15 March: planting and trimming

Friday, 15 March 2019

Before work, I had an exciting delivery from Gossler Farms, a Stachyurus praecox.  I have been looking for this plant since I left my old garden and had to leave a large one behind.  (It probably got crushed when the new owner had some danger trees felled from the slope above it.)  It is a winter blooming shrub that I adore.

Allan’s photos

It is gorgeous.  Now I just have to figure out how to squeeze it in to a garden bed that I can see from my living room desk in early spring.

I dug up several clumps of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and one clump each of a couple of more special sedums (“Strawberries and Cream’ and one with more glaucous foliage whose name I forget) to plant as the new center plant in the

Ilwaco planters.

Allan took most of the photos for this first part of the day.

in the boatyard

My hope is to make the small round easily-baked-in-the-sun planters need watering only once a week…or even just once every five days, or even four, would be an improvement.  We had removed the winter battered Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ which have been the centerpieces for years.

loads of snails in a planter near the boatyard

under a street tree

I admired both the south facing window and the garden bed below it at the Col Pacific Motel.

One of three erysimums that we had left because they looked ok looked so bad close up that I was sorry I had left it.

A variegated sedum had been taken over by a green reversion.  I axed all the green parts off and I do hope it will stay the handsome variegated form.

Just look how much it had reverted!  I had all but forgotten that it was anything but the plain green form.

The offending green parts in a bucket will be welcome elsewhere.

Long Beach

We began with a quick check up and some tidying at the city hall garden….

a corner at city hall before…

and after

The old lavatera in the west side garden beds that were planted by Gene and Peggy Miles has become so worn that this is probably its last year.  I will need to plant something low there because the office staff likes to be able to see out the window.

And then we trimmed santolinas and did some other grooming on the planters on the Sid Snyder approach and the six downtown blocks.

Sid Snyder Drive

The trimming will inspire the santolinas to have a nice round shape instead of getting raggedy.

before…this one took a lot of hand trimming rather than the speedy Stihl trimmer….

…because it was so intertwined with narcissi.

Allan took on the truly horrid job of clipping the rugosa roses that volunteered itself under one of the trees and then weeding it for the first time this year.

before

after

I walked back and forth between planters and street trees, heading north and trimming santolinas as I went.

This is the planter that started it all, one of four that I did back in about 1998 when they were all done by different volunteers.  The city administrator at the time said it was “magnificent”.  It still has the original santolinas.

before

A few years ago, I got so bored while hand trimming the furthest one that I suddenly cut it back to the trunk! It took it two years to come back.  I am glad I have The Toy now which makes the job fun rather than high pressure and tedious.

after (I blocked part of the photo with my thumb, oops)

Allan caught up to me halfway through town and removed the protective old leaves from the Fifth Street Park gunnera…

…and then trimmed a couple of blocks of planters himself.

The carousel is back, a sure sign of the tourist season.

I love small cupped narcissi.

I realized I would not have the satisfaction of erasing santolinas from the work board because we still have the ten or so planters on Bolstad beach approach to trim.  At five o clock, I was too exhausted to do it even though in past years I’d have gone on till dark to get it done.  I blamed the after effects of the Shingrix vaccine (whose side effects can last 3-5 days) rather than aging.

I did not even think I could muster the energy for the last two untrimmed planters north of the stoplight that I saw when we were on our way to dump debris. But I did (which means Allan did, too) because those blocks would be more crowded on a Saturday.

one of the last two planters

The downtown santolina trimming used to take all day, with sore hands from clipping afterwards.  The Toy made it take just the afternoon.

The work board tonight:

 

 

 

 

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9 Oct: working close to home

Tuesday, 9 October 2018

A sunny day turned reading plans into work reality.   I had rearranged today’s work in order to stay to home because we were expecting a cable telly repairperson in the afternoon to replace our suddenly plotzed DVR box.  I had briefly pondered if it were a sign to give up cable telly and just watch shows online.  I could not find the energy to figure out a new thing so had resignedly waited the two days for a repair appointment.

Ilwaco

I planted the Conca D’Or lily bulb into the fire station garden while Allan photographed a couple of Ilwaco houses that are further along with Halloween prep than we are.  (We have not begun.)

on Spruce Street

another Spruce Street house….

…wherein lives a friend sympatico with us (not shown in the window).

I wonder if she had just gotten back from a demonstration we had not heard about?

Allan helped by deadheading at the fire station.

We dug out annoying plants from two of the city planters kitty corner from the boatyard.

part of the boatyard garden

the north side of the boatyard

I once had a garden running partway along the north fence as well as the full length of the east fence.  Only the east garden remains because a pipe laying project about fifteen years ago put paid to the north garden.

A teucrium (?) of great vigor had completely filled up one of the planters, and in another, a golden oregano had repeatedly been crispy by watering days.

Allan’s photo

We had a bag of potting soil that had an unfortunate large vein of sawdust in it.

Allan’s photo

formerly swamped with golden oregano (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)

I should have dumped the whole bag of potting soil into the wheelbarrow and mixed it up.

We took the teucrium (?) and golden oregano down to the port and planted it in curbside beds where a reasonably vigorous plant is welcome.

east end

port crew member at work tidying the bank of the marina (Allan’s photo)

Allan at work at the west end

While waiting for the cable repair, we worked across the street from our house at the J’s.

ghosts in Jay and Jodie’s tree

azalea oddly in bloom

Looking at that photo, I think that I will remove those blue fescue.  They are well past their prime.

The only irksome thing about waiting for the cable repair was the several automated phone calls from the company wanting to be assured that we had not changed our mind about the two hour window for the appointment.

The situation reminded me of how people say “First World Problems” about things like cable tv or mobile phone woes.  This excellent essay explains why the phrase is problematic—and inspired me to read the novel Open City by Teju Cole.

In case you don’t click the link, here is part of what Cole wrote about “First World Problems”: “I don’t like this expression “First World problems.” It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems. All the silly stuff of life doesn’t disappear just because you’re black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations. Here’s a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are.”

Here is another essay on the same topic.

And The Guardian eloquently weighed in right here.

Right after another automated call let me know that the repair would take place in a half an hour, two cable guys arrive, one a trainee, both efficient and pleasant.  The new DVR box is smaller and yet also so subtly grumbly at all times that much later, while reading at midnight, I thought we had a dripping leak somewhere. It was just the disk making a faint racket, the sort of racket that most people would say only bothers me (but Googling proved it does bother other people with sensitivity to noise). Every appliance we have had to replace this year, (refrigerator, washing machine, and now the DVR) is noisier than the old one we had before.  I wish the engineers would realize that quietness is a worthy goal.

I failed, by punching the wrong menu number, to correctly take the survey in yet another phone call right after the appointment was over, so I missed my chance to give the guys a good review.

But I digress.  In one of Marion Cran’s books, she mentions being told that her books were “discursive”.  The kindest part of the definition is “rambling, digressive, meandering, wandering, maundering, diffuse.”

After the repair, we had time to garden for two more hours at

The Shelburne Hotel.

I went into the north side garden by the pub windows to dig out the utterly silly echinops, AKA blue globe thistle plants there.  From the original clump I planted in the sun years ago, these had been moved all over in my ten year absence.  They won’t bloom in this deeply shady bed.

before

I like the short, narrow bladed, and very controllable round-handled shovel when I am working by the old windows.

after plant removal and then shifting of a pulmonaria and scrophularia, both with white or silver leaves.

The last of the sweet peas are still good enough to stay.

looking north

looking south

from the south end sidewalk

Meanwhile, Allan had checked the plants on the second floor decks and balconies.

dahlia on the room four deck

He then sheared down the Persicaria ‘Firetail’ that had been planted under the rhododendron at the south end of the property.

before

My former spouse and former co-gardener stopped by for a chat.

In the mail today arrived three books by Marion Cran.

Garden Talks has transcripts of her 1920s gardening radio show. She is said to be the first gardening broadcaster.  The little book is Garden Wisdom, excerpts from her various books. Gardens of Character is her second to last gardening memoir.  I set aside the final memoir, Hagar’s Garden, and sat down straightaway to read halfway through Gardens of Character (with a break for dinner and This is Us).

12:30 AM: Skooter usurps the late night reading lap space

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9 August: dog day in Long Beach

Thursday, 9 August 2018

Long Beach

As we got our hoses together to water, I heard the Ramones’s song I Wanna Be Sedated coming from the Fun Rides.  My favourite band; it made me happy.

I pulled bindweed in Lewis and Clark Square park and at the police station before I started to water my half of the Long Beach planters.

I wonder if Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ has crossed with orange crocosmia to make a short red one.

little fig tree with one fig

I met some darling dogs…

and then they multiplied.

And I got to give Sophie the bulldog a nice drink of water.

And I often have an audience of passing dogs.

The planters are looking fine.  Next week I will do the planter reference post for August.

Allan’s photo, Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Allan’s photo

The Rides are being remodeled. (Allan’s photo)

inside (Allan’s photo)

I trimmed some crocosmia at the Wind World Kites planter.

after; there is a difference

In the planter by Funland I saw a hole…

and when I looked to the other side I realized someone had stolen one of my nice santolinas, which I cannot replace now.

Damn it all.

I thought, You might as well take them both, you evil selfish yobbo.  Having the symmetry destroyed till next year is so upsetting.  This is why I plan to quit Long Beach in two years.

Allan trimmed the lady’s mantle in Fifth Street Park and we both deadheaded the roses.

before

after (Allan’s photos)

I would cut the foliage back harder on the alchemilla.  Later. Maybe with a string trimmer.

Basket Case basket by the restroom (Allan’s photo)

On the way south, we passed a cute beach cottage.

At the welcome sign, the cosmos are still not blooming and yet were so tall I had to trim back the foliage.  There are no flower buds.

I hate to but I must give up on cosmos…or must I?  I might try Cosmos ‘Cupcake’ which bloomed so well this year.  The sign has ‘Sensation’ which has been a bust.  I resolved to give up using ‘Sensation’ mix cosmos.

Shelburne Hotel

We got there earlier than usual so had more time to garden as well as watering.

the totem garden

I forgot to return with big loppers to remove a dead blackberry cane from next door that is draped on the totem pole’s beak.

This bed, infested with houttynia and with montbretia returning, will need a lot of digging this fall:

bocce ball patio

beans

They are Sunset runner beans.

Agastaches from the first batch I got from That Nursery (the one whose second batch of agastaches were so very bad) are still looking great.

Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’

I was unhappy to find that the hops on the shady side of the pub deck railing were developing sooty mold.  Lest it be worse by Monday, I trimmed a lot of leaves, leaving my hands blackened with the mold.

I read that you can spray the leaves with soapy water and then later with clear water and the mold will wash off, leaving clean leaves.  I don’t have time for that, though. (Of course, I disinfected my clippers and hands before touching any other plants.)

after

Allan’s photo

I think next year I might do like hops growers do and just let there be a few of the vining stems.

back garden dining (Allan’s photo)

Just as I was finishing this and feeling morose, a blog reader appeared and cheered me up immensely.

Bartender Juan jovially asks, “What happened to my hops?” and a darling blog reader stands by to chase away my hops gloom.

making life better; thank you.

It takes a lot of deadheading now to keep the sweet peas going.

Ilwaco

I watered the boatyard.  For the first time this year, a hose was going up into one of the boats…

…but I managed to find another hose.

After watering, I walked home, admiring our volunteer post office garden…

…and I deadheaded our volunteer garden at the fire station.

…and finished by weeding the Norwood garden, where I admired the new paint job.

such a pretty blue house

hydrangea bed weeded

Meanwhile, Allan had watered the Ilwaco street trees and planters and the post office and fire station gardens.

Allan’s photos:

darling Queenie at Azure Salon

swallows nest in a doorway

He finished by watering our new little plants down at the port…

…where he applied Sluggo to protect the Crambe martima.

A nine hour day for me, nine and a half for him, and we now have three days off.

 

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23 July: cold watering

Monday, 23 July 2018

Long Beach

We watered, deadheaded, and otherwise tidied the street trees gardens and planters. The wind was annoying but not terribly cold…yet.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Tigridia

Variegated bulbous oat grass, which to some looks like a weed.

But look! It’s variegated! (At least unless it reverts to green blades and then out it goes.)

Allan’s photo: Funny hats are a common sight in Long Beach.

new lilies in Fifth Street Park

For those familiar with Long Beach, you will know where I mean when I say the two garden beds just south of Funland are not ours to care for.  Funland just mulched them with these pine needles; both Allan and I found that interesting when we walked by it at different times.

my photo

Allan’s photo

Allan got done before me and pulled horsetail from the corner bed at Veterans Field, where he found a sign of the Friday Farmers Market:

among the Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ (Allan’s photo)

I recently read that Brodiaea likes dry conditions and so am going to try it out at the port curbside gardens.

Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ at the Vet Field flag pavilion

I wonder if after we finally retire from LB someday, will someone put in a more traditional red, white and blue garden?

I took photos of 17 of the 18 street tree gardens and am going to publish a reference post (just once, not every month) tomorrow morning. (There is a long, non-bloggable story of why just 17.)

Shelburne Hotel

We watered, including Allan checking on the upstairs balcony and deck pots.

room 4 deck

The rose that got moved to the room 4 deck is going to flower. I hope it is a good one and not some old root stock.  It is happy here.

I love working at the Shelburne.  The garden makes me happy.  Today was an intense session of thinning and editing, including pulling a sheaf of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ had appeared to have gladiolus rust and needed to depart the garden post haste, bagged.  There is way too much Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ spread all around anyway, although I did not feel as much that way when it was in full bloom.

Along the railing (right) is where I pulled suspect crocosmia.

I debated in early spring about whether to prune or remove that ‘Helmond Pillar’ Barberry. Glad I pruned the pitiful branches and let it revive itself.

The garden got some breathing room by the pulling of running aster, mostly.

I keep cutting back the Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ so it won’t block the pub sign from the street view.

Ilwaco

When we left the sheltered Shelburne garden, we realized that a strong cold wind of at least 20 mph had kicked up.  It was blasting fiercely along the boatyard garden, where I had to water.  I felt tremendously sorry for myself, wearing a winter scarf in late July and so very cold.

not enjoyable at all

my audience

I wondered if the birds were cold, too.

The larger boats gave me some temporary shelter from the cold north wind.

I had no will to weed in the icy gale.

horrible horsetail

After watering and deadheading a few sweet peas, I just walked by the garden and on home.

Someone had picked more blue globe thistle right under one of the signs…

“Please leave flowers for everyone to enjoy.”

…and had pulled some out by the roots and just left it there.

Perhaps a passerby interrupted the thievery or perhaps the thief decided the stem was too stickery.

Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ is looking brown instead of silver.

too much wind? not enough water?

?? why?

santolina with pesky self sown orange montbretia

I’d like to pull swathes of floppy California poppies, but not today.

My walk home:

mystery paths in the field across the street

First Avenue

Behind the museum is the Discovery Garden, which is now maintained by the Pacific County Master Gardeners.

Interpretive sign from the original park installation.

This was formerly a recirculating stream.

formerly upper pool of little stream

Our friend Bill Clearman helped to construct this memorial wall.  I feel that these big planters distract from viewing its beauty.

This was the unobstructed wall years ago.

The tiles are by Renee O’Connor.

As for the plans that the MGs have for this garden, you can read about their project here.  I am not a Master Gardener so am not involved in this volunteer project.  I admit to a prejudice against “native plant gardens”. It is a rare artificially created native landscape that doesn’t look just scruffy, in my opinion.  It can be done, by the brilliant Leslie Buck, for one.

I hoped to see some of the feral cat colony (featuring many orange cats with quizzical faces) further down the block.  They were all sheltered somewhere out of the wind.

On Main Street (which is not very “main”, being only two and a half blocks long).

Meanwhile, Allan had watered the Ilwaco street trees and planters with the water trailer, also not enjoyable I am sure (but at least it is a little bit in and out of the van and thus with breaks from the wind).

for those interested in the mechanics of watering the Ilwaco planters

We did not plant gladiolas in any of the planters.  Someone persists in planting them in the planters, and someone (else, I am sure) persists in picking them pretty much every year when they are at their best.

finger blight

I told Allan later to just pull out the foliage and corm when that happens.

I texted him when I got home; he had just started hose watering our volunteer gardens at the fire station and the post office.  A nine hour day for me and longer for him.

 

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31 March: beach approach triumph

Saturday, 31 March 2018

Before work, Allan helped me dig up a start of Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ to take to the Shelburne.  I have it planted in a big old garbage can planter, not easy to divide from.  The one I got from Todd for my birthday is Eupatorium fortunei ‘Capri’, which is shorter and whose foliage is a brighter pink.

We had an audience.

digging

We then planted sweet peas along the fence at the

Ilwaco boatyard garden.

I still don’t know the extent of the possible digging.  The construction crew for the new boat washing thingie cannot dig the sweet peas all up, can they?  I figure there is no way they would dig all along the base of the fence, although they may have to go under it a time or two…

Allan’s photos:

With that done, we returned to

Long Beach

We first deadheaded the welcome sign.  Just in time for spring break, it’s in an awkward pause between narcissi and tulips.

deadheading

anemone blanda (Allan’s photo)

 

We then returned with enthusiasm to the final section of the Bolstad beach approach garden.

I had offered up free rugosa roses (with plenty of warning about how they run) on a Facebook group for Peninsula Gardeners.   I recall that about four group members said they would come get some, so I asked Allan to start by pulling the roses right along the edge (where we try to keep them back from sidewalk and street).

We have this much left to do.  The buoy has been our goal all along.

As it turned out, only one couple showed up for roses.  I saved two buckets of cuttings for a friend who is out of town.

befores (Allan’s photos):

I found a painted rock from “Long Beach school” hidden deep under lupines.  A lot of these rocks get put in places where plants grow over them and only the gardeners will find them.  I put it on better display.

I did not complain about picked narcissi yesterday, deciding to give the finger blight rants a one day rest.  Today, I found several narcissi clumps whose flowers were plucked and one big hole where something got stolen, probably a nice clump of narcissi.

We had a delightful visit from our friend Mitzu, former staff member at a place where we recently quit working.  She and her people were going for a walk.

Our good friend Mitzu.

At 3:30, we made it to the end!

“Ocian in view!”, as Lewis or Clark wrote.

We had come all this way.

And the vehicle traffic had not been nearly as bad (for weeding on the street side) as we had expected on this sunny spring break Saturday.  A woman walking by said, “Your town is so pretty! I love coming here!”

afters (Allan’s photos):

We will add some mulch when a new pile is delivered to city works.

A bit of deadheading by the hotel/townhouse/arch end of the beach approach, and we were done.

We had an audience from a hotel window. (Allan’s photo)

Allan and I separated, he to dump debris and then to deadhead the south blocks of planters and street tree gardens and me to deadhead city hall and the north blocks.

trilliums at city hall

The wider part of the west bed needs more narcissi planted next fall.

drab!

I had wanted to take a March photo record of all of the planters and street tree gardens.  Due to bright sun and deep shadows and to my camera battery dying, this mission failed. My iPhone camera couldn’t handle the light contrast. We did get some pretty photos, and enough of a record that I can use to make a list of which planters are low on narcissi.

Here are some of the end of March flowers of Long Beach.

my photos:

planter by NIVA green

variegated tulip foliage (battered by rain)

Dennis Company tree

under tree across from Dennis Co.

one early tulip…

and finger blight!!

Dennis Co planter

a flock of ducks at the Heron Pond

tree by Long Beach Pharmacy

Fish Alley

an Easter rock (from “Vancouver Rocks” group, SWWashington)

Third Street

Lewis and Clark Square, Tulip ‘Formosa’ which usually blooms in late April

Tulips ‘West Point’ and ‘Tom Pouce’

Third Street gazebo

Tulipa sylvestris

If this is Cool Crystal, it is awfully early.

Tulip acuminata buds

Allan’s photos:

shrubby planter left over from volunteer days (that hebe!)

If I could get up the energy, I would like that to be the next planter we clear out as it looks rather dull most of the time.

Fifth Street Park

by Abbracci Coffee Bar

This old planting of azaleas and a rhododendron (not by us) is only interesting right now.

With all of Long Beach town deadheaded, we repaired to the Shelburne Hotel to plant one Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ and to reward ourselves for our completed days and days of weeding the beach approach.

Shelburne Pub

epimedium flowers outside (Allan’s photo)

The hotel lobby now includes spillover pub seating. (Allan’s photo)

in the pub: Cosmo with Adrift Distillers cranberry liqueur

I had black garlic fried rice and am still remembering its goodness as I write this a day later.

black garlic fried rice and a salad

Allan’s pub burger and salad

well deserved treats

 

delicious beeramisu

At home, I woke two sleeping cats.

The only let down to the happy end of the beach approach project was that Calvin’s cough has come back.  It was so bad in the late evening that I thought of the emergency vet.  Some soothing medicine I had left over from Smoky helped him, so that he can wait till Monday to go in for an asthma shot.

The re-written work board:

I have every intention, some time in the next two weeks, of working on a new volunteer garden project at the Ilwaco Fire Station.

 

 

 

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9 November: brief work afternoon

Thursday, 9 November 2017

I got eight hours of sleep for the first time since my cat Smoky got sick.  This meant a late start to the day.  I had barely settled in to what I thought would be a reading afternoon when the sun emerged from rain and we decided to go to work.  We picked the Ilwaco boatyard so we would not get drenched far from home if rain returned.

I left Frosty in his peculiar new favourite spot:

smack dab in the middle of the back bedroom floor

On the way to work, we clipped the Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ at the back of our volunteer post office garden.

Allan’s photo; no before; the Helianthus had been in the back corner.

Ilwaco boatyard

I had decided to take down some of the annuals now instead of waiting for frost, because I remembered how hard they were to pull from frozen ground.

sweet peas all the way to the top of the fence

Turns out that while I did pull some of the sweet peas and the taller cosmos, I could not bear to pull them all.

Tall cosmos and the tallest sweet peas and the verbascums got pulled.

Allan’s photo; We did get caught in a couple of brief squalls

Allan’s photo: This re-seeded euphorbia had to go, as it was too close to the sidewalk

Allan’s photos: All but the two Stipa gigantea at the center of the garden got their long stems trimmed.

Allan’s photos: sweet peas that I left blooming.

In pulling the old foliage off of a big Geranium ‘Rozanne’, I found a pair of clippers that I had lost over the summer.

The clippers had been hiding inside a santolina whose dead flowers I had sheared a month or more ago.

We had time to do a pretty good weeding all along the boatyard garden, as well, and to sow a bucket of poppy seeds that I had saved from deadheading there in late summer.  I thought the poppies might not reseed naturally because we had added a lot of mulch at the end of summer, smothering seedlings.  But I found quite a few new little poppy seedlings despite that, so good.

The crab pot tree has been assembled.  Allan will help decorate it later this month.

bare bones of the crab pot tree (Allan’s photo)

event poster by Don Nisbett

A fishing boat was pulling in to the nearby processing company, Ilwaco Landing.

 

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We dumped a few buckets of weeds at our dump spot, and took all the cosmos, sweet peas and clean non weedy clippings home to my compost mountain.

view from the east end of the marina

debris haul to compost bins (Allan’s photo)

the rain gauge from last night (Allan’s photo)

A dear local friend of ours is having post surgery woes.  Allan ran her son to McDonalds to get a meal, and then he and I went to meet Dave and Melissa for dinner at

Salt Pub.

It’s now dark when we go to dinner. Salt courtyard, Allan’s photo

Dave’s eyes were on a televised football game at the other end of the room.

fish and chips and sliders

clam chowder

Tomorrow we do expect the weather to be good enough for working, followed by a rainy weekend that I hope to devote to reading.

 

 

 

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5 October: Ilwaco and KBC

Thursday, 5 October 2017

While divesting ourselves of the Ilwaco street tree branches that we had pruned yesterday evening, we  admired of the east end of the marina.

I found out later that the floating enclosure is a pen…

…for young salmon, used in a recent study of some sort.

Butch, the owner of Coho Charters (the red building) is my go to person for fishing questions.

We headed north, with a brief stop at the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Allan’s photo, getting rady for Halloween

a selection of new plants at the Basket Case

including nice Euphorbia ‘Glacier Blue’

Next stop: picking up a yard of Soil Energy at Peninsula Landscape Supply. We were worried because the Soil Energy pile had been way low last time, and might be all gone.  When we arrived, we saw a truck and trailer ahead of us.  Who were these people competing with us for the last of the pile, I thought anxiously….until I saw they were our good friends Judy and Larry.

Allan’s photo

Larry, Judy, me: friends with similar goals

We were glad there was enough in the Soil Energy bin for two loads.

We parked off to the side and the mulch came to us. (Allan’s photo)

Klipsan Beach Cottages  

Our first actual job of the day was a tidying and some cutting back at KBC.

Allan dug out a daylily, the same kind that he dug out for me in my own garden recently.

It is prone to daylily leaf streak. (Allan’s photo).  The flowers are hardy fuchsia.

before cutting back Thalictrum ‘Elin’

and after

The thalictrum will come home with us for Halloween decor.

Allan cut down one part of the rugosa rose.  The whole shrub is going to come down later.

After. Now you can see through to the lower fenced garden.

As you can see, the day was (too) warm and bright.

view in the east gate

the birdbath view

the inner bench circle

a huge bud on the Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’

fall colour on hamamelis

Allan captured the moment when Mary noticed the leaf colour.

We didn’t see Denny today.  He had had a knee replacement (his second) on Tuesday and was at home napping.

                           Long Beach

On the way south, we checked up on the beach approach gardens and the Long Beach city hall garden.  This weekend’s two days of clamming will generate a lot of passersby.

the foyer at city hall (Allan’s photo)

MaryBeth stopped by when she saw us at City Hall.  She gave us a present that she had been carrying with her for the next time our paths crossed.

After checking on the Sid Snyder approach planters…

the westernmost Sid Snyder planter (Allan’s photo)

…we made sure the World Kite Museum garden looked good, because their annual One Sky One World event is this weekend.  The philosophy of One Sky, One World is needed more than ever now.

Pleased with the new containers at the kite museum.

Ilwaco

The south third of the Ilwaco boatyard garden was our destination for the yard of Soil Energy that we’d been hauling with us.

looking south from the gate, before

soil applied by bucket

cutting back Pennisetum macrourum from the sidewalk

and after….I had suddenly realized the garden should start where the paved sidewalk starts.

The dredge has been at work lately, clearing mud from the channel which is so necessary for the marina to thrive.

scooping up mud

and depositing it on a barge.

boats

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We still have sweet peas blooming on the fence.

sweet peas all the way to the top

bright red sweet peas

We had run out of Soil Energy about twenty feet from the end of the garden, so another load will be necessary.  The end needs such a small amount that I sort of cheated and erased boatyard mulching from the work list, changing it to mulching at the port and Time Enough Books.

The summer is long gone and I still have not accomplished one thorough, end to end good weeding at home.

At home: The garden gift from MaryBeth.

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El Compadre Mexican Restaurant

We had this week’s North Beach Garden Gang dinner with Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) at El Compadre.

hard to get a good photo of the inlaid tables that I admire so much.

Allan’s photo

tiled window frames

As often happens, we were the last to leave.

Now for an extra long weekend, during the quiet time before fall clean up and bulbs.  My goal is to not leave my property for four days while I accomplish some gardening.  Allan has some boating goals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 October: still watering

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Skooter had spent the night in Allan’s laundry hamper. (Allan’s photo)

We made a quick check on Mayor Mike’s garden and then tidied and deadheaded at…

The Depot Restaurant

The rain has been enough to make ground level watering unnecessary.

north side flowers by Basket Case Greenhouse

The Red Barn

We met an absolutely darling little dog named Delly or Deli…I think.

the most perfect little dog

And I found an appropriately painted rock for a horse barn.

And met another lovely dog, Junior.

Junior’s person had just been attending to a horse stall and said to his dog, “Ok, horse time is over, now it’s dog time!”

Junior and his guy’s truck with our small garden in the background

We then went next door to

Diane’s garden

where Misty got a belly rub.

Diane agreed that the small strip of lawn outside the new fence can be removed for easier maintenance.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Someday very soon, that will be our project along with replanting the roadside garden.

Long Beach

deadheading the welcome sign

Veterans Field

While watering the containers by the Vet Field stage, I noticed something new:

I admired the rhododendron leaves in the mini park behind Lewis and Clark Square, where Allan pulled some of the Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.

Allan’s photos, before

after

Before watering the planters, we dumped our debris and then picked up our repaired lawn mower at Bailey’s Saw Shop, where I was amused by this sign (the basic labor rate is $70 per hour):

In downtown Long Beach, I went north, watering planters, while Allan went south.

City Crew member pressure washing in Fifth Street Park

I found a painted rock.

a sign for sale at The Wooden Horse gift shop

While watering outside Funland, I kept hearing a robotic voice saying “Space Invaders”.  For some reason, I was tempted to go in and play. (I did not.)

Funland

Funland planter

The planters were definitely thirsty, and just a few cosmos had gotten crispy.

Cosmos (Allan’s photo)

California poppies and hesperantha (Allan’s photo)

hesperantha and asters (Allan’s photo)

santolina before (Allan’s photos)

and after

Coreopsis ‘Star Cluster’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan found a rock.

The week had been somber because of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, as attested to by the half mast flags.

We finished Long Beach with a tidying of Fifth Street Park.

butterfly on aster in Fifth Street Park

Ilwaco

I walked around and checked most of the planters and street tree pocket gardens while Allan watered them.

Allan’s photos while filling the water tank at the boatyard:

My….

…was low because my foot hurt, so I did not make it to all of the planters.

Acidanthera in a mostly shady planter

I was mightily annoyed to find, in a planter outside the pharmacy, that a special diascia had been stolen….again.  I don’t know when it happened because Allan is usually the one to care for these planters.

Just a hole left, with the protective label dropped into the hole.

a plea ignored by the plant thief

The water trailer (Allan’s photo)

A photo of the missing tree spot (victim of a bad driver) turned into a before and after when I decided to do some pruning on a tree a block away.

before

My foot was hurting a lot, so I asked Allan to take a break from watering and drive me home before I did the final intersection.  It can wait till tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I cut some lower limbs off one of the street trees.  These are supposed to be columnar pears, but I find them anything but columnar.

Allan helping with my spontaneous mess

after (a bit more of the Portside Café now shows in the distance)

On the way home, we had noted a handsome stand of corn on Second Avenue.

New homeowners have made a new garden.

At home, a harvest:

 

 

 

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7-8 Sept: Rod Run begins

Thursday, 7 September 2017

The prediction of “less than an eighth of an inch of rain” would not stop us from watering the Long Beach and Ilwaco planters.  They are so thick with foliage now that rain has to be substantial to penetrate into the soil.

I got to pet local dog Frosty at the post office on the way to work.

Long Beach

At the welcome sign, I pruned down a lot of the silly cosmos that were tall with no buds.  Why do some of them do this, when they are all the same sort (Sensation mix)?

front

from the sidewalk

back

bucket o’ prunings

We split up to water the Long Beach planters.

Lavender and the Herb N Legend Smoke Shop

Even though Rod Run does not officially begin till tomorrow, downtown Long Beach was full of fancy vehicles going round and round or parked to show off.

Folks were already sitting and watching the vehicles.

Allan’s photo

my own agastache admiration

Allan’s photo

Agastache labeled as ‘Acapulco Salmon and Pink’, that came back from last year.

same planter, new Agastache labeled as ‘Acapulco Salmon and Pink’. Huh.

Rod Run window at NIVA green

triple batch of cuteness

another trio (Allan’s photo)

sweet pea success (Allan’s photo)

A City Hall VIP walked by and said to me, “The planters look beautiful.  I am so sorry a bunch of asshats will be sitting on them this weekend.”  (That is why it felt urgent to get photos today.)  She added, because she is one who used to do a volunteer planter, “I used to cry after every Rod Run.”

The planter damage is not as bad as when the Run used to be an official parade through Long Beach for hours on Saturday afternoon, coinciding with Labor Day.  The last time that happened, maybe fifteen years ago, the crowds were so chaotic that the local law enforcement said they would no longer police the event unless it was moved to the weekend after Labor Day and no longer had a parade up one side and down the other of the Peninsula.  It’s not the shiny car folks who caused the chaos.  They don’t want to get their vehicles scratched or smudged.  It was a certain element of heavy drinking audience; the other problem was that gridlock stopped emergency access.

Despite Rod Runner’s disappointment with the change, and their loss of a three day weekend, the new schedule has worked out well in extending the tourist season for one more week and has been a great boon to our planters.

Verbena bonariensis and Melianthus major, Fifth Street Park (Allan’s photo)

We paused after watering, followed by tidying Fifth Street Park, for a coffee and cookie break at Abbracci.

Abbracci Coffee Bar

a nice big batch of coffee grounds for our compost bins (Allan’s photo)

I got to pet darling Sophie.

car spotting (Allan’s photo)

and so it begins (Allan’s photo)

We had an amusing chat with this pleasant fellow, who said he was looking carefully before stepping and that his wife would kill him if he stepped on a plant.  Others over the weekend may be less cautious.

Twice I had seen a most interesting truck drive by.  After coffee, while clipping rugosa roses by the police station, I saw it park across the street.  I dropped my clippers into the roses and toddled over there as fast as possible to photograph it, and later I could not find my clippers.  They will turn up next time we prune the roses down low (probably October!)

I see it and rush to catch it!

saw-topped truck

old vs. new

I do hope this truck shows up at Slow Drag tomorrow night.

Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ in Veterans Field

Vet Field flower admirer (Allan’s photo)

Figs behind Lewis and Clark Square (Allan’s photo)

a “rat rod” (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

We watered the planters on Sid Snyder Drive.  A couch sits there, having recently appeared.  It would be more useful downtown for viewing Rod Run.

Waterlogue

I got to pet this darling dog, who has a tremendously soft coat.

my new friend Buddy

Ilwaco

I watered and weeded at the boatyard while Allan watered the street trees and planters.

This frog hitched a ride from home on Allan’s water trailer, to where it gets filled up at the boatyard.  Allan caught him in a jar and took him back home again.

It was four o clock when we got started in Ilwaco, and, as a passerby pointed out, the four o clocks were open.

Mirabilis jalapa ‘Salmon Sunset’

Helenium (sneezeweed)

The watering started well, because the long hose for the south end was available.  (When we arrive after the staff departs, the end of it is locked into a shed).

Then I walked further along the fence and found the two middle hoses going up into boats.

hose going into the Tlingit Princess

and into the Sea-Jac

But, oh joy, the long northernmost hose was available today!

Joy and rejoicing!

Between that and our own long hose hooked up to the faucet by the sanican, the watering was easy.

Our local paper recently had a good article about stories from the boatyard this past summer.  This red boat was painted in the favourite colour of the boat owner’s wife, who had died of breast cancer not long ago.

in memory of Mary Lou

Author Luke Whittaker: “The boat had been sitting in Sitka, Alaska since 1989 awaiting a buyer, when 82-year-old Astoria fishermen Roger Marshall, became the unlikely owner last fall. Marshall was simply one fisherman who just wasn’t ready to retire. In October, Marshall bought the boat and nearly died during a desperate 800-mile journey home.

“Coming down I ran into terrible southeast winds all the way,” Marshall said. “I ran into some bum weather coming out of Candle River and I thought I bought the farm.”

Fortunately, Marshall made it home, after all — he had a promise to keep to his late wife Mary Lou.

“I told her when she was dying I would paint it red,” Marshall said. “It was her favorite color.” Mary Lou died from breast cancer in March. In August, Marshall fulfilled his promise with help from Fred Wiest. The bottom is burgundy with white sides and a bold, red stripe stretching bow to stern.”

 

sweet peas reaching the top of the fence

Someone keeps messing with my elephant garlic. Now every single one has been pulled, and a few left behind.

When I see a plant pulled and dropped, I wonder if a driver passing by yelled at the plant thief to stop.

north end of boatyard

Seashells cosmos

looking north

Solidago ‘Fireworks’, a nicely clumping goldenrod

seen while watering planters (Allan’s photo)

one of the Ilwaco planters with Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ and diascias (Allan’s photo)

planter with Acidanthera (Allan’s photo)

Allan finished the planters and rejoined me.  I had had plenty of time to do some weeding and deadheading, too.  I’d been pondering the decision about whether to water the easternmost curbside garden.  Because of Slow Drag visitors tomorrow, we decided it must be done as only a slight drizzle of rain had arrived.  Allan went to accomplish that after dropping me at home.

He passed by our Jenna (Queen La De Da) who was setting up for Slow Drag.

fog rolling in and the shaved ice booth (Allan’s photo)

Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ (Allan’s photo)

Home again, Allan watched Skooter go fishing.

Soon after, rain began and continued for hours.  That was both pleasing and, because of our boatyard and curbside watering today, mildly annoying.

Friday, 8 September 2017

pre-Slow Drag

I spent the early afternoon catching up on writing this blog, because with two big events coming up, we will have much to share.  Slow Drag happens tonight, Cannon Beach Cottage Tour tomorrow (and the blog will then be more like fifteen days behind Real Time).

Rain had filled most of the rain barrels.

This one, from the shed, is the slowest to fill.

official rain gauge

right: a recent clematis tragedy despite semi-diligent watering

puddle in street with ugly new big-citified yellow lines

on the front window (Allan’s photo)

I am looking forward to the Slow Drag and the Cottage Tour, two of my favourite events, and am also fervently looking forward to afterward, when we have no events for quite some time.

Thursday, despite flat light, we did take photos of all the Long Beach planters.  Tonight, I am publishing a bonus post of the planters for my reference.  It will be on interest only to the most dedicated planter fan.

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21 June: in the wind

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

From my breakfasting window, I noticed something that was striking in person but hard to photograph:

three echoes of blue, two levels of catmint and ceanothus in the background

one of my new (last year) roses, Westerland

We started with a visit to the port office to check on the hanging baskets, and that’s when we learned that there was another marine wind advisory, so the baskets continued to hang in a sheltered spot for one more day.

on the desk at the port office

wind warning (Allan’s photo)

port office curbside gardens

We drove by the boatyard garden for a second time just to record how it is looking.

ceanothus blooming in the boatyard garden

The scrim of horsetail will be addressed next week.

a boat coming in

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We just learned from a gardener whose spouse owned the Aallotar for many years that “Aallotar is a character from the Finnish epic Kalevala. I think it means something like female wave spirit.”  I did indeed Google it and found “water nymph” and “lady of the waves”.  Fascinating!  I would love to hear many stories about this boat.

I do know that it was built many decades ago by the Kola brothers in this old boathouse, located on the meander line.

The old Kola boathouse.

We were pushed around by 25 mph wind gusts all day.  It is a good thing that I have The Deadliest Catch to which to compare our small potatoes wind misery.

Our work is not this hard.

The Depot Restaurant

north side of dining deck

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and Phygelius ‘Cherry Ripe’

Rodgersia flower (Allan’s photo)

I’d been watching every week for caterpillars on the Leycesteria on the south side of the deck.  Today, they had arrived, so we cut the whole thing down because that is just unappetizing to see when dining. For years, the shrub grew here with no problems, till the caterpillars discovered it a maybe four years ago.

Allan’s photo

ornamental grasses enclosing the deck (Allan’s photo)

The Red Barn Arena

Disney, with her son peeking through the garden

Amy and her barrel racing horse

Disney

later

This time, I was not snubbed by Disney’s son.

Red Barn garden (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

wind damage (Allan’s photo)

A crow was in the barn harassing a swallow’s nest and being harassed in return by terribly upset swallows.

Allan’s photo

Delosperma ‘Fire Spinner’ in a planter by the entrance (Allan’s photo)

We did a brief deadheading of the planters next door at Diane’s garden and then went to

Long Beach…

where we loaded up some buckets of Soil Energy mulch at the city works yard.

Again the killdeer mother was upset that we were near her babies and pretended to have a broken wing.

brave mama

Allan’s photo

I think after awhile she figures out we are ok.

mother and child (Allan’s photo)

decreasing mulch pile

Our mission was more weeding and mulching on the Bolstad beach approach.   Almost photos from here on are Allan’s:

in a beach approach planter

planter weeding

in the parking lot

before

weeding

The garden had not been mulched for years and much sand has blown in.

other folks working

at end of first trip, picked up our cheque at city hall

We weeded the little popouts at last.  Whoever had put a pot inside some rearranged rocks for the past two years and taken care of a cluster of annuals had abandoned the project…

So we re arranged the rocks more or less as they used to be.

I never was able to find out who had temporarily adopted this little pop out.

the next li’l popout

These do not get any supplemental water at all.  We used to hose water them from a faucet underground…and maybe should make more an effort with them again.

little popout number three, before weeding. with a tree trying to resprout (now a shrub of sorts)

I asked Allan to finally cut out the saddest little mugo pine in li’l popout number four.

so much better!

We weeded in Veterans Field where I fumed mightily because someone had clipped the tops off all but one of the elephant garlic.  I had planted them as a shout out to the Friday farmers market that takes place here.  Many bad words were said after looking around to make sure no one but Allan could hear.  For this public gardening frustration I quit many good, peaceful private garden jobs!

fuming

I fumed and thought about planting chives along the front of this problematic garden.  It was thrown together in haste when the triangular corner bed was made to house a memorial plaque; the plaque then was put somewhere else and the garden has remained a sort of thrown together bunch of plants.  It needs to be better planted with sturdier edging plants that can withstand abuse…and maybe with many more elephant garlic, of which I have an endless supply.  Maybe chives along the edge, for the farmers market feel.  Maybe some rosemary, too.

New Fun Rides have been added a block south.

We finished with a 7 PM collection of more buckets of mulch and more fluffing of the beach approach.

I made the mistake of giving one seagull just one corner of a cookie.

Within seconds, all of these gulls arrived.

At the works yard, we had also collected two buckets of plain old dirt from the debris pile and used it to fill in the trench where the bricks came out at the Norwood garden.  That got us done with a nine hour work day.

 

 

 

 

 

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