26 April: three northern jobs

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Our mission today was to get three jobs done so that we could spend the rest of the week concentrating on Long Beach and Ilwaco.  This weekend will be the annual parades in each town.

Ilwaco

at home: Tulip ‘Formosa’ proves again to be one of the latest of all.

at home, tulips and Allium bulgaricum

at home: Anthriscus ‘Ravenswing’ is threading its airy white flowers through the Melianthus major.

Ilwaco post office garden, lots of green waiting for flowers.

Post Office: Allan calls this “Dog Poop Corner’ because there is often a dog poop deposited there and not cleaned up.

Anchorage Cottages

Mitzu greets us (Allan’s photo)

We got the two remaining window boxes ready for them to put in place when the brackets are done (tomorrow).

flowers will be mostly orangey to go with the sign

honeysuckle, center courtyard

working on center courtyard (Allan’s photo)

Allan did lots of weeding and bluebell-pulling in the center courtyard garden.

Allan’s photo

Manager Beth told us that not all the cottages came from Fort Canby, as we mentioned the other day.  A couple of them came from the nearby golf course and a couple of them were built on the property.

Tulip ‘Greenland’

Tulip ‘Green Wave’, my weird and wonderful alltime favourite

Green Wave

our good friend Mitzu

Mitzu could go to a Prince memorial dance party in her purple coat.

I would go to a Prince memorial dance party if there was one nearby.

Last week’s window boxes installed with new brackets.  More annuals to come with warmer weather.

I had to change into warmer clothes at the Anchorage because of a brisk and chilly wind.

The rhodos are getting tall enough to provide some privacy again.

Three yellow rhodos in a courtyard that is difficult to make look good.

I am so not a fan of bark, at all….”Just say no to barkscapes” is our motto (one of them).  However, maybe some very fine very DARK bark (shredded, not horrid nuggets) would look better around those shrubs, although I would prefer a soil based mulch.

callas and climbing hydrangea

Golden Sands Assisted Living

Allan’s photo

from the hallway to the courtyard (Allan’s photo)

At last, I got the bag of dahlias planted, an assorted mix of pinks and maroons.  Each quadrant got some weeding.  There never seems to be time to achieve perfection.  The four flower gardens are in a green stage between spring bulbs and late spring flowers.  Quite dull:

Future mission: beat back the horrible salal that is jumping into the garden.

I would love to see salal completely out of this whole courtyard….I hope we can remove some every week between now and fall.  By we, I mean Allan.

a bit of colour with daylilies and mom’s Joseph’s Coat rose.

One of the residents told us that a new resident has enjoyed the tulips and been reminded of the tulips she had at her own home.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

driveway to “Joanie’s Cottage” next door, where we park when we work at KBC (Allan’s photo)

looking south from the driveway (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

He pruned a sword fern that we had missed on the outer lawn:

before

after (much easier to clip when dormant!)

from our parking spot, we can see Rhododendron ‘Cynthia’ aglow.

Rhododendron ‘Cynthia’

Tulip ‘Marilyn’

Allan’s photo

We missed the elegant shape of that tulip before it opens, as shown below:

My favourite crazy Tulip ‘Green Wave’

Tulip ‘Spring Green’

I cannot remember what this blue flower is!

Tulip ‘Formosa’

Allan’s photo

When good plants go bad:  After years of being well behaved, Allium sphaerocephalon has turned into a grassy looking mess, just like another grassy allium in Fifth Street Park.

very annoying and messy

sword and deer ferns

sword fern and weigela

Camassia cusickii

looking into the fenced garden

looking south from the bench nook 

At the A frame garden, Allan tucked in a teucrium that I’d taken out of a pot at the Anchorage (in prep for something more interesting).

tucked in between tree roots

deadheaded narcissi at the A Frame

Allan produced lots of deadheads.

Hydrangea ‘Lemon Wave’ (probably) Allan’s photo

unfurling fern by the clam shed (Allan’s photo)

Ilwaco again

I had clipped back a rosemary at Golden Sands that had been mysteriously bent sideways.  (One of the residents agreed it was like a bear had lain on it, but no bears can get into the courtyard.)  We delivered the clippings to Salt Pub.

an armload of rosemary and “Don’t take my picture!” as I was feeling decrepit.

The curbside gardens need weeding before the weekend…at least, the ones that are not all river rock, because at this point I cannot even walk on river rock, much less stand on it to weed it.  Today I had some plants with me to add to the Ilwaco planters.  I was just too tired to do it.

When we arrived home, Dave and Melissa were about to leave their big pruning job two doors down.

We admired the spiffing job.  If you cut this too hard, it will not grow back from the brown centers.  (Allan’s photo)

Melissa pointed out two deer dossed down in Nora’s back meadow.

I told Nora’s grand daughter (now owner of the house) that it is good to have a wildlife refuge with mown paths back there.

Allan’s photo…and our deer fence

On the other side of the yard, a darling waggle tailed dog watched us.  Allan could read his name tag: Dickens.

Allan’s photo

We were smitten.

the hedge yesterday

today, a job well done.  (The brown cut on the end was already that way…had to be because of the gate.)

Now we have three days to get Ilwaco, the Port of Ilwaco, and Long Beach parks and gardens as perfect as possible before parade weekend.

1995 (age 71):

April 26:  Finished planting begonias in baskets and pots.  Was able to get them all in by moving Forest Farm plants outside.  Next big job is planting the dahlias.

1997 (age 73)

April 26:  11:00-4:00  warm and sunny  Planted the Tristar daughter plans in 3 rows except the small ones which I put into square tray.  That job took until 5:00.  Turned on garden faucets.  Watered strawberry rows.  Then started weeding the pathway until I quit when I was exhausted.

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14 April: north end rounds

Thursday, 14 April 2016

We’ve been so focused on Long Beach that we had not done our north end jobs lately.

Red Barn Arena

I remembered that we had some edging blocks to install at the Red Barn.  When we got there, the edge had not been cleared yet (by Amy and her trusty tractor) so we will do the edging later.  We also found that the backside of the garden had been hit with roundup, always a risk when spraying grass next to a garden.

zone of death: Round Up drift had killed the California poppies at the back…

and caused yellowing foliage on the Helianthus

I got a promise that from now on, we will run our own string trimmer back there and that Round Up will not be applied again.

Allan string trimming along the front

an attractive new bench

Diane’s garden

Next door, we weeded at deadheaded at Diane and Larry’s.

the roadside garden

one narcissus

the back patio planters

A heavy rain began while we were weeding along the road and got us both uncomfortably drenched and chilled.  Fortunately, I had a dry sweatshirt and jacket to change into. Allan’s jacket had kept him drier.

brrrrr

Basket Case Greenhouse

Basket Case was a good place to warm up a bit.  We have begun planting some perennials, and needed more ingredients.  We are holding off on planting annuals till around Mother’s Day.

the annuals greenhouse

I got myself an Orange Rocket barberry and a Cardinal red twig dogwood.

and the orange picotee Lewisia for my scree garden.

Golden Sands Assisted Living

I was ever so pleased to see the bright show of tulips in the Golden Sands courtyard garden.

with blue camassia

view from one of the red chairs

I asked Allan to apply the Sluggo to each quadrant while I sat because my knee was acting up.

The bird bath and plaque are from my mom’s old garden.

Tulip viridiflora (green tulips), always my favourites.  ‘Green Wave’ is on the right.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

dog daises already (Allan’s photo)

Pacific tree frog on moss and beach strawberries (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

While weeding, Allan commented that this little wild euphorbia reminds him of Shrek.

a spurge, one of the cuter weeds (Allan’s photo)

It reminds Allan of Shrek’s ears.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

After considerable weeding and narcissi deadheading, I took some photos for the KBC Facebook page of the garden looking very fine.

from south gate

tulips and overwintered Helichrysum ‘Limelight’

multiflowering Tulip ‘Antoinette’

Tulip ‘Orange Princess’

Tulip ‘Green Star’

This tulip has come back year after year.

a real do-er

fringed tulip, rose, elephant garlic

from northeast gate

Euphorbia characias wulfenii

Pieris and clematis

narcissi and pieris

the pond island bed

unfurling ferns

pond island bed

sword ferns

The podophyllum was blooming.  (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

beautiful Bella (Allan’s photo)

inside the fenced garden, ocean view cottages on the ridge

Allan climbed over the pond to trim the last of the sword ferns:

before

after

 

Marilyn’s Garden

We had just an hour and a half to go north to Marilyn’s garden before our dinner.

view from back porch; garage next door will disappear soonish behind foliage

looking north

from the road

looking south

The Cove Restaurant

flowers in the foyer (Allan’s photo)

and on the table (Allan’s photo)

We had, as always, been looking forward to the weekly meeting of the North Beach Garden Gang.

Todd brought flowers….

Allan’s photo

and a podophyllum for Melissa and Dave.

Allan’s photo.  I was honestly not complaining about a thing as it had been a very good day.

delicious ahi tuna

strawberry salad (Allan’s photo)

lava cake with fresh pears

lemon bar (Allan’s photo)

Except for one little rain squall and a bit of the old knee playing up, it had been a perfect day.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1995 (age 70):

April 15: Went through Floralight [three tiered light table] to try to find room for tomatoes.  Moved 8 or 10 trailing violets into terracotta planter and put it on top.  Planted Gloxinia bulbs into pots as houseplants.

1998 (age 73):

April 15:  Sunny, warm . I decided I  had to get the strawberries planted if I hope to have some in June.  I worked from noon to 4:00 to plant 3 rows using 6 or 7 trays of plants—and I have 29 trays of plants!  The soil is loose from the tilling so it’s easy to plant them.  I’m planting the rows close together because I have so many plants.

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26 March: caucusing and working

Saturday, 26 March 2016

We got up early (for us) in order to go to the high school and caucus for Bernie Sanders.  At this caucus for the democrats, Bernie was the most popular candidate by far, leading to a larger number of Bernie delegates being sent to the state convention.

Outside the high school. We live in a fishing town.

If you wish to know  how it works, you can read more about the event here:

“PACIFIC COUNTY — During Saturday’s Democratic caucuses, Pacific County voters showed an overwhelming preference for Bernie Sanders, the Vermont democratic socialist who has galvanized young voters with his populist platform.

Just over 81 percent of the county’s caucus participants supported Sanders, and just under 19 percent supported Clinton — a 62 percent margin, according to the Washington State Democrats website. That means Pacific County will send 77 Sanders delegates, and 18 Clinton delegates to the next step in the process, the 19th Legislative District convention.”

I am pleased to live in such a progressive area.

at the caucus

Tiffany Turner of Adrift Hotel opens the proceedings.

Above: To the right in red is Karen Brownlee, the potter who organized the recent Empty Bowls event.

Del Murry, Long Beach city councilman and, like me, a Ramones fan.

My friend Annie and I picked different candidates but were getting along fine. (Allan’s photo)

I did not like it one little bit when the reporter from the local paper stuck her camera right up in our faces without asking.  Allan managed to take the above photo without my even knowing he was doing so.

The counting of the paper ballots.  (Photo taken unobstrusively from the other end of the table!)

Our table adjourned into another building to hear some citizen speeches about why each of the two candidates was supported (Bernie, except for three speakers).

speeches

I find it hard to stand for a long stretch of time because of knee pain and lightheadedness, so we left before the speeches ended, having already done the important part of making our choice.  And our minds were not going to be changed; that was the purpose of the speechifying (some of it most eloquent, especially when I was in agreement); at the end, attendees would be given the opportunity to change their choice.  Oh, how sad it makes me to not choose the female candidate.  It would be a wonder to see a liberal woman president in my lifetime.  As a feminist since age 12, it is disappointing, but I just find Ms. Clinton too hawkish and too much of the moneyed class.  I’ll vote for her if she wins the national nomination, which I do think she will because…money wins.  However, we live in hope.

On the way out of the parking lot, we drove by the two excellent flowers displays that someone has planted along School Road.

Allan’s photo

Depot Restaurant

We had a brief mission at the Depot: deadheading.

Allan’s photo

Long Beach

More deadheading ensued in Long Beach along with the planting of two of my birthday Asphodeline lutea ‘Italian Gold’.

Allan was asked what these are: Tulip bakeri ‘Lilac Wonder’, a naturalizing little tulip which has formed a good clump among the rugosa roses by the police station.

Tulip clusiana ‘Lady Jane’

Tulip clusiana ‘Lady Jane’

Tulip acuminata

I am smitten with these weird thin tulips.

Tulip acuminata

 

Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’ and Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’

Allan’s photo: The most boring planter for the rest of the year is in its brief moment of glory.

Allan’s photo: our nemesis in a tulip

I see that Allan also noticed my new-this-year Tulip acuminata.

Tulip acuminata (Allan’s photo)

Tulip acuminata (Allan’s photo)

“The rare Fire Flame or Turkish Tulip dates back to at least the early 1800s. This rare heirloom has a wild form with uniquely narrow yellow flower petals edged and prominently tipped scarlet.”  (Van Engelen)  They are $2 apiece!

Basket Case Greenhouse

Last time we’d been to the Basket Case, I had been in too much leg pain to shop properly, so today we made up for it with another purchase and some more photos for the Basket Case Facebook page..

greenhouse kitty (Allan’s photo)

I asked Allan to go to the way back yard to get a photo of skunk cabbage.

Fred told him that a British man had asked if the nursery had them for sale, and said that in the UK, they are sold as “swamp lanterns”.  I was so pleased, as I was going to say again in the blog that I had read that they are called swamp lanterns in the UK.  I had been afraid to Google and find out it was not true, because I like the story so much.  Much joy that it is confirmed by Fred’s customer.

Swamp Lanterns is such a good name.

Allan’s photo: The hanging baskets, still young, will be completely covered with flowers later on.

Fred and I discussed more possible plants to order.

I got my birthday violas…forgot last time.

Golden Sands Assisted Living

I had some seeds to plant (bachelor buttons and sweet peas), along with some gladiolus bulbs donated by our client Jo.

at last some colour in the Golden Sands garden

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Deadheading narcissi, a bit of weeding, and planting of sweet peas took place at KBC, along with a discussion of knee replacement by friend and KBC manager Denny, who has had one knee done and may have the second about the same time that I have my first.  Denny is very happy with his new knee.  He said that the one thing I must NOT do is push the knee out sideways and “pop it out”.  I worried over this for quite some time while working, as this is how I work, and is how I have gardened for forty years.

I think I am going to be in trouble.

My “bad” leg (right) is always straight and my good leg (left) bent.  If I forget to bend my knee now and then on the bad one, it locks straight and is hell to bend.  How am I going to relearn how to work in a way that does not push my leg sideways? I  pivot on that leg pretty much all workday long.  I have 7-10 months to try to figure out a solution to this.  It is making me rethink the whole thing a bit.  I wonder if I could get a brace to wear instead of a new knee.  (I am not kidding, nor am I making light of polio, which my former partner had as a child.)

(Edited the next day to add:  My friend Sheila told me about knee braces that tennis players can wear after knee surgery.  I especially like the look of one like this:

And another friend who has had both knees replaced tells me it is only until the knee gets strong again that you must worry about it going sideways.  So my concerns have been laid to rest.)

People think my back must hurt but it is generally powerful and cooperative.

clam cleaning shed patio (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo, clam shed patio

clothes drying on the deck of one of the cottages (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Euphorbia (Allan’s photo)

Callistemon (Allan’s photo)

The reminds me, why why why do I still not have an Embothrium in my collection?

sword fern unfurling (Allan’s photo)

in the fenced garden

Erythronium (from my mom’s garden)

gorgeous new foliage of Thalictrum ‘Elin’ (will get eight feet tall)

buds on Peony ‘Molly the Witch’

Real name is mlokosewitschii.

Tulip ‘Orange Princess’

one of the little narcissi

I had wanted to deadhead and the Anchorage Cottages and then plant three plants in Long Beach on the way home.  A long rain storm passed over us all the way south so we just went straight to the…

Port of Ilwaco.

looking west from the east end port garden (Allan’s photo)

Editorializing: Nearby, grass by the parking lot was Round-up-ed.  Does it look better this way or green?

Now it does not have to be mowed or strimmed.  But…

narcissi to deadhead (Allan’s photo)

prowling for deadheads (Allan’s photo)

Tulip turkestanica closed up for the evening (Allan’s photo)

garden boat at Time Enough Books.  (Owner Karla named it, not me.)

I had picked some rosemary for Salt Hotel’s kitchen and, after delivering it and having a pleasant chat with Julez and Laila, we returned home, after making a spontaneous stop to pop three plants into one of the Ilwaco planters (Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’, a variegated oregano and a golden thyme).

More knee thoughts:  From my seat in the van, upon leaving and arriving home, I see this cluster of grassy weeds on the edge of the garden.

little weeds

I find it extremely difficult to believe that I am supposed to not pull these for THREE months after the operation.  I know the first month will hurt, but come on!  There is no way I am going to be able to resist pulling weeds like this, especially if I am not going to work.  Some long handled tools are in order; I am used to bending right down and grabbing out any weed I see.

a grand bit of front garden

Tulip ‘Green Star’

front garden

Erysimum ‘Winter Orchid’

Erythronium (dogtooth violet)

Fritillaria meleagris

Tulip ‘Gavota’, three years old and getting smaller in flower

Guest photo:

bouquet and photo by Todd Wiegardt for a memorial service

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 72):

March 26:  Don came to help chipping of pile behind garage but the chipper cord was stuck too tight to start machine.  I left message for Bill [her “handyman”] to see if he can get it going.

1998 (age 73):

March 26: 1:00-4:30  Cool—rainy and sunshine.  I started a big job today.  How come I like to work in my strawberries best?  I started cleaning the rows.  The first one was easy—mostly new plants from Gordons.  But by the time I started the second row, I realized most plants needed to be divided and it’s easier to dig all the plants and divide them at the work table so I tried that but got rained on.  I divided them in the greenhouse.  I hope to continue this work tomorrow but it will take several days.

 

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16 March: lily planting rounds

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

The simple fact that I had four new kinds of oriental lilies, 9 bulbs each, inspired me to go to three north end jobs that I felt needed more of that wonderful flower. Weeding and deadheading happened, too.

On the way, we took a bouquet to our dear friend Jenna (Queen La De Da).

flowers on their way to Jenna

Our sweet Jenna

Our volunteer garden at the Post Office got one each of lilies.

I wish all the tulips in the post office bed would hurry up!

a quick weeding

Golden Sands Assisted Living…

…got two each of the lilies. Golden Sands garden is also slow to get started.  If my test results come back good and I don’t have to start a new round of medical things, I hope to add some mulch to it soon.  On the way up, we’d seen that the Planter Box now has the “cow fiber” mulch!  It is so hard to get it into this garden through the hallways…and Allan would have to do all the wheelbarrowing.  Just one yard would help.

NW quadrant.  As always, mulch would be good for this garden.

some early tulips by the dining room at Golden Sands

NE quadrant, Golden Sands, still so very drab

Marilyn’s garden

Marilyn’s got two each of the four lilies, or was it one each?  One. I think.

Allan’s photo

looking south at Marilyn’s

I went on a rampage against the Bad Aster in the driveway bed and had Allan dig out a big clump of Tradescantia that was infested it.  Tradescantia bores me anyway.  One small piece got saved and replanted on the other side of the driveway.

OUT with the aster-ridden spiderwort

view southwest from the street’ ferns are unfurling in foreground

Allan’s photo, sword fern

view west from the porch.

looking north

Marilyn’s daughter Nancy told me that not only do deer stroll this path daylily—so do coyotes…so Scooter is brought in at night.

Scooter grew up wild so likes to be outdoors.

Scooter rolling about in the garden.

Marilyn’s garden as we depart

Klipsan Beach Cottages

KBC got one each of the four lilies.

It was time to remove the winter signs as the garden is awake now.

by the garage

deep red tulips

more tulips

Narcissi

hellebores

primroses and pieris

sword fern unfurling

a delicate double primrose

Hellebore ‘Sparkling Diamond’

Podophyllum

Allan’s photo

rhododendron

gunnera in the swale garden (Allan’s photo)

The dappled woods around the A Frame garden holds the largest display of narcissi.

The A Frame garden

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Basket Case Greenhouse

I’m so bad at answering my phone that I had missed a message from Basket Case Fred last Friday saying the nursery was open with a new shipment of perennials.  I found the message while checking my phone looking for medical phone calls (none).  So we went over there to get some photos for their Facebook page and to buy just a few plants.

Me pondering the variegation colour of the Azara I had ordered

garden art

perennial greenhouse filling up

pansies and violas

That’s our friend with a goodly assortment of garden art.

more garden art

a little canned ham trailer with wings!

Our friend Shadow jumped right into our van, because it used to be his van.

On the way home, we checked the boatyard garden.  The horsetail is coming up; I still think we can put off weeding it for another week.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

home

Home, with daylight left, I planted two each of the lilies in my own back garden, along with two plants from Basket Case: Cornus ‘Hedgerows Gold’ and Symphytum variegata…a comfrey, raved about by Ken Druse, but…a comfrey so I’m a little filled with dread.

looking north from the bogsy woods

Allan mowed ours and Nora’s

I have left out considerable whining about having a really horribly bad time with my knee this afternoon.  It went completely “out” for awhile at the Basket Case and distracted me from my plant purchases.  Nevertheless, I got one (measly) bucket of the many weeds pulled at home.

I’m mystified by my other plant purchase, labeled Azara variegata.

I thought it was going to be like my Azara microphylla variegata.  But no, it is yellow in variegation.  So maybe it’s Azara integrifolia variegata…but that is still described as having white margins.  I have to Google some more about this one.

I uploaded photos to the Klipsan Beach Cottages page and the Basket Case page, took photos of my grandma’s old recipe cards for the grandma blog, wrote up this post, and now at 10 PM it is time for dinner and Survivor.  (If I had to cook dinner, too, this would be impossible, so thanks to Allan we eat.)

A couple of guest photos:

“The thrillium of the trillium” is Melissa’s caption (Sea Star Gardening) when she texted me this today.

Todd Wiegardt (Willapa Gardening) planted a new bed at his brother’s gallery.  Why didn’t we ever think of that?

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1998 (age 73):

March 16: 12:15-3:45.  Today I started digging out the rows of strawberries by the asparagus rows.  I trimmed the plants and heeled them into the 2 large square trays.  When I finish digging them I’ll start trimming up the strawberry patch and interplant these in the rows.

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29 Feb: several small accomplishments

Monday, 29 February 2016

Rain or shine, I was determined to plant lilies today, and (because the library is closed on Mondays) take some plants to the community building.  Happily, we got started in mild, non-windy, dry weather.

our garden

some “Pam Fleming” grass

Pretty sure we got the above grass, to the left of the photo, from Back Alley Gardens when Pam was the brilliant plant buyer there.  Or, at least, she admired it in my garden.  Whatever it is, it was spectacular the first year, then disappeared for a year, and then all these seedlings came up.  While it may not be very perennial,  it will serve my purpose at the community building.

nearby: gold hypericum underlaid with crocus

one of the peonies I got from MaryBeth

Allan digging out a couple of Fuchsia magellanica (the pale pink one)

Hellebore ‘Golden Sunrise’ from Xera Plants

 

Impatiens omeiana, the silver leafed one that I think I got from Xera, is spreading…

as is this Impatiens omeiana which has finally gotten well established.

Pulmonaria by the bogsy wood

double hellebore

My Smokey

Tulips closed tightly in grey weather

 

Pittosporum ‘Marjorie Channon’ from Debbie Teashon

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Alba’

hellebore

hellebores black and white

one of several dwarf conifers that I cannot name

plants for the community building garden

A thought to remember: I must take a couple of different pulmonarias to the shade garden there!

Ilwaco post office garden still looking dull.

I wonder why my garden looks so much more vibrant, even with bulbs, than this garden?

a bit of colour in our post office garden

Ilwaco Community Building

with grasses and sedums and libertia added

Geranium macrorrhizum (a POLITE spreader) instead of kinnikinnick

Allan’s photos, before, with blackened kinnikinnick

and after

Geranium macrorrhizum around the trees

Most areas still are full of the dreaded quack grass roots.

Those white tough roots that go miles down into the clay soil are one reason I want clumping plants like the sedums, that can be lifted once a year and cleaned up, instead of a groundcover that gets just full of that grass like the kinnikinnick didd.

Allan planted the Fuchsia in a sheltered nook.

We contributed to the community building garden two colours of Geranium macrorrhizum,  some Ranunculus ‘Brazen Hussy’, three kinds of large flowering sedums, Libertia, the grasses, poppy seeds, golden oregano, and the fuchsia.

Diane’s garden

We planted violas and another pot of Stargazer lilies.

Allan’s photo

Narcissi

We had an audience.

Basket Case Greenhouse

Basket Case is not open for the season yet.  Fred will sell bagged soil amendments and early violas by appointment.  We were after ten bags of Gardner and Bloome Soil Building Compost.

Basket Case, Fred and Nancy’s front garden

Golden Sands Assisted Living

on the way, going west on Cranberry Road

At Golden Sands, we planted lilies and a couple of Fuchsia magellanica starts.  The garden still looks so dull.  The Costco lily bulbs are much bigger than the pitifully small Fred Meyer lily bulbs.

NW quadrant

NE quadrant; wish the garden would hurry up.

Also planted a couple of heleniums from bags.  Two that I wanted, Moorheim Beauty and…another one.  Usually I never buy perennial plants in bags from a general store’s garden department, and yet I wanted these.  They looked pretty small and unpromising.

Anchorage Cottages

The Anchorage owners’ meeting is this coming weekend.  We added violas to the containers and detailed the garden.

window box

narcissi

The Anchorage garden has stuff going on!

Maybe the reason the post office and Golden Sands are lacking is because I don’t spend money on the post office garden like I do my own…and Golden Sands has a low plant budget so I don’t add as many cool plants??  And yet I am sure I planted plenty of early tulips and narcissi at the post office.  Are they being picked? Are deer browsing early tulips?  I must look closer next time.  Maybe the difference is that my garden and the Anchorage have sheltered microclimates that encourage early flowering.

Anchorage north wall garden

Allan’s photo: a hardy fuchsia went in by the arbor, cut way back so it won’t look wilty for owners’ meeting

Depot Restaurant

Next we applied two bales of Gardner and Bloome at the Depot Restaurant garden.

 Gardner and Bloome for fluffing. (Used to be called Soil Building Compost.)

forgot to take an after photo because THIS started.

Mike’s garden

We were determined to mulch Mike’s garden, because otherwise the heavy bales would have to be stored at home and then reloaded.

Mike’s garden, front path

before

after

The sky grew dark as dusk and we finished in a downpour.

cold and unpleasant

big drops of rain

at home

two mulching jobs erased from the work board!

I am pretty sure we will have tomorrow off, as this came to me via email, Facebook, and my weather apps:

HIGH WIND WARNING:

SOUTH WASHINGTON COAST
Areas Affected:
South Washington Coast
Effective: Mon 1:05 pm Updated: Mon 5:52 pm Urgency: Expected
Expires: Tue 4:00 pm Severity: Severe Certainty: Likely

Details:

.A STRONG PACIFIC FRONT WILL PRODUCE STRONG WINDS ALONG THE SOUTH
WASHINGTON AND NORTH OREGON COASTS AND THE EXPOSED AREAS OF THE
ADJACENT COASTAL MOUNTAINS ON TUESDAY…WITH QUITE WINDY
CONDITIONS INLAND.
…HIGH WIND WATCH UPGRADED TO HIGH WIND WARNING…IN EFFECT FROM
6 AM TO 4 PM PST TUESDAY FOR THE SOUTH WASHINGTON AND NORTH AND
CENTRAL OREGON COASTS…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND
WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 4 PM PST TUESDAY.
* WINDS: BEACHES AND HEADLANDS…SOUTH WIND 30 TO 40 MPH WITH
GUSTS 60 TO 70 MPH. COASTAL COMMUNITIES…SOUTH WIND 25 TO 35
MPH WITH GUSTS 50 TO 60 MPH.
* TIMING: WINDS WILL INCREASE FAIRLY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING AND
CONTINUE THROUGH A GOOD PART OF THE AFTERNOON.
* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: ASTORIA…TILLAMOOK…LINCOLN CITY…
NEWPORT…FLORENCE…RAYMOND…LONG BEACH…OCEAN PARK.
* IMPACTS: WINDS WILL LIKELY CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES ON ROADS
SUCH AS HIGHWAY 101 ALONG THE COAST…AS WELL AS FOR HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES SUCH AS TRUCKS AND VEHICLES PULLING TRAILERS.
THE WINDS MAY ALSO CAUSE TREE DAMAGE AND LOCAL POWER
DISRUPTIONS.

Information:

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED
OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS
OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE.

That’s a long storm to go all the way from Ocean Park (north of Long Beach) to Florence.

Newport is the location of the beloved Sylvia Beach Hotel which will surely be creaking in the wind.

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21 Feb: Golden Sands wake up call

Sunday, 21 February 2016

morning

We got a late start, because I was sleepy as those kitties, and because it was Sunday (always a reasonable excuse for only a half day of work).

on the way to work, on Spruce Street in Ilwaco

Our first stop was the Depot Restaurant garden to plant some of the Miscanthus giganteus (Giant Chinese Silver Grass) that Dave helped us  dig out of Marilyn’s garden yesterday. By “helped” I mean he dug the huge clump up all by himself and chopped it into manageable pieces.

Allan does a bit of path weeding

The Miscanthus will provide a soothing and somewhat tropical sense of enclosure to the dining deck.  This evening, I read the fascinating fact that in the UK, it may be used for fuel and electricity.  Watch the good video about it at this link.

The Planter Box

at the Planter Box

Our next errand was to check out the seeds at The Planter Box.  I bought some more Streamers and other sweet peas.  If I’d known that Streamers, my favourite sweet pea, was available locally, I wouldn’t have made an online seed order two days ago.  This is the first time I’ve seen that sweet pea on a seed rack anywhere.  The sweet pea assortment at Planter Box is vast this year.

I added some more California poppies to my seed purchase; they will have come back in most of my gardens, but I’d like to plant some in the beach approach garden IF we get it weeded soon enough.  And some American Legion poppies to plant at Golden Sands, as they might be significant to some of the residents there.

paperwhites at the Planter Box (Allan’s photo)

weeping pussy willow at The Planter Box

Golden Sands Assisted Living

We spent the rest of the day clipping and weeding the interior courtyard garden at Golden Sands.

Golden Sands Assisted Living. The courtyard is completely enclosed by the building.

As I walk down the hallway to get to the courtyard door, I always think about what I would have on a shelf outside my room at Golden Sands.

I know I’m not as nice and huggy as this sweet person.

Residents are allowed to have an animal friend live with them.

a gardener’s room

The gardener whose shelf is in the above photo is the one who grows African violets in my mom’s Floralight, a three tiered shelf which I have on permanent loan to Golden Sands (for as long as residents want to use it).  The Floralight is often mentioned in the two decade old diaries of my mom’s that I am sharing throughout this year.

Anna’s violets

I imagine that Anna and my mom would have been good friends if their time at Golden Sands had coincided.

Near the Floralight is the door to the courtyard and its four flower gardens.

looking north across the courtyard, before

and after; Allan pruned the white hydrangeas along the two sides

hydrangeas, before

and after (Allan’s photos)

I limed the beds to try to cut down on the amount of moss and make the plants happier with sweeter soil.  However, moss is welcome in the center lawn, where I wish that moss and self seeded flowers would completely take over.

We moved a bird feeder that had been placed in one of the quadrant beds and was making a big mess of birdseed on top of plants.  Now I am worried we made it less accessible for the resident who refills it, because she will have to walk on the lawn to get at it.  Oh, dear.  On the other hand, it is now in full view of the sit spot inside the south courtyard door, and surely that is a good thing.

Looking at the hydrangeas reminded me of a big one that needs to be pruned at Diane’s garden, leading to some fretting as we can’t do so tomorrow because of another doctor’s appointment.  It is a darn good thing we have fewer jobs this year.  The wettest December through February on record has kept us from many spring clean up days.  (We are not as hardy as Sea Star and Willapa Gardening, AKA Dave, Melissa, and Todd, who work in all weather.)

I’m assuming the rainfall is about the same for here as for Seattle, if not more.  (from KOMO news, last week)

The four quadrants of the Golden Sands courtyard were not showing much color or interest yet.  I hope the bulbs come on soon!  As usual, I feel the gardens here have the problem of being almost all “passalong plants”, ones I’ve gotten for free, which of course means ones that are thugs and interfere with each other’s space.

SW quadrant before

SW quadrant after (with one bird feeder moved)

NE quadrant before, with the windows to my mom’s old room to the right

“Mom’s garden” after, with leaves left to help enrich the soil.  I’m more of the chop and drop than of the raking out philosophy.

NW quadrant before

NW quadrant after, with residents in dining room for 5 PM dinner

SE quadrant after…still needs weeding and is infested with horsetail

Allan wheelbarrowed out two heaping and one partial load of debris.

turning the corner of the back hallway

and down the long side hallway to the exit

birdhouses on a windowsill

When we got home, it seemed that it had been pouring rain in Ilwaco as the sidewalk was drenched, the rain barrels were dripping…

debris pile in background, having just planted the last piece of Miscanthus giganteus in it

…And the double triangle gale flag was still flying over the port office.

view to the south

The brothers were inside.

the work board tonight

If we can just work part of tomorrow, and then for the rest of this week, we should be able to get spring clean up pared down to “just” the beach approach, berms, Jo, and mulching at the Depot.   We can’t do mulching, including Jo’s, until some “cow fiber” comes in at the Planter Box (or we may have to just use plain Soil Energy).  I look forward to settling into the regular rounds instead of spring clean up.  I’m sure Long Beach already needs weeding again.

There were no entries in my mom’s garden diaries to correspond with today.

‘

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19 Nov: a bulbing frenzy

Thursday, 19 November 2015

I woke at 7:30, after a mere five hours of sleep, with bulbs on my mind.  When I simply could not go back to sleep, I went outside at about 8:15 (almost unheard of!) and planted a few of my bulbs-in-waiting in the front garden where the chilly shade almost made me give up.  Instead, I moved to the back garden in the sunshine.  By the time Allan had made a nice hot breakfast (which he does on all work days, bless his heart), I had all the back garden bulbs in the ground and I asked if he would help me plant the front garden ones so I could stop losing sleep over them.  It will only take two of us about 40 minutes, said I, and it turned out to be just 45.  Total number of bulbs planted at home this autumn:  a mere 171 (more than last year’s 116).  I’d like to plant more but I run out of steam and I worry about money.  Memories of being poor are too strong to overcome the fact that I could buy more bulbs for me nowadays.

me being so happy to have help with the at-home bulbing

tossing out bags of bulbs in their proper planting place

Just as we were finishing the planting of the front garden bulbs, the final end of season order from Colorblends arrived, so we were able to plant up the garden boat (the Ann Lovejoy) as well with 20 tulips Big Ups mix.

I got this as one slide was fading into another on the colorblends site.

I wondered why the Colorblends catalog often does not name the bulbs in their mixes; Todd suggested that perhaps this enables them to change the mix depending on which compatible bulbs they can get a good price on each year.

The arrival of the Big Ups tulips changed our plan for the day.  Instead of doing fall clean up for Ilwaco port and town, we could possibly finish Bulb Time today!

Port of Ilwaco

I had pulled 20 narcissi from my own stash to fill in the empty spot along Howerton where some arbutus had been removed for the sake of traffic sightlines.

with my head in the game (planting narcissi); looking west on Howerton

Allan planted these clusters in the formerly shrubby area

 On the way to our next job, we witnessed the Port of Ilwaco crew working on the Crab Pot Christmas Tree.

Allan’s photo: The tree has gotten much too big to build with just human power now.

Ilwaco Community Building

Allan had helped me plant my bulbs, so I helped him plant the last of the bulbs at the Ilwaco Community Building (his job).  The difference is, I will get paid by his client.  His reward is just me having a lower stress level.

the last of the leaves at the community building

As we planted narcissi, some tulips (in an area inaccessible to deer), some crocus and pushkinia and iris reticulata, a library patron said that the garden there looked so much better since we had taken it over.  I gave all the credit to Allan.

Speaking of compliments, last week someone told me she had taken a guest to walk along the curbside gardens at the port (going to the shops and galleries) and he had commented on how tidy and well tended they are.

Allan’s photo: He, or we, may emerge from staycation to mulch the community building garden which badly needs it.  (needs weeding, too; he’s been too busy bulbing)

Allan’s photo: the really horrible soil under the new sign

Long Beach City Hall

On the way north, I planted some hyacinths in the narrow raised bed along the city hall entryway.  They will be at a good height for smelling.  We both worked on finishing the fall clean up and clipping at city hall, thus being able to cross two things off of the work list (the dregs of the LB bulbs and the city hall cleanup).

city hall entry ramp garden (Allan’s photo)

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ still blooming, west side of city hall. Allan was shocked when I clipped it, but I knew the first frost will bring it down.  (Allan’s photo)

hebe blooming (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photos: city hall, south end of west wall, before

after Allan clipped the Rozanne

west side of city hall; I wish I had gotten the whole “Ocean Beach Boulevard” sign…was not trying to. 

dumping debris at city works

After dumping our debris, we went on to the last of the 2015 bulb jobs at…

Golden Sands Assisted Living

Golden Sands: in the courtyard, four quadrants of flowers

Each of the four garden quadrants in the center courtyard got 20 Big Ups tulips and a few others.  I have a tiny budget there.  While I’d like to have way more tulips in this deer protected garden, at least next spring there should be a bigger show than usual.

view while bulbing in the courtyard

the last bulb job of 2015

So very tired of planting bulbs!

The newly cleared (of old siberian iris) triangle by the dining room door got some special bulbs: viridflora (green) tulips, some species tulips and narcissi, and a cluster of snowdrops.

dining room pocket garden

with Junco close up (there had been many in there eating fallen bird seed but most flew away when I raised the camera.)

cyclamen donated by Our Kathleen

We did as much fall clean up as we will do this year; thinning pesky plants can wait till next February.

Each of the four quadrants presents a different challenge.

The SW quadrant

SW quadrant problem: beach strawberry and creeping buttercup invading from the back

SE quadrant: the most problematical

SW: too much cranesbill geranium, and an infestation of big horsetail from the back corner of the courtyard…It is marching, marching, marching.

SE: invasion of weedy grass, beach strawberry, and creeping sorrel climbing over the edging board.

The outer areas of the courtyard landscape are in some areas sort of a wasteland that Allan hits with a string trimmer but that we don’t have time to maintain otherwise.

more SE quadrant mess: too much blue scabiosa and (sadly) too much Sweet William.  The scabiosa MUST be thinned or eradicated.

A pink cranesbill geranium in one of the original pocket gardens would love to take over the SE quadrant completely.

The four quadrant gardens used to be scrubby, weedy lawn, and the only flower areas were the four little triangular pockets, two at each entry.

the NE quadrant

As I was trimming down the euonymus in front of the window of my mom’s old room, I saw it had been vacated. 

the Euonymus in question (Allan’s photo)

(Note:  Don’t plant shrubs that want to be huge in front of windows.  Why this was done is beyond me, as the fire department wants the shrubs at sill height, and the residents would like to see out!)  I inquired and was relieved to learn that the latest resident of my mom’s room had moved to Seattle to be closer to family.

Biggest problem with the NE quadrant: Getting rid of the damnable pesky running salal behind the garden, as it constantly wants to invade from the back.

NW quadrant has gone from worst of all to the most problem free.

I pruned the poor, oversized Ceanothus outside the quadrants some more, taking some off the top so the resident behind it can see the courtyard.

Don’t tell Plant Amnesty about my ugly pruning. Note the yellow rose blooming in the background.  I will likely cut the ceanothus to the ground next spring.

Allan’s photo

leaving Golden Sands at dusk

Ilwaco 

We checked on the crab pot tree progress.  It is all put together and ready to be decorated.

crab pot tree, real tree at 5 PM

Allan’s photos by the crab pot tree:

a moon tree topper

boat heading for the river

at home

These housemates of ours had apparently not moved all day.

the rapidly thinning work board!

Bulb planting is completely gone from the work board, and from the fall clean up list I removed City Hall and Golden Sands.  With 20 degree weather due on Thanksgiving, we may even get to do the post-frost checkups before the end of the month and then will officially be on staycation.

The 2015 bulb total of 3,374 is much less than 2014’s 5,121 bulbs planted, mostly because Flowering Hedge Design and Sea Star Gardening (Dave and Melissa) have two of our former big big big bulbing jobs, and Todd and Sea Star have a couple of our former medium sized bulbing jobs.  Thank heavens above!

 

 

 

 

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