Friday, 13 February 2015
On the way out of Ilwaco, Allan took two photos of our planter at the post office:
Last fall we re-did this planter, taking out a big old woody lavender.
Long Beach
I left Allan in charge of the so enjoyable job of chopping down the roses (Rugosa rose, ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’) at the police station.
south wall police station
While he chopped away, I walked a long block north to another project and checked a block’s worth of planters on the way.
narcissi, backed with Stormin’ Norman’s kite shop
The previous owner of Stormin’ Norman’s was known by that nickname long before a certain military leader rose to fame.
Cerinthe showing blue-purple colour already.
Diascia came through the winter and is already sizing up.
weeded under a street tree and admired the crocuses
My main project was to clip and weed around the pond on the NE corner of Bolstadt and Pacific.
before, looking north
This is the pond that you can view on the heroncam. Which means I was slightly aware of being on camera as I worked along the street side of the water.
before
Geoff, one of the Pacific Realty staff members, came to see me while I weeded.
Mr. Geoff himself
snapdragons blooming in February in Pacific Realty’s big south-facing windowbox
I filled the wheelbarrow and two buckets and started piling weeds, waiting for Allan to come with the trailer, which he did, after he had finished the police station job:
police station, after, rugosa roses cut to the ground so they will (mostly) not hang over the sidewalk this year
police station garden, all tidied up (with some old, tatty blue oat grass removed as well)
Allan brought the lunch box and more buckets. I dived right in to the lunch box and took three ibuprofen, as the climbing up and down on rocks to clip sword ferns was causing me considerable leg pain. Allan joined me to do the most agile part of the pond job: going out to the waterfall area to clip sword ferns.
It would make a big splash for camera viewers if he fell in.
While he was balancing out there, our friend Charlene walked up and gave us a bag with treats!
Thanks, Charlene: instant energy! And they remind me pleasantly of Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor.
I popped into NIVA green for a few minutes, two doors up the block, to get some photos for their Facebook page.
treasures inside NIVA green
Then back to sweeping and taking after photos.
after
I had stripped a mat of beach strawberries off the front edge to expose the original rockwork, which had been covered to the edge of the sidewalk..
The pond is a thing of beauty…except for where its underwear shows.
a strip of liner shows going to the water fall
and along the back edge
If it were mine, I’d be trying to cover all the places where the liner shows.
Most people just enjoy it without kvetching about the liner.
Allan had had to park a block north, so we tidied up the planters on the way.
Iris chrysographes in the planter by NIVA green
I got Heather to leave her shop to admire the iris. She had invited us to join her and two friends for dinner, and we had accepted.
green Iris, NIVA green (New, Inspired, Vintage, Artful)
our planter by the Long Beach Elks
by the Elks Lodge
Heuchera, Daphne, Narcissi
We had a full load of debris to dump at the city works yard, where we saw two killdeer. Friend Sheila told me they will lay eggs right in the gravel, which is rather worrisome as this is a heavily trafficked lot.
With the debris dumped, we still were not done. A series of clamming days would start on Sunday, so we drove out to the Bolstadt approach to tidy the planters (me) and to cut down ornamental grasses in the long narrow garden (Allan).
looking west from the last planter, showing the end of the Long Beach boardwalk (and Goldie, my indispensable $1.29 garden tool)
looking east from the last beach approach planter
In the planters, I trimmed back the santolinas…
like this
a larger santolina, before
and after
crocus and lavender
Looking east from the end of the beach approach, I felt deeply disheartened at the thought of having to weed it sometime this spring, a job that takes us 7-8 days.
blocks and blocks of this: a horrible prospect
the stuff of nightmares
Here’s a santolina that got all woody from not being clipped back last year.
seasonal standing water on the beach approach lawn
We’ll wait till the garden soil is not so wet and heavy before tackling the long and painful weeding job. Last year, we did not get to it till shockingly late in the spring season.
I recorded the day on Map My Walk:
The spur to the north was actually driving to dump at city works…so the walking was more like four miles. You can see the circling round and round the pond.
satellite view
At the end of the afternoon, we swung by Coulter Park to have a browse of the NW Artist’s Guild show.
in the old train depot building
Allan (right) picking out some cards to buy (by local artist Jean Nitzel).
We had happened to arrive at the opening reception…
with punch and cookies on offer.
Outside in Coulter Park, the Pieris are coming into bloom.
Lightship Restaurant
We had but an hour’s turnaround time at home before dinner, during which I managed to compose one of the quickest blog posts ever. We then joined NIVA green’s Heather, with her entertaining and funny Seattle friends David and Allison, at the Lightship in north Long Beach.
in the Lightship Restaurant
Allison dips the onion rings.
We lingered, talking, until only the Columbia Bar (at the other end of the building) still had customers.
Next: we wake up some north end gardens.
Tangly Cottage Gardening 