Saturday, 7 September 2019
Castle Rock, Washington
We continued our exploration of Castle Rock public gardens with the
Castle Rock Visitor Center.
According to an article in The Daily News, the majority of the $247,000 project was completed by community volunteers and public works employees…including the landscaping around the building. The center opened in May of 2016, so the garden is still young.
I walked this path away from the building…
…and back again.
By the wheelie bin enclosure at the end of that path, we had found a picnic shelter and pretty bed of annuals.
The hanging baskets were padlocked.

The enclosure had some useful posters.
More posters described assorted trees.



Across the big parking lot….
…is a pollinator meadow.



I could not find on my phone the location of the old jail, so we drove back downtown and got out and looked for a pedestrian to ask. We found one just as I saw, across a parking lot, a garden that looked promising. Indeed, the pedestrian said it was the place we sought. I noticed his t shirt for the Crosscut Taproom, which was one of two restaurants recommended at Nancy’s garden. He was the owner, so that settled which one we would dine at (the other was Wine Down Dog).
Old Jail Park

The walls are reinforced with scrap iron and old horseshoes.

A diseased tree had been recently cut…
…resulting in some scorched hostas.

downtown Castle Rock
We took a two block walk up and down one street a block from the park.




One of the apartments had its own little garden display, freshly watered and next door to the library.
The double baskets are gorgeous, as they were two years ago. Then there were more trailing potato vines; this year, the theme is pink.
In the containers, the theme was green.
I liked it very much. The big containers had plants which I feel sure like lots of water.



It took me till now to realize that Wine Down Dog is a pun (wind down).

We ate at the Crosscut Taproom, having gotten directions from its friendly owner.
We got there just before it got busy with the dinner crowd, including a large party who recognized us from today’s garden touring.
We enjoyed teriyaki rice bowls, cider and ginger beer…

…and petting a nice dog named Loki on the way out.
He was maybe a little tired from having had attention from many people.
As we drove away, we saw the other side of the apartment building with another sidewalk garden, one which I think I noticed two years ago.

We got home by dark. I am already looking forward to next year’s tour.