stopped by the Ilwaco Fire Station where councilwoman Missy “Lucy Dagger” had dug up most of the remaining L shaped area of weedy grass in our volunteer garden area.  We bucketed up the piled up sod and hauled it off to make it easier for her.

I had a Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to bung in there.

more to come!

The Depot Restaurant

The garden got a tiny bit of deadheading and some container watering.

Long Beach

We deadheaded the welcome sign, where the tulips are, unfortunately, almost over, and yet it is too early to pull them all and plant annuals.

Next on the list was The Big PopOut, a raised garden on Ocean Beach Boulevard

before

after (Allan’s photos)

I wish I had not planted rugosa roses in this bed.  More variety would be fun.  And I did not choose the so called dwarf pampas grass.

a white armeria finding room for itself in the wall

We missed the proper time to sheer the pampas all the way back. The roses will hide its skirts. (Allan’s photos)

We went on to touch up the garden at city hall, a block north.  It had held up well since our recent work there.

City Hall east side (Allan’s photo)

Geranium macrorrhizum (Allan’s photo) The leaves have the fragrance of pine.

new growth on hostas

Allan’s photos

Allan’s photo

This little park was planted by Gene and Peggy Miles.

We weeded the disheartening amount of scrimmy little horsetail in Fifth Street Park’s west side.  I was pleased that Allan found new growth on a Sambucus ‘Black Lace’ that someone had broken off to the ground over the winter.

SW corner, before Allan weeded it…

and after (Hesperantha is a running problem here)

A few sweet peas are up….wish them luck against snails.

reseeded Cerinthe major purpurascens

The blue flowers are camassia.

I feel that the soil in the bed above has gotten quite poor.  Soil Energy is not enough.  I think I must add some bagged manure.  I could get horse manure for free, but it introduces the dreaded pasture grass.

We groomed the planters out on the Boldstad beach approach…

Looking east from the west end of the approach garden.

Oh, my…the big stands of wild beach lupines in the garden are covered in grey aphids.

This is a problem that I am leaving completely to nature.

one lady bug on aphid duty

another stand of lupines coated with aphids, and a couple of lady bugs.

The mugo pines in the long, dry garden look pitiful.

We will do more mulching out here when another pile of mulch is provided.

would love to fill in low areas with Soil Energy mulch

rugosa rose, lupine, and Juniper conferta spilling out

Allan found a rock.

…and then we tidied planters on the Sid Snyder beach approach.

Tulip batalinii ‘Bright Gem’ (Allan’s photo)

on Sid Snyder Drive

For our almost last thing, we tidied the currently quite drab garden at the World Kite Museum.

Allan’s photo

The pots look good.

those wonderful Bright Gem tulips

We accomplished the pruning job that I had noticed yesterday.

before

after

The south parking lot berm got the tiniest of touch ups.

At home, because I was a blog post ahead, I was able to sit down and watch some Gardeners’ World episodes before dinner…and at bedtime.

Monty likes agastaches!

Here is a alpine garden idea from 2015 GW visit to Slack Top Nursery.  I would like to replicate it.  My ground level scree garden has too much horsetail to be good.  I would have to use synthetic stone, though (“cottage stone”, I suppose).

Ah….

Have I shared the link to this video tour of Craigieburn garden?  Enjoy for the first or second time.

 I am looking ahead to Annuals Planting Time starting in about a week.

However, we will now take at least three days off.  We are still slightly poorly from our cold, and my garden is a disaster.  We’ll attend the Saturday Children’s Parade in Ilwaco but not the big Sunday parade in Long Beach.  Tomorrow’s post: The Children’s Parade, shared from our Ilwaco blog.

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30 March: so darn close

Friday, 30 March 2018

With more good weather predicted, I had high hopes for finishing the beach approach today.  And yet, drizzle greeted us as we left home.  My assorted weather apps denied the rain and suggested the day would stay cloudy but clear, with little wind.

We began with a little bit of deadheading at The Depot Restaurant garden:

Depot deadheading

Depot lilies emerging

We then planted some monarda and some Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ at the Shelburne Hotel, where I grieved mightily over this sight:

The dreaded aegepodium popping up in the sidewalk garden, where it did not used to be nine years ago when the garden was consistently under my command.

an unfurling fern at the Shelburne

Long Beach

We drove out to the beach approach and contemplated this weather…

…and I decided it would be best to finish mulching Fifth Street Park and hope that the drizzle stopped.  It was ironic that the most weatherbeaten garden of any that we do, the west end of the beach approach, was our goal for today.

soil scooping

mulching in Fifth Street Park

Allan’s photo

I cut down the tattered Melianthus major on the other side of the park.  The beds still need weeding but at least there are some narcissi:

Finally, despite a continued light drizzle and some wind gusts that almost made me decide to go home and read (till Allan said the gusts might blow the rain away), we returned to the beach approach.

Two sections to go till the red buoy.

Allan’s befores of the twelfth of thirteen sections:

I got to meet and pet a darling pug.

and this sweet wiggly girl.

We found a rock:

By 3:30, we had section twelve almost done but for the clean up of rose cuttings and sand along the road and sidewalk edges.

Allan’s afters of section twelve:

The drizzle had ended partway through that section and  I did so hope that we could do the last section by 7 PM.  Section thirteen is the longest one of all.

starting section thirteen, 3:45 PM

And then, when we had barely got started on it….

We tried for a bit to keep going but it got too cold and muddy and messy.

There are many roses right along the edge to pull out with the pick.  At least tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good, and we will start with higher energy.

We are SO CLOSE.

This much remains.

after we gave up. (Allan’s photo)

Dark Sky, which is usually accurate, had been wrong for much of the day.

Just one section to go!

Tonight, I finally felt that I had the energy to follow through with offering some rugosa starts to some local gardeners who wanted them.  We had saved some rooted pieces today, and tomorrow  we will be stripping more from along the edge, so I put out the word that the gardeners could come get some tomorrow afternoon.  I also have issued dire warnings about what eager colonizers these roses are and to not plant them where they will escape into the dunes.

I was relieved the person from yesterday did not return. I had some good advice from friends: To write down answers to the person’s repeated questions and give the person a list of answers on paper was one of my favourites.  And to do what I should have done yesterday, to leave for ten minutes and then come back.  Will do if it happens again.

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29 March: grumpy and comfort food

Thursday, 29 March 2018

I found on my front porch some cool plants from Todd, from Far Reaches Farm, some I had ordered and two that were a birthday present.  (More on the plants in a future post.)

Before we left home, our neighbour, Rudder, said hello.

Allan’s photo

Long Beach

We started our workday weeding the Veterans Field garden beds because we are pretty sure there will be an Easter egg hunt on the lawn this weekend.

corner garden, before

anemone in the garden (Allan’s photo)

tiny little grasses

after

You probably cannot tell much difference.  Lots of little weed grasses were removed and the ‘Jackman’s Blue’ rue got a trim.

Then we returned to the Bolstad beach approach.

This photo shows what the garden looked like back in 2004 when we could grow more delicate things.  Theft and too much walking upon made us switch to almost all rugosa roses.  It really is a darn shame, despite the roses being beautiful in their own way.  The deer had, oddly, not discovered this garden yet in 2004 and were leaving tulips alone.

 

This spring, wee are working east to west, and the red buoy is our goal.

This far to go at the beginning of today’s work…

We began the day with four more sections to do, with the hope of polishing off two of them today.

We also began with the usual annoyance of finding holes where plants (either Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ or narcissi clumps or clumps of red poppies that I’d brought from home) had been stolen.

I think narcissi from this hole, because the sedums are still there.

Thievin’ varmints.

First section of today, before (Allan’s photos):

That’s Juniperus conferta, which grows well in sand.

After:

I met some cute dogs today (Allan’s photos):

The darling corgi sat on my feet to get petted.

A person stopped to talk.  I am going to use “they/their” pronouns to tell this singular story and make the person less identifiable.  Person said they had been a horticulturist and wanted to know if we were hiring.  I said no, we don’t want the paperwork of hiring, but that some other gardening businesses might be, and named a few, and suggested going to the nurseries and asking. They asked what kind of mulch could be added to sand and I suggested Soil Energy from Peninsula Landscape Supply.  They picked up a rooted piece of rugosa rose, and I said they could have it.  “I will start it in water,” they said, even when I pointed out it was already rooted.  After asking three times about mulch and twice more about being hired, they walked off, and Allan said “[They] would have failed the interview” (with us) because we find it hard to cope with a steady stream of talking whilst working.

Below, narcissi and muscari at the edge of the lawn, from assorted weed dumpings (Allan’s photos):

Narcissus ‘Golden Bells’ (yellow hoop petticoats, one of my favourites)

Horses clop-clopping by.

some species tulips not found by the deer

We began the second section of the day.  Before (Allan’s photos):

Just as I was thinking that it looked like we would get through the rest of the section with no interruptions, pleasant or otherwise, the person for whom I am using they/their pronouns returned, offering us two cans of pop.  I declined with thanks, especially after they had mentioned being poor, but they looked so disappointed that Allan took the sodas to the van with many thank yous.  The person was speaking in an altered way and said “I’m talking different because I am exhausted,”  And then the questions began: Where to get mulch? How much to use? How often did we work out on the approach? Where to get mulch? Were we hiring?  Why weren’t we hiring? How much mulch should one add to sand? Were we hiring?  Where did we live? Were we going to plant anything? Could the person plant wildflower seeds out here? I said no, because a lot of wildflower mixes might contain nixious weeds.  (Years ago, a cheap wildflower mix introduced orange hawkweed, on the forbidden list here, and it took me a couple of years to get rid of it.)  Were we hiring? Did we need help? Where did we live? Did we live here? Allan answered very vaguely. Then, If we didn’t live HERE, did we live in Oregon?  (I was tempted to say yes.)  Just how much mulch should be added to sand?

We had already answered each question thrice.  I was flummoxed.  There was no sense of vagueness or dementia to the questions, just an increasing feeling of aggression.  Allan commented a few times that it was a nice day to go for a WALK.

Before long, I just stopped answering.  I was tired and sore and my hands hurt in that way that gives extra pain when you bang into something like rose thorns.  Allan answered sometimes but in few words.  Then one word.  The person kept saying “I am not watching you.”  I had my back to them.  Allan would look up and every time, he was being closely watched.

I was getting desperate after fifteen minutes of this, so I finally straightened up and turned around and said that I was sorry, but I had to focus on work, as we had to get this done, and I was feeling too tired to make words and simply could not carry on a conversation.

Then: How much mulch? Could the person plant wildflower seeds? Where did we live? Were we hiring? How often were we out here?  (Allan lied, “Just once a year,” hoping to discourage a repeat performance.  That led to many repeated questions about why we only weeded it once a year!)

I straightened up again and turned around and said “I really need to focus on this job and you are distracting me and slowing me down.  I have got to get this done today!” (meaning the second section).

But…were we hiring? How much mulch? Wildflower seeds? Where do we live?

By now we were not answering or engaging at all.  I turned again and asked the person to please stop standing so close and watching us and please stop asking questions because we had to work.

But…Mulch? Wildflowers? Hiring? An an additional “I am going to city hall and tell them I am going to plant wildflowers.”

I turned again and said (with my head exploding inside), “This is like you walking into my office when I’m working at my desk and you talking and talking while I am trying to get stuff done.”

“No,” said the person, “You are in MY office because I live here.”  I thought they had an inarguable position, what with freedom of speech and all, although I later thought that the OFFICE belongs to the person who is working or trying to work.

I thought about leaving but I wanted so much to reach my daily goal.  Finally I said to Allan, “Could you please use the blower behind me because there is too much debris on the sidewalk.”  I whispered to him, “On the loudest setting!”  With the blower on, the person backed up thirty feet…and then returned with more questions and FINALLY with the pronouncement that they were going to give an “invocation”, something about blessings and family.  And then finally the person walked away (not to city hall, I watched).

Then I felt the rest of the day feeling like an old meanie.  What would you have done?

It had most definitely slowed us down.  We would have had time to get started on a third section.  I am just glad we did finish the second one.

Afters:

This is how far we have come from the arch in the first spring weeding.

And now we have only two sections to go:

At home, I erased two more sections from the work board.

Two to go!

Salt Pub

In the evening, we met Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) at Salt for our garden club (the North Beach Garden Gang) dinner.

We brought some flowers from home.

Of course, I told them my story of being pestered for an hour or more, and Melissa said she was glad she doesn’t do public gardens!

the view from our table

scrumptious brussel sprouts appetizer

my delicious tuna melt (with salad subbed for fries)

Allan’s polenta cake was so tasty.  (I had a bite.)

Dave’s Cubano sandwich; he said it was excellent.

Melissa’s clam chowder

At the end of the day, Allan put the mason bee tube into the new bee house.  It might be too soon…or not…I am just afraid they will hatch out in the bag and expire.

 

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