Castle Rock Bloomin’ Tour: The Gardens at Stillmeadows

Saturday, 7 September 2019

When we had discovered the Castle Rock public gardens two years ago on a drive to Evan Bean’s garden, we had just missed the annual tour by a month.  Last year, the tour didn’t happen, so I’d been looking forward to it for two years!

We left Ilwaco at 8 AM and arrived at the first garden, east of Castle Rock, just before 11 AM.

The Gardens at Stillmeadows

The garden name had made me eager to ask if the garden owners were fans of Gladys Taber, a favourite author of mine who wrote memoirs about her home called Stillmeadow. No, Still Meadows Lane is the name of the road along which you will find this large garden and overnight retreat.  You can read here about how the owners transformed “a mess of brush and blackberries” into a rambling garden acreage.

As planned in advance, we met Debbie, Dana, and Dawn from up north as we arrived and as they were leaving for the next garden.

me, Bailey, Debbie, Dawn, Dana

This was the only time we saw them all day because they were running an hour ahead of us on the tour.  We had a good but short visit (and they gave me flower pots and some garden decor, thank you!).  Allan and I then walked up the hill toward the garden, guided by our new friend, Bailey.

The gift shop, to the right on the way up the road, was closed for the season.

Now I so wish I had my grandma’s old treadle sewing machine.  (I sold it before leaving Seattle 26 years ago; it was so heavy) Something like this idea is genius for making a window box without attaching hardware to the window frame area….or just the idea of using something other than a standard window box.

To our left, we followed the sound to a waterfall.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

a bit further uphill

The first of two houses is a manufactured home similar to ours. (Of course, I loved that.)

It has an intricate front porch arbour.

Between the first and second house is the entrance to a secret garden.

Allan’s photo

We continued to explore the entrance garden on the way to the retreat office, located in the second house.

one of four elusive kitties

Take a drippy paint can and turn it into a vase with same colour flowers.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

A large seating area near the office would be perfect for dining al fresco while staying in one of the retreat rooms.

We met the friendly garden owners and then wended our separate ways down the hill into the lower gardens.

path to the sauna

A path gravel worked its way gently downhill.

looking back

Allan’s photo

The tour was perhaps not as well attended as it should have been.  I saw only two other people in the garden, a couple who delightedly commented about the imagination required to create such a space.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

lower right, above, seed heads of a favourite of mine, eryngiums

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’, one of my favourite late summer bloomers

At the bottom of the hill awaited an impressive stand of sunflowers, cosmos, and zinnias.  I love zinnias but don’t seem to have enough heat to grow them at the beach.

 

A dahlia garden came next as one turns to another path back into the lower garden.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Looking back at the dahlias…

Past the dahlias, a bridge over a river of blue fescue leads to a reflective pond.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Chickens!

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

That must be the back of the sauna.

Past the picket fence, a path wound sinuously through the woods….

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The woodsy path emerged at the base of steps leading up next to a waterfall.

Allan’s photo of a clever break in the railing as it crosses a stream.

Even though the stairs were easy enough, with a sturdy railing, let’s go back around the long way, retracing some of our steps to see more, including a closer look at a grove of Acer griseum (paperbark maple).

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

returning to the upper level (Allan’s photo)

As we were leaving, we met Rosemary from St Helens (a lower Columbia River town in Oregon), who had sent me a beautiful greeting card after happening upon my plant sale last May.  What a lucky encounter today.

Rosemary and me

I do hope we meet again.

And I hope to visit The Gardens at Stillmeadows again in late spring or early summer.

 

 

 

 

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4-6 October: cats, Kate

Sunday, 4 October 2015

Allan ambitiously refreshed the paint on the eaves trim of the house.

Allan’s photos: before

and after; the yellow is a left over colour from when the house used to be dull brown with yellow trim.

While I did a lot of productive garden puttering on what turned out to be a hot day, my big event was when I finally, after five years of wooing the orange cat from across the street, was accepted as a friend.

Of course this cat prefers to spend its days in our garden.

Up until today, this cat has run swiftly away when I even gaze upon it.

at long last!

my friend, Orange.

My main project was to set up the long narrow containers that I’d emptied on Friday in a new, sunny area for my new containerized strawberry patch idea.  I dug out with great effort a patch of alstroemerias next to the concrete pad.  I should have listened to Our Kathleen, because they have jumped the lawn into the nearest garden bed.  I piled some into a big pot if anyone wants to try them; they are bright yellow ones.

alstroemeria by the garage, now roots piled in a big pot

I’m sure they will try to come back.

There had been an old falling apart rack of bamboo poles against the garage wall.  I dismantled the whole thing (with some help from Allan) and moved them to outside the lean to in the work area:

ever useful bamboo and buckets

Some sort of container strawberry and kitchen garden is envisioned here.

The new area will need deer proofing somehow.  And the ideal thing would be to grow beans up that wall.  Something to think about before next spring.  The lowest container is sunk in to where those alstroemerias were (and probably still are, although I did dig deep).

Allan took on another project, cutting down the pile of storm-fallen wood from last winter for the rest of this year’s campfires.

Allan’s photo: my mom’s old electric chainsaw

Allan’s photo

after: enough for how many more campfires this year?

I puttered with some of the longer pieces raising them up against the fence to block a nearby security light from distracting from the wilderness feeling of the campfire area.  It may or may not work.

The bright light of early evening

an autumnal butterfly

evening in the garden

Aster lateriflorus ‘Prince’

Monday, 5 October 2015

Allan had gone off on a boating excursion by the time I awoke and found it much too hot to garden.

81.5! From 642weather.com. And the Cape Disappointment weather agreed.

I did test out a walkabout in the garden, arousing Smokey’s hope that we would enjoy a day outdoors.

Smokey tried to convince me it was a perfect day.

He flopped along in front of me throughout the garden to convince me how very lovely it was outside, but it was not to be, and I retreated into the slightly cooler house for a day of reading.

I had one chapter left in my current book, so I finished that.

It is a good read about a long quest for an affordable flat to purchase in New York City.

The author and I have certain tastes in common.

As she searches for a small apartment in the $500 – $600 thousand dollar range (!!!), she and her friend have a discussion about the rich, inspired by the wealth of some of the parents at her daughter’s school:

I also find Geri’s words validating as I share those feelings about many, although not all, of the rich.

I then settled in to read my last book by Kate Llewellyn, my favourite author of the year if not the decade.

Kate and Smokey, who adjusted to the idea of a day indoors.

I’ve had the book since last spring and have delved into a bit, and have since been waiting for a day when I could completely focus on it.

Here are just a few of my favourite bits.  I do hope to blog at length about her books this winter.

When someone questions her Blue Mountain journals of every day life:

“…the events of a day made (hopefully sometimes) into a work of art and nothing can be made up.  [My topics] are the weather, domesticity, love, art, gardening, the names of plants, a woman’s simple daily tasks and her heart’s thoughts.  The people she meets who are her friends and visitors are included but no one else.”

and later:

That is just how I feel about writing this blog, although with less hope of it being a work of art.  My favourite parts of Kate’s books are “her heart’s thoughts” and I often don’t have the transparency and courage to put those in.  She inspires me.  The most intensely personal thoughts about her life are something that I want to explore more here this winter.

(Stardust was later published as Burning.)

I also make nothing up, and even though I have been tempted with some time altering for better narrative flow, I find it necessary to my piece of mind to stick strictly to reality.

On moving to a smaller garden with houses close by:

What a perfect description of two different landscape styles:  “…a house sits, ideally on a green lawn like a white stamp on an unaddressed envelope…that is happiness to many.  I like an envelope scrawled all over with a stamp indecipherable from ink and inside a letter that is full of repose and serenity.”

Someone who does have a house like a postage stamp on a beautiful green lawn said to me, in a way that was meant to be a compliment, that my garden is “primitive”.  I took it as the compliment it was (I think) meant to be, as she was comparing it with another garden that she thought might be worthy of being on the garden tour, and I think primitive meant wild and free, perhaps.  I thought at the time, “You don’t know how actually sophisticated this garden is!”

People expressed their thoughts about Kate’s garden, too:

Twice, Kate mentions reading Iris Murdoch, with whom she now vies as my favourite author of my whole lifetime.

I’m fascinated with Kate’s passion in later life for making public gardens and know just how she feels about wanting to expand on and on:

After making the boatyard garden (which eventually turned into a paid job) and the post office garden, we now may be expanding into making a volunteer garden at the park a few blocks away.

With an early evening break to water some plants outside with the very last of the rain barrel water, I stayed in Kate’s world until finishing the book at about 10 PM.

The joy of reading all of Kate Llewellyn’s prose books came about when a reader of this blog suggested I might like Playing with Water.  Allan could not find that one for me at Christmas so he got me The Waterlily, which just perfectly turned out to be the first of her journal series.  Soon, I was mail-ordering all of her prose books from Australia since they are mostly not available here.  Unless she writes more, and I hope she does, I have now finished them all.

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

I could have gardened despite the chilly wind (much better than yesterday’s heat).  Instead, I had enjoyed my reading day so much that I had another one.

I recently found that there are new additions to the Dog Lovers’ Mystery series and I intend to go through them all.  I started re-reading here, as my poor memory makes it seem like this book is all new.  Conant’s series is well written, informative, with good insight into the character of humans and dogs, and best of all, they are witty.

I took one little walk through the garden and leave you with a few photos.

front garden with Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

cardoon gone to seed

I’ve stopped deadheading my cosmos.

Melianthus major and criss crossed elephant garlic

late flowering clematis on the west wall of the garage

Smokey again hoping for a gardening day, or maybe he is asking me to come back indoors and read some more.

a grey and windy day

I could have found many small weeds to pull.

late autumn roses

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and Stipa gigantea

This is the view I see each morning from my south window…enjoyable in all seasons and all weather.

Tomorrow:  Allan’s boating excursion in Seaside.

 

 

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2-3 October: sleep, project, campfire, friends

Friday, 2 October 2015

I had the most wonderful long sleep with no artificial sleep aid, most unusual and most welcome….even though I did feel I had lost half the day.  When I finally went outside, thinking to putter and weed a bit, I suddenly remembered two projects that had come to mind this past week.

Yesterday morning, I had had a revelation that the bed running next to the garage could be made more of an ornamental grass Piet Oudolfy type of garden.

Here it was yesterday morning.

So first I transplanted two big Miscanthus into the middle bed of those three.  The far in the distance bed is a debris pile at present.

the west side garden where tall ornamental grasses will grow next year…

I am still trying to decide whether or not to turn the shabby grass paths to gravel.  I do love a gravel garden and yet the grass, even dormant, feels so soft underfoot.

And then I suddenly remembered that I had decided the four long low containers by the south wall must be moved.  I think they would be wonderful containers on the edge of a deck.  But I do not have a deck, or even the prospect of a deck.  I always thought I could successfully grown beans or peas up the side of the house on bamboo stakes.  After five years of failure at that plan, I was sick to death of the same-iness of those long planters.

before, 3:30 PM

Much digging of potting soil into buckets ensued, along with the digging out of two whiskey barrels that were outside the deer fence.  Allan helped me move the empty barrels into place.

Devery stopped by partway through the frenzy.

Allan’s photos; I want to expand the scree garden all around the boat by moving the strawberries that are on the other side.

I was telling Devery all about the strawberry plan (because we share them with her)

I gave her some lavender.

Then I got back to finishing the big exhausting project.

after, 6 PM

I’m happy with having a variety of heights against the house instead of the long low stretch of four identical planters.

If I can find a place for these, I can grow strawberries in them.  (Allan’s photo)

Another frenzy followed of moving a plant table from behind the garage onto the patio, by which time it was too dark to take a photo.

Saturday, 3 October 2015

After a day of pleasant garden puttering, and some small worries about wind, the wind did die down at dusk and we were able to have a campfire with Our Kathleen, Dave, and Melissa.

Allan’s photo

the shade garden looking fine at dusk

a simply perfect autumn campfire evening

I wish to relive the idyllic time from all angles.

We had three kinds of sausages, buttered corn foil-roasted in the fire, beer, cider, or root beer, Allan’s homemade pumpkin pie, Melissa’s brownies; what a feast.  Smokey joined us; the other cats are not campfire aficionados.

To make the evening even more perfect, I looked at my phone and saw that garden writer Ann Lovejoy, who I had just realized this day was on Facebook, had accepted my friend request.  This meant the world to me as her gardening talk over 25 years ago had changed my life.

my garden boat, the “Plant Vessel” Ann Lovejoy!

Afterward, as Kathleen was leaving, I saw that the J’s house across the street had all its Halloween lights up.  As I took my camera one house down to take a photo, I suddenly exclaimed:  “Damn, I left my property!”  Kathleen said something like, “All of Lake Street is yours,” and I said, “Some would beg to differ.”  So much for not setting foot off my property for five days.  (I realized than that, because there is still compostable debris in our trailer,  I would at some point have had to set foot out on the sidewalk to unload it.)

My photo did not even turn out well, but Allan’s did:

The J’s house across the street. (Allan’s photo)

next: three more luxurious days off

 

 

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17 Sept: productive fall projects

Thursday, 17 September 2015

before work, in the back garden

The Sarracenia that Debbie Teashon brought me are thriving.

deadheading our Ilwaco Post Office garden

Time Enough Books

Continuing with the fall project list on our work board, we decided to remove, at bookstore owner Karla’s request, the medium sized Miscanthus that was all around a street tree in the curbside garden.  (It was planted before we took on these gardens.)

before: too big for its britches

Allan swinging the pick

Allan’s photo.

Allan’s photo

after

The grass neatly separated into chunks, all of which would be too tall for any of the curbside gardens.  I gave two pieces to Salt Hotel for their container gardens (they love ornamental grasses), and saved two clumps each for Dave and Melissa and for Todd.  Two more could go at the boatyard garden, or I could maybe save some for the Ilwaco City Park project, but I have no idea when that is going to happen.  Jenna drove by and I offered her some.  She’d been needing some ornamental grasses to plant on her deck and was happy to take these.

Our Jenna (Queen La De Da)

On a brief stop at home, Allan saw this butterfly in our own garden.

The Depot Restaurant

We did our weekly deadheading, with no watering necessary.

small yellow flowers of Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ blooming way up high

Sanguisorba ‘Dali Marble’ is just starting to bloom.  (with cosmos)

Long Beach

On the way home from work earlier this week, I had noticed with a bit of dismay that the Long Beach welcome sign seemed to missing a fair amount of cosmos along the back.  I figured maybe the city crew had removed some so that the new lights shone better on the the sign.  The new lights are positioned slightly differently and did not work well with the way I had planted for the old lights.  However, when we got up close to the welcome sign today, we realized that both sides were seriously trashed, apparently by people standing in them during Rod Run…to get their photos taken, or….WHAT?

Last week the back of the sign was all beautiful cosmos standing tall. Now the the plants were crushed and even the lamps were aimed wrong.

Allan’s photo: Why would someone be standing in the BACK of the sign (the side that says “Thank you”).

front: all smashed up.  Last week the cosmos were standing tall all along here.

welcome sign, front on Sept 5th

after cleaning up, today

Just look at all the broken off cosmos that we had to pull. They would have bloomed well into October.

After that annoyance, we moved on to another fall project: digging out two of the planters on Sid Snyder Avenue beach approach.  The two planters on the eastern end of the approach road have planters going way back to volunteer days.  Round about this time I got a message from a friend telling me that someone I used to know had died of cancer just a couple of hours before, not unexpectedly but nevertheless tragically for his family.  For his spouse, from whom I am estranged, I felt empathy and deep sadness that lingered through the weekend (as I write this four days later).  Because of the estrangement there was nothing I could do but move on with our day.  It is too important of an event to not mention.

before: this one was mostly a running variegated grass with a pink sea thrift on just one side.

The other was a mix of grass, a woody old lavender, and variegated ivy and a small phormium.

I hid the little phormium and its tag in one of the bags of ornamental grass from Time Enough and tied a knot on one side of the bag so I could remember to give that one to Todd as a joke.  (He knows I have completely gone off Phormium.)  We drove off to get some soil from my city works pile with which to fill the planters.

Allan’s photo at the west end turn around of the Sid Snyder beach approach

I remembered that one planter on the Bolstad approach had some daisies that I wanted to remove, because they are always thirsty.  While I was digging them out, a fellow with a horse passed by on the way back from a beach ride.  When I asked if the horse was an Appaloosa, he kindly rode the horse over closer.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The rider told us his horse is a “scent horse”, used for tracking, that his name is Joker and that he is a very good boy.

Back at Sid Snyder after collecting soil in all our buckets, we filled the planters with new Soil Energy mulch.

 

after, planter that had had an assortment of old perennials

Allan’s photo, after, planter that had had the running variegated grass

We’ll get some plants for them next week.  We made a quick deadheading stop at Fifth Street Park…

NW quadrant of Fifth Street Park

Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, catmint, cosmos, and to the right some self seeded montbretia that is going to be dug out.

…and headed back to Ilwaco with four extra buckets of soil.  We put it down at Time Enough Books to make the tree happy….

Time Enough Books

Next week, we are going to get a yard of mulch for Time Enough and from that, we will take four buckets back to Long Beach and use it to fill in where we will dig out the montbretia.

The project board just got smaller.  But I do need to add that monbretia removal job.

The Cove Restaurant

Our traditional Thursday dinner with Dave and Melissa tonight included Todd and Our Kathleen (still on vacation at her beach cottage).

Allan’s photo, Melissa, me and Kathleen

Kathleen, Allan, and Todd peruse the menu

Todd and Dave talk plants.

pear and goat cheese salad and ahi tuna

and a connolo for dessert

Allan’s photo from left to right: me, Lynn, our funny and efficient server; Sondra, the owner, in red; and Chef Jason Lancaster to the right.

Earlier in the day, I had tried and failed to get a non-blurry photo of a seagull drinking out of a puddle.  What should I find in the ladies room but a painting of that very scene.

After being the last to leave the restaurant, our group stood around talking in the parking lot for many more minutes.  Todd was holding the bag of ornamental grass.

I kept feeling like the scene reminded me of something.

It wasn’t till later that I realized it reminded me of this:

Next, four days of gardening and contemplation, and a boating excursion.

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24 Oct: around Long Beach

Friday, 24 October 2014

The storm I had been expecting had been postponed till the weekend. I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do, although I had a vague idea of doing the picket fence garden clean up at Andersen’s RV Park. First thing, I decided, would be to check for fallen cosmos at the Depot Restaurant garden in Seaview. On the way, we picked up some books at the library. (Three Junes by Julia Glass is still not here, and I am so eagerly waiting to reread it.)

in the library garden, fall crocus and heather

fall colour in the library garden (Hamamelis, witch hazel)

I did get a book that I’d ordered through interlibrary loan: The Sisters of Hardscrabble Bay. All I know about it is its irresistible title.

Depot Restaurant

Once there, so many cosmos were tipped over by wind that I began to pull most of them, and then decided we should clip the hop vines on the lattice, as well.

before

after

before

after

I remain impressed with the Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ this year. I liked it before because of the amusement of having smallish coreopsis flowers way up high. This year, maybe because all the ones I’ve planted are well established three year old plants, they’ve all bloomed well and profusely and for a long time.

Flower Tower

I’d given up on the maddening cosmos that had not even flowered yet. I’m sure it was not ‘Sensation’ and pretty sure it wasn’t ‘Psyche’ that was so late coming on. The foliage was pretty, but no flowers yet. I left just one, to see if it ever blooms before frost (or before it falls right over from wind).

the tardy non blooming cosmos

Long Beach

We pulled the cosmos and some of the Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ out of the welcome sign garden (and forgot to take a photo) and pulled more cosmos and cut down a rugosa rose in Fifth Street Park.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

The rose is chopped down. Part of the Melianthus major has fallen sideways since we cut down the Helianthus that was holding it up.

Allan’s photo: after

after

We left this section mostly untouched because it’s still so pretty.

Lots of debris in our little cart and lots more to come after the next storm.

a digression: In Defense of Chrysanthemums

Not long ago I read an article on Garden Rant excoriating chrysanthemums. It’s not the first anti-chrysanthemum article; here’s another. One of the criticisms is that chrysanthemums brown off in just about a week.

I disagree.

The chrysanthemums in the Long Beach planters have been there for years, from when the Basket Case Greenhouse used to sell them in the fall. They have perennialized beautifully, have lovely natural shapes and bloom for weeks.

Here are a couple of photos from October 3rd:

pink ones

pale pink ones by NIVA green

And here are some photos from two days ago:

yellow ones by Campiche Gallery (have been blooming for weeks)

pink ones still blooming

and more

just north of NIVA green

 

And here are the dark pink chrysanthemums still going strong on October 27 after heavy wind and rain:

Monday, 27 October

AND the scent of the foliage reminds me of my grandmother’s garden. She loved chrysanthemums, and that’s good enough for me. (My page about her garden is newly updated and expanded, by the way.)

I’m pretty sure those are chrysanthemums in a vase in my grandma’s living room.

Now…back to work.

Jo’s Garden

After our work in Fifth Street Park and the dumping of debris, it seemed too late to go all the way to Andersen’s. Instead, we decided to start on the fall cleanup of Jo’s garden. In previous years, we have left it till after bulb planting and it’s been the last hard, cold job of the season. With fewer jobs this year, we might be able to get it done earlier, Wouldn’t that be nice?

We did not make much of a dent in the job before we got rained out just after four PM.

after

after

Jo likes the garden flattened for winter, so we have a long, long way to go.

Allan pulled the crocosmia at the west end.

She wants to get rid of all her Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. Who wants some?

Allan’s before and after of pulling the crocosmia; still many more plants to take down

hydrangea blooming in the driveway

Captain Bob’s Chowder

Earlier, while working in Fifth Street Park, we’d decided to have crab rolls at the end of our work day, and so we did.

crab rolls and chowder

It was a good meal and a good talk with restaurateur Cathy.

the end of our workday

After blogging (which takes a couple of hours), we have a later dinner (thanks to Allan) and watch some telly. In the last month we’ve been watching the most recently released seasons of some series: The Americans, Bletchley Park, Homeland, Doctor Who, and tonight we saw a charming film called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. My only complaint: From my own experience, I don’t think high school misfits would be so pretty.
 

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22-23 Sept: workweek part one

Monday, 22 September 2014

It was so hard to shake the spell of the Sylvia Beach Hotel and get back to work. I just wanted to turn around and go back. If I drove, perhaps I would have. (Destiny told me that she once stayed there for fifteen nights, trying and failing to leave twice during that time. Once she almost got away but then turned back.) However, we buckled down to work instead.

We spent all day at Nelly and Don’s garden in Ilwaco, cutting plants back and weeding.

Nelly’s back yard garden before

and after

Allan’s project on the east side, before…

Someone had been hired to prune the hedge; Nelly is so kind that she had sent him home out of concern on the 91 degree day two days before.

Allan raking out the hedge clippings

before

after

after

one of the areas Allan tackled, before and after

I do think Nelly’s house is one of the two prettiest houses in town.

That probably leads to the question: Which is the other prettiest house? This one, up on School Hill:

LB Williams House (1899)

Nelly’s garden took all day (there is a side garden, too, and the front beds, none of which I photographed). Afterwards, we took Carol to dinner at the Depot Restaurant on her last night of her beach vacation.

our Depot Restaurant garden

 

We shared artichoke fritos.

I had delicious smoky borscht.

and parmesan artichoke risotta with a micro Greek salad on top.

Carol and Allan each had the renowned Southern Comfort Pork.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

I truly just wanted to stay home with these two:

Mary and Smokey

It had rained considerably overnight, as this puddle in front of our house showed.

I was glad to see the garden invigorated by rain (and not needing to be watered).

front garden, looking east from driveway

Allan would like the city to put gravel here, but I like the big puddle for photos.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

We decided to do the northern jobs earlier than usual this week as rain was predicted for later.

Andersen’s RV Park

Andersen’s also had a garden reflected in a puddle.

the garden shed garden

fig tree and cosmos

The park looks off-season-ish. It will fill back up on clamming weekends this autumn.

looking west

We deadheaded the many Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ plants.

Payson Hall clubhouse planters

west side garden

picket fence garden (east side of house) looking autumnal

spent white phlox and hydrangea

back to the garden shed garden, for some weeding…

and some mulching

really quite stunning

I suddenly realized that without my even planning it, fall clean up had begun!

As we were leaving Andersen’s, just outside the grounds a neighbour was walking the most beautiful Bengal mix cat on a leash. I got to meet it (have forgotten its name). Allan’s photos:

Klipsan Beach Cottages

At KBC, Allan began by clipping more uppies off of the rose and honeysuckle arbour. He said he had wanted to do so for the last three times, but our long handled clippers had disappeared. He had found them in the back garden of Marilyn’s last week, where he had left them behind while clipping some blackberries, so he was back in business pruning without a ladder.

I was getting mentally back in business; this was the first day since my recent trip that I did not feel heavily burdened with longing to get back to the Sylvia Beach Hotel. I love fall clean up and it had me all revitalized.

inside the south gate of the deer fence

a fall clean up project before

My goal was to get rid of all the Lysimachia punctata so that there could be a more formal feel to this little walkway to Denny’s mini-pond. Mary of KBC does like a formal look to her garden, and I had realized that this would be a good spot to do something pleasing for both Mary and Denny, as Denny also likes his little pond to show up better. We’ll get some sort of small formal plant to border the pathway.

after; the Coreopsis verticillata, lower left, will come out next time. A little piece can go somewhere else.

also cleaned out a lot of asters and old foliage from this area….

The garden still has much to offer on the first day of autumn:

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

cosmos as tall as the arbours

the very last of the sweet peas (‘Streamers’)

Allan noted later that the outdoor fireplace at KBC”s A Frame rental reminded him of something.

AFrame with fire circle

Allan made this mental connection.

Rain began as we finished at Klipsan Beach Cottages. We decided to do one more job so we would not have to drive north later in the week.

Wiegardt Gallery

We didn’t do much, just deadheaded cosmos and clipped some lavender back so that patrons would not brush against wet plants to go up the entry walk.

I was glad to see the good rain on the gardens after a hot dry weekend.

home again

On the way home we stopped at Long Beach city hall to pick up our check. A sure sign of autumn is that the hanging baskets had been taken down all over town.

At home, there had been slight movement by the cats.

Mary and Smokey

Calvin (He looks a little weird because he is a neurotic nervous licker)

The new rainwater feature was sort of working but needs some adjustment.

Most of the water is going onto the ground and missing the top of the gutter piece.

autumnal look to the back garden

a delightful amount of rain water

Rain had refilled the water boxes.

The rainwater barrels were all overflowing except for the gutter one.

With considerable wind predicted, we took down the great wall of china.

50 mph winds were due overnight (but did not quite materialize).

I harvested the second to last plateful of tomatoes from the greenhouse.

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17 September: workday two of two

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

A two day work week?  My goodness, we have gotten lazy.  We have more time off as we have quit jobs that were too hard on my knees (the up and down steep slopes jobs).  When I was very mildly fretting today about whether we should be trying to make more money, Allan pointed out that time off now, when we can enjoy it, might be more valuable than time later when we might be in wheelchairs, perhaps with money made now but with less mobility to get around the garden or the lake.  Our late and missed neighbour Nora often reminded us to do things and SEE things now while we still could walk and had good vision.  Perhaps she herself wished that she had worked less.  The day may come when we have to give up restaurant dining and garden tour trips; we will live on memories, online touring, and Allan’s good cooking.

We made the north end rounds today; next week, we will check on all the rest of the private gardens.

We went all the way to Marilyn’s in Surfside today.

The Depot Restaurant in Seaview (between Ilwaco and Long Beach)

the weekly photo looking west from the east end of the flower garden

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

It looks like the Fort George Brewery Co-HOPerative folks may have come to pick the hop flowers for brewing a beer from several different local hops sources.

Basket Case Nancy, if you are reading this:  The windowboxes still look good for this time of year; I just forgot to take a photo!

Long Beach Welcome Sign

There are a lot of Cosmos ‘Happy Ring’ to deadhead, an enjoyable enough task, and the twelve unenjoyable Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’, which it crossed my mind could be pulled out soonish.

The bidens along the front provides plenty of yellow to “stop the eye”.

The back of the sign is edged with white bacopa.

Golden Sands Assisted Living

The four quadrants of the courtyard garden aren’t looking too bad right now, thanks to Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, Solidago ‘Fireworks’, some sadly yellow-foliaged Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, and not enough cosmos.

Google Earth of the building surrounding the courtyard.

SW quadrant

NW quadrant (the front a little bare where a bench used to sit).

NE quadrant

SE quadrant

Every week Allan removes with the pick a couple more of the tatty old carexes that are behind the quadrants.  I think when they are gone, the snail problem will improve as I am sure they hide in those grasses.  That could make it easier to grow more dahlias next year.

I had three ideas later in the day of plants I can get for free to add to the very late summer show at Golden Sands.

Sometime this winter I want to get around to a blog post about how the residents decorate the entryways to their rooms. How would you decorate if this area was your statement to the world?  I thought I’d write it last winter and did not.  Perhaps a sneak peek will motivate me.

One of the residents clearly likes the Rod Run.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

the weekly look in the east gate

Mary made a new container planting.

‘Streamer’ sweet peas

and more ‘Streamer’ sweet peas

boxwood and Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ backed with Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’.  A piece or two of that Persicaria will go to Golden Sands.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’; a piece of this could go to Golden Sands (and to Marilyn’).

the garden bench backed with Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Steroidal Giant’

The Corokia cotoneaster has happily lived in the big blue pot for years.

Sarah (0r Timmy?)

Oman Builders Supply, Ocean Park

Some deadheading of the Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ was all this low maintenance success needed.

It could use a new plant here later, maybe another Gaura ‘Whirling Butterfly’; something got swiped here, probably another Eryngium.

Marilyn’s Garden, Surfside

We had a talkative audience from the next door roof.

Marilyn’s daughter, Nancy who is co owner of the Depot Restaurant, has been doing a marvelous job of keeping the garden well watered.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, taller than me (as it gets with enough water)

looking south

Phygelius can go to the Golden Sands garden! I can get many pieces of it from here as it wants to go out into the gravel path.

Some of the cosmos are seedy and hard to reach. That’s ok because this is a bird garden and birds love cosmos seeds…especially goldfinches.

We’re keeping the cosmos along the path deadheaded.  The Buddleia to the right is a sterile cultivar, ‘Blueberry Cobbler’.

the deck with pots planted by Basket Case Greenhouse Nancy.

The chaise lounge keeps the deer who live in this garden from browsing the annuals on the deck.

Looking northwest; A gust of wind made the giant Miscanthus rustle enchantingly.

Wiegardt Gallery, Ocean Park

Eric’s gallery was hopping with a painting class which had been brought by their instructor “to get inspiration”.  They had painted at Oysterville Sea Farms the day before, and today at the Oysterville church and school, and tomorrow they will paint at the Ilwaco boatyard.

front garden, cosmos underlaid with the very determined Bad Aster.

fall crocus

the old kitchen door

picotee cosmos

a Miscanthus beginning to take its autumn bow.

The dratted deer ate the tops off of the Sedumn ‘Autumn Joy’…

leaving the front garden looking rather empty.

the north side of the gallery

The predicted showers for today had not happened yet.  Rain is so much needed, I would have welcomed working in it.

Sword ferns are looking unusually distressed from hot dry weather.

Port of Ilwaco

When we got back to Ilwaco, we took a drive around the town to check on the Howerton Way gardens.

We saw three dandelions at the east end; Allan hopped out to get them.

Then we decided to deadhead at the Port office and Time Enough Books.  In the garden north of the office, a Sedumn ‘Autumn Joy’ was pulled almost out of the ground.

Did someone get interrupted mid theft?

South side of the Port Office and Don Nisbett Art Gallery with baskets from The Basket Case

Don’s baskets are bigger from more watering and fertilizing.  He’s been asked to give his special attention to the port office baskets as well next year.

Cosmos ‘Seashells’

and the marina

at home

I did just a bit of weeding and clipping in the front garden.  Tomorrow (September 18th), I’m leaving for the Sylvia Beach Hotel with Carol, a Seattle friend for 36 years.  Rain would be the perfect weather for staying indoors at the bookish hotel.  I was pleased when a drizzle finally began just before I came indoors to blog.  At dusk, the drizzle continued; may it continue for three days so that Allan does not have to do any watering work while I am gone.  (With just a break for the painting class to do their pleine air painting at the boatyard.)

delightfully drizzly window views:

north

north

looking east

I hope that when I return and share whatever I wish to share from the trip that I can then somehow catch up to publishing this blog closer to real time.

 

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