Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Sometimes we amaze even ourselves with what we can get done in one day.
We were driven by two things: First, I planned to take Thursday off to spend with Carol. Second, a storm was due on the weekend, with rain at last, and I needed to plan out the watering schedule around that nebulous forecast. We began with our regular Wednesday round, the long version that includes going all the way to northern Surfside for Marilyn’s garden.
On the way north we stopped at The Planter Box to get a few plants for a needy Ilwaco planter.
at The Planter Box, some gorgeous gomphrena
and a dramatically dark Rudbeckia.
I settled on some gazanias and a blue statice and a little curly allium for the planter, and we were off to our northern round.
Our work schedule now is pretty much the same every week and is usually only four days long, three of them about nine hours long and one just eight hours. This week had included even more time off. The three day weekends are marvelous; I keep repeating my thought that we’ll do this as long as we can afford to. The moment of truth will come with getting through the winter with less income from fewer fall cleanups and bulb plantings. That’s what we’ll get for embracing time over money and quitting several jobs. We’ve also embraced joy over money and kept a couple of the lower paying jobs while quitting higher paying ones, because we want the ones that bring the most joy to people, like…
Golden Sands Assisted Living
We did not add the usual supplemental water today, as I am counting on a big rain; we just filled the birdbaths and did some weeding and deadheading.
NE quadrant of Golden Sands courtyard with cosmos and monarda (bee balm)
sweet peas by the courtyard entrance, climbing through roses, with white phlox
These four courtyard garden beds lack style, as they were thrown together with free “passalong” plants. I’m trying to give them a little more structure and still have the cottage garden feeling, without having money to spend on, say, a boxwood edging. So far, about all that I have succeeded at is making Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ be a repeater on the front of each quadrant.
NW quadrant
NE quadrant
I’m also pleased with the way the flowers are reseeding into the center lawn, that I would like to see turned to a wildflower meadow instead of grass (with as little work as possible!)
Knautia macedonica and blue scabiosa in the lawn
more scabiosa started up, and beach strawberries
the hallway route to the outside
I am always entertained, even though it’s inconvenient for bringing in soil amendments, by wheelbarrowing through two lengthy hallways to get to the courtyard. It is a clever design for an assisted living place to have an internal daylight courtyard for a garden. It would be perfect for an Alzheimer’s facility (which this is not).
On the way to Marilyn’s, we shopped at Jack’s Country Store for some spray paint for my bathtub water feature. It has a great selection of colours, more than any of the other local stores.
Their motto: “Contrary to public opinion, we don’t have everything.”
Marilyn’s garden
At Marilyn’s, I trimmed back along the path again, as the Phygelius were moving forward.
The north winds have knocked down some of the miscanthus.
giant miscanthus and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ from the back porch
Looking north down the path. That ever increasing volunteer patch of montbretia (right) has got to go.
looking south: I trimmed the fig back more than the phygelius.
looking in from the street
Klipsan Beach Cottages
We did our usual hour midsummer hour or so of deadheading and weeding.
the weekly view over the birdbath in the fenced garden
view from east gate
southwest corner of the fenced garden
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ in its prime. It was cut back by half in June to get smaller, less splayed flowers.
the south gate to the fenced garden
a particularly nice daylily
Allan was sad that the podophyllum was down in the lawn border. (They go dormant in summer, or so Google tells me.)
roses behind the deer fence
a bed of hydrangeas and ferns (My favourite hydrangea, Izu No Hana, is in the background in glorious blue and white.)
The Anchorage Cottages
The Anchorage was so busy that we had to park down on the street.
sweet peas in the north courtyard, climbing ever higher.
Agastaches continue to be excellent container plants requiring minimal deadheading.
Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (blue potato vine) just keeps on blooming.
the bed that needs much refining…but not today.
I had a brainstorm that it was still early enough to water the Long Beach planters. If it rains just a little bit on Friday, it might keep us from watering but it would not be enough. If we could fertilize the planters today while they are still faintly damp from Monday, the fertilizer would “take” better, and if it does not rain, a watering today would hold them through till Monday. (Our schedule is complicated this week because I am taking Thursday, our usual Long Beach day, off.)
But first, we had time to squeeze in the deadheading at
The Depot Restaurant
the north side of the dining deck
a sizeable agastache and a cosmos that refuses to bloom
north wall planting by Nancy Aust of The Basket Case Greenhouse
one of Nancy’s fuchsias
Long Beach planters
We had a couple of hours before our dinner engagement, so we focused primarily on getting all the planters fertilized.
The dead-looking Dianthus ‘Charles Musgrave’ on the northernmost planter is reviving.
Oregano ‘Hopley’s Purple’ and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in the same planter
my favourite planter, by the Dennis Company sign
a colour echo at Dennis Company, which I will pretend is on purpose.
Allan’s photo: Third Street Park
We even had time to weed and deadhead Veterans Field and Long Beach city hall gardens.
Veterans Field
Basket Case Baskets at Veterans Field
The Cove Restaurant
You might think that if we meet Dave and Melissa at the Cove, it must be Thursday. This week, we switched our traditional meal to Noodle Night Wednesday because of my social plans for tomorrow.
Sondra’s garden at The Cove
in the foyer
noodle night! (Italian comfort food)
Cove noodle bowl
Look who joined us! Me and Seattle Carol
Everyone was duly impressed that Carol and I have been friends for 38 years.
After closing time, Lacy and Parking Lot Cat came to say hello.
Carol gives Lacy a good scritching.
In the foyer, Lacy gets a belly rub.
Look at that silly face!
Dave, Mel and me, leaving after dark
Ilwaco
The workday was not quite done. In the dark, we planted four plants in the Ilwaco planter where previously plants mysteriously died (an unsolved mystery; the soil still smells sweet and good).
planting in the dark
Allan’s photo: the statice might be too brittle. It is a temporary centerpiece.
The only Thursday task that we did not get done in advance was deadheading the Long Beach welcome sign, and it had looked pretty much ok on a driveby, so I am set for a fun day tomorrow with Carol.
