4 August: garden work and touring

Friday, 4 August 2017

Before work, Jenna (Queen LaDeDa) came over to find out what plant cuttings she could have for a Jake the Alligator Man event costume: a “wild woman”.  While I did not have anything to make a mossy head dress with, we found all sorts of ideas while walking through the garden.  She will come tomorrow morning, probably before we wake, to acquire the materials, because it is too early to cut them now.

Jenna and I on the hunt for plant costume ideas.

After she departed, I started to pick four bouquets for my favourite Art Night participants.  I ran out of steam after two bouquets.

Port of Ilwaco

I delivered a bouquet to Don Nisbett’s Art Gallery.  (He is Jenna’s spouse.)

And to Salt Hotel.

Allan watered the Time Enough Books curbside garden and did some other garden tidying in the area.

We finished weeding the south end of the boatyard garden.

battling the scrimmy little horsetail

I pictured lots of people parading along here between a downtown gallery and the port this evening.

From a distance, Allan thought the name of this incoming boat was “Sleepwear”.

Allan’s photo

Allan liked the idea shown below, of a rope tied to the hose on the boatyard faucet that people use to power wash their boats.  It keeps the faucet from being yanked by the hose, he says.

While we had been near Time Enough Books, I’d seen shop owner Karla.   She said she would be at the museum this evening for their exhibit opening and so I thought I might just give a third bouquet to the museum.  We took a break to go home and make one more bouquet.

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum

Seaview

On the way to Long Beach, we stopped by the cannabis emporium to get me a product that the Freedom Market does not have in stock.

Mr Doobie’s in Seaview

I’ve been taking a tincture called Ethos 2:1, mostly CBD, on the recommendation of a friend.  As promised, it does not get me high but what I think it has done is almost eliminate my back spasms.  I doubt it’s a placebo effect because I combine all new medications with a big dose of skepticism.

We acquired these photos, two blocks from the pot shop, of a garden I enjoy in passing.

peeking over the fence

Across the street from that garden, I asked Allan to photograph the deck railing that I quite like.  The garden is good, too.  We had a communication breakdown over getting a photo that included the garden on the corner of the property.  Maybe next week.

Long Beach

Allan thought a drive-through coffee would be helpful for the day.

Horses had been through the drive through before us!

at the drive through window

I thought all we had to do in Long Beach was to give the planter at the end of Sid Snyder Drive some water (done!) and then dump yesterday’s debris.  On the way to city works, we found one more thing to do.

Minnie Culbertson Park, before

after

I had seen an ad in the local paper about a wee dahlia “farm” in the town. (I left off the line with the phone number:)

Of course, we had to have a look.

gardener Dale picking a bouquet for a visitor

He said there will be lots more dahlias starting next week.  He was also offering lots of little plants for sale in cute little containers:

My grandma would have loved the wooden shoe.

Allan’s photo

Dale’s pond had sprung a leak.  You can see it will be good-looking when re-filled.

Basket Case Greenhouse

We needed soil and plants for an Ilwaco planter.

new shade cloth entryway

Allan’s photo

Buddy wanted to get in our van and Allan handed him to me.

Roxanne and I joked that I was taking him home.

I gave this little darling back most reluctantly.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We’d postponed our weekly cleanup of KBC because of Wednesday’s heat.  I clipped a whole lot of brown lady’s mantle out of the driveway garden and have no photos to show for that.  After working, we took photos for the KBC Facebook page (which I administrate).

The sky was still grey with a smoke haze from the fires in Canada.

lawn border

in the fenced garden

I cannot ID this special plant, a gift from Mary’s plantsman brother, with golden yew.

Veronicastrum and Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’ (kind of a fail photographing white, as usual)

Dierama (Angel’s Fishing Rod)

birdbath view

Allan’s photo

the pond island

I see they bought those string lights that were “shiny objects” to me last time we went to Costco.  If I see them for sale again, I will not resist. Or maybe I will resist because we don’t have effective outdoor outlets.  Oh well!

The Anchorage Cottages

On the way south, we made the briefest stop at the Anchorage.  Since we had been there Monday this week, I felt we should do a second quick deadheading.

I am quite worked up about how this dierema is darker than any of my others.

This thrills me.  I wonder if it would come true from seeds.

in the office courtyard (Allan’s photo)

When it was built, partly by moving WWII cottages from Cape Disappointment, the Anchorage was Ocean Front. Now, because of beach accretion, it is about a half mile from the beach.  A path leads through piney woods to the shore.

Astilbe and Fuchsia ‘Pat’s Dream’

As I had begun to deadhead, I’d asked Allan to photograph an adorable caravan in the car lot at the corner.

such a cute face

I smile in response.

Would make a great guest house.

Ilwaco

We drove past the boatyard garden to see the crowds of strolling art walk patrons that I had imagined…and saw no one at all till we drove past the galleries along the port.

We had every intention of immediately finishing the day by planting up the Ilwaco planter that got dug out, due to poor drainage, last weekend.  That is, until I looked at my Ilwaco Facebook feed on my phone to see if there were some last minute Art Walk posts that I could share to Discover Ilwaco.

I saw this photo from the museum!

The exhibit opening was on a topic that interests us.  We had planned to see it later in the month because of a reluctance for peopling (me) and simply wanting to get the work day done.  But the snacks called to us and soon we were there.

Join the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum as we explore the history of “Derbyville” and the early years of salmon derbies, recreational fishing, and the emergence of the charter-boat fishing industry on the Long Beach Peninsula. This exhibit will be on view August 4 – October 7, 2017.

the big room (The plates were about to get replenished)

Allan’s photo.  Someone at the museum said “No one’s ever brought us flowers before.”  That gives me a new bouquet target.

center: Dan and his wife had just toured our garden today (by invitation).  (Allan’s photo)

We did not have time to thoroughly peruse the exhibit.  I can see it is one that I will very much enjoy.

I like this sort of display.

This history goes back to when our garden was riverfront property, before the port was built out on fill.

Information about the mayor, for whom our street of curbside gardens at the Port if named:

We had to get back to work and plant the planter by the fire station.

Allan made the small hole, added this week by the city crew, bigger.

new plants getting firmed up

red for the fire station, including Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

At home, our neighbor Mary from two doors down brought us some freshly caught salmon and, of course, I dragged her back to see the towering, fragrant lilies.

Skooter indicated that he would like to have a campfire some evening soon.

Now for two days off, with some more lily guests invited.

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19 July: workweek, part two

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Today was the day when we check up on all of our non-city gardens.

The Depot Restaurant

north side of dining deck

the weekly watering at the Depot

Persicaria ‘Firetail’, hops on the lattice

The Red Barn

our little garden

Only my sore foot and lack of time kept me from digging out part of this sad Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.  “It’s green,” said Allan.

tigridia (Allan’s photo)

Diane’s garden

my good friend Misty being camera shy

Misty, Diane, Holly

Misty got a belly rub to make up for the photos.

Holly is decidedly not camera shy.

Oh, and the garden:

The Anchorage Cottages

The garden was dry here, too.  I had to send messages about that AND do some watering, which means less time for weeding.  (Some waterers-in-training are on the job.) Only ground level had water problems; the pots and window boxes were fine.  Allan fertilized them.

sweet peas in office courtyard (Allan’s photo)

The Planter Box

We chose some plants for the tree garden by Abbracci Coffee Bar.

at the entrance

I bought myself a variegated rush

lots of tomatoes in the big greenhouse

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We did the usual tidying. This is the one garden where I never have to worry about watering except perhaps a couple of plants in far, obscure corners.

In the swale, I noticed that a twinberry had come up and was blurring the composition.  I usually leave this area to Allan; he did not know this was a “weed shrub” to me.

before

after

This was followed by a set of photos for the KBC Facebook page.

looking in the east gate

the birdbath view

view of the fenced garden from a lawn bench

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

Port of Ilwaco

We watered all down the port of Ilwaco.  This was the task that was hardest on my sore heel today.  (I have been consulting Dr Google and I think it may be the dreaded plantar fasciitis.  I have been gleaning many useful tips for home treatment, including stretches and ice.)

Allan had an audience from one of the street trees…

and in the Loading Dock Village garden.

east end of the marina (Allan’s photo)

by the Tuna Club (Allan’s photo)

Port office garden and Basket Case baskets

gulls, boats, blue water

curbside gardens

garden boat at Time Enough Books

Someone swiped all but one of the flowering stems on the eryngium, center.  With clippers (secateurs).  I do notice.

curbside by Salt Hotel

The pot shop has a new paint job.

multi tasking

After all that hose dragging and connecting and disconnecting, later that evening when we were watching telly, we heard rain, and it rained substantially instead of the “less than 1/10 of an inch” that had been predicted.

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11 July: accomplishments

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Skooter in the morning, very much wanting to be let outside.  He has to stay in at least through Saturday, and it casts a pall on my mood as well as his.

Allan’s photo

Our volunteer garden at the post office

We actually had a work day that we could just use for weeding projects, with only a small amount of watering to do.

Long Beach

We started at the westernmost planters on Bolstad, tidied them, and I wished they got more water but we are not hauling buckets to all of them.  That said, a few of the ten or more did get the water we had with us.   They get a misting with the city water truck once a week, enough to stay alive.

The city crew was working nearby on preparatons for the Sandsations sand sculpting contest which will take place this weekend.  During the week, starting on Wednesday,  display sand sculptures will be constructed at the end of the beach approach.

Allan’s photo

In the Lisa Bonney Memorial Planter (Allan’s photo)

The ground level garden gets no supplemental water.  It has survived this way for over four years since we last had water out there to hook hoses up to.  It has been a good test of a droughty windy sandy place, to see what will grow.  Mainly rugosa roses, Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, stressed looking coreopsis, and santolinas.  The escallonias are looking less distressed that the mugo pines.

broken barberry (Allan’s photo)

after Allan tidied it up

It took less than three hours to do an adequate weeding of all 13 parts of the beach approach garden.

Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ (Allan’s photo)

working our way east

Armeria (sea thrift) deadheading, before

and after (Allan’s photo)

Parks Manager Mike Kitzman driving by on the sand project

We got to meet Beachdog’sBeachdog’s new rescue Dane, Teacup.

Beachdog Keith and Teacup (Allan’s photo)

Teacup (Allan’s photo)

Lots of people stop to talk about the gardens.

finally at the very end

We took time to deadhead all the sea thrift at city hall.

City Hall west side

Allan’s photo

sea thrift before

and after (Allan’s photos)

Gladiolus nanus

and another Gladiolus nanus

I need to get more of these or spread them around.  (Allan’s photos)

astilbe on north side city hall (Allan’s photo)

I pruned more aruncus on the north side.  That’s the Strange Landscaping truck.  More on that later.

From city hall, I could see the heroncam pond and was reminded that its surrounding landscape needed weeding.

Allan out by the waterfall, scrimming off horsetail.

His photos:

before

after

It was high time we attended to this area.

Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ and santolina

honeysuckle

The Anchorage Cottages

We had to park down below and schlep up the slope, which felt rather like Mount Everest.

Mitzu the Shihtzu was not at work today.

south end of parking lot (Allan’s photo)

First blooms on the sweet peas.

north (office) courtyard steps

by the office window

center courtyard

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (Allan’s photo)

Erygium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and lady’s mantle (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

World Kite Museum

While working at city hall, we’d had a drive by chat with our friend Ed Strange, who told us he has started on the landscaping project at the kite museum.  We had time to have a look on our way south.

Yay, the tatty row of hebes is gone.

landscape fabric is down

river rock to cover the fabric

Allan’s photo

Our little garden will really show now, so we had better pay more attention to it.

Without the hebes crowding the garden, the soil inside might not get as rooty and compact as it has been.

schmoozing with Patty while Ed works

We quit pestering Ed and got back to work at the…

Port of Ilwaco

Our project was to water the east end curbside bed and the Loading Dock Village garden.

Easternmost curbside bed gets watered about every other week.

Crocosmia, quite possibly plucked by deer (Allan’s photo)

People often stop to chat with us while we are working. Usually, at the port, the conversations are as much about boats as about gardens.

This was Allan this evening.

This was me yesterday evening.

lavender in a nest of Nasella tenuissima

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

Loading Dock Village garden

west of the Loading Dock Village

Allan’s photo

at home

While watering…

astilbes

Sanguisorba ‘Lilac Squirrel’

fluffy red poppy and yellow achillea

 

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10 July: mostly watering

Monday, 10 July 2017

front path

our garden from the street

detail (Allan’s photo)

Mike’s garden

We began at Mike’s garden a few blocks east, where most of my time was spent watering.  There are very few clients who water as much as I would like them to.

Mike’s garden

Allan’s pruning:

Lonicera ‘Baggeson’s Gold’

Long Beach

We began Long Beach with an hour spent pulling weeds at the north parking lot berm; all three of the so called berms are going to be getting more attention because of the expanded Fun Rides.

The berm (Allan’s photos), which gets no supplemental water at all:

lupines going to seed

with birds foot trefoil

and without

This Long Beach resident, Maria, was on her way home to weed and to plant some new plants in her own garden.

Then we watered downtown: 27 planters for me, 10 planters and 18 trees and six stand alone smaller containers for Allan.

The Smoke Shop planter is one of my favourites this month.

Unhappy words were said…

…over this cosmos pulled out and left to wilt.

Fifth Street Park is starting to look more colourful.

I had had to switch to my phone camera because of zoom and lens cap-opening camera dysfunction.

Armeria (sea thrift) with an interesting fasciated stem and two flowers.

The Geranium ‘Rozanne’ that had been messed with last week was still looking wilted because of pulled stems entangled with good ones.  It took a while to tease the dying ones out.

Once again, the pile was twice this big when I was done.

Allan’s photos on his watering round:

outside the Long Beach Tavern; their flower display

by the Fun Rides

For awhile at one planter, I could sense a man standing behind me.  I thought he was some random guy invading my personal space while talking on his phone….Until I finally realized it was my former partner, Robert, actually talking to me.  (Traffic was loud.)  We had a laugh about it.  I’m used to negotiating around people while watering.  Sometimes, a person will park herself on the bench despite me, my hose, and my bucket.

Ignoring Robert because I did not look to see who he was.

I had been looking forward to seeing him downtown because I was able to tell him that I had had my DNA tested and came up 39 percent Irish.  (Robert is very Irish.)

in a tree garden

Eryngium variifolium under a street tree.  I just now found out there is an E variifolium called ‘Miss Marble’; I had a cat by that name and MUST have that Eryngium!

by Dennis Company

A common sight.  This is the route from the Red Barn Arena to the beach.

There is a path that goes through woods to residential streets that lead to the beach.

If you recall the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ that was dug up for a plumbing repair and then cut way back and replanted, here it is doing well.

Coulter Park with Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and Berberis ‘Helmond Pillar’

cosmos, knautia, Cerinthe major purpurascens, sweet alyssum

painted sage and cosmos

We finished with some weeding at Veterans Field, where I got to meet a puppy.

Pup’s name was Eleanor

Also got to talk to this wonderful and good dog:

Aww….This dog was watching me as I walked away, after me saying words about it being such a very good dog.

We remembered to give some bucket water to the thirsty end planter on Sid Snyder Drive.  A fellow was sitting on the bench shaking sand out of his shoes, just yards from the beach.  I had to firmly remind myself, as I often do, that the benches ARE for people, not just for me to put my bucket and tools and hose on.

Ilwaco

I had Allan drop me and the trailer off by the Freedom Market so that I could pull a lot of the dog daisies out of the curbside beds there.  He picked up the water trailer to water the 10 street trees and 25 planters.

Freedom Market curbside bed, before

before

after

A passerby thought the the lambsear flowers looked like the finest marijuana buds, ones that “you’d be really proud of.”  He was right, and I found it amusing with the juxtaposition of the pot shop.

lambs ear “bud”

removed three heaping wheelbarrows of daisies

new mural on Salt Hotel

Allan’s photos while watering:

me starting to pull daisies

Sweet peas at the boatyard (Allan’s photo while filling the water tank)

at the boatyard

Griffin Gallery’s own planter

an old, slightly wobbly Erysimum that I’m not replacing …yet

Asiatic lilies at the post office

Evening at the marina, after another 9.5 hour day:

 

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5 July: work and art

Wednesday, 5 July 2017 (part one)

Allan had not gotten enough sleep because of Skooter’s 2 AM antics:

Skooter somehow attained the highest bookshelf.

We set off on our work rounds that take us north once a week, along with a plan for a garden tour (which will be tomorrow’s post).

Port of Ilwaco

We began by bucket watering the drive over garden, a small pocket between two driveways,  at the port.

It had been driven over.  (Allan’s photo)

driving by the boat yard

The Depot Restaurant

southeast of dining deck (Allan’s photo)

north side of dining deck

The Escallonia ‘Pink Princess’, which wants to be ten feet tall, is growing again to hide the Clamshell Railroad sign.  The restaurant was a train depot in days of old.

I’ve suggested removing the escallonia.  Chef Michael thinks, I am sure correctly, that it keeps a bad driver from running into the corner of the building.

after

The Red Barn

These helianthus have to go.  They don’t get enough water.  (Allan’s photo)

After watering the garden and the planted barrels, we walked next door to

Diane’s garden.

We had to walk along the highway because the field we usually cross was occupied.

These tire tracks did not inspire confidence.

One of the back yard planters

I got to see my good friend Misty, although she went straight into the house when Diane brought her home from errands.  Then Holly came out of the truck.

Do I hafta sit?

not for long!

Whiskey was also visiting.

So ready to play with Holly.

We drove back to the beach side on Sid Snyder Road to…

The Anchorage Cottages

Many guest vehicles were in the parking lot, so we parked behind the office, giving you a different entry view as I walked around the west side of the cottages.

We were greeted by our good friend Mitzu, who has had to take tranquilizers because of a week’s worth of fireworks noise.

Mitzu has had a stressful week of fear.  (Allan’s photo)

I weeded and deadheaded; Allan fertilized all the containers and the window boxes.

center courtyard, Rose ‘New Dawn’

by the office

We drove across Pioneer Road to the bay side to see what new plants might have arrived at

The Basket Case Greenhouse.

successfully growing a tomato in a bag of soil

greeted by my friend Penny

a real sweetheart

Darrell in the center greenhouse (Allan’s photo)

gazanias coming forward

gazanias

gazanias

We drove back to the ocean side on Cranberry Road to make a delivery to

Jim Unwin’s Hobbit Studio.

We were giving Jim and Annie a Feliway cat comfort diffuser that I no longer needed, for Annie to try to help their two cats get along better.  This entailed a tour of the art studio, which we have visited before on the peninsula wide studio tour that takes place every Thanksgiving weekend.

Jim’s Hobbit Studio

Jim at his work bench.

a double silhouette and a little sailboat (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

art ingredients

Annie’s rose (Allan’s photo)

We drove north to

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’ taller than the fence (Allan’s photo)

Tetrapanax

red dragonfly (Allan’s photo)

June bug

lily and roses

birdbath view

east gate

garden art from the Forsythea shop in Astoria

Mary’s new rose

Our good friend Bella was in the basement and did not want to come out.  She is terrified of fireworks and despite being given tranquilizers and having music played for her to drown out the noise, she has tried to dig through the floor, has hidden in the closet, and has climbed into the bathtub for safety.

She had her paw over one ear.

Nine days of fireworks fear for peninsula animals (Allan’s photo); from June 28th to July 5th.  Ridiculously long.

on the basement couch

We drove further north, almost to Nahcotta, for a garden tour which will be tomorrow’s post, and then south to do some watering of the curbside gardens at

The Port of Ilwaco.

Ilwaco pavilion curbside garden (Allan’s photo)

Something happened at the port.  (Allan’s photo)

the condor (Allan’s photo)

Westernmost bed needs its daisies clipped or pulled.  Next week.

a fasciated Linaria stem in the Salt Hotel garden

eryngium, yarrow, and parsley

Join us tomorrow on the garden tour that delighted us today.

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29 June: the longest day

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Our plan to finish the port on Friday suddenly got changed when I saw an ad in the paper last night that Ilwaco Freedom Market was holding a BBQ in their parking lot on Friday.  Their strip of bark/would-be garden would have to be done Thursday, along with the curbside garden in front of their store.  I wondered if this would change up our schedule so much that we’d have to work on Saturday…

Port of Ilwaco

In this infrequently watered garden, the recent hot day and the wind had crisped up some of the dog daisies.

before

after

Some daisies were good enough to stay through the holiday weekend.

The curbside garden got a good watering, as did the garden next door at Salt.

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

Allan had the terribly boring part of the job (his photos follow): Running the string trimmer along the sidewalk to the marina:

and the tedium of weeds in a barkscape with tatty landscape fabric (which we are slowly removing; obviously it does not prevent weeds).

I hope that we can create more joy in this bed by next year.

On the way out of town, even though we were feeling time pressure, we circled round the block to deal with this in a tree garden (Allan’s photos):

Fortunately, the sign-putter did not get mad about being told it just could not be in the tree bed, no matter how gently placed.

It’s not even a great patch of garden….However, the sign sets a bad precedent for future damage.

Long Beach

We checked on and did not feel the need for any work at the welcome sign.

The Fun Rides have now moved into a parking lot area near the center parking lot berm.  We felt the need to at least string trim said berm.  Allan dropped me off at Veterans Field to weed and took time for a bit of strimming there.

Before: a rough edge had been left.

after

meadowy look around the anchor

flag pavilion garden: am thrilled Salvia patens came back

Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ and Salvia patens

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

I think Sapphire Blue reseeded itself into plain old eryngium, left  ??maybe

Meanwhile, Allan faced the tedium of the boring and never watered center berm:

a string trimmer job, with some dandelion pulling

He found a dirty diaper as well as weeds. Unfortunately, used diapers are not an unusual find in the parking lot area.

I started the watering round earlier than Allan did so was able to do four blocks of planters to his two.  My walkaround:

I realized that the theme of most of my planters IS the meadow look.

cosmos and California poppies

Today, I had the hard task of carrying bucket water to the four Fish Alley planters…a long walk to the back end. I sometimes think this is the hill I will die on.

It was windy…again.

Basket Case basket

I am very disappointed in the Salvia viridis, painted sage, this year.  They are supposed to look like this:

pink dahlia, pink painted sage

But this year and last year they have been disappointing.  Everywhere I’ve planted them this year, they are just putting out one small disappointing bract on the top:

The bract (colored leaf) is the showy part and should be all down the stem! Why is this happening?

 

If these plants don’t shape up, I am going to go off them and not use them next year.  For so many years they have been the most asked about plant (many times per each summer watering session) in the planters.  Last year, when they were also dull, no one asked about them at all.

Allan’s watering walk around:

????? What have we here?

nice round lavender

a crab shell deposited in a planter

Cosmos and California poppies

So he saw this woman with a hat clearly decorated with planter flowers (Cosmos and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and California poppy).  She told him her two year old had picked them, and she was perfectly happy to have her photo taken.

In other unrelated news, a local realtor told Allan that she had seen a woman picking a bouquet from under the trees.  When the realtor suggested the woman not do that, the woman (not the woman in the hat) kept picking, saying she “had permission”, which the realtor doubted.  Allan assured her that permission had not been given by us.

In better news, he saw someone taking photos of the flowers, as it should be.

We finished Long Beach by weeding in Fifth Street Park.  It is taking a long time to get interesting.

slow to be colorful; we are not allowed to let much of the garden be taller than the fence.

I cut off the spent stalks of Camassias.

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ and cerinthe (Allan’s photo)

Port of Ilwaco again

More watering of the Howerton curbside gardens was essential.  Allan started east of the Pavilion while I watered and weeded by the Nisbett Gallery, port office, Time Enough Books…

Coast Guard helicopter overhead (Allan’s photo)

Someone had braided a grass by Loading Dock Village. Allan thought a clever student from the driving school did it while waiting.  (Allan’s photo)

Eryngium and santolina (Allan’s photo)

Eryngium and yarrow (Allan’s photo)

Port office south side…which the office staff waters.

the marina

In the curbside gardens, I have found eremerus (foxtail lily) to be a big disappointment.  They just mostly dry up like this one:

in the center, all dried up and no flower

And only one looks like it should, so I may have to give up on planting them:

beautiful tall spikes of the one happy Eremurus

port office curbside

Artist Don Nisbett told me he’d given this little bed 11 gallons of water on the recent 90 degree day.  Thank you, friend!

I spent a lot of time grooming the dead flowers off of the sea thrift.

example: before

after

Allan caught up to me and dropped off the trailer at the boatyard, went home and hooked up the water trailer, and came back to help me finish watering at Time Enough.

veronica at Time Enough

Time Enough garden boat

Purly Shell yarn shop shares the Time Enough building.

I felt a strong desire to have a nice dinner at Salt Pub.  Not tonight.

Allan still had to water the Ilwaco trees and planters.  At 7:30, he dropped me off at the boatyard to weed.

I walked down to the north end to begin.  There, the weeds were the worst with lots of tall velvet grass.

taken while Allan watered planters at the boatyard intersection

a trio on a walk (Allan’s photo shows two out of three dogs)

8:15 PM

I was thrilled to find some sweet peas, planted from seed, prevailing against the horsetail.

tree garden watering where the sign had been (Allan’s photo). I do not like that wild sweet pea in there. He does.

 

boatyard: I had got this far by 8:50 PM.

I was getting close to the stretch that had been partly weeded earlier this week.

I have planted a few lilies in the boatyard to test if deer will eat them. I think a human picked some of the flowers off this one.

I love heleniums.

8:55 PM

I started to wonder when Allan would show up, as the song lyrics “Gettin’ dark, too dark to see…” ran through my mind.  I pictured slowly pushing my wheelbarrow home in the dark.  The odd thing was I still had loads of energy and could have weeded for another two hours (by headlamp?), thanks in part to my Unloader knee brace.

At last Allan drove up to the trailer at the other end of the boatyard.

what I got done

The whole stretch has to be weeded reasonably well by Saturday.

It was 9:30 at home before the trailer was unhitched and parked.  Allan saw this disturbing sight on the roof next door:

Not good news. Raccoons severely damaged the shake roof on my old house…

They are bold and unafraid.

I didn’t know I still had it in me to do a ten hour day and was well chuffed.

 

 

 

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20 June: evading wind

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

We woke to one of those soaking misty rains that appeared to have been falling all night; I had heard the dripping into the rain barrel outside my window at 2 AM.  This led to a slow start on the day.

As I was carrying a change of clothes to the van, I saw three young women walking by saying “Oh, what a cute garden! Look, it says Tangly Cottage!”  Then the speaker saw me and said. “Oh, it’s YOUR garden, no wonder, you garden for the whole community!”  That was nice.

Allan took two photos while dumping a wheelbarrow for me in the back garden:

Primula vialii fallen over

Cobwebs on the sprinklers show we have not yet had to use them this year.

I’m sure the windblown Ilwaco post office garden needs attention.  I just looked at it because it was so wet.  It was a winter clothes day because of a strong wind and I did not want to start out with damp sleeves and pants.

I had a few lambs ear starts from cleaning up the port office garden’s sidewalk area after the storm.  The Freedom Market garden, which I have so far failed to make beautiful, seemed like a good spot for them.

The curbside garden is attractive.

Allan planting the lambs ears in the shop’s own garden, where they might not get stepped on when they resprout.

I found several big dandelions in the curbside garden.

All the port gardens are on schedule for a thorough weeding next week before the July 1st fireworks show.

We had debris left over from Thursday’s post-storm clean up in Long Beach.  Our first stop was to dump it at city works.

The killdeer parents got very upset when we arrived because they have two little babies.

The mother birds tried to guide us away from the babies by fluttering and making a lot of noise and pretending to have a broken wing.

Allan’s photo

the broken wind feint?

Eventually, she seems to have realized we were not much of a threat so she rejoined her babies.

Our plan today had been to do Long Beach and Ilwaco watering, but with the extra rain and with the strong, annoying wind, we decided to do two more sheltered gardens instead.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

At KBC, we could hear the wind roaring through the tops of the surrounding trees.  In the garden, all was more peaceful as we tidied up storm damage.  Mary and Denny had been on a trip for a dear friend’s birthday over the weekend, and the staff and other residents told them that the wind had been fierce and the place had been a mess of small fallen branches and leaves, all cleaned up by the time Mary and Denny returned home.

The main plant that I had expected to be affected by wind was the towering Thalictrum ‘Elin’.

And indeed it was.

had to cut some of it off

Mary watches the struggle.

It took me and Allan and some long black string to truss it up in a way that I hoped looked moderately natural.  Allan went under the rugosa roses to find a strong enough branch to fasten the string loop to.

It doesn’t look too unnatural.

This rose had many rain sodden flowers and few leaves; I ended up choosing to cut it way back and fertilize with Dr Earth.

After a long work session, I took some photos for the KBC Facebook page.

east gate

Dianthus ‘Charles Musgrave’

birdbath view

Allium nigrum

driveway garden

Right now is the beautiful time for lady’s mantle’s chartreuse flower sprays.

The Anchorage Cottages

Our good friend Mitzu greets us.  (Allan’s photo)

Another somewhat sheltered garden is the Anchorage.  The wind does whip across the parking lot, but some moments of shelter can be found in the garden.  As we entered the driveway, I saw some sightline pruning needed to be done on a large shore pine by the street.  That led to some more pruning of dead branches on the chaemacyparis trees  by the road and to the removal of a dead willow, the whippy thin-leaved kind.

Beth and Mitzu all got involved in the pruning and hauling, and then Allan fertilized all the planters and window boxes while I weeded (and planted some starts from my bucket of extra lambs ears).

two of four window boxes

the other two; I try to coordinate the flowers with the signs.

center courtyard

New Dawn rose, would be quite perfect except she gets blackspot.

north garden

north garden

Allan’s photo

I pruned the rhododendron before Beth started to express worry about it reaching up to the gutters again.  I like it to provide some window privacy for that cottage.

Long Beach

On the way home, we assessed what work needed doing in Fifth Street Park and admired the lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis); I usually am off this plant until the all to brief period when it blooms.

It is all chartreuse and frothy.

hideous horsetail edging in the damp southwest bed.

I asked Allan for a photo of the lady’s mantle on the east side of the park.

evidence of rain

When we got home, I suddenly felt inspired to remove the bricks from the edge of a former garden bed in the nearby Norwood lawn so I could cross it off my work list.  I did not take my camera.  The garden bed is now defunct and will become part of the lawn; it is right inside a hedge and is competing too much with roots and has been allowed to go back to grass.  I used most of the bricks to make a little path to the faucet.

one down on the work list

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