Howerton Avenue gardens | Tangly Cottage Gardening Journal

Posts Tagged ‘Howerton Avenue gardens’

1 May: weeds and seeds at the Port of Ilwaco

Posted in journal, public gardens, tagged Howerton Avenue gardens, Port of Ilwaco on May 6, 2019| 5 Comments »

Wednesday, 1 May 2019

Before work, Allan checked on the J’s new rose.

Calendula reflected in our van window:

Port of Ilwaco

Today’s mission: To weed all the rest of the gardens we care for along the Port. (There is one that we skip, that is all escallonias with horrible landscape fabric showing all around them. One of these days when I have time, I will cut the landscape fabric out of there and then will start to weed around the escallonias. At the moment—no time for that.)

I still could not step up and down off the curb without yowling in pain from my calf. However, I had remembered the compression stockings that I wore last time I had this injury. They did help keep my muscle, tendon, or whatever the heck is hurting me from jumping around so much (even though they are a bugger to put on).

Fortunately, there is plenty of weeding to do all around the edges of the curbside beds, or I could take one step up and just stay in the middle and weed the length of a bed. Allan has to do the four sections covered with large river rock (dating from before our time). I simply cannot walk on that without knee pain. I wonder if anyone who landscapes a whole bed with river rock ever thinks ahead to how hard it will be to weed. The one with landscape fabric underneath is the worst, of course.

We watered the At the Helm Hotel curbside where I had planted seeds recently and, because of the dry and windy weather, we also watered six of the other beds. At this time of year, we do not have time to start up the whole watering regimen and we are not best pleased at the extreme dry weather with no rain in the forecast. It is worrisome, with the longterm forecast of a dry summer.

Without any more whinging (or just a bit), here are today’s photos.

I kept planting seeds, even though with no rain, I have little confidence in the results.

We cannot water every day!

Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’ reverting to green

Allan’s photo

Here is better photo recently taken by Purly Shell.

I got Allan to pull out some tired old elagrostis (weeping love grass).

For some reason, it has fallen on Allan to strim the edge of the sidewalk by the Freedom Market.

By now, we had weeded and sometimes watered from the Pavilion to the west end. We were utterly exhausted and yet simply had to go back to weed the long bed at the east end and the lava rock bed by CoHo Charters.

Even though I had planned to do all Long Beach on Thursday and Friday, we still had not made it to the Ilwaco fire station or one of the curbside gardens that we had hoped to do today.

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29 March: Js, port and Shelburne

Posted in spring clean up, tagged Howerton Avenue gardens, Port of Ilwaco, Shelburne Hotel on Apr 2, 2019| 2 Comments »

Friday, 29 March 2019

We weeded and mowed the pocket lawn at the Js across the street. I planted some sweet peas along the white picket fence by the front gate, just because I have extra seeds.

At the Ilwaco Post Office, I planted some sweet peas along the fence. I have never succeeded in growing them here, but I live in hope.

At the port, we worked our way from the east to the west end, planting poppies in some of the curbside beds (me), and weeding and deadheading (Allan). He took all the photos at the port. By poppies, I mean California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, in assorted colours—Buttercream, Copper Pot, Tropical Sunset, Dusky Rose, Rose Chiffon, Pink Champagne, Jelly Beans, Alba, Bridal Bouquet, Appleblossom Chiffon.

We went to The Shelburne Hotel for the rest of the workday. I had really wanted to spend all day there, but it seemed important to get the California poppies planted at the port before the rain returns.

Allan tackled the annoying Ranunculus ficaria in the back garden, bagging it up for disposal.

And in the limited time we had, he also went after some of the montbretia that is trying to return.

I took out more of a run of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ in the front garden, in an area where it is partly shaded and turned sad and mildewy by late summer.

We had our dinner in the pub.

Allan’s smoked salmon reuben

And now for two days off (maybe Monday, too, if a predicted rain storm arrives). I intend to not leave my property, and Allan has a boating plan for one of the days.

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24 Feb: spring clean up along the Port

Posted in journal, tagged At the Helm Hotel, Howerton Avenue gardens, Port of Ilwaco, Port of Ilwaco marina, Time Enough Books on Feb 26, 2019| 6 Comments »

Sunday, 24 February 2019

Despite chilly weather, we spring cleaned from the east to the west end of the Howerton Avenue curbside gardens at the Port of Ilwaco. You may note we did not trim most of the santolinas. Because it is still freezing cold at night, I am waiting on them till closer to actual spring.

Dramatic clouds decorated the horizon south of the marina.

East end garden (Allan’s photos):

David Jensen office, before and after:

Oddly, while Allan was trimming one of the grasses today, a man walked by and said “I’ve never seen a man do that,” apparently meaning he had never before seen a man gardening.

A rain shower sent us home to unload the clean (non weedy) plant debris we had collected so far….more gleanings for my compost bins.

Half an hour later, we were back on the job.

From now on, I will call the former ShoreBank building “At the Helm”, the name of the new hotel with pub (The Waterline Pub) that is due to open sometime this year.

I could not help but clip some of At the Helm’s ferns. The Stihl trimmer made quick work of it. Last year, no one trimmed them and the many dead fronds hurt my eyes.

Looking east from the Ilwaco pavilion (At the Helm is the red building):

The drive-over garden (between two big driveways):

Powell Gallery/RiversZen Yoga garden (Allan’s photos):

Removing some weedy catmint from a bed by the Don Nisbett art gallery; I put some small, clean pieces back in:

I had a look at the garden on the south side of the Port Office. What to do? I will have to ask if the plan, after last year’s building remodel, is to have a deck or to recreate the garden.

The marina in sunshine:

Port Office curbside garden (Allan’s photos):

The good mulch (Gardner and Bloome Soil Conditioner and/or Harvest Supreme) that we added to the Time Enough Books curbside garden has been well worthwhile. The garden is full of poppy seedlings, and the plants are now much more vigorous than before.

Narcissus ‘Julia Jane’

The rest of the photos are all Allan’s.

West end gardens:

On the work list, as soon as the nights are less cold, is the addition of some Phlomis and a few other plants to these beds.

I got to meet a wonderful dog. She said “Woo woo woo!” and was ever so soft.

Despite the break for rain, we got the whole length of Howerton done. The Toy (the Stihl trimmer) really speeds us up with this kind of work.

Across the street from the west end garden:

Allan said he could not decide which photos to send me of the rainbow he saw later at the east end of the marina. I couldn’t decide among them, either, so here they all are.

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13 Nov: fun with work and volunteering

Posted in fall clean up, journal, tagged Crab Pot Christmas Tree, Howerton Avenue gardens, Ilwaco boatyard garden, Stihl shrub cutter on Nov 18, 2018| 11 Comments »

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Port of Ilwaco

We got up early (for us) to help with decorating the Crab Pot Tree at the port, with gratitude that the weather forecast of a quarter inch of rain and 20+ mph wind was completely wrong. Mostly, as I told Jenna when we showed up at 10:15, my “volunteering” meant that I had volunteered Allan to help while I worked on the nearby boatyard garden. I can’t do heights, and there were other folks to hand things up to the people who can do heights.

Last week, a couple of volunteers had put the strings of lights on. Allan and I were at home that day because we had arranged the delivery of mulch before I remembered it was a Tree Morning.

the tree today when we arrived

Here comes a decorated crab pot from the boatyard.

Crab Pot volunteers

Allan heard one of the volunteers say, “Our corgis thought they were going for a walk!”

Allan’s photo

hanging floats on the tree

This year, some floats are marked with the names of the crabbing fleet.

Two floats represent the Coast Guard…

U.S.Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment crab float signed by the station personnel and Auxiliary Flotilla 6-2 members.

And one float, to be installed later, will honor the names of two local fishermen who died while crabbing, Luke Jensen and Kevin Soule.

Jenna and a volunteer installing lights to mark the observation field

This year, to avoid folks walking in traffic and being all crammed in around the base of the tree, the watchers and carolers will be across the street in a large parking lot.

When I met Allan, he was an 18 year old who enjoyed climbing the scaffolding of bridges for fun (as I recall).

Allan’s photos:

U.S. Coast Guard National Motor Lifeboat School crab float signed by the staff and students.

Jessie’s Fish Company in the background

For the next two Tuesdays, volunteers will gather at 10 AM to complete the decorating.

Meanwhile, between walking back and forth to take these photos for Discover Ilwaco, I did the fall clean up for the south section of the boatyard garden.

I love our lightweight and efficient new shearing tool, the one recommended to us by Pam Fleming.

Stihl Shrub Cutter

It is ideal for trimming lavender, armeria, santolinas, and also worked well trimming the ceanothus so it is even with the edge of the sidewalk. By late afternoon, I was calling it “the toy” because it is so much fun to use. The question is, if you pay $150 for a tool and spare battery, and it cuts your shearing time in half, who profits financially?

Stihl will profit again because we both like the tool so much that we must get a second one before spring clean up.

I am sorry to tell our California reader(s) that Stihl says “We apologize, but we can no longer sell or ship to CA as a result of PROP 65“. I cannot figure out why, unless it is that the battery is considered toxic. It seems like an environmentally friendly and delightfully quiet little tool to me.

Here is my ultra-cool fasciated Euphorbia characias wulfenii.

I am leaving perhaps a dozen cosmos in the boatyard garden till the frost takes them down.

south end of boatyard garden, done

Allan joined me to finish the north stretch of the garden.

Allan’s photo

I am not a believer in flattening a garden in autumn. I leave a considerable amount of it standing for winter interest and for the birds to get seeds.

We removed the “please leave the flowers” signs and must remember to reinstall them when the narcissi buds appear.

Allan used The Toy on one of the Ilwaco planters and a street tree garden, to flatten the golden oregano. The first hard frost will blacken it, so this is pre-emptive and will also help small bulbs like crocuses show up.

before

after (Allan’s photos)

Sad erysimum may be pulled next spring or sooner.

We next did our last fall clean up all along the port from east to west.

east end looking west

It was so much fun to shape the santolinas and trim the sea thrift with The Toy! In the late winter, we will cut the santolinas much harder. I wonder if The Toy will be able to handle that.

It did a wonderfully easy trimming of the wax myrtle, which I keep low because of traffic sight lines.

before

after…so easy and quick!

My favourite bed by the Ilwaco pavilion…

…is the only one that will need post frost clean up of a couple of cosmos that I grew from seed.

Seed success is thrilling!

At the recently mulched Time Enough Books garden, I was pleased to see lots of poppy seedlings.

dark areas are where some grass weeds came out

poppy seedlings around my new dwarf Stipa

While I moved on to beds further west, Allan cut back an elderberry, as we do each autumn to make it easier for holiday lights to be hung.

before, “someone” forgot to take an after!

Allan said the stems of the barberry will “work well in the Pencil Sharpener”, and I realized we now have a pet name for our one-branch-at-a-time chipper-shredder.

Meanwhile, crabbers were buzzing around with their crab pots all afternoon.

in the parking lot, pots from the gear shed next door to our back garden (Allan’s photo)

finishing the westernmost garden at almost sunset

It had been my dream to get the 22 Ilwaco planters and 10 street tree gardens all done today, as well. I enjoyed the last hour of work at the port better when I let go of that dream.

At 4:30, with half an hour before dark, while Allan dumped debris, I popped across the street to pull cosmos and weeds out of the J’s front garden. Just look who I found over there asleep in the garden.

a big stretch as he emerged from his nap

He has made himself a little nest.

We are now four days away from semi-staycation. J’s will take half an hour more, the Norwoods will be a short job (although I plan to trim some lavender with the toy), pruning Mike’s escallonia is really all there is left to do of fall clean up there, and the planters will take just a couple of hours. A day to quickly finish the Red Barn and then do the LAST EVER fall clean up of Klipsan Beach Cottages garden, and one more session at the Shelburne to prune some of the wisteria and a few perennials…

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15 Oct: Bulb Time day 4— Ilwaco

Posted in journal, tagged bulb time, Howerton Avenue gardens, Ilwaco boatyard garden on Oct 20, 2018| 8 Comments »

Tuesday, 15 October 2018

We had an all Ilwaco bulbing day.

J’s & Norwood’s & Mike’s garden

We started at the little blue cottage across the street. I had noticed in a recent photo that some blue fescue looked old and tatty, so it got removed (by Allan) and new bulbs put in its place. Meanwhile, I set the bulbs out across the street at the Norwood garden and then Allan planted them while I planted at the J’s cottage.

At the J’s: azalea oddly in bloom last week, with tatty grasses

bulbs are now where fescues were

Every bulb I planted around the J’s birdbath required banging a hole through the stupid landscape fabric that is underneath this garden (not installed by the Js; it was there when they bought the place).

At the Norwoods, Allan’s befores and afters of the north side (he weeded, too, mostly pesky creeping sorrel):

before

after (I see the area where a big pieris came out needs some small shade plants added …when the weather gets damp again).

before

after

We will mulch the south side bed when we start our mulching rounds. It is narrow and was planted by the previous owners of the house.

south side

Next we planted white and pink and blue spring flower bulbs (narcissus, tulips, crocus, iris Dutch and reticulata and assorted whatnots) at Mike’s. His garden was looking quite fine with pink hesperantha but not one photo was taken.

Port of Ilwaco

Planting at the boatyard and the port came next. The hot weather was more manageable down by the water. Today, there was no wind, so our bulb bags did not blow away. That was a treat.

boatyard garden

ceanothus and lavender

I am pleased with the tapestry of flowers.

Even the BadAster is pleasing here.

rue, euphorbia, cosmos, santolina

hot sunshine, a bit too hot for my preference

looking south from the gate

We headed down to the curbside gardens along the port with an assortment of narcissi and some species tulips that I hope are small enough to not entice deer. I wish I could plant lots of crocus and Iris reticulata there. It was heartbreaking a few years back when crows or seagulls pulled out almost all of those little bulbs as soon as their early green sprouts started to show.

on the way to the port…hot

Allan’s photo (obviously)

Ilwaco pavilion garden (Allan’s photo)

Ilwaco pavilion garden

By five thirty, we had made it all the way down to the west end, putting some new bulbs in almost every bed.

west end (Allan’s photo)

shockingly hot at 5:30!

At home, the evening was pleasant, warm, windless, even after dark. I would love to have sat around the campfire but instead I had to sort the next batches of bulbs for several more hours, with the front and back garage doors open with the van parked in the driveway to give me some privacy from the street.

work board with port and boatyard erased and more sorting done

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19 Sept: fall projects and relief

Posted in fall clean up, journal, public gardens, weather, tagged Cranberry Research Station, Howerton Avenue gardens on Sep 28, 2018| 12 Comments »

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

I wanted to begin to work our way through the new projects on the work board.

The Depot Restaurant

Chef Michael had requested that we prune a big rhododendron. I won’t just hack away at something to make it smaller. We started with the idea of just keeping it from touching the eaves of the house next to the Depot that has the restaurant office.

before

A look inside the branches showed lots of old trash on the ground underneath and much dead wood inside. While Allan pruned along the back and got the shrub off of the house, I started going in from the lower front and sides.

after

before and after (Allan’s photos)

I debated at length about whether to remove the one big old branch that is coming forward, down low. Because I was so indecisive, it got left for now. Cutting it would have made a more tree-like shape with perhaps less character.

after; lots of dead wood came out

Allan’s photo; Would you cut that curving branch?

This is not the best time to prune rhododendrons. It should be done right after flowering before next year’s flowers have formed. We lost a lot of flower buds doing it now. I can see how after next year’s bloom, we can make the rhododendron smaller and still shapely.

With a trailer load heaped with a debris, we went to the local dump.

Allan’s photo

I had the intention of following the offload by working at the Red Barn and Diane’s, till a considerable rain began.

dump view

The rain increased. Instead of working in it, we headed north for an errand. On the way, we visited

The Cranberry Museum

on Pioneer Road. (You’d think the Cranberry Research Station would be on Cranberry Road, further north, but it is not.)

Allan’s photo

I was looking for a birthday present for Mary of KBC. It was something that the museum no longer had in its gift shop.

tightly clipped Vaccinium ovatum (evergreen huckleberry).

Allan’s photo

When I started gardening for a living here in 1994, one of my first jobs was pruning the huckleberry hedges at the Cranberry Research Station.

the bogs at the Cranberry Research Station

We continued on with our errand.

The Planter Box

Several bags of mulch were acquired, plants were admired, and a good talk was had with Planter Box owner Teresa.

autumnal foliage

autumnal cabbages

and kale

and chrysanthemums

This jungle bench is unusual.

With bags of mulch loaded, we put off Diane’s garden till tomorrow and headed south.

The Shelburne Hotel

I briefly checked the Cosmos ‘Xanthos’ that I had moved from an upstairs pot down into the garden yesterday.

It will provide some pale color (right) for awhile longer.

a new flush of sweet peas

Sanguisorba ‘Pink Elephant’ and one of the giant non blooming cosmos

Port of Ilwaco

The rain stopped and gave us a good evening to weed and mulch the Time Enough Books curbside garden. (All the rest of the photos are Allan’s.)

This bed originally came with the wild beach strawberry. I was heartily sick of the way it swamped everything else. And this bed does not thrive even though I have given it much attention for years. It was time for a do-over.

before

mulching with Harvest Supreme

after (will be removing more strawberry in the future)

after

the other side, before

after

While Allan went off to dump the debris, I messed around with some rocks. I have the idea of making a crevice garden here if I can find enough long rocks.

so far that’s all I got…

I also messed around with some river rock. I have an idea of a diagonal crevice garden and another diagonal river rock garden. The river rock one started with the planting today of a Leptospermum rupestre that Evan Bean gave me. Xera Plants says “Stems follow contours as they grow, good surrounding rocks and down walls.” So I had found a big rock to plant it by and then just had to play with others. This garden bed used to be a tightly packed almost concrete-like river rock xeriscape so there are plenty of river rocks to be had.

The tiny leptospermum is in the middle. (looking south)

Some more rain will clean it up. (Looking north)

It reminded me of playing with tiny round rocks under the gutter when I was a child, and the results look like a child did it. This did not help my chronic Imposter Syndrome.

But I had fun while I was doing it. After we cleaned up around the edges, it was almost dark.

At home, I erased two tasks from the work board.

What’s left

When Allan got online, he checked his bank account and found that Medicare had cashed his big catch-up cheque. This has to be a good sign. They would not take his money for nothing, so we are sure he is reinstated. I think the woman from the local office DID make a phone call to help us. What an enormous relief. I slept better than I had in the past two weeks.

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Slow Drag and the gardens 2018

Posted in journal, tagged Don Nisbett Art Gallery, hellstrip gardening, Howerton Avenue gardens, Ilwaco, Port of Ilwaco, Salt Hotel, Slow Drag 2018, Slow Drag at the Port of Ilwaco on Sep 19, 2018| 4 Comments »

Friday, 7 September 2018

Every year we photograph the Slow Drag for the Discover Ilwaco Facebook page. We posted 360 photos in this year’s Slow Drag album, because everyone who had a vehicle entered would surely be pleased to see a photo of it in the race. Here I am just sharing our favourites, some with glimpses of the curbside gardens along Howerton Avenue.

Rule one is driver must be 18 or older. Rule 2 is brake lights must be in working order. This is checked at each heat.

We walked down separately from home. Allan got to pet a beautiful dog.

Allan’s photos

Allan’s photo

My favourite, Travis driving the Who Bus. He has won twice before, but not this time.

This driver is a friend of Travis and each year he is such a cheerful presence.

santolinas and, oh yes, vehicles

roped off agastaches (Allan’s photo)

We roped off our best garden.

The debut of the Joy Train from Astoria. Love it!

The Glam Tram, also from Astoria, a former mini bus from the Los Angeles Zoo

ready to race (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

bubble machine (Allan’s photo)

petunia basket from Basket Case Greenhouse

Our Jenna, right, the event organizer, and her friend Susan.

The Church Ladies

pink bug, won the prize for most fun entry

Allan’s photo

vehicle with 2 dogs (black one is lying down)

Char, our favourite realtor, was one of the sponsors.

Allan’s photo

One of my annual favourites, little bug with luggage rack and a bubble machine

Glam Tram (Allan’s photo)

Sad to see the Glam Tram go; its battery died. (Allan’s photo)

Church Ladies lining up to race

finish line

Crocosmia, parsley, and santolina in our droughtiest curbside garden (and a vehicle)

lining up behind Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and santolina

Travis and son

winner of the “So Ugly It’s Cute” award

that bug again

artsy

and Allan’s artsy photo

cute doggies (Allan’s photo)

This lavender sacrificed its shapeliness to the sound equipment. (Allan’s photo) It did revive.

Salt Hotel ready to drag

our neighbour Jessika rides along

Between heats, the vehicles drive down Waterfront Way (usually pedestrian only).

half a bug

By Time Enough Books

Allan’s photo

The direction of the race was reversed this year, with the result that the vehicles were not traveling slowly down Waterfront Way, because they could now line up two by two on Howerton and they drove much faster down the waterfront to get there. So it was harder to get my customary photo of a red vehicle and the red Jessie’s building.

as close as I got to my usual photo

Allan managed to get this photo of rust with rust.

Waterfront Way (Allan’s photo)

Awww, the pink bug is out. (Allan’s photo)

Howerton Ave, the race source (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

respectful feet (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Well, mostly respectful (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

This little red MG was in the race to honor the driver’s father, Chuck, who had died unexpectedly in the November after the 2015 race. He would have been proud of his family; the MG came in third.