22 May: more planting time

Monday, 22 May 2017

I couldn’t stay at home with my friends, because we had many plants to plant.

Smokey

Frosty

always in the mood for a belly rub

Skooter on the front porch…

blocking the door with his hind legs. “I couldn’t go to work today; my cat wouldn’t let me out.”

We did go to work, starting with picking up some more cosmos at

The Planter Box

I could not resist this gorgeous clematis.

a hot bright day

The temperature was already soaring, and would soon be up to 85 degrees F.

More clematis, that I did resist, so they might still be there for you:

baby birds (Allan’s photo)

little bitty poultry (Allan’s photo)

Erin’s garden

Melissa and Dave were working at our former job, Erin’s garden, and had some Agastaches and boxwoods for me among other Blooming treasures.  We stopped to load up the plants.  I was thrilled to see my old friend Felix:

I’ve missed this guy!

Allan went up the stairs to look at our old garden.  I would not be surprised if those are our original santolinas from the creation of this garden several years ago.  It pleases me to see it looking so good.

Long Beach

For the rest of the day, Allan took all but three of the photos.  My lack of enjoyment in the task of planting translates into not thinking about taking pictures.

No plants stolen out of the most recently completely re-done planter.

City crew member repairing the cracks from when it was driven into by an errant vehicle. They had been repaired, but needed to be mudded with a consistent color.

You can see from the lamp post flag, above, how very windy it had become.  For once, I did not mind the wind so much because it cooled the air.  However, at 20 mph, it was a little hard on the new plants we were planting.

As we went around, I pruned Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ so that it will not be top heavy. Now the flowers will be smaller and the plants won’t splay open.

I almost removed this stray elephant garlic just for looking like a silly onesie. It was saved by being hard to pull.

Because of the heat and wind, we had to water every planter into which we plopped cosmos starts, and each plant had to be pinched for bushier growth.

one of our two watering apparatus

We’re using agastaches from Blooming, via the Basket Case, for uppies by each pole.

I sent Allan to deal with the above planter.  I couldn’t face hacking into the running, aggressive Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’, left over from volunteer days.  (I think that often the volunteers just used to put in free starts from their own gardens.  Which is fine, except that free starts tend to be pushy plants.)

The spot Allan battered out for the new plants probably won’t last for long before being encroached on again.

I swear we will redo that planter this fall, with a total dig out and new soil!

The Agastache ‘Mexican Giant’ had better get giant quickly.

Third Street Park. I wanted to go across and met that dog, The Mighty Quinn, but was too busy planting.  By the time I got over there with some cosmos, he was walking away.

Ilwaco

utter chaos in the vehicle by the end of the day

We unloaded all the new plants onto the driveway so I could sort and water them.  Allan went off to water the Ilwaco planters with the first 2017 excursion of the water trailer.

This is the second time this street tree pocket has looked like this. I think someone is helping themselves to golden marjoram starts.  Or lady’s mantle.  Speaking of invasive free plants, the trees were pretty much planted up with what we could find for free, back before there was a plant budget.

Allan lent a hose to the local window washing crew, who had come up short from the nearest faucet.

His loaner hose was not the best.

the one shady planter….with some free hardy begonia transplants struggling a bit.

last task: watering the post office garden

I had taken about the same out of time to sort and water all my new plants, then schlepping them to the ladies in waiting area.  My back hurt like the dickens.  Tomorrow: Planting Time continues.

 

 

 

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10 Nov: beautiful bulbing day

Monday, 10 November 2014

Our mission today was to get the bulbs planted in Erin’s garden in north Long Beach.  I optimistically had the small batches of bulbs for Golden Sands and Andersen’s RV Park along as well, hoping we might get done with Erin’s in time to at least get the ones at Andersen’s planted.  First, however, we had to get the tender scented geraniums and a few other potted plants put into our greenhouse as cold weather may finally arrive soon.

right: table of scented geraniums

inside: horribly messy little greenhouse

Didn’t have time to tidy the greenhouse up.  Wish I had thought of it yesterday morning while we waited for the weather to clear.  Just had time to reinstall a couple of shelves that I had removed to make room for tall tomatoes.

inside: still messy but the plants have been moved in…

and I got a last little bounty from the tomatoes.

If I had been less busy (lazy?) and kept the tomatoes well-watered into November, I think I would have had more late season cherry tomatoes.

Driving through Long Beach, I noticed that all the planters with chrysanthemums still look grand, although the only one I could photograph was the one by where we were stopped at the red light.

yellow chrysanthemums and hardy fuchsias

And then, Erin’s garden, where we brought 409 bulbs to plant, along with 437 more that Erin had acquired at Costco:

Erin’s acquisitions

In the back porch garden, I laid out a selection of brightly coloured tall tulips and some small bulbs including Tulip bakeri ‘Lilac Wonder’, Tulip sulvestris, and Fritllaria meleagris that will be fun to look at up close atop the wall.

Across the little courtyard, I echoed the colours in the semicircle garden.

ready to plant

My friend Felix showed up.  At first, all he was interested in was his breakfast.

Felix on the back porch

I admired a sweet new little planting area that Erin has made by the basement door:

good job, Erin!

In the garden of the wee cottage behind the big house, I placed bags of my personal favourite tulips, the ones with green markings.  This year, the ones I have of those are Green Wave, Apricot Parrot, Chinatown, White Parrot, and Green Star.  Some of the ones I did not get this year just because I can’t have everything are Artist, Golden Artist, Spring Green, and Virichic.  I do find myself wishing I had ordered every one of the viridiflora tulips as I do love them so.

cottage garden with some bags of tulips placed to plant

Erin wanted many tulips in the curved bed by the street.  Allan planted a lot of the bright Costco ones out there and we do hope the resident deer do not discover them!

streetside beds before planting

Felix joined me after his meal.

the cottage porch

by the cottage door

a little village under the birdbath

While I laid out the bulbs in the house and cottage gardens, Allan pulled old cosmos out of the boat garden on the west lawn.

Allan’s photo: boat garden before

Allan’s photo: before

Allan’s photo: garden cosmos pulled

garden boat before and after (Allan’s photos)

I then got narcissi, crocuses, muscari, and some of the drumstick alliums (the latter from Erin’s stash of bulbs)  all laid out on the west lawn boat garden, with Felix following me and looking awfully cute sitting on the boat, while my camera was way across the lawn and down the steps in the van.

bulbs laid out to plant in the west bed

Meanwhile, Allan had begun planting and doing some fall clean up in the cottage and back porch gardens.  Just as all the bulbs were placed, Debbie arrived as pre- arranged to pick up some catmint for next spring’s Master Gardener Spring Seminar sale, and of course my new friend Ralph was with her.

the delightful Ralph!

Debbie sorting out good pieces of catmint from bits of debris

And then….I began to plant dozens upon dozens of bulbs in the west garden.  My planting was much easier as the ground was not rooty as it is in the cottage garden, so I finished before Allan did and began edging the garden bed.  I managed to dump one wheelbarrow load of sod strips, and after that I called to Allan for help with the next three as I am decrepit at wheelbarrowing out the back gate over rough, sloping ground.

Felix did not come back to the boat with me.  Instead, he hung around with Allan…and here:

Allan’s photo, in our van

Frustratingly, the whole project took longer than I had planned, so my foolish dream that we would get done in time to do some work at Andersen’s as well was not to be.  With only an hour of daylight left, I decided to go ahead and edge around the boat instead of saving that for another day.

boat edge cut with half moon edger

and pulled

When the job was all done and the sun was low on the horizon, we were both pleased with the results.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo: me being very happy with the job. And tired.

almost sunset

the back porch garden

other side of back porch garden

Allan’s photos, after weeding and bulb planting

cottage garden

I did not think till later when I was reading the Tootlepedal blog that we should have done a closeup of that very large fungus that was lying by the edge of the garden.  Allan thought Erin might have placed it there in hopes that it would reproduce.  So here’s a cropped closeup:

fungus: lower right

We went straight home and I was able to plant a few camassia in my garden back by the bogsy woods; I was glad to get the time to plant without a dangerous wind in the trees.  I yanked more of the Gladiolus papilio out of my garden boat and got some of the “green” tulips planted.  The Gladiolus, which is a cool spooky white and purple bell shaped one, will go in various gardens.  (That’s the one I gave some of to Debbie last time I was distributing plant starts, and I have a lot more now in a bucket in my greenhouse!)

Gladiolus papilio in summer: looking up from underneath

As I finished the few bags of bulbs that I had time for, the sun was setting behind the bogsy woods.

sunset behind the alder grove

I think that tonight we must watch a Doctor Who special (The Time of the Doctor) on DVD because it is about to be (or already is) overdue from the library.  Perhaps bulbing exhaustion will allow Doctor Who and an episode of Midsomer Murders.

But…wait!  A pre-telly check of email brought this:

Uh oh.  Within a few minutes, 300 more bulbs were ordered (100 white narcissi mix, 100 species crocus mix, 100 more Baby Moon narcissi.  What bulbhead could resist the sale?

 

 

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21 August: kite festival and Long Beach

Thursday, 21 August 2014

I had hoped to get enough work done to see the handcrafted kite competition at the Kite Festival. So why did I schedule so many tasks before we got there? It just seemed proper to do the jobs in order, and besides, there was very little wind in the morning.

Ilwaco

First, we added some free begonias from The Basket Case to the vandalized and replanted Ilwaco planter.

and a lotus vine, thus adding some extra colour before the three remaining big tourism weekends.

One of the begonia colours coincidentally echoes the building colour across the street.

When we did our compost bucket switch at Olde Towne Café, we were so pleased to see the Depot’s Nancy Gorshe and her mom, Marilyn of Marilyn’s garden.

Nancy and Marilyn out and about

Luanne’s container garden

The Depot Restaurant

The Depot garden

I realized today that half of the cosmos are lush and yet not blooming.

Solidago ‘Fireworks’ (goldenrod) just about to flower

Persicaria ‘Firetail’, a favourite perennial of mine

Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ after a good deadheading

windowboxes and barrels on the north side are by Nancy Aust of the Basket Case Greenhouse.

The rosemary on the south side of the deck are finally thriving, having responded well to a dose of Dr Earth all purpose fertilizer.

Chef Michael’s herb garden

Kite Festival

Even though it would have been next in consecutive order, we skipped the Long Beach welcome sign in order to get to the kite festival in time to see the Water Creatures in the Sky mass ascension. Although it was not to be, as there was so little wind, we did see some sights that made the walk well worthwhile.

Pink Poppy Bakery, set up outside with liquid refreshments by Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm

We saw passersby wondering over the rose hips in the beach approach garden.

a very few roses still hanging on. Many people ask us what the rose hips are.

the source of Vitamin C rich rose hip tea

The rugosa roses can stand up to kite festival foot traffic as the prettier and more delicate garden of yore could not.

path worn through because of booths on both sides of the street

at the end of the garden, nice amenities for dogs

out on the sand, a photo being taken…

of this

Some frogs were flying; you can see on the sand that there was not enough wind to get the kitty kite in the air.

the cat kites in 2009. Later in this week, there was enough wind to launch them.

banners in the sand

One of my favourite events at the kite festival is on Saturday afternoon when festival participants parade down the boardwalk holding their banners in the Parade of Colours. I would miss that this year as I was so much longing for a weekend at home.

Parade of Colours over the sand in 2010

and in 2009

Our work schedule did not allow us to wait around to see the handcrafted kites in the air (as it seemed from the announcements that the event might have been delayed due to no wind earlier).

quilt kites on the ground

I mostly hobbled around with my cane just off the hardpacked road, while Allan made it all the way down to the water’s edge.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

looking south toward North Head (Allan’s photo)

Fishing is HOT this summer. Nine boats on the horizon. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan saw a handsome display with the likeness of extraordinary multiple kite flyer Ray Bethell. I had seen on Facebook that he is using a cane this year; he is 86 years old.

Ray Bethell banners (Allan’s photo)

Here he is in 2009 flying a kite with each hand and one off his hip.

I felt poignant all day about Ray, and later I heard that he did fly two kites later in the week.

You can see some videos of him here.

Near the event field, I saw this banner created by a fan of his.

Ray and a fan; he is beloved.

We had to get back to work…

Kite Festival booths on the beach approach, as we head back to town (Allan’s photo)

Our next work stop was Erin’s garden. We could see the kites off in the distance.

Erin’s garden

looking south

Cosmos and Kites

The new garden bed at Erin’s has come out fairly well except for a bare area at the west end. My solution will be a drift of silver santolina made from cuttings (stuck right into the ground) this fall. A river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ would be awesome, too, although I would have to buy those somewhere and they would need a lot of water and deer might nibble them.

mysterious empty spot

looks better closer in

In some areas, California poppies grew well (just not in that bare spot).

‘Thai Pink Champagne’

‘Buttercream’

probably ‘Red Chief’

probably ‘Rose Chiffon’

and a great, tall feathery poppy

Erin has a friend helping in the garden and they have done a good job in the back courtyard.

back courtyard with three new Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’

Anchorage Cottages

At the Anchorage, we were greeted by my good friend Mitzu.

lots of deadheading to do in the containers: Salvia ‘Victoria Blue’ and Salvia viridis (painted sage)

the windowboxes are pretty much self-cleaning

I’m going to get me some of this Persicaria ‘Dimity’ in the fall for my garden and for an edger at Larry and Robert’s garden.

Long Beach

We circled back to the Long Beach welcome sign, just where Seaview turns into Long Beach, for the dreaded deadheading of hundreds of yellow daisies on Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’.

before

after

What the heck?! One of the bidens along the edge is missing, leaving a hole.

the whole view, with a gap of a missing plant; did they think I would not notice??

Cosmos ‘Happy Ring’ doing very well in the welcome sign garden.

Back to downtown Long Beach to water the planters. We parked near Veterans Field where we heard drumming and found a troupe of Korean drummers and dancers on the stage.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

 

The Veterans Field garden mostly white now with Gaura.

just a little blue and red(dish)

After nitpicking little lawn grass sprouts out of the Vet Field garden, we left there to water the street planters just in time, as I looked back and saw the dancers down in the audience hauling citizens up to the stage! No photos of the planter watering as I was just tired.

After the planters, we weeded and deadheaded in Fifth Street Park.

Much as I love Baptisia australis, the one in this garden has gotten so large, and has such a short period of bloom, that I think it has to be removed.

too big and just too plain green

During this and the previous water session this week, we got many compliments about how exceptionally pretty the town looks with all its flowers, not only the parks and planters but also the many hanging baskets created by Nancy Aust at Basket Case Greenhouse.

Nancy’s baskets on the restroom building, Fifth Street Park

On the other side of the street, while Allan pulled some bindweed from behind the fence, I sat on a bench and had a pleasant view of the waterfall pond.

a sit down view that I have never seen before! Backed with Darmera peltata (with Gunnera on the right, small as it was beaten down by a hard winter)

beautifully reflective

Cove Restaurant

I had been looking forward all day to our weekly reward at the Cove Restaurant.

Allan’s photo, art by our friend Don Nisbett

the entry garden, Allan’s photo

Parking Lot Cat (who despite his name, has a cushy life)

He wanted to come in but was shooed out per health rules.

We dined on Chef Jason’s strawberry salad

Ahi tuna, a fish taco and a Vortex beer went down a treat.

An outside diner got the company of Parking Lot Cat who sat in the chair through the whole meal.

Next, we are planning on a three day weekend (except for Allan watering Ilwaco) and perhaps, if it is not too hot and dry so that we can put off watering Long Beach till Tuesday, a four day weekend. My goal is to not leave the property.

 

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July 27-29: sailing and working

Sunday, 27 July 2014

I sat all day and worked on the blog about the Music in the Gardens tour. My knee had taken a discouraging turn for the worse when I got on the shuttle bus to go to the Pink Poppy wedding…even though it was just a tall van, not a real bus. That is how decrepit I have become of late! That was my excuse for just sitting on a Sunday off…and a 20 plus mph cold north wind made another good excuse. I was anxious to get all the tour gardens written up, and then to rave about the Pink Poppy Wedding and all its glories just the day before, and then get back to the work daybook. Even publishing twice a day had set this blog back by two weeks because of the 55 plus delightful gardens we had toured; each deserved its own set of photos and praise. (Well…a few, and a very very few, did not get many words of praise. On the rare occasion that a garden does nothing for me, I have photos to share but not many and fewer words.)

Allan went sailing on Black Lake…

The Black Lake Yacht Club

He says the 20 mph made the sail more frantic than fun. He had to furl the sail and row back to the Yacht Club.

rough seas out on the lake!

safely back

passersby

After his exciting sail/row, Allan watered the Ilwaco planters with the water truck, and the usual tribulation:

The hose burst. Again.

the usual repair

The watering job already takes forty five minutes longer with the trailer than before (when he used to do the back breaking bucket watering)…and would take even longer with a stiff hose to coil up on each short drive between planters. However, the soft hose, while easy to maneuver, is terribly delicate.

Monday, 28 July 2014

We began our work day with some weeding at the Ilwaco Post Office garden; it looks ok even though we have not kept up with it as well as usual.

good lilies!; I had had a vision of better sunflowers but…not enough watering.

Looking west down Lake Street, we could see a bank of fog just waiting to roll in.

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Jo’s Garden

We had promised Jo a garden clean up. She had done a charming remodel of the former dank, dark rhododendron area on the north side of the center patio.

just before the arbor to the center patio

This photo from last year shows big rhodos on the left.

and now…

… an open and light sitting area.

The rhodos are still there…it would have been so hard to remove them with their roots perhaps going under the house. They will be kept clipped, I assume.

I love the gutter drainage with river rocks.

Good job, Jo! (and whichever family members helped)

looking west from the center patio

While I weeded the west end, Allan worked on the north east garden.

He got the path to show again.

and he dug out a big fern that was out of scale…

after fern removal

another view, before

and after

Digging out the fern…

…made the Japanese maple show up as one enters the garden.

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Long Beach town

A good companion job to Jo’s was the watering the the Long Beach planters and light weeding of the parks.

I’m liking the new strip we planted on the north side of the World’s Largest Frying Pan park. (The blue star juniper was there before.)

It is kind of a mishmash of some plants that were blooming in mid April for the clam re-dedication; fortunately, I had room to add more for summer colour.

On the south side of Fifth Street Park…The gunnera, while small, did survive. For the first time, the Darmera peltata is bigger than the gunnera!

The planter in front of the Herb ‘N Legend Smoke Shop is one of my favourites this year.

When one of the smoke shop employees told me, during planting time, that they defend the planter from vandals, I was inspired to give them some extra special plants like the white and pink coreopsis. The good yellow dahlias come back every year.

got it from the Basket Case, can’t recall the name

the smoke shop planter from across the street

At the end of the workday, we tried the new Streetside Tacos restaurant (take out or sit at a few seats indoors).

absolutely delicious

Every evening, I looked forward to getting home and returning to garden tour blogging.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Casa Pacifica

When Dan and Leanne moved here from Texas, they acquired a beautiful garden and we acquired our only job off the peninsula (ten minutes or less to the east).

Due to my torn calf muscle and knee pain, and our garden tour trips, private gardens that we care for had been neglected in favour of public ones. We had not been to Dan’s for a few weeks and I was so glad that the whiskey barrel planters looked fine.

We fertilized; Leanne had done a good job keeping them watered.

There are seven by the guest house/garage.

and five along the driveway up by the house.

When we got up to the house, my good friend Dusty was happy to see me as always.

Dusty, a very good dog.

rose by bay window

looking north at the gorgeous maple

looking south at maple by the front deck (Allan’s photo)

by the house, an always damp area, level and easy for me to weed; Darmera peltate does well there.

I did all around the house and lawn island while Allan climbed up the raised bed to the east of the house.

the bed atop the wall, south side

part of the north side

I was hobbling way too much to get up there.

looking west to the house from behind the raised garden (Allan’s photo)

a healthy golden barberry (Allan’s photo)

Erin’s Garden

After Dan and Leanne’s we went to check up on Erin’s garden just north of Long Beach. I could not face going up the stairs to the boat garden, so Allan took photos for me to peruse later.

the garden boat has not had enough water!! I don’t know why that one cosmos is green.

so dry…and I thought it would be hard to find replacement plants at this time of year.

This happened because the sprinkler, set for the rest of the garden area, was not getting water high enough to reach into the boat.

Looking east….The rest of the garden…not too bad.

At least some of the California poppies germinated and bloomed. The garden looks lopsided. Why? Maybe from the sprinkler hitting one side better? I don’t know as I did not get up there to poke at the soil.

looking west…

Sprinkler theory must be wrong (except for the boat being dry) as that is the side that would be getting water first. Deer tracks all over the garden might explain the bare spots..

happy to see some good cosmos at ground level

I had been very worried as we had not been to this garden for too long.

While Allan checked up on the west side lawn bed and boat, I weeded in the cottage garden and in the garden along the street.

in the cottage garden with my dear friend Felix.

mu buddy

A friend of Erin’s has mulched and tidied the patio behind the house and the old chain link fence was removed. Fabulous!

And then, home to work on the garden tour blog.

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13 June: LB Seaview Ilwaco

Friday, 13 June 2014

Ilwaco

A lovely coolness out my back window told me “No watering today!”

except for the haning basket on our front porch.

against the porch: Dicentra scandens

yellow bleeding heart vine, came through our very cold (for here) winter just fine

and the hanging basket calibrachoa

Just down on the next block, we had a couple of plants to add to Larry’ and Robert’s garden and some weeding to do there.  I decided to put a nice edge on the lawn.

The foxglove was in the wrong spot and had to go.

after

and on around the garden bed

Allan put a nice edge on the boat garden bed.

Strangely, this garden lacks an Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’, a terrible oversight.

Next, Allan replaced an old Erysium ‘Bowles Mauve’ with a new one in the Ilwaco Planter at Lake and First while I nipped into the Antique Gallery to take a few new photos for their Facebook page.

This appeals to me. My dad and grandma used oil cans like this.  Do people still?

and I like this…

and this.

Helping friends promote their businesses and causes is one way to live a life of good works.  I have found myself a good niche for that on Facebook.

We did a quick compost bucket switch at Olde Towne.  We keep four composters going with all that we get from there: coffee grounds and salad leavings.  However, Luanne is about to get a pet rabbit, so we will be getting less lettuce…and instead, some bunny poop!

Luanne’s clematis is blooming outside the café.

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Depot Restaurant

Next, weeding and some pulling of dead bulb foliage at The Depot Restaurant in Seaview.

with Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

The whiskey barrel that we planted up is a bit hidden now from the front…

by the new Clamshell Railroad sign, which is so much smaller than I pictured it.

I was so worried it would mess up my garden.  All turned out to be well.  In my mind’s eye it was three times as big as it actually is.

It had to go low to not block the window or their own sign.

When I got my camera out to take the photos, I found myself a problem:  I had made off with Luanne’s spectacles from Olde Towne after borrowing them to try to help her solve a computer problem.

Argh!! Back to Olde Towne we drove…

And Allan had already realized he had left the full compost bucket still sitting back at the café, so we picked that up at last

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Boreas Inn

Next, The Boreas Inn to plant a dianthus, a few cosmos, and a penstemon and an Achillea ‘Paprika’.  I screeched when I saw that Susie had planted a draecana on one side of one of the lawn beds.

This I could not allow.

It had been on the left edge of this bed.

If that tall spike had grown there, it would have tilted the whole picture like this!

Susie later told me she knew I would move it; she had been carrying it around and had to stick it somewhere.

I moved it to join some ornamental grasses; right now it is hidden behind these poppies on a bed along the north side of the yard.

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Erin’s garden

I had just 6 new cosmos to fill in a space in Erin’s boat garden, and some dead narcissi foliage to pull.

the boat and the fire circle on the horizong

My friend Felix came to greet me.

While I planted and deadleafed, and weeded in the back door courtyard, Allan tackled a little project along the street.

before: the little curved garden had disappeared

after

a fairy house by Erin’s fence

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 Long Beach

While Allan weeded the four quadrants of Fifth Street Park, I walked around and checked the three busiest blocks out of six blocks worth of planters.  Some I left to fend for themselves, since we did not need to water and they had been checked over earlier in the week.

By the Campiche Gallery: looking fine with Geranium ‘Rozanne’

The painted sage is about to bloom.

police station planter

In one of the planters, I found a neat little variegated sport of painted sage.

Could Salvia viridis variegata make me rich? If only it were a perennial.

I deadheaded the Veterans Field garden during the Friday Farmers Market’s first day of the season.

The market runs from three to seven and I had forgotten to get there earlier.

At the tomato booth, I surveyed the heirloom varieties and they offered to pick out four good ones for me; I paid and said I would pick them up later.

tomatoes and cucumbers for sale. Four tomato plants cost me only $10.00.

I considered buying some cranberry juice grown by my neighbours…

I WILL next time, now that I have read it will keep for 45 days.

some sort of cow for milking practice

Veggie Girls

When I rejoined Allan in Fifth Street Park, I took a few photos to show its current glories.

In the bed by the clam sculpture:  Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ (excellent, plant the bulbs in fall)

guess what?

with a bee of course

I found a good example of the superiority of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ over its parents.  I do believe it came from Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’.

I think this is Johnson’s, a once blooming blue hardy geranium…

from whence (I think) came Rozanne, which blooms from late May through the first frost, nonstop.

Allan’s nice weeding job

Baptisia australis, Sanguisorba ‘Pink Elephant’, Nicotiana langsdorfii, Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’

I hope people notice that the park has very, very cool plants.

Sanguisorba ‘Pink Elephant’ tends to get very tall and fall over.

Not knowing how tall and floppy it was, I had it growing in two of the city planters!  When I found out its habits, I moved it to the park.

Floppy or not, it is lovely.

more Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

and Cerinthe major purpurascens

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 Patti’s Garden

We had recently learned that Patti’s garden in Seaview will be on the garden tour as garden number ten!  Good thing several of the gardens are small.  On the way to our last job, we made a stop to get some preview photos for the garden tour Facebook page.

Patti’s garden

I love Patti’s garden and we have worked in it on and off for years; this year, we did not have time but she found someone else good that I recommended.

The front border has transformed from perennials to a mix with annuals.

front porch vignette

windowbox

bench from a piece of wood found in the mud of Willapa Bay

back porch windowbox

Patti was glad to see us.

I once got her this Cotinus ‘Golden Spirit’ and since then have lost mine, so am envious.

water by the back door

Patti’s little dog Stella is always on the move.

Allan’s photo of Patti’s pergola

and of her roses

It was a quick visit because we had to get at least a bit of weeding done elsewhere.

me in Patti’s back garden…no time for sitting today.

Port of Ilwaco

If we could just get some weeding done in the Ilwaco boatyard, I figured passersby would think “At least they are trying.”

It quickly gets infested with horsetail and bindweed.

a melange of poppies

entering the boatyard gate!

two deer. The boatyard is another of our deer resistant gardens.

Another little fawn followed along a bit later.

Humans are a worse problem; I found another hard to come by tall sea thrift pulled up and cast aside to dry.

I think people are trying to pick the flowers and end up pulling the plant out…or perhaps are trying to steal it and get caught so drop the plant and walk away.   ??

Allan weeding the end…very tired.  He kneels or squats to weed…

and I always weed bending over.

My hands had turned into aching claws, so we gave up…

Rozanne and yellow yarrow

and a nice pool of Rozanne around a water meter

We did the quickest possible check on the Port Office garden to make sure it looked good for Saturday Market, enjoyed the view every so briefly, and went home…ready for two days off!

I do believe two days off makes life better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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27 May: back to work

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

It’s a good thing I like my job, because it was mighty hard to go back to work after three days off.

Cheri’s Garden

To ease into it, we started at Cheri’s garden just a few blocks east on Lake Street.

before weeding and deadheading

after deadheading the rhodo

The red Oriental poppies go well with the new house colour.  Fortunately, I used a lot of yellow flowers to go with the old house colour, so they should still look good, as well.  Pink does not work well with the new colour!

the former colour

The cats in the outdoor cat room enjoyed having some company.

I really must take a photo of the whole cat room set up next time.

 

In the garden area next to the cat room (which was halved in size to make space, I was startled to see the Buddleia was cut flush to the ground.  While I have no problem with that as it is a noxious weed, it was a surprise.

back garden with a different look, and Cheri had this area well weeded.

In the front: White looks very good with the new colour.

the front garden

Cheri and Charlie’s new dog proof veg beds

While I weeded here and there throughout the garden, Allan tackled a tedious job; I did join him to finish it up.

a garden bed that had gone to the dogs and to grass

done

Ilwaco

After Cheri’s, we planted up the last city planter by the Antique Gallery Too! on Spruce Street.  We were going to try to move it out to the sidewalk, when we realized that it may have been placed by the building owner to keep customers from driving into the wooden post.  We would be in big trouble if we moved it and someone wrecked the place as a result, so we will leave that to the city to deal with!

The Antique Gallery Too! is run by our friend and garden client, Larry.

Just around the corner, we popped very briefly into Olde Towne Café to check out the antique display that had been added over the weekend.

a Jadeite collection

I find these so aesthetically pleasing, but as I have red in my kitchen, they just would not do for me.

Erin’s Garden

Up in Long Beach, we weeded the back porch garden beds at Erin’s house.

the wall garden, before. with bindweed

Allan did that garden as it required the agility to climb atop the wall.

after

after, from the porch

I did the level chickweed area…here, after I had started.

after

The whole time I weeded, I was hoping my feline friend Felix would turn up, as he had disappeared several days before and I missed and worried about him.

Of course, I had to look at the new-this-year boat garden.  Who did I find browsing nearby?

completely unbothered by my presence

the rest of the family

In the garden, they had nibbled Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ and after nipping some flowers, decided to leave it alone after all.

It’s not as floriferous as it could have been.

They nibbled agastache, but not penstemons, and left Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and cosmos completely alone.

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

cosmos and eryngium

a junco for Mr Tootlepedal

Alllum schubertii in the boat

the garden boat but no visit from my friend Felix

dreamy weathered beach houses next door

Then to my great joy, Erin and her son arrived at home…with Felix, who had spent the weekend at the human society in a cage after being turned in by someone.  He was annoyed by his prison experience, with a twitching tail, and surely as glad to be home as I was to see him again.

Welcome back, Felix; I am so relieved.

Jo’s garden

We had promised Jo a weeding session, not sure we’d have time to do it today.  Happily, we did, which will make the rest of the week easier.  (My hope is to do a four day week and then get into a pattern of having weekends off except for perhaps having to water those pesky Ilwaco planters.)

Jo’s garden, the guest cottage

honeysuckle arbour

A hummingbird was all around this honeysuckle.

two pink rosebushes

bee on a very fragrant rugosa rose

My friend Coco, all awiggle but a little camera shy

I can reveal now that we have been worried about Jo, who was recently outfitted with a spiffy new pacemaker and after giving us a scare is going to be able to enjoy her summer of flowers.

Jo and I assessed that the new-last-year perennial area needs something new, so we will shop for it on Wednesday.  Jo would like another Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and we must find one or two other plants as well.

It’s just not full enough.

After a couple of hours of weeding, we moved on to…

Port of Ilwaco

…to spend an hour or so weeding on Howerton Way where we left off late last Friday evening.

On the way, we paused at the boatyard garden and saw a typical Ilwaco traffic jam.

Nola K on the Marine Travelift coming into the boatyard

a big boat

and then crossing First Ave while a car waits patiently.

off to the boat storage area

on the Marine Travelift

the boatyard garden, looking south from the gate

We then weeded the Shorebank garden beds.  I had the idea for Allan to trim, with the pole pruner, the dead tops of the columnar pear trees.

He got two dealt with (one being behind me as I took this photos), but will need to bring the even longer pole pruner to do the others.

When we went to the east end of the marina after an hour of weeding, who did we find but our client Cheri walking her two boxers!

Beemer

Porsche

They are not good for the garden. I forgive them because they sure are cute.

home

At home, I felt inspired to tackle the wild impatiens in the front garden.

before and after

Onyx from next door came to visit.

I think that the fuzzy Verbascum is going to be interesting.  I snapped the stalk off one day, being too lazy to pull it out from next to the driveway, and it looks like it is going to have four or five flower stalks instead of one.  I did not know that would happen.

Wednesday: more plant shopping (which will result in more planting Thursday) and north end jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

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17 May: annuals planting time day nine

Saturday, 17 May 2014

annuals planting time day nine

Ilwaco

I have told myself that I will not feel pressured to take Saturday Market photos this year (a task I set for myself for the Facebook page “Discover Ilwaco” in 2010 and have volunteered to do faithfully since then…till now, when I am feeling less driven to do the job). Sometimes I entertain the forlorn hope that someone might actually pay me a small sum to take time out of work time to do the photos… This year, I’ve decided that gardening takes precedence over walking the entire length of the market every week.

However, one thing did draw us there today: the delicious flaky crusted “hand pies” from Pink Poppy Bakery. The rest of our Saturday Market photos are over on today’s Ilwaco blog.

Madeline of Pink Poppy

We’ve been invited to her wedding in late July at her parents’ stunning garden (where she and her fiancé also have a kitchen garden that will provide herbs and salad mixes for her market booth later this year). Pink Poppy Farm was one of the two favourite gardens of last year’s garden tour (the other being our dear client Jo’s garden). I told Madeline today, more or less facetiously, that I was concerned about dressing in “garden cocktail party” attire. She assured me it did not matter at all, that the event was “beach casual.” I said I would try to dress fancier than usual but that the results would probably be mediocre.

We got to meet new Saint Bernard puppy Katie, successor to Arthur who we met and loved last year:

resting up at a market booth for more adventures

The English Nursery from Seaview offered a small selection of plants.

Port Office manager Nancy wanted to see where the Alliums in the office garden had been broken off last week. She said she is going to put a sign in the window; later in the day, we encountered her again at the Basket Case Greenhouse and we came up with the wording “Take as many pictures as you want, but please don’t take our flowers.”

Port Office garden

Two work tasks were on the list for Ilwaco today.

We checked on the boat at Time Enough books…not a very impressive cosmos display yet.

and planted the two planters at the community building/Ilwaco library entrance.

We are still waiting on the city to install water spigots to do the planters on the main street. Here, we can count on the librarians to water.

The community building garden is a terrible mess in spots…

It bothers me to look at it.

Anyone who takes on that garden is supposed to follow the exact planting plan of the original design. That’s not something I’m willing to do; too rebellious, me.

After our small Ilwaco tasks, we went on to still more planting of annuals.

The Depot

First, cosmos at The Depot Restaurant.

cosmos in!

Turns out delegating works. Chef Michael wanted us to deal with a big nasty dead Phormium. After not getting to it for three weeks, I asked him if the restaurant worker who mows the lawn could do that job. And today, the Phormium is gone!

Now all we have to do is find time to cut back that big Miscanthus in the corner (before it’s filled with new growth) and prune the big rhodo away from the window (after it blooms).

World Kite Museum

Next, we planted cosmos, painted sage, and a Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ at the kite museum garden on Sid Snyder Drive beach approach in Long Beach..

annuals are in!

a very small garden bed at the big World Kite Museum

Oops, we were going to dig that grass out from in front of the bed. No time now! I hope I remember to get it done before kite festival in August.

our favourite tool for planting gallon sized plants: the transplanting shovel from Back Alley Gardens in Gearhart

I also realized I needed another Gaura to balance the first one and we needed more tall cosmos for other jobs, so we had to go plant shopping yet again.

Nurseries

First we got the tall cosmos, two more flats of it, at The Planter Box.

a pansy of an unusual colour at The Planter Box

And then, we swung by the Basket Case to pick up the Gaura, some more penstemons, and some plants for the beach approach planters (sedums, armeria, santolina). I even got a few perennials for me as I can guarantee I will take a day off next weekend.

Allan thought the port office garden needed one of those beautiful Verbascum ‘Eleanor’s Blush’ from right by the front door of the middle greenhouse. Just as we selected it, Nancy of the port office arrived to shop and she agreed that it would be a most enjoyable plant to see from her window.

We had a bit of a crisis when we arrived at our next job, Erin’s garden, and realized one of our planting mix jars had been left, with the top off, back at the kite museum. I worried all the way down there that it would have been kicked over, creating a slippery mess later with the Quench soil moisture stuff we mix together with Dr Earth fertilizer. It was a great relief that the jar was just as we had left it. While we were there, we planted the second Gaura and then went back (at least twenty blocks north) to Erin’s garden to begin anew.

Erin’s Garden

the garden boat on the horizon, with Alliums

I am having moments of mental exhaustion dealing with the conglomeration of plants in the van these days. So much easier than our little car, though.

My friend Felix

Felix accompanied me and plants to the boat garden.

from silliness to debonair elegance

While I set up plants in the boat garden, Allan worked on other areas.

He planted a hydrangea that Erin had placed. No time to pull the bindweed in this garden bed yet.

I placed a Zaluzianskya, night scented phlox, near Erin’s back porch, and Allan planted it and protected it with a bamboo teepee.

Zaluzianskya

I had placed and Allan planted cosmos and painted sage in the cottage garden.

Erin has done a nice wheelbarrow planting with fuchsias and a fern.

We both finished putting cosmos in the garden boat in the big house’s garden.

Allium schubertii in the back of the boat

some perennials were added to the new garden bed

The deer are, as usual, eating plants I do not expect them to eat…like the tops off the armeria (sea thrift). That’s a first.

the big house

historic and magestic

Boreas Inn

Finally, I placed and Allan planted (and then I helped) cosmos, painted sage, and some perennials in the Boreas garden.

The Boreas Inn garden, looking east

Allium christophii (albopilosum, Star of Persia) and Buddha

after seven in the Boreas garden, looking east

and turning to look west at the trail to the beach

Home

At home, just look at the board! Yesterday, I thought we might get the boatyard cosmos planted, too. That was before I remembered that we needed to do the kite museum garden and thus needed another shopping trip.

Three more days might polish off annuals time 2014….except for my planting at home.

Mayor Mike’s garden just gets a few white painted sage so that planting is negligible. Marilyn’s gets some cosmos and will involve a fair amount of weeding to make space (unfortunately). Sass (Casa Pacifica) has 12 whiskey barrels to plant with lots of annual colour, easier to deal with than putting plants in the ground.

Speaking of planting at home, here are some photos of our garden from yesterday evening, weeds and all, photos I was too tired to add to last night’s blog.

white verbascum

Siberian iris…I’ll dislike the floppy foliage later on but now, wow.

an Agastache. I like spikes. and I collect Agastaches.

Oriental poppy buds (more irksome foliage to come)

more spikes, Persicaria bistorta superba

still more spikes, Camassia leichtlinii alba

and more, Primula vialii

a Sanguisorba

The berberis I got from Dancing Oaks might do, this year, whatever it was that impressed me so much in their display garden in 2007!

I see something in that photo above that looks…buggy. Must remember to check. Better not be a little caterpillar tent.

Clematis on east fence is throwing most of its flowers to the neighbours’ side.

The tag is buried in weeds.

I don’t have much time to read these days. Over the course of a few evenings, I read a memoir by Jeanette (“Oranges are Not the Only Fruit”) Winterson.

I rate if five stars. Here are my three favourite bits:

I usually leave most emotional drama out of the blog.

reminds me of why I won’t sign contracts to get jobs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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