17-19 July: catching up

Now that the blog is 15 days behind, I am trying to catch up.

Sunday, 17 July 2016

Our sometime neighbour, Alicia (Nora’s grand daughter), visited for the weekend and in the course of cleaning up her patio, she gave me some fabulous garden items.  The weather was too hot for gardening anyway so visiting was much more pleasant.

metal shelf

potting bench and pots, what a lucky day for me!

Allan cut down the laurel bush in front that was blocking the view of oncoming cars.

before

after; should make it easier to back out of the driveway

That laurel had reseeded itself there and had never been part of Nora’s plan.  Back when she was younger, Nora had had a rose garden running down the side of the driveway in what is now all lawn.

I feel very much in love with Alicia’s mom’s dog, a Vizsla named Ruby.

Monday, 18 July 2016

Long Beach

We did the usual watering and grooming of the planters and the street tree pocket gardens.

carousel planter

cosmos and tigridia

Fun Rides new owners have already added a kicky new paint job.

Here’s a before photo that Allan took on July 14th.

I found a Zoltar fortune on the sidewalk.

Zoltar Speaks…to me?

Allan will be glad to know that his pet reseeded Eryngium has recovered from an encounter with the street sweeper.

finger blight: someone pulled out several plants in one planter, including this painted sage.

planter by the Herb ‘N Legend Smoke Shop

I pronounce the word “herb” with the “h”.  Some pronounce it “‘erb”. Someone walking by the Herb N Legend smoke shop said “Let’s go into the ‘Erb ‘N Legend” and I suddenly realized, after all this time, that the name is a play on “Urban Legend.”

red and white planters in Veterans Field (Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, Calibrachoa ‘Vampire’, and alyssum) Allan’s photo

in Fish Alley: The remnants of the weekend’s sand sculpture (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo shows he noticed the eryngium.  (We go in different directions to water.)

Allan’s photo

Allan got done watering before me and had time to tackle the weediest, most annoying tree-rooty bed in Fifth Street Park.

before

after

finger blight! He noticed someone had swiped a big stalk of lilies. We do notice!

We got the little popouts weeded north of city hall.

Before: I was pleased to see some poppies and bachelor buttons had germinated.

after

While we weeded, there was a ruckus on the roof of the Scoopers Ice Cream Shop. A large flock of small birds flew off in a great flapping of wings. Crows were attacking a hawk…and my telephoto shows what I could not see, that maybe the hawk had a crow in its talons. Avert your eyes if this will upset you.

two of several angry crows

This was a really brazen move.

The hawk was being bombarded by several crows.

Nature red in tooth and claw.

The hawk flew away, holding its prize, followed by five cawing crows.

We next went to the beach approach where we were able to weed the whole thing pretty well in less than two hours.  All was well except for my annoyance that someone had felt entitled to shear more than half the flowers off of the lavenders to take home and make themselves a herbal pillow or whatever.

Bolstad beach approach (Allan’s photo)

rose hips and fairy door (Allan’s photo)

I intended for us to do some weeding at the Ilwaco boatyard at the end of the day but I was completely out of steam.  We poked at the Ilwaco planters and decided they could wait till tomorrow for watering.

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

I took some photos in my own garden while Allan started work.

My new metal plant shelf makes for another layer of pots.

hypericum berries

Eryngium ‘Big Blue’

lilies. probably ‘Montego Bay’

more lilies

Lily ‘Conca D’Or’, much taller than me

Lily ‘Conca D’Or’

lilies

more lilies to come

lilies

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ swallowing Rosa rubrifolia

in the front garden

lily

Melianthus major ‘Antenow’s Blue’

at the J’s

My commute to join Allan at work was a short one: We had taken on a new job just across the street at the J’s house.  Here are some befores and afters of what we accomplished.

before

after

before

after

before (Himalayan blackberries coming from next door)

after; we’ll cut more after the J’s have blackberry cobbler.

It is a good drought tolerant front yard, especially with the gold carex gone (it wanted more water than it was getting).

before: blackberry and bindweed that had crawled under the fence in back

after; Allan did all this.

Allan gathered up the pile of laurel from Alicia’s front yard and, with the J’s debris, dumped 500 pounds of brush at the dump.

He went on to water the Ilwaco planters while I got to go home and start writing the Aberdeen garden tour blog.

Allan’s photo: sweet pea success at the boatyard

and an interesting boat

end of the day (Allan’s photo)

the spectacular sunset (Allan’s photo)

 

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Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 73):

July 17: goofed off

July 18:  11:00 to 4:30  7:00 to 8:00   Picked berries.  Started to use old hay from pile to mulch tomatoes but it had too many branches.  Maybe I’ll use the “new” hay in garage.  Cut back some of the big plant that had fallen over into ditch.  Did some weeding in lower driveway.  After dinner I weeded the pathway in veggie garden.   By then I was exhausted.

July 19 HOT AGAIN  I was going to plant some perennial seeds but it was too hot and did some watering.  Worked in the garage sorting the stuff piled up under tarps not for sale during garage sales.  I put the “Robert stuff” together along east wall.  [She gave my spouse at the time, Robert, a lot of dad’s old tools and odd and ends.]  I put my garden stuff (trays etc) on tables etc.  I still have several boxes of pots etc in shed to be moved to garage (another day).  I wish I could get the TVs back into the shop but they are too heavy even for Don to move.

1998 (age 74):

July 17:  I went out before breakfast to pick raspberries.  It was cool and stayed that way until I finished picking and then the sun came out.  HOT. 78 degrees.  I worked in the shade transplanting seedlings.  Also watered tomatoes and the trays in the shop.

July 18:  It was cool enough to be nice and comfortable working in the garage.  In order to empty the table in the woodshed, I brought the boxes of canning jars to the garage.  I sorted them so Bill Jr can put them up on shelves tomorrow.  I straightened up the garage and got the things together for him to take to the shop.  Then I checked the trays of plants in the shop and dumped the ones that haven’t germinated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ilwaco Post Office garden through the year

Here’s our volunteer project at the Ilwaco Post Office through the year in 2015.  The only catastrophe was when a fellow fell into it and broke the yellow and the dark maroon Asiatic lilies.  So far, this little garden is not plagued by deer, and since we planted many tulips in it this fall, we hope that happy state of affairs continues in 2016.

Plants featured in this garden: tulips, narcissi, lilies, California poppies, Gaura ‘So White’, cosmos, Linaria purpurea (toadflax), ornamental grasses, annuals sunflowers, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen, Salvia viridis (painted sage), Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’, Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’, penstemon, Papaver rhoeas, and more.

All photos are embiggenable.

1-29

3-4

3-28

4-24

4-29

5-6

5-20

5-27

6-5

6-10

6-16

6-23

7-1

7-6

7-8

7-13

7-15

7-16

7-21

8-2

8-29

9-12

9-12

9-17

9-25

10-13

10-23

11-3

11-8

11-23

12-9

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Klipsan Beach Cottages 2015 slide show

Here is the same view, through the year, at our garden at Klipsan Beach Cottages.  Looking southwest in the fenced garden, just inside one of the east gates (except for the first photo, before I formulated my slide show plan).

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12 August: the north end round

Wednesday, 12 August 2015

The Red Barn Arena…

and Diane’s garden are convenient to check up on as we head up Sandridge Road to our north end jobs.

our little Red Barn garden (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo: This garden is pretty dry and gets a lot of north wind.

Allan’s photo

Diane’s Garden

My good friend Misty (who’s camera shy) in the back yard

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo.  It was very hot, thus the hat, to try to avoid dizziness.

Allan’s photo

the front garden

Stipa gigantea, cosmos, Perovskia, Alliums and more

the long narrow strip along the highway

Allan’s photo

the other driveway corner with lavender and Lavatera ‘Barnsley’

Lavatera ‘Barnsley’ by the house, with new privacy porch for shelter from the busy road

Golden Sands Assisted Living

Each room gets a shelf outside the door. A plant nut lives here.

in the hallway: Allan’s photo

The personal decorations in the Golden Sands hallways definitely show a love of plants. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo: each room (with its own kitchenette and bathroom with walk-in shower) has its own shelf in the hallway.

Allan’s photo

sit spot in the hallway

SE quadrant

NE quadrant

monarda (bee balm)

These two areas by the dining room have siberian iris, which predates our time, and which does not do well. Would like to replace them with santolina and sedums.

Sweet peas clambering through roses scent the entry to the dining room.

Marilyn’s Garden

Every other week we go all the way to Surfside to check on Marilyn’s garden, where the deer play…and so does a cat or two.

looking southwest from the driveway over a lovely patch of self seeded cosmos

Looking south on the path, after cutting some Phygelius on the right to make it more path-like.

The deer eat some phygelius flowers but leave most for us.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ towering over me.

My good friend Scooter!

deadheading shasta daisies, before (Allan’s photos)

and after (Allan’s photo)

view west from the back porch

Scooter leads the way north down the path.

echibeckia and painted sage

Bonus garden: The Wiegardt Gallery

We stopped on Sunday at one of our former jobs, now under the expert care of our friend Todd, artist Eric Wiegardt’s brother.  I could not find a smooth way to fit the photos in to the edible garden tour day so decided to put them here, four days later, as it is a north end, Ocean Park garden.

front entry: the old struggling cistus is gone from the bay window

Allan’s photo of our pet tiny bun of dianthus. I miss that plant!

oyster shell edge all cleaned up, visible, and looking spiffing

front bed

Eric likes cosmos.

west side of building by parking lot

Todd has gotten the watering hoses to work better, evidenced by the height of the cosmos.

north bed looking much better than before, fuller, with the awful “orchard grass” (weed) gone

It cannot have been easy to get that bad running weed grass out.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo: He was clearly impressed with the weeding.

Allan’s photo with Teresa and I looking at the garden on edible garden tour day.

Loved seeing the garden looking so well cared for.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Back to the real work day!

looking in the gate of the fenced garden

on the arbour: Billardia longiflora

sanguisorba and cosmos

my friend Tommy…or Sarah? (eating ornamental grass)

southwest corner of fenced garden

Lilium speciosum rubrum

Lilium speciosum rubrum

lilies

Agapanthus and blueberries. I confess I ate at least ten berries.

Hydrangea ‘Izu No Hana’

Izu No Hana

Izu No Hana

view southwest over the birdbath

Tiger Eyes sumac in the driveway garden

in the driveway garden (Allan’s photo)

looking west across the lawn from the driveway

I could not bear deadheading more shasta daisies in the lawn border, so Allan did it.

before (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)

I visited with my good friend Bella the Great Pyrenees but did not get a photo this time.

Anchorage Cottages

Mitzu!

playing the noble hound

even more noble

Manager Beth told me the sweet peas had fallen over—a broken string—but she managed to fix it, with help (not Mitzu’s).

Salvia viridis (painted sage) in center courtyard

center courtyard

rugosa roses by the sport court

Chamaecyparis and pampas grass in unwatered area. I hope the trees will be all right.  (They always turn that colour in late summer, but maybe not this early.)

Tomorrow, the Long Beach watering rounds again.

 

 

 

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5-6 August: a work week, part two

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

apples at The Planter Box, where we shopped for a few plants for Long Beach

Golden Sands Assisted Living

The gardens are going through a dull patch.

midsummer doldrums

We hose watered the sad dry hydrangeas.

The Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ at the back should be so much taller…not enough water.

The Helianthus on this side is getting better water.

With the sprinkler system working, the garden is still so much better than previous years that I mustn’t complain!

Klipsan Beach Cottages

I want Golden Sands to be like this garden.  This one has a lot of money lavished on plants and soil amendments and every inch gets watered.

in the fenced garden

The birdbath is actually a cat drinking saucer.

Cosmos and Salvia viridis

Mary’s pale pink rose

Agapanthus

with hummingbird

Cosmos ‘Antiquity’

lily

Anchorage Cottages

My good friend Mitzu

towering sweet peas

Persicaria ‘Dimity’; I forgot to get myself some starts of this last year.

Cosmos ‘Sonata’ in the center courtyard.

Long Beach

added three plants to the big Lewis and Clark Square planter. Still far from lush.

from The Planter Box

Port of Ilwaco

We watered all along Howerton Avenue.

Someone had messed with the lavender again. I took a small bouquet of it to Salt Hotel.

Salt Hotel

the marina, looking southwest

Despite the clouds, no rain is in the forecast this week.

Gardens…struggling by on once a week watering.

Walking home, I spy Acanthus by the college building.

Acanthus thriving on neglect

a reflection in a boat by the street

a reward for watering in the greenhouse

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Ilwaco

I knew that the owners of Salt Hotel were in a crunch to get all their rooms done by the weekend so they could be fully open.  I took them a bouquet for their office.

I admire their planters and beautification

against the wall of Salt Hotel

The Depot Restaurant

weekly deadheading, bindweed eradication, and supplemental watering

north side of dining deck, with hops on the lattice

Long Beach 

deadheading and supplemental water at the welcome sign

welcome sign

Then, the watering and deadheading of the Long Beach planters.

outside NIVA green

my favourite planter this year

When I watered that planter, a tiny blue damselfly buzzed all around it.  (Photo attempt too blurry.)

Gaura ‘So White’ in Fish Alley. Too bad the “hens and chickens” around the edges keep getting stolen.

lilies in Fifth Street Park

Lily speciosum rubrum and Melianthus major in Fifth Street Park

Allan took this photo of these folks who said “That’s the most beautiful lily I’ve ever seen.”

the lily in question (Allan’s photo)

in all its glory (Allan’s photo)

We had time to turn the soaker hoses on and off on Sid Snyder beach approach (to the usual little effect).

horses out on Sid Snyder beach approach (Allan’s photo)

We even had time to do some weeding and strimming on the parking lot berms.

The three “berms” get NO supplemental water.

The middle one is so blah it just gets a strimming. Before (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)

middle berm before (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)…still not lovely, eh?

I used to dream of making that center parking lot garden more exciting, but with no water, I think not.

bird on a wire while we dumped our debris at city works

The Cove Restaurant

Ah, Thursday night, the end of our workweek, and dinner with Dave and Melissa.  This time Todd joined us.

Dave and Parking Lot Cat

fruit water and pear cider and Dave

Allan’s photo as I bore the table with some gardening tale or other.

delicious halibut cakes (Allan’s photo)

Dave’s favourite: Pork Conchinita

Our Melissa (Allan’s photo)

After dinner, Melissa and I both got sentimental about how much we look forward to our Thursday dinners and how happy we are that we all met.

If you got this far, thanks for sticking with us for a whole work week in just two posts.  Thank goodness it was four days instead of what it used to be:  six, or seven, or ten or more days in a row.

 

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25-26 July: evening and morning in the garden

Saturday, 25 July 2015

Ilwaco Saturday Market

I wanted most of all to have a day at home.  Allan helped by going to the Saturday market to take some photos.  I sent with him a small bouquet for Salt Hotel.

Allan’s photo: Salt Hotel’s co-owner, Laila.

Salt Hotel: cleaning wetsuits from a surfing lesson (a sideline of theirs)

lilies at the market

fishing folk at the port

on the docks

just relaxing

at home

From last night: Rain had collected in the barrels!

a fair amount

The rain had not been enough to quench the needs of the garden, and it did not take long to dip all these out and give drinks to thirsty plants.  Still, it was satisfying.  I hooked up a siphon hose and drained some rain water into the water boxes to refresh the tadpoles’ home.

the back garden

those amazing lilies

elephant garlic and cosmos

outside the deer fence

one of the water boxes

evening light on a day when I did not accomplish much in the garden at all…

I was resting up because we would have to get up VERY early tomorrow to go to Pam’s lecture and tour of the Seaside gardens.

Sunday, 26 July 2015

…in the ridiculously early morning

We got up at six in order to leave early enough to get to Cannon Beach at eight for Pam’s lecture.  Because of my night owl wiring, I couldn’t get to sleep early, even though I tried, so when we arose I’d had three hours of sleep.  And yet, I was able to appreciate the light on the garden, an early light that I so rarely see.

Allan’s garden from the front porch

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ at 6:30 AM

lilies

Achillea and Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’

more lilies

the greenhouse

front garden looking west

Nicotiana langsdorfii

Digiplexis ‘Illumination Flame’

so bright…from the east…

Lilium Leichtlinii

Melianthus major

from outside the fence

looking east along the garden path, & AM, time to go

on our way

I texted Nancy to say “We’re on the road. It’s a miracle!”, and she texted back “We are leaving in two minutes, also a miracle!” A text came from Todd:  “On the backroad, singing Rise and Shine.”  Melissa and Dave had been in Portland and were driving west to join us, and Steve and John were on their way from the bay, all converging on Seaside for Pam’s garden tour.

Crossing the bridge at 7:15; I’ve never seen it with so little traffic.

over the rail

between the rails: the lumberyard that was in the final scene of the Dexter telly series.

around the scary curve

 

7:49 AM: We arrive in Seaside, Oregon at almost exactly the same time as Todd and Melissa and David.

The bookstore to the right will be the site of Pam’s lecture…in ten minutes.  In blog time, that’s tomorrow’s post.

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23 July: a good day in Long Beach

Thursday, 23 July 2015

The Depot Restaurant

The Depot garden on north side of deck gets its weekly deadheading and supplemental watering.

cosmos and (new this year) lilies

Cosmos and Gladiolus papilio

Gladiolus papilio

Depot east wall

Long Beach welcome sign

The godetia at the sidewalk end are starting to decline, as they do.

front of sign

Echibeckias are now joining with Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’

I’m not sure what I think of that colour combo.  Wish the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ would size up and cool it down with blue.

back of sign

Anchorage Cottages

We do love a job where the watering is taken care of.

windowboxes and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and cosmos on east wall

center courtyard

center courtyard with Nicotiana langsdorfii

Tigridia and Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve

Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’

colour coordinated trumpet lilies

I don’t know the name of that particular lily and wish I did.  I probably got it from my mother’s garden.

Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon and Pink’ by the office

Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’ and cosmos and Nicotiana langsdorfii

Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’ with Gaura ‘So White’ and Petunia ‘Pretty Much Picasso’

the successful sweet pea patch against east wall chimney

sweet peas

sweet peas

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

Long Beach

We watered all the planters and groomed Fifth Street Park.

Rose ‘Super Dorothy’ in Fifth Street Park

Fifth Street Park with Basket Case Greenhouse basket (watered and fertilized daily by city crew)

Fifth Street Park

Fifth Street Park

Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’

Lewis and Clark Square planter, looks perkier than when just re-planted yesterday.

center newly planted

I pruned down the rhodo behind the wall so this new restaurant shows better. (The top of the rhodo was looking windburnt and pitiful anyway.)

I’m excited about a kabob house opening soon.

Uh oh, the horsetail is already back at the Bolstad pond.

sign at NIVA green

I was getting lots of compliments on the planters, and on the hanging baskets (which I always credit to Basket Case Nancy and the care of the city crew), so I was in a happy place on this day.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Coulter Park

‘Hopley’s Purple’ oregano

early evening light

pink Salvia viridis and pink dahlia, Allan’s photo

We finished the workday with weeding and deadheading at the City Hall gardens.

lily by city hall entrance

Basket Case baskets

I just had a revelation.  I have spelling Bolstad as “Bolstadt” lo these many years.  Ooops.  It’s far too late to go back and correct dozens of blog entries.

Allan’s photo: hostas lace-leafed by snails

City Hall west side

Allan’s photos: grooming a gladiolus

Allan’s photos: making annual poppies look better by taking off old leaves (because we want them to reseed); they are in front of the Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’

city hall lily

The Cove Restaurant

Ah, I’d been looking forward all week to our dinner with Melissa and Dave (Sea Star Landscape Maintenance) at The Cove.

Sondra’s garden at The Cove

open doors to evening light

dinner salad

strawberry salad

Melissa’s noodle bowl

ahi tuna for me, of course

scrumptious cannolo for dessert

PLC (Parking Lot Cat)

We enjoy having this Thursday tradition, and Allan and I were ready for our new-this-year tradition of three days off.

 

 

 

 

 

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20-21 July: two Long Beach and Ilwaco days

First, a real time reminder:

coming up August 9th

Monday, 20 July 2015

Our mission of the day was to water the Long Beach trees and planters and spend some time on the beach approach garden.

As we got our hoses together, I found a snail in the trailer.  Before I took it to a grassy spot (because I don’t like to kill them), I wondered if it would like a drink…and it did.  (Allan’s photos)

It was actually swallowing water.

“Thanks for the drink, friend.”

off to water with my hose and quick-connect

the planter by the carousel with tigridia and cosmos

lilies in Fifth Street Park

nasturtiums

seventh street intersection with Salvia patens and a blue Agastache

a refreshing bottle of water given to me by the Herb N Legend Smoke Shop clerk

Allan planted some Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ starts under a tree that has been repeatedly trampled.  They will be tougher than the hardy fuchsias that we tried (and that got smashed to nothingness).

with high hopes

By Dennis Company (the cranberry harvesting mural), Allan’s photo with cosmos and Agastache

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (Allan’s photo)

wee eryngium seedling (Allan’s photo)

The Hungry Harbor (Allan’s photo)

When we finished watering, we went out to the Bolstad beach approach garden to weed.  Some of the semi-permanent sand creations from Sandsations were still there.  The rest are built on the beach and washed away by the tide.  These are constructed with some glue in the mix and last about a week.

This castle had a shout out to one of our favourite restaurants…

The Cove

impressive details

We went to work pulling weeds at a couple of garden sections near the arch.

Allan’s photo: clipping roses that poke out into the street and pulling the long grasses

The beach approach job did not seem bad at all today.  I think I actually like it again, and I think the reason is that we finally have TIME now that Andersen’s RV Park has sold.  I also remembered that one of the perks of the job is getting to see lots of cute canines strolling by with their people.

Allan’s photo

Lorna from our bank, who helped us with our mortgage, and our friend and client Diane, and our good friend Misty (Allan’s photo)

They helped pull some long grasses while we chatted.

at home

Because Allan had watered the Ilwaco planters the night before, we got home in time for a walk around and some garden appreciation.

sweet peas

the towering lilies

roses well matched with a hardy gladiola

lilies and Sambucus ‘Sutherland Gold’

Stipa gigantea

Nicotiana langsdorfii and daisies

It’s mostly about lilies right now.

Verbena bonariensis

I had been so busy garden touring over the weekend that I had done no gardening at all, and I now had a new batch of ladies in waiting, mostly ones brought me by Debbie Teashon from her selection at Kingston Henery Hardware.

pitcher plants from Debbie Teashon

little bluestem grasses

variegated pittosporum

Sophora ‘Little Baby’ and another Pittosporum and a Black Cherry fuchsia

ladies in waiting!

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

in the east window: the remnant of the night blooming cereus flower is still hanging on.

view out the east window

front garden with Tetrapanax, lilies, cardoon

Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Steroidal Giant’

a new sheaf of lilies opening

My poor sanguisorbas in the front garden just can never get enough water.

Mike’s garden

We began our work day at Mayor Mike’s garden a few blocks east.

The garden is being watered regularly now and looks better.

west side of house

ongoing project: clipping some of the old growth from the climbing rose

Geranium ‘Rozanne’…

and pulmonaria showing signs of good watering.

I was glad to see a happy, unthirsty garden there today.

Ilwaco Post Office

At our volunteer post office, something, or more likely someONE, has been stripping flowers off the tall lily.

the ridiculously tall lily…

with flowers stripped right off, not in the way a deer would.  Irritating!

Long Beach

the Veterans Field flag pavilion garden

red, white, blue

Salvia patens that came back big and strong from last year.

After weeding the Vet Field gardens, we were back out weeding the Bolstad beach approach.  It felt so wonderful to have time.

before

before

after

The weeding is rough, and we are not getting all the grass roots out because the sand is dry and compacted like cement.  However, it looks much more restful to the eye…and until it rains, the grasses will be dormant. I like the motto of a pro gardening friend we know:  If I can’t see it, it’s not there.

restful to the eye

I’m so impressed with Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ for doing this well with no water.

Allan at work

looking east to the Long Beach arch

It is a wonderful thing to go home after a productive day and cross two more sections off the beach approach on the work list.  From 13 sections, we are now down to only 2 left to weed.

the work board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Music in the Gardens 2015: Lily and Rose Garden

Saturday, 18 June 2015

Music in the Gardens Tour, Long Beach Peninsula

a benefit for the Water Music Festival and music programs in local schools

ticket tour map

Garden 1: Lily and Rose Garden

The lush green entry gives you but a small clue to what is beyond. Kristine’s secret garden slopes down from a deck filled with bountiful containers of flowers and a small kitchen garden. This gentle change in elevation provides a vista of the perennials and roses she grows for bouquets. This is a classic cutting garden and bird watchers’ paradise. Continuing through a second gate to the west, you’ll discover an artistic deer fence enclosing flowers and vegetables. Granddaughter Lily’s delightful playhouse, The Lily Pad, has been the site of many tea parties.

Garden Tour Nancy and I previewed this garden on July 3rd; those photos are included in this post.

On tour day, look for the pink and red balloons.

Kristine, an avid photographer, made all the beautiful signs for parking, guest book, and refreshments.

The day was already hot, so the greenery and shade of the front garden was restful to the eyes.

The garden is close to the dunes. (Allan’s photo)

front garden

up the front door (but we are not going that way); note the well trimmed sword fern

the gate to the secret garden, with our friend Gene emerging

(Gene’s garden was on the 2013 tour, and we have some new photos of his garden to show you in an upcoming post.)

through the gate (Allan’s photo)

tour guests entering

another of Kristine’s photo signs on the entry table

guest book and bouquet inside the front gate

The Mozart Chicks were playing under a tent in the front corner of the garden, to the right as we entered the gate.  Hot bright sun made photos difficult today.

The Mozart Chicks

the Mozart Chicks, tootling

Allan’s photo

Kristine her ownself

path curving around the house

south wall of house

from a pre-tour visit on July 3

rose on pre-tour visit, July 3

I want this pale pink fringed sidalcea or whatever it is; Kristine says I can have seeds.

Kristine doesn’t spray anything toxic for blackspot on roses; she told us she picks off any bad leaves.

Allan’s photo, looking through flowers to the deck

looking up at the back deck, pre-touring on July 3

July 3

July 3

tour day

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

bouquet, Kristine’s cards, and treats

 

Cool liquid refreshment was so refreshing on such a hot day.  It was a scorcher by beach standards, possibly up into the 90s.

containers on the deck

Brodiaea in deck container

view from the deck

from the deck, Allan (right) taking a photo

This is the photo Allan was taking.

view looking west from next to the deck

looking southwest from the deck (telephoto)

I never find time to just sit on these garden tours, especially the Peninsula tour which always has at least eight gardens.  I know that some folks here just skip and garden or two, but as the administrator of the Facebook page, I need our photos of each one, and also I just cannot bring myself to skip a garden.

southeast corner of the garden at the top of the grassy slope, next to the deck

photo by Kathleen Shaw

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Halfway down the garden from the deck, on the south side, is Kristine’s cutting garden.

cutting garden

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

Kristine said she wished there had been more lilies in bloom.

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

Allan’s photo, the Mozart Chicks viewed from the cutting garden

Allan told me he found out halfway through this garden that his camera was on a “night” setting so he did not get many photos here.

gladiola

cutting garden path

clematis in the cutting garden

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

pre-tour visit, July 3, 2015; a second garden area is on the other (west) side of this fence.

Beside the conical tree, one enters the second (west) garden area.

astilbe inside the gate

deer fenced garden in second area (pre tour visit, July 3rd)

rose climbing on deer fence, July 3rd

looking through the deer fence

with my camera lens poked through the fence

a picotee gladiola

that flower that I want

Outside the fence, lavender is unbothered by deer.

July 3rd

looking through the veg patch into the playhouse patio

and from the playhouse path looking north

veg patch, July 3rd

The Lily Pad

Kristine’s grand daughter, Lily, is three, and could not come visit from the east coast this summer because Lily’s mom is expecting a baby soon.  As you can imagine, this has been sad for grandma Kristine.  Thanks to Skype, grandma and granddaughter can communicate daily.  This tea party was set up to Skype to Lily for her birthday.

The Lily Pad

Allan’s photo

a message to Lily

Oh, how I do wish I had a granddaughter named Lily (or Rose, Iris, Violet, Jasmine, Poppy, Willow, Fern…)

The Lily Pad

view west from the Lily Pad

monkey puzzle tree to the west of the Lily Pad

a simple border along the north fence

looking along the north fence toward the house

Kristine’s was a contender for my favourite tour garden because of the driftwood gate on the deer fence and the assortment of colourful plants, especially the lilies.

Next: an inspirational one year old garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 March: a Fuchsia-oriented day off

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Despite having a first-cleanup-of-the-year list that has spilled over into March, we took a day off, because we needed one, and because life is short.  Ed Strange stopped by mid morning, as he often does on a Sunday on his way to his garden maintenance job for the Shorebank building at the Port, two blocks from our house.  Because he is a morning person, he had already been to Seven Dees nursery all the way down in Seaside.

While we were visiting, he got a phone call to tell him that his puppy had been born.  He put in on speakerphone so Allan and I could both here the description of the 2 day old littermates.  The breeder talked baby talk to the pups.  We so look forward to the puppy arriving later this spring.

Ed and I listening to puppy talk.

I showed off my Rustia, in prolific bloom.  It’s to the left in the photo above.  This is the plant that, when Ciscoe Morris visited my garden, caused him to say “Ooh la la! You don’t just have ordinary plants!”

Rustia

 

We walked around the garden, and Ed laughed and said “I see you have your favourite plant in a garbage can; how appropriate.”  (He knows I’ve eliminated many phormiums over the last few years.)

Actually, that’s an idea I got from a restaurant garden near Heronswood Nursery, on a tour day several years back.

Phormium contained at a restaurant near Kingston

Ed and I had a good long chat about work related topics.  We are both trying to reduce our schedules to allow more time for leisure.  I showed him our new tin garden sign and he wanted one, too.  When he departed for the Basket Case Greenhouse on a sign quest, I settled on my project for the day: cutting back hardy fuchsias in the back garden.  The air was chilly enough that I was not entirely happy to be outdoors at all, despite the sunshine, and the soil felt too cold to make weeding enjoyable.

Allan helped with three different projects (AND mowed the lawn).

First, he fixed my best plant table that I got from a “free” pile of stuff over on Spruce Street.

The underlying material had collapsed at one end.

Inside the second hand table is a lip which used to hold a sheet of glass.

fixed with “two skinny planks and a small piece of plywood and a piece of bamboo”

It was a mistake (mine!) to use asphalt roofing as the underlayment.  It should have been a piece of plywood with holes drilled in it.  I can see now that it will slowly need more fixing and replacement as the shingles sag.

Allan also removed the hardy fuchsia whose base was infested with horrid orange montbretia.  It is one of several of the same kind of hardy fuchsia magellanica so I did not lose anything special.

pick attack

success! It would have taken me a lot longer.

all clear, and the only collateral damage was one big fat lily bud

I did decide to cut the big fuchsia that had new growth up high all the way to the ground.  I like walking through a forest of fuchsias, so I don’t know what possessed me except that the up high growth was thin, and the basal growth looked so thick and healthy.

chopped down

I used to love the fuchsia walk at my old house, over behind the boatyard, in a garden so sheltered that the fuchsia magellanica turned into trees that were taller than me.

the fuchsia path

fuchsia walk in winter at our old garden

In our new(ish) garden, a lot of winter wind is probably what causes the die back and lack of tree-like height.

Physocarpus…golden ninebark

I was trying out my new Olympus camera today and perhaps it was the overcast day that led to a lack of detail.  Hmmm.

the center bed river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’

I do love my blue Rozanne river in summer, and yet reading The Miserable Gardener blog by Bob Nold, the author of High and Dry, has made me cast about for more areas to put a scree garden.  I now have a small one by the garden boat, and yet…would not this center bed make an incredible scree garden?  I just don’t think I can give up my Rozanne effect though….even though it makes the garden all soft and fuzzy and not a home for special little things.  I loved his suggestion of using buried rubble of all sorts to build up the spine of a garden bed.

 

Maybe I can find room somewhere else in the garden….or next door in Nora’s yard, where her granddaughter said I could plant anything I wanted.  That would be a surprise!  I am grateful to her for letting us use her grandma’s parking pad for loading and unloading the trailer.

We created this much debris, and that’s after Allan walked on it.

Time to put out the bogsy wood sign, as one hopes no more big branches will fall from storms.

narcissi by the bogsy woods

Look at the growth on one of the peony starts that MaryBeth gave me!

I decided to clip the dead tips on my Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’.

after…rather tidier

Nearby, big fat lily shoots emerging

more lily shoots

Frosty was also checking out the garden.

crocuses and lily shoots (and shotweed)

Oh, and I put up some fence slats that I got from the Long Beach city works debris pile.  (I did ask!)  They are just tied on the the fence behind which, later, will be a tarped pile of crab pots by the neighbours’ gear shed.  Now that they are in place, maybe Allan can help to affix them better.  He’s clever like that.

just tied in place with string…to stop the eye for eight slats wide, at least

The third project that Allan helped with today was putting up the new garden sign that we got at the Basket Case yesterday.  Ed had gone straight from our house to the Basket Case, gotten one of his own, and texted me a photo of it already up!  The pressure was on.  Allan still had to coat ours with a rust proof product and let it dry.

Ed’s sign already up

I had suggested that ours go on the arbour on the front of the house.  Allan thought that would be too show-offy, so we compromised on the west side arbour, which still shows from the street.