17-18 March: two days, five events

Friday, 17 March 2017

After attending the quilt show, and blogging about the quilt show, our Friday ended with my birthday celebration at the Cove Restaurant, which is once again open for weekend dinners.

At the Cove on St Patrick’s Day

Patty, Kathleen, Todd, Melissa, J9, me, Boreas Inn Susie and Bill, and Dave

Todd brought flowers.

with Patty from the World Kite Museum.

Allan, Patty, Our Kathleen, and Todd

Irish Stew and soda bread

Carmen bringing cake.

Allan provided  cake by buying two at Sid’s Supermarket and secretly decorating them himself in the back of our van!

garden clippers from Dave!

Plant Delights plants from Todd

Dan and Leanne from Casa Pacifica happened to be dining nearby, so they got some cake, and then (being excellent singers and former choir directors) they serenaded us with “Happy Birthday.”

I was pleased to get The View from Great Dixter from Kathleen.

Allan gave me three books about England, including one by a former spouse of mine.

written by a Leedsman

From Melissa, a subscription to Fine Gardening magazine will be much enjoyed, and Susie had made a lilac scented non headache-y all natural perfume.

Saturday, 18 March 2017

I hadn’t had time to pick up birthday wrapping paper.

Empty Bowls

We began Saturday with the annual Empty Bowls event, in which you buy a handmade bowl and then have a bowl of soup, with the event proceeds going to local programs that feed the hungry.

at the Peninsula Church Center

picking bowls, many made by local schoolchildren

flowers

our four bowls.  The turtle is reversible!

Soup provided by several chefs

well attended

entertainment (Allan’s photo)

We had the pleasure of dining with Our Kathleen (in blue) and with local author Jan Bono (in red).

Postcard Party

entering the studio

We drove half an hour north to Ocean Park to attend part of a postcard party.  Today’s focus was sending postcards to our area’s Republican representative to try to get her to attend a town hall and hear our concerns.  We’re going to have the town hall whether or not she shows up.

Michele made a card to send to Rep. Jaime Beutler, who has not done a town hall here for years.

And we have embarked upon a series of thank you postcards to folks who are fighting the good fight.

Allan sent a card to our Senator Maria Cantwell.

a card for Al Franken from another local liberal

postcards and homemade chili

postcard party

I did not have time to finish my last of four cards (lower left).

We left before the party was over because we had to be at another event.  On the way, we managed to squeeze in a stop at the Depot Restaurant, where we had so kindly been offered some leftover St Pat’s Day shepherd’s pie! At home, we met with Indivisible member Gwen (who had also been at the postcard shindig) and all three of us in our van headed an hour north to South Bend for the …

92nd Annual Pacific County Democrats Crab Feed.

In South Bend, we drove around looking for a garden that I wished to view from the street.  We got a bit lost.

a beautiful house on the hill

We dropped Gwen off at the event venue and kept looking, only to find the garden was walking distance from our destination rather than being up on the hill.  It belongs to a gardener I admire and I had used Google to find it.  Leaving the word “east” out of the address made it much more findable.

a dreamy garden

conifer textures

Allan’s photo

just snooping the front garden

very cool

I long to see the whole garden in summer, and I hope it will be on the Pacific County Master Gardeners’ summer tour.

We then walked to the crab feed.

a historic photo of South Bend

free buttons

showing only about half of the local dems in attendance

Members of the Chinook Tribe sang a blessing song.

Harmony Soapworks from Oysterville provided table favours.

Someone did not know it was soap and took a bite!

State and local politicians served the dinner.

Senator Maria Cantwell (Allan’s photo)

State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski, former Congressman Brian Baird, and Congressman Derek Kilmer

an enormous crab on top of a green and a potato salad.

I had forgotten how daunting a crab is to eat.  We managed with a set of pliers.  Next year, we will know to bring crab crackers and picks.

Senator Maria Cantwell was one of several rousing speakers.

Allan’s photo

enthusiastic response

We are filled with resolve and have every intention of solving all sorts of problems.

In the silent auction, I won an art piece by our friend Joe Chasse, from his Dangerous Toys series.

I’m thrilled to have this.

Shortly after Joe departed, Gwen and Allan and I left during the live auction in order to get through the most wooded roads home before dark

dusk along the marshland on the way home

It has been an intense two day social whirl and, with a break in the bad weather, I am  looking forward to getting some quiet gardening work done.

 

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19 March: from soup to mulch

Saturday, 19 March 2016

I would rather have stayed home and sorted photos of Mary the cat.  (In fact, as our regular readers know, I did do the sorting and posting over the next couple of days.) However good weather, a charitable event, and work called.

Empty Bowls

Local potter Karen Brownlee devoted weeks of energy to this event, organizing, helping with the making of the bowls, and publicizing.

We got there at 10:45 to get a good chance at the bowls I’d seen on Facebook!

(Don’t anyone tell the little ones, but I always go for a bowl by a grown up potter!)

There was a plug for the quilt show in the window…we still hadn’t made it to the quilts.  (Allan’s photo)

crowds gather around the bowls

Our Kathleen arrived shortly after us.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s first choice was the large tan bowl on the left. Our Kathleen also had an eye for its functional beauty and nabbed it later. He went for an octopus design.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

our friend Robbie and her bowls

Robbie had been holding her bowls right in front, but moved them when I said they looked like a reverse coconut bra.

live entertainment

an assortment of soups on offer

Allan’s photo

My very favourite soup, smokey tomato and bleu cheese from the 42nd Street Café, was one of the options.

Robbie’s bowls

Allan’s and my bowls (later at home)

Allan’s photo

Robbie’s photo: me and Our Kathleen.  (You eat out of plain bowls, not the ones you buy.)

Then, without lingering quite as long as we would have liked, Allan and I left for the Planter Box to get some mulch for Jo’s garden.

On the way north, we stopped for photos when we saw that the Long Beach carousel  being assembled for the season.

Allan’s photo

Installing the fabric roof in the wind

in a planter across the street (Allan’s photo)

The Planter Box

Our goal was the dairy manure mulch, now known by a zippy new name:

Cow WOW!

Raymond loads our little trailer

While Allan reloaded the buckets and wheelbarrow, I took some plant photos for the Planter Box Facebook page.

heucheras

epimediums

double primroses pink…

…and white

an early blooming white clematis that I acquired for myself a coulpe of years ago

Jo’s garden

trailer load, one yard of Cow WOW

At Jo’s, the mulch has to be bucketed into the garden because of a few steps at the east end and just one step at the west end.

ahead: the steps

entry bed, mulched

and the shade bed

and the bed by the east deck

back to the Planter Box

Last year, we scraped the bottom of the cow mulch pile and were only able to apply one yard.  This year, the lavish pile allowed us to return to get a second yard to make the garden extra fluffy.

Planter Box: The Next Generation

Allan’s photo

second load

white bleeding heart

calceolaria

some poppy plants for Jo (Allan’s photo)

back to Jo’s

This time we parked at the end of the west lawn and Allan wheelbarrowed the buckets up three at a time.

It’s a long way.

I did the dumping and spreading of mulch.  I am thankful to report that the Really Bad leg pain of a few days ago went back to just the ordinary amount…thank goodness.

the west end entry step

One could put a ramp on that little step.  However, the brick paths are narrow and the garden full of plants, making it actually easier to bucket.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

center courtyard mulched

Allan’s photos: Jo’s sword fern yesterday…

and today

northwest bed mulched

NW corner

west bed, where we ran out last year, nicely mulched

Ilwaco

On the way home, we drove by the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and I remembered I had wanted to pull the chickweed from one of their planters before the quilt show, which had started yesterday.  Kitty Mary’s death had changed our plan to attend the quilt show on Friday and I had forgotten the weed.  We don’t take care of those two planters; the chickweed just bugs me.

museum planter, before

after

While weeding here, I had a brainstorm.  The small amount of mulch we had left would be just perfect to mulch our volunteer garden at the Ilwaco Post Office, so with a slight sense of reluctance I decided to donate it to that good cause instead of applying it to a few needy plants at home.

leftover mulch (Allan’s photo)

after??

In taking the after photo, I had another brainstorm: Those two grasses have seen their last good days and have to go!  So out they came.  You can see to the far left that they have made some nice new starts.

the new after

Maddeningly, I thought of removing the grasses after using up all the mulch so had none to nicely fill in the empty spot.

post office looking more colorful

at home: akebia blooming

We had time to rest for a short while and then turned around to meet Our Kathleen for dinner at Salt Pub on the waterfront.

‘Twas a belated birthday occasion as Kathleen was in her workaday world on my birthday.  (Allan’s photo)

She gave me a fabulous plant, knowing I love green flowers:

Hellebore ‘Jade Dragon’..or is it ‘Jade Tiger’?  It’s outside in the dark as I write this.

I had a much needed Gibson

Todd’s birthday flowers from Thursday are still looking fine

flowers, Laila, and Annika

the work board with all the spring clean up done except for Long Beach!

which did not last long, because Penttila’s chapel (misspelled on the board) emailed back that they would love a spring garden cleanup.

Guest photos:

Nancy Gorshe sent me this photo of my friend Scooter in Marilyn’s (her mom’s) garden

from Todd Wiegardt:  Ipheion ‘Albert Costillo’

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1998 (age 73):

March 19th:  Beautiful day.  I took Tabby to the vet to get her booster shot and nail clipping.  I didn’t get outside but got started on seed planting.  I got the ones planted that had to be put in the shop refrig.  I got labels to make for tomatoes but if it’s as nice outside I’ll work in the garden tomorrow.

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28 March: many missions accomplished

Saturday, 28 March 2015

Empty Bowls event

Strangely, I found myself in bed and falling sleep by 1 AM instead of 2 last night so was awake at the bright hour of 9 AM!  This would have been a shock to Allan so I checked my email and Facebook for half an hour.  Thus, we were at the Empty Bowls event by 11 AM.  From the event page:

“This annual event brings handmade bowls created by local artists and elementary students together with handmade soups and bread made by local restaurants to help fund local food service organizations. Each year bowls are made and at the event are sold for $10 each. With that donation you get a lunch of soup and bread. After the event you keep your bowl to remind you of all the empty bowls in the world. Open to the public.

This is part of a national outreach to educate and empower communities through art and understanding.“

Empty Bowls is held at the Peninsula Church Center, which has a tidy garden outside.

The rose garden must be lovely in summertime.

Inside, bowls were still being added to the display. It was hard to choose!

Many of the bowls at this event are made by grade school children.  I asked local potter and event organizer Karen Brownlee if that is unusual, and she said yes, most of the similar events around the country have more “grown up” bowls (my words).  There are plenty of “grown up” bowls mixed in to the choices at our local event.  The children’s bowls add a great deal of charm and are a great way to introduce kids to this mix of art and community.

picking a bowl

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Several local restaurants donated soup.

Just last night on Facebook, I saw Karen put out a request for a donation of butter to make the bread better.  The butter arrived, and the bread was rustic and delicious.

bread and butter

Our bowls (you can buy more than one).

In the background, above, Karen’s spouse is bringing our soup, as the event includes table service.  It was later pointed out to me that the two green and yellow bowls that I chose are in the colours of an Oregon sportsball team.  One even has the letter O in side!  The completely went over my head as I don’t follow sports.  I believe our good friend Susie is a fan of the team known as the Oregon Ducks (but I won’t part with my pretty green and blue bowl!)  Allan always likes to get one with a bird’s head.

Our soup arrives!

Allan’s egg drop soup and his bowls. I wanted the red one so he got an extra as well as his usual bird selection.

We were graced by the presence of local artist Rose Power, who sat with us.  I had figured out (by asking around) that she was the woman at yesterday’s art event who had such nice things to say (in a delightful English accent) about our gardening.

We had to tear ourselves away from the good company in order to begin the workday. As we left, we met a most handsome dog who was just quietly lying outside.  He stood up and licked my hand when I sweet talked him, then wandered off so I guess he had just come to visit where a crowd of people gathered.

a handsome boy

The Basket Case Greenhouse 

Our second pre-work stop was at the Basket Case Greenhouse, which was on our way to stops three and four.  I needed just one thing, a bag of potting soil for planting sweet peas at home, and also took the opportunity to snag some new photos for the Basket Case Facebook page.

Walter: Allan’s photo

red Geum and Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’

Papaver ‘Wonderland Orange’

Fred and me…somehow I ended up buying a few plants.

I didn’t get much, just a red Monarda for Jo, and one for the red white and blue Veterans Field garden.

When we looked over at the van, we could see Shadow the poodle all the way inside, and Walter had been thinking about getting in.  This is not surprising for Shadow, as this used to be “his” van before we bought it from Fred and Nancy (thus VASTLY improving our lives) in autumn of 2013.

Shadow is in there.

They’ve been called back to the greenhouse by Fred and Nancy.

The Bayside Garden

Next, we went a bit further north, past our first actual work destination, to deliver a lovely spider azalea which we’d gotten at Monkey Business Nursery for Steve and John.

At Monkey Business 101: I got two of these spider azaleas, one for me, and one for Steve and John.

Here it is in bloom, and here’s an article about it.

near the front door to the bayside house

the drainage swale between the wings of the house with Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira’ behind a Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Sunlight Lace’.

Rhododendron pachysanthum, in a bed of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick)

by the front door

When Steve and John invited us in for coffee and a slice of a peanut butter and chocolate “Elvis” cake, we could not resist.  (They make an excellent and flavourful cup of coffee and John is an accomplished baker.)  We then had a brief tour of part of the garden.  You may notice some lines of dug up soil, as an irrigation system is being installed by renowned local landscaper and rhododendron expert Steve Clarke’s capable team.

by the driveway

Rhododendron campylogynum Myrtilloides.

detail of Rhododendron campylogynum Myrtilloides.

Rhododendron ‘Capistrano’ (has a yellow tint that the camera ignored) 

a prostrate form of taxus backed with a Daphne, still blooming (as it was on our last visit three weeks ago)

There’s that stunning white variegated Euphorbia ‘Tasmanian Tiger’ gathering the light.

Hostas just emerging.

Steve and John had recently visited The English Nursery in Seaview, whose owner, Dirk Sweringen, sells an impressive variety of hostas.

a garden of well defined shapes

Waterlogued

Pittosporum ‘Tasman Ruffles’

the woodland, which Steve and John have painstakingly edited for beauty

a natural cup of moss

Have I told you that this garden is going to open for touring on May 2?

We had to get to work, and Steve and John were off to the art show in Long Beach.  Our first work destination was just a couple of blocks to the south, where we got a yard of Soil Energy mulch and headed to our first job.

Peninsula Landscape Supply

Peninsula Landscape Supply: Mike bringing us a scoop (Allan’s photo)

They have some handsome heucheras for sale.

The Boreas Inn

I had one major goal for today, to get that yard of Soil Energy spread at the Boreas and then to plant two plants and some poppy seeds in Long Beach.  While Allan got the mulch moving, I delivered the red bee balm plant to Jo’s, had a brief visit with her and little dog Coco, and then hightailed it back to the Boreas to get to work at last.

It went swimmingly and by the time we were almost done, my ambition for the day had increased.

Allan’s photo

and weeding some of the horrid creeping Jenny out (it’s too invasive)

hard at it.  Soon weather will permit the cushions will be brought out for guests to lounge.

Boreas lawn beds yesterday

and today, raised up with mulch

I always wish for these beds to be level with the lawn, if not raised a little higher.  We might finally have almost achieved that.

Mission accomplished.

The garden suite garden also got mulched.

Allan’s photo

The lawn beds, finally level with the lawn (for now, at least)

Buddha had snail earrings today. (Allan’s photo)

and then….back to

Peninsula Landscape Supply (again)

Colleen scooping Soil Energy

and dumping it into our little trailer, which holds just a yard and a bit.

Instead of planting two plants and some seeds in Long Beach, my goal had changed to mulching the Port office garden and an area in my garden and then finishing the little gravel project at the Port office garden.

Ilwaco

On the way to Ilwaco, I added to my goal the planting of sweet peas at our Ilwaco post office garden, as having some mulch to add would help them along.

post office garden, before

after

I DO hope I have some luck with sweet peas in this spot.  The last two years I have tried and failed for various reasons: lousy soil, not enough water, snails.

Post office garden today, after some work

with Tulip ‘Green Star’

With that done, we drove to the port office and added soil to make the garden fluffy and happy.

Port Office before

after mulching

just across the lawn from our mulching job

Next, we applied the rest of the Soil Energy at home…

on a mulch mission at home

raising an edge by the bogsy wood

every last scoop of precious mulch; Allan kept the wheelbarrows filled.

And then we went back to the port, got some gravel from their supply, and finished making the backsplash for the office garden.

view from near the gravel pile

gravel and mulch both applied!

After all that, I declared tomorrow a day off.  I had been able to erase more from the work board than I had expected.  And perhaps while walking around my own garden, I had been so horrified by the amount of weeds that I just had to have a day off.  I just hope I get more done than just “piddlefarting around the garden.”

plants need to be planted

The shotweed is shocking!

Horsetail is popping up all over!

and I must pull the dangblang touch-me-not!

Pretty things soothe my anxiety about the garden:

a marmalade Heuchera

epimidium

Smokey walking with me and flopping down in front of me

fringed tulip ‘Cummins’

the garden boat

The Ann Lovejoy

Waterlogued

Oh!! A lost ho mi in the mini scree garden!

tulips and gold acanthus

a sentimental hosta given to me by Mary Fluaitt before she moved away

Where Allan found the energy to mow our lawn AND Nora’s tonight I just cannot imagine.

But he did.  I went inside and caught up on the Tootlepedal and Miserable Gardener blogs.

Mission accomplished: a new red bowl for tea bags!

and a much decreased work list. Tomorrow if I do my own sweet peas, I can erase sweet peas altogether.

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22 March: charity and friendship

Saturday, 22 March 2014

This event benefits local soup kitchens.

We just made it to the line for Empty Bowls 2014 in time to hear the end of the drumming performance.

the line at 11 AM

I must remember to go see this garden in summer sometime.

 

inside: the room of bowls

Local potter Karen Brownlee spearheads this event, organizing the creation, firing and glazing. Professional and amateur adult potters and students from local schools make the bowls.

Allan picked the duck bowl.

star bowls

picking a bowl

raffle table. We tried to win the set of three but no luck!

Soup donated by local restaurants. Egg flower was our favourite.

 

volunteer servers

Our bowls (I bought two). I like the grown up bowls because they fit well in the cupboard.

second from left: Pam, activities director from Golden Sands Assisted Living

comparing bowls

our gardening client Cheri of Discovery Coast Real Estate

friend and local artist Joe Chasse

Jamie arrives!

Jamie picking a bowl

We would like to have sat with Jamie for awhile, but we had to go help J9 move into her new rental. She’s an old friend who left the beach for two years, could not bear to be away and recently returned. We met her at the storage unit next door to Larry’s antique store in Ilwaco, and I nipped into the shop for a moment to get some photos for the Antique Gallery Facebook page.

Antique Gallery Too! on Spruce; Larry and Robert’s other shop is on Lake.

in the antique shop

I then joined Allan and J9 in loading. Here, we were almost ready for our first trip, and I’m happy to report that we made it halfway up the Peninsula to J9’s new digs without incident.

 

Between the first and second, smaller load, we stopped at home to pick up a large planter that J9 had left behind when she moved away. It struck me how perfectly springlike our front garden looked at that moment.

looking in from Lake Street

Disporum catoniense ‘Night Heron’ in our garden today

I tore myself away so we could finish with the moving project. J9’s new place is a single wide manufactured home less than half a block from Loomis Lake, in a neighbourhood called Tides West.

Tides West, ocean on one side, Loomis Lake on the other

The long body of Loomis Lake runs up the mid-center of the Peninsula, as do smaller lakes and sloughs.

the wetland center of the ‘Ninsula

Except for the wealthier houses right on the lake and on the ocean side, Tides West is an affordable neighbourhood including many single and double wide manufactured (modular) homes. I remember a local story in which someone asked a city person why in the world she had bought a manufactured home here. Then the questioner visited and said “I understand now,” seeing that in all but the historic districts of the local towns, manufactured homes are common here.

J9’s new abode

J9’s place has a charming yard, not a garden, a simple green landscape with decks and one of my favourite yard accoutrements, rustic outbuildings.

view from east side porch with large evergreen huckleberry

covered west side deck

view from west side porch

garden shack

“Welcome to our nook of the woods.”

Someone loved, enjoyed, and decorated this place and I find it terribly poignant that they’ve had to leave it.

There’s a fireplace and a fire circle.

wood for campfires

porch, chairs, bottle tree, fire circle

Inside, the landlords won’t allow J9 to paint the panelling…

the hallway

The kitchen is painted white and it makes such a huge difference. Painting the panelling was the first thing we did when we moved into our dark old manufactured house. J9 came up with a good solution: She gently affixed white trellises to the walls.

how to brighten up paneling if you can’t paint it.

While Allan installed the cat door he’d made and helped adjust some of the trellis pieces, I took a walk to the lake, less than a minute away. Just at the end of J9’s street sit some modern, boxy lakeside homes that didn’t thrill me as much as her humble single wide did.

Overwhelmingly garage-y

a house much more to my liking

This house has a prime position next to the community park.

J9 can walk here in about one minute.

boats at the ready in the park

community park

community park dock

Loomis Lake looking south

and north to private docks

Magnolia tree on the way back to J9’s

When I got back to our friend’s house, I found Allan very pleased as the cat door he had built fit perfectly. (It’s a purchased cat door fitted into a clear wood framed panel to go into a sliding window space.)

success!

 

cat door

With the move done, we stopped by the home where J9 has been staying. It happens to be right across the street from our friend Ed Strange’s garden. We took ourselves on a tour (with his permission; he was out working.)

Ed’s abode

Ed’s front garden

The progress of Ed’s Gunnera made me suddenly very worried about mine.

Buddy, J9’s cat, walked with us and explored Ed’s front porch.

between house and garage

an excellent company

And then we went home, where I walked straight out to the edge of the bogsy wood to look at my own Gunnera.

Oh dear, I think I need a new one.

I managed to prune the dead tips off of the Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’ and then I felt quite done with gardening for the evening. As usual, Allan had more energy than I and he mowed the lawn.

a bed of gold

Indoors, I examined an intriguing belated birthday present from Lisa and Buzz; Lisa (former client of Crank’s Roost garden, now of the bayside house of 300 hydrangeas) had dropped it off earlier in the day as we were on our way out. (It’s not her fault the present was belated; I was secretive about my birthday this year.)

a package

beautifully wrapped

with a delightful card. The inscription inside was so sweet and flattering that I would seem to be boasting if I shared it 😉

From the shape of the present (which was wrapped in lovely calendar pages), I thought it might be a nice bottle of wine, but LOOK! My very favourite tipple!

happy, and soon to be happier, me!

Tomorrow: back to the planting of sweet peas here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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