6 March: Sunday jobs

Sunday, 6 March 2022

Ilwaco Post Office

Our volunteer garden at the post office is one of two jobs we like to do on a Sunday when the building is closed.

Read Full Post »

17 April: under the (good) weather

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

I got very little sleep because of worrying that we were both going to get sick.  With the clam festival coming up, we had much to do in Long Beach town.  There is no back up plan if we can’t do it; all of our other working gardener friends are even busier than we are.

Little dramas loom large when one is self employed.

Allan felt poorly in the morning with sniffles and a cough, and yet with the good weather, we did go to work.  It is maddening; we were so good about disinfecting our hands every time we went somewhere public, and yet…the germs got him.

If only we could have followed Skooter’s example:

Skooter

(Skooter has a chin condition, a problem common with orange cats, says the vet.  My orange cat of years ago, Valene, had the same thing.)

On the way, we dropped off a book at the library (housed in the Ilwaco Community Building).

at the Ilwaco Community Building

Tulip bakeri ‘Lilac Wonder’ at the community building

The community building garden needs a bit of weeding…(not shown in the photos above).

In case I end up having to go to work on the bus later this week, we went to the two least-accessible-by-bus jobs first.

The Red Barn

Because I am thinking of using a different plant for the centerpiece of the Ilwaco planters, Allan pointed out how good the Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ looks at the Red Barn.  They get less wind here.

My very good friend Rosie was at the barn.

Diane’s garden

My very good old friend Misty greeted us next door at Diane’s garden.

snoozing

till the camera clicked

The septic box bulb display pleased me; we had missed some of it, of course.  After deadheading:

Muscari ‘Bling Bling’

Muscari paradoxum

I was pleased to find sweet peas just emerging along the picket fence.

The corner driveway garden needs mulching; soon, I hope. I asked Allan to take this photo, and did not get what I wanted, which is the fact that the Stipa gigantea grass is already showing flower spikes.  Oops, I should have specified.

Long Beach

Long Beach had been on the schedule for all day this coming Thursday, to get the parks and planters perfect for the Razor Clam Festival.  I was fretting about what would happen if we both got sick and could not work then.  So we did a lot of it today, which led to more fretting on my part that I was going to make Allan sicker by having him work.  I brooded about how I recently delayed one day taking Calvin to the vet, prioritizing work instead because he seemed not especially sick, and then…we know how that turned out.

We went down the six downtown blocks of street trees and planters, deadheading.  I felt reassured each time I saw Allan taking a photo, figuring it must mean he did not feel too terrible.  (He said, “It’s easier than working!”)

Allan’s planter and tree garden photos:

Tulip bakeri ‘Lilac Wonder’ and Tulip ‘Silverstream’ and Tulip sylvestris

Geum ‘Mango Lassi’ and muscari

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ in street tree garden (with tulip)

Tulip ‘China Town’ and Fritillaria meleagris

Tulip ‘Princess Irene’

AKA ‘Prinses Irene’

Tulip ‘Silverstream’

Van Engelen catalog says: A magical sport of Jewel of Spring, fragrant Silverstream ranges from creamy-yellow to deep yellow with red feathering, to red with every combination in between. But the surprise garden party doesn’t stop there: it has showy, attractive foliage with silver-white margins. (Did you know that the phenomena of marginated foliage occurs due to a lack of or insufficient pigmentation and chlorophyll in the plant cells on the outer petal edges?)

I did not think to smell the tulips nor did I notice white margins on the foliage.

street tree garden

Tulips ‘Green Wave’ and ‘Formosa’

Tulip ‘Formosa’

lower left: a tulip ‘Sensual Touch’ that went mushy with rain

My planter and tree garden photos:

Tulips that had been broken, and not by the wind.

Tulip ‘Silverstream’

As you can tell by now, I planted a big run of Silverstream through town.  I think they are too tall to choose again.  And the color variation is nice but it does not thrill me.

one of the viridiflora (green) tulips…too tired to look it up

Tulip ‘Strong Gold’ in one of the windiest planters. Short and strong.

Tulip ‘Strong Gold’

Tulip ‘Strong Gold’…would that all tulips were this tough

more Silverstream

Tulip ‘Sensual Touch’ and Tulip acuminata

Tulips ‘Sensual Touch’ and ‘Black Hero’

Tulips ‘Green Star’, sylvestris, acuminata

Tulip ‘Sensual Touch’

Tulips ‘Prinses Irene’, ‘Sensual Touch’, ‘Black Hero’

We also weeded in Fifth Street Park because…Razor Clam Festival!  Fifth Street Park needs so much more attention, and I hope we can do more later this week.  So much horsetail, so much wild garlic.  (No photos there.)

We went on to Veterans Field, which will be the central place for the clam festival.  It is not ideal to deadhead and weed four days before the festival, but needs must.

Veterans Field flag pavilion garden

The last time we were in Long Beach, Allan asked where the blue was in that arc garden.  I said the grape hyacinth along the edge.  Well, now look at what a string trimmer did:

Muscari ‘Ocean Magic’ as was

And right before the festival, when we were trying to make it perfect despite feeling poorly.  I wanted to lie down on the lawn and blub, but it would be too hard to get back up again.  Some white narcissi were also casualties along the edge.  Then I thought…Ok, maybe this is a sign that I do not have to struggle so hard and fret so darn much about making it perfect.  Maybe I can stop worrying about whether we will be able to get back to deadhead on Thursday.

Still….dang blang it!

On the way south, we deadheaded the welcome sign.

And finally, we paused at the

Shelburne Hotel

where I planted 9 more violas and two Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’.  I would like to have weeded more, but we had already worked four hours longer than I had originally planned and Allan was not feeling any better.  The question is, was it wiser to work today so that we can take a day off? Or did it make everything worse?  It would have been so bad if we had stayed home today and then both got sick and couldn’t do a thing before the weekend.  It would be even worse if we got even sicker.  Such woes of self employment have plagued me for the last 42 years.

three by the fig tree, the rest in front

If the gardens in Long Beach are not perfect when you attend clam festival, you now know why.  We forgot to stop at First Place Mall on the way south and deadhead the one dead narcissus that I noticed in the planter there.  I will try not to lose sleep over it.

Read Full Post »

23 May: difficult planting time

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

My back hurt something fierce from schlepping my plants around yesterday evening.  It felt on the verge of going into a spasm.  What is this?  My back used to be the strongest part…well, with an occasional but infrequent blow out every few years.

In fact, what is the deal with how long it takes to stand up from a chair after sitting for awhile in the evening?  I was wondering that just last night.

I would like to have stayed home today with Smokey and a book.

I’m not quite done with Hope in the Dark.  Even a short book goes slowly at planting time.  And now I have this heavy tome from the library:

This morning, early, a strong buffeting wind had woken me up.  The wind still prevailed.  I had struggled mightily to get my knee brace on; it took two tries and Allan’s help to get it right. Despite my back, my hope for today was to get cosmos and more planted at The Depot, Long Beach welcome sign, two Long Beach Parks, the Anchorage, and the Kite Museum.

Ilwaco Post Office garden will soon get some cosmos.

lilies and Stipa gigantea, my favourite ornamental grass, at the post office.

As we made a welfare check on the new nicotiana in the garden boat at Time Enough Books, I felt so very cold that we went back home (two blocks away) so I could change into warm winter pants and shirt.  I left the knee brace at home; it does not work with heavier clothes.

my mother’s clivia in flower, glowing in the front window

A patch of strangely late blooming Tulip ‘Akebono’

Another clivia blossom had fallen.

Smokey’s nap disturbed

The Depot Restaurant

cosmos going in

Allan’s photo, Allium heads and my head

cosmos in (Allan’s photo)

delicate variegated saxifrage (Allan’s photos)

closer

north side of dining deck

Despite my check of two weather forecasts, both of which promised cool windy weather all day, the sun suddenly came out.  So hot!  I said to Allan that I had to go home (two miles south) and change clothes again.  Every year, there is a day about this time when I have to learn all over again the necessity of having summer and winter clothes with us at all times.

I struggled again with the knee brace.  Some days it just is not easy.  When it is on, it helps me enormously.

Smokey still snoozing.

Frosty wanting a belly rub. He never bites or scratches, so he does get many.

Calvin’s nap disturbed.

Skooter has things to do during the day and is rarely found at home napping.

Long Beach

We started to set up the Long Beach welcome sign planting and I realized the front of the sign’s soil was too low.  Why hadn’t I added enough soil earlier on?  (Later, I decided it was because tulips had been in the way.) This necessitated an emergency trip to get soil from city works.  We took the chance of leaving unplanted gallons of Agastache ‘Summer Glow’ just sitting in the garden.  (Because one of Todd’s new public plantings in Ocean Park got completely dug up and stolen in the night last week, I’m feeling extra concern this week.)

When we got to city works, we saw this shocking sight:

Noooo! The city crew had used most of the heaping pile of Soil Energy!

We managed to scrape up just enough. (Allan’s photo)

in the process of adding soil and pulling the damnable horsetail along the back of the welcome sign bed (Allan’s photo)

low and miserable looking soil

battling it out with horsteail and ripening bulb foliage, trying to not block the lights that shine on the sign.

much better (Allan’s photo)

welcome sign, after

I have always planted yellow Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ in this planter.  Because it takes so much deadheading, I’m trying the Summer Glow agastache in hope of an easier maintenance yellow effect.  (Garden designer Lucy Hardiman says “Yellow stops the eye” in drive by public plantings.)

Agastache ‘Summer Glow’

undeadheaded Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’

added Cosmos ‘Sensation’ in the back, and Cosmos ‘Sonata’ (shorter, so as not to overshadow the agastaches) in front.

I decided to skip the Long Beach parks for now and go to the Anchorage…but on the way we saw a perfect and rare parking spot right next one of the two planters we had not added to yesterday.  We had to take that opportunity.  Usually, I end up carrying plants for half a block to this planter and the one across the street.

I do not think we have ever before gotten this prime spot.

Getting the Cosmos ‘Sonata’ and two Agastache ‘Mexican Giant’ into those two planters completes phase two of three of the Long beach planter planting.

The Anchorage Cottages

We had to get to the Anchorage by four o clock because of a Situation I’d learned about in an email late last night, after the plants for the Anchorage were already loaded: The parking lots were being resurfaced and so we could not park by the gardens today or tomorrow.  With a big three day holiday weekend coming up, and being determined to get the cosmos and some other plants added to the garden this week, and with today being the only day it would fit well into our schedule, I spent some time last night plotting alternative routes into the garden.  This required getting there while Manager Beth was still working in order to access the office courtyard via the office.

Our good friend Mitzu in the office. (Allan’s photo)

The center courtyard and the south courtyard can be accessed from the west and south lawns by walking around the cottages, without setting one foot on the parking lots, whose stripes were being painted as we gardened.

We had to slither along spaces like this, a secret path between the office and center courtyards that had appeared with the recent painting.

While I planted, I set Allan to clearing out the old scilla flowers and foliage; it is rampant in the center courtyard garden.

before; last week it was a hazy of blue.

why I never ever plant scilla in a garden bed

after. I thought it looked too bare so gave Allan two “Bells of Ireland” and a campanula to add to it.

looking back just before slithering around the side of the office building to depart.

By where we parked, on the grassy road north of the cottages, lives a Fish and Wildlife officer who has a bear trap at the ready.

Allan’s photo

Sometimes, our  local “fish cops’ are featured on a telly show:

from Rugged Justice: Releasing a bear into the wild if said bear has made itself at home scavenging in town.

But I digress.  By now, I knew we would not get cosmos planted in the Long Beach parks today.  I hoped that we might find the oomph to plant up the pocket garden at the Kite Museum.

We drove there.  We looked at it from inside the car.

Imagine the cold whipping of the wind, now 23 mph.

I couldn’t do it, so we went home at 6:30.  Tonight, I will watch Deadliest Catch and be embarrassed that I wimped out.  It was better for the plants to wait till tomorrow…yes, that is it.

working on The Deadliest Catch…puts my wimpiness to shame

At home, I got to make a couple of erasures from the work board, albeit not as many as I had hoped.

Tomorrow: planting time continues.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

17 October: some bulbing

Monday, 17 October 2016

Long Beach

Another inaccurate weather forecast had called for a day of 30 mph wind and a half an inch of rain.  Instead, we got a glorious warm day and were able to do post-storm clean up of the Long Beach planters.  I had been looking forward to that.  Even though the storm had not brought the predicted 90 mph, over 50 mph wind in Long Beach had made the planters look rather battered.

After dropping books off at the Ilwaco library and adding some Geranium sanguineum starts to that garden, we began clean up at the Long Beach welcome sign.

before

after

both sides. The geraniums ‘Rozanne’ and ‘Orion’ on the back side were still blooming.

We hoped to have time to return to the sign later in the day.

In town, we tidied up the beat up plants.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ about to be cut back (Allan’s photo)

after, further tidying

It was so hot that for awhile I thought I had a flu-ish fever.  (Ok, it was 61 degrees.)

Todd stopped by with some bulbs from a shared order Brent and Becky’s.

I’m showing him a santolina that died.

The smoke shop owner told me that the sign she had made to protect the flowers has been stolen…before the wind storm.

If you see this stolen sign (how ironic), it belongs to the Herb ‘N Legend Smoke Shop.

Allan trimmed this lavender.

We had made the right decision last week to leave the blooming, top heavy ‘Super Dorothy’ roses in Fifth Street Park.  The wind was not enough to topple the fence or to remove the flowers.

Super Dorothy Rose (an improved Dorothy Perkins, from Heirloom Roses) Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo.  I am so glad we did not cut these.

This catmint is about to be cut to the base.

after, with lots of California poppies pulled from the kitty corner planter

This is far from the final clean up.  Another go round will be on bulb planting day and then a last go round will come after a hard frost.  I trimmed the green santolinas after Allan took the photo above.

excellent chrysanthemum, several years old (Allan’s photo)

from the other side (Allan’s photo)

We did have time to get back to the welcome sign.  After dumping our debris at the city works yard, we scraped up the last of the old, tarped, soggy pile of Soil Energy mulch into five buckets.  Now we are officially out of mulch.

parking lot gardens fall colour, euonymous (burning bush)

Aronia

At the sign, we planted 200 tulips bulbs, red and yellow for the front of the sign, and purple and pastels for the sunset colors of the back of the sign.

the sprinkling of bulb food

My favourite garden guru Ann Lovejoy has written that bulbs come with all the food inside of them that they need for the first year.  Here, the bulb food will nurture older bulbs, like the grape hyacinths already coming up along the front.

This year we planted the tulips more toward the front edges in hopes any tall narcissi will bloom behind them.  Last spring we tried to shift the tall narcissi to the back.  I know we missed some.

a nice ledge to sit on while planting

after

after. I hope the city crew has time to get us another yard of mulch.

At home, I sorted the packages of Todd bulbs into the appropriate areas of Bulb Central.  I am now awaiting the arrival of another batch via UPS and then bulb time will resume.

I planted the questionable Costco bulbs, the ones I had not unpacked soon enough.  The totally soft ones went into the debris pile.  I hope the just slightly soft ones might still have some life in them.

---

1998 (age 74):

Oct 17: I peeled apples and tomatoes from about 11:00 to 6:00.  That’s a lot of time to get 5 pts applesauce and 2 pts tomatoes.  (It would have been 6 pts applesauce but I ate the other one.  Delicious even without sugar.)

Next week:

• Plant hydrangeas in bulkhead
• Plant primroses in tam area
• Plant all the perennials from behind house
• Throw out the annuals
• Pick up apples daily

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

21-22 July: Long Beach and Ilwaco

I’m still playing catchup with some two day posts while I try to get to only five days behind instead of fifteen.

Thursday, 21 July 2016

lilies in our volunteer garden at the post office

I planted the three little gazanias.

Rudbeckia that Our Kathleen donated last year.

I asked Allan to photograph the Basket Case hanging baskets across the street in front of the museum (because they were on his side of the van).

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum

Mike’s Garden

I had big plans to prune (or rather…have Allan prune) some of the climbing rose out of Mayor Mike’s beach pine today.  We ran out of time, though, because a couple of other jobs had suddenly joined the schedule.

NEXT week…I hope…we will thin out the rambling rose.

I had big plans to get Long Beach AND Ilwaco and the Port of Ilwaco gardens done today and have Friday through Monday off.  My first thought upon waking had been “Tomorrow off!”.  Two things happened to change that when I checked my email and Facebook.  1.  I found out about an art show that would take place in Coulter Park…which was a mess.  2. I found out for sure that the sale of Jo’s house had fallen through, and because we like Jo and Bob so much, I offered to keep working there after all, deadheading and grooming once a week while it is for sale…including going there today to check on the watering.

The Depot Restaurant

While we were doing our weekly watering and deadheading, a group of garden admirers came by to chat.  The daughter was studying zoo horticulture (including what not to feed to the animals), which made for an interesting and informative conversation on all sides.  The dierama (angel’s fishing rod) was a big hit.

north side of dining deck

lilies and helenium

more lilies

lots of deadheads on the cosmos now (Allan’s photos)

after deadheading

looking south

the front with barrels and window boxes by Nancy Aust of The Basket Case

Long Beach

the weekly grooming of the welcome sign

Cosmos ‘Happy Ring’ reseeded from last year

one weird flower on the echibeckia

both sides

and the back

I decided we had better check on the kite museum garden.

It is doing well this year!

Gift shop manager Patty has been keeping it watered and deadheading the cosmos, thus the prolific blooms.

Jo’s Garden

Here we were again at Jo’s garden, making it look fresh and nice for the realtor who would meet with Jo and Bob tomorrow.

after deadheading some spent gladiolas

I hope a gardener buys this place.

the center courtyard

Here is the real estate listing for this dream house and garden.

back to Long Beach

We started in Long Beach town again by working together to groom the City Hall and Veterans Field gardens.

poor li’l Crimson Pygmy barberry had gotten smashed.

It used to look nice like this one.

Someone had left a rock in the flag pavilion, we think in memory of a loved one. (Allan’s photo)

Then Allan and I parted ways.  While I watered all the planters, Allan tackled Coulter Park.  It had not been done for awhile, and Friday and Saturday (July 22-23), the Peninsula Art Association would be having an art sale in the old train depot building there.  It took Allan three or four hours to undo the tangles of bindweed and salmonberry which is creeping under the fence from the north.  I’ve gotten so fed up with the situation, and especially with clipping salmonberry out from the canes of a row of thorny roses, that I’ve somewhat given up.  Fortunately, Allan is made of sterner stuff.

before and after

the horror of bindweed

before

after

the painful rose nightmare…rose and salmonberry roots intermingled, with plenty of thorns on both, topped with bindweed and birdsfoot trefoil

after (the salmonberry roots are still all entwined with the roses; you can see salmonberry taller than the fence, behind)

looks nice for the art show patrons.  A monster salmonberry looms on the other side.

Meanwhile, I watered planters and did a bit of deadheading in Fifth Street Park.

Sanguisorba in Fifth Street Park

white tigridia

I collect snails from the planters and, because I don’t like to kill them, I deposit them in a couple of empty lots along my route.  There was an odd moment, when I saw this one trying to leave the bucket, that I felt for one second like it was my pet, like a dog or a cat.

a strange moment indeed

sweet pea success in one of the planters (with a tower that holds a business name sign)

edging carpet of golden thyme

pizazz in miniature

parsley

agastache and parsley

Fun Rides

Not only do I like the new paint job on Fun Rides, but the new owners are playing much better carousel music.  Instead of the same carny tune over and over, I’ve heard carnivalized versions of YMCA, Heart of Glass, and several more pop/disco songs that make me happy.

Allan got done with Coulter Park in time to water four of the planters.

a stunning cosmos…like ‘Seashells’ but fluffier.   (Allan’s photo)

We quite simply could not get to Ilwaco, sadly, so our Friday off slipped through our fingers.  I did not feel we could have gotten done even had we worked a ten hour day.  For awhile, I felt rather glum, then reminded myself that an all Ilwaco day is not such a hard thing.

Friday, 22 July 2016

I wanted to stay home with my Smokey.

post office garden

Port of Ilwaco

Because some rain had fallen overnight, I deluded myself into thinking we wouldn’t have to water.  I was wrong.  We realized immediately upon arrival at the boatyard that the garden had not been moistened enough by the light rain.  I weeded while Allan watered.

a boat going out

I overheard the boat owners saying it was going to be windy this weekend.  I hoped that just meant out on the water.  One said to a friend that the boat was “so smooth you could do brain surgery while crossing the bar.”

looks like bad invasive purple loosestrife has blown in from somewhere, down where I can’t get at it.

about 1/5 of the boatyard garden, looking south

sweet pea success

I then hoped we would not have to water the Howerton Ave. curbside gardens.  So wrong.  We ended up watering almost all of them.

a little bird in the garden at Time Enough Books

watering the most parched west end garden bed

Gaura ‘Whirling Butterfly’ (Allan’s photo)

Eryngium (sea holly) (Allan’s photo)

grateful plants (Allan’s photo)

snaking hoses a long way from the dock (Allan’s photo)

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ is fading to tan (Allan’s photo)

Pokemon Go players (Allan’s photo)

still clear water today

a different and prettier bindweed on the bank of the marina

Memorial plaques are set into the lawn at the marina. (Allan’s photo)

Allan found the obituary of the father of the family, whose plaque is on the right.  Let’s take a moment to remember these local fishing folk.  We are always aware here that the commercial fisherfolk are a brave and hardy clan.

A light mist for about ten minutes was not enough to let us stop watering.  The water is still not on at the former Wade Gallery garden bed (which we had planted up all nice for the previous owners) so we are still bucket watering it (or rather, Allan is).

before the bucket watering, which is never enough: Even the Eryngium is suffering from lack of water.

Penstemon longing for a good dose of hose water.  So frustrating.

I walked the whole length of Howerton weeding the beds.

the “drive over garden” shows the difference when we can reach a garden with hose water.

blue catananche at the east end

Both Allan and I had noticed that ‘Sapphire Blue’ is going tan.

Allan finished the workday by watering the Ilwaco street trees and planters with the water trailer while I went home and watered our own garden.  Then, our weekly meeting of the North Beach Garden Gang.  (It had been delayed one day because of a Melissa excursion to Portland on Thursday.)  We had time on the way to visit the last half an hour of the PAA art show and chat with our friend Bayside Debbie.

Debbie and her really cool jewelry

The Cove Restaurant

sedums in Sondra’s garden outside (Allan’s photo)

caesar salad (Allan’s photo)

ahi tuna

prime rib (a Friday night offering) for Dave and Mel (Allan’s photo)

and a very chocolatey dessert (Allan’s photo)

lemon mascarpone cheesecake, and our dear server Lynn treated us to our desserts.

At last we had come to our three day rather than four day weekend, with plans for boating, gardening, and some time touring one of our favourite local gardens with friends.

---

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 73):

July 21: 10:30-5:00! COOLER  Picked berries, barely enough for one breakfast.  I planned to mulch and cage the tomatoes but ended up weeding, deadheading, and watering the flower beds in upper driveway and tam area.  I pulled gobs of the perennial geranium plants that are everywhere.  Did some weeding in front “ditch” but didn’t get done so I quit working at 5:00.

July 22:  Store and errands day.  Paid electric bill, Tim’s, Payless and Stock Market.  Which is being redone by new owners (QFC) so it’s very difficult finding items.

1998 (age 74):

July 21:  I put out all my quart mayo jars to recycle.  I’ll keep all the pints.  I can use mayo pints for tomatoes.  I called Foremost Insurance Co.  They will send an agent to check damage in bathroom floor—in 3 or 4 days.  [She was getting her home ready to sell so she could move to Long Beach.]

July 22:  TOO HOT  90 degrees.  The agent called at 9:00 AM.  She will come tomorrow at 1:00.  I worked all day going over my house plants.  I repotted several, threw some out, and put the plants back in the Floralight.  I picked berries at 5:30 still hot—not many because of the heat.  I watered from 7:00 to 9:00—then showered and quit for the day.

 

Read Full Post »

31 May: finger blight and a birthday

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

An exciting start: We have pretty large wheelie bins for our garbage, and our neighbour across the street told us she had seen a “bear as big as the garbage can” in our next door neighbour’s bin!

Port of Ilwaco

I had a few salvias to plant at Time Enough Books and some chives from my garden to transplant at the east end of the port (inspired by seeing chives as an ornamental in the book Gardening in the Post Wild World).

Howerton Ave, looking west

Howerton, east end garden

at last, some Eremurus (Foxtail lilies)

Asking around online, I’ve had it anecdotally confirmed that eremerus take years to size up and that sometimes they don’t even bloom, so just plant lots and lots.  (They are pricey but worth it.)

We replaced the last tatty old Erysimum in a planter with a fresh new one.

the new and the old (Allan’s photo); Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ gets woody after a couple of years.

Long Beach

I’d had the idea of adding more beach-tough plants to the planters on Bolstad, only to find out that even more plants had been stolen.  Since some folks may be getting tired of my ranting about finger blight, I am toying with starting a new compartmentalized section in the daily blog so that those that just want happy gardening can skip ahead.  I do know of at least one reader who enjoys a good rant.

---

The Crabby Gardener

The Crabby Gardener by Don Nisbett

Today on the beach approach my plans to enhance and improve the planters were thwarted by further plant theft.  The following photos show the blatant holes left by the thief followed by the matching plant left on the other side of the planter.  The plants I had brought for enhancement and a richer, fuller picture ended up being used to fill in the holes instead.

Planter one:

What’s missing?

this sea thrift’s brother!

Planter two:

What’s gone?

This santolina’s mate!

I had to pop a golden ‘Lemon Fizz’ santolina into the hole, as I had no more green ones.  The golden ones revert to green and I have never before been glad of that.  I like things to match in the planters.

Planter three:

What’s gone here?

the buddies of these sea thrifts!

And what was once here?

The newly planted mate to a stolen silver santolina has been stolen again. All I had for replacement was a gold one, a combo that makes me kind of queasy.

Now I am ALL OUT OF REPLACEMENT SANTOLINAS.

What is more, three of the plants stolen were from the Lisa Bonney memorial planter, with a plaque in memory of a beloved local woman who was killed by her estranged boyfriend just a few feet away from this very spot.  Has this thief no shame and no respect at all?

for deep shame, stealing from this planter.

Further on down, a Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’ had also been swiped.  That at least has already reverted from variegated to green foliage so I can add a balancing plant from seedlings in my own garden.

illustration from another planter: Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’ foliage reverting to green

I suspect the thief is one person furnishing a garden of his or her own, since the same sort of plants are targeting every dangblang time.

I talked to the office staff at city hall while Allan planted some sea hollies there.  What the heck to do, keep planting and planting for this person to steal the plants every single week?  The city hall staff said if we had a camera out there, the camera itself would be stolen.  Allan reminded me that I could just keep sticking in more and more Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ divisions.  Too bad the thief so much likes the same plants that are my favourite seaside plants.

And then in town, I noticed:

Lollipop lilies on one side…

only one Lollipop lily on the other side where they all got broken off last week

And one more bit of kvetching today:  A planter stuck with five or six flippy flappy rather large miniature American flags on sticks with the flags flapping away in the 20 mph wind breaking off the cosmos.  People just do not realize how much damage can be done by something like that.  Goodbye little cosmos.  I took the flags into the adjacent business (who may not have even been responsible) and left them on the counter.

flapping flags make for broken plants

“There’s that crabby gardener again!” just might be going through people’s minds.

---

But back to the sunny side of public gardening.  Allan and I each watered half of the planters on the main street. Other than me feeling impatient for the plants to size up and the planters to look lush, the rest of the day was a good one with no backsplash from the hose while watering and hot enough weather that the 20 mph wind actually felt sort of good.  Sometimes.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan also noticed the ‘Lollipop’ Asiatic lilies.

This time Allan deadheaded the rhodies behind the frying pan (a prime background for tourist pictures). Before…

and after

the classic tourist frying pan photo

My experiment with cosmos in the planter by the Bolstad stoplight is not successful.  A strong wind tunnel there has the cosmos going sideways with some broken off.  Pretty sure they are broken by wind, not flags.  Just a few of the planters have a severe wind affect and as such must just have tougher plants than the more sheltered ones.

a planter where only low plants thrive…. Half the cosmos were broken off.

cute metal boat in the Castaways window

Fifth Street Park, NW corner

Baptisia australis (false indigo)

Fifth Street Park, SE side, Darmera peltata and Gunnera (Allan’s photo)

Allan wondered what chews on a gunnera leaf.

While I weeded nearby, Allan sheared the white rugosa roses at the police station so the sidewalk is fully clear for the Columbia Pacific Farmer’s Market, due to begin June 11 in Veterans Field.

before

after

a pretty garden on the way to dump our debris (Allan’s photo)

more of the pretty streetside garden (Allan’s photo)

We added some mulch to that little popout that we had weeded last week.

better, and will soften up the weed roots

While working, I spent much reflection on what I had learned today when a dear client came to the beach approach to talk to me.  One of my favourite private gardens, and my most longtime job, has been sold to a younger family member.  It is sad to see someone have to choose, because of age and health, to give up her garden even though it is passing to someone who loves it. This awaits all of us sooner or later.

Last task of the day was a quick bucket watering of the edges of the welcome sign.  But what have we here?

Note the removed piece of stone.

A geocache is located in this planter and we sometimes find it dug in and messed around with by geocache seekers.  Hint: It is not inside the planter and the city crew does not really want their wall removed to find it.  We know right where it is…and you don’t have to remove plants or stones to get at it.  Nor do you have to open the water hatch and disassemble the hose timer to get at it.  (Uh oh, getting crabby again.)

Hose timer is broken now, probably in a geocache quest.

welcome sign today

from the end with late evening shadow

The Depot Restaurant

At seven, we met our good friend J9 to treat her to a belated birthday dinner.

Uh oh, the escallonia (wanting to be eight feet tall or more) is up over the railway history sign again.

new and delicious salad

Baja Salad

clam chowder and all (Allan’s photo)

Thai calamari

J9’s double order of mango sea scallops

Steak Killian

a candle on J9’s cranberry pear sorbet and a round of Happy Birthday To You.

and cheesecake

With May at an end, tomorrow’s entry will be my mother’s garden diaries for May and June 1995, two months that could not be separated or presented in a light way in this gardening blog.  The next day will feature her diaries, illustrated and with some non gardening entries, for May of ’97 and ’98.

 

Read Full Post »

26 May: covering Long Beach

Thursday, 26 May 2016

I felt a strong desire for a four day weekend.  We could have one (except for watering the Ilwaco planters) if we got enough done in Long Beach today.

Long Beach

We began by fertilizing the welcome sign garden along with the weekly horsetail attack.

welcome sign, front

side

back

We gave the planters and street trees a good watering that will hold them till Tuesday, especially if there is a bit of rain as predicted.

the maddeningly coiling hose

and the maddening hose kink

Allan’s photo: The hose he uses (not shown) kinks even worse.

I do so love the mature, clipped santolinas in some of the planters.

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan did the watering of the street trees, the bucket watering of Fish Alley barrels and the two north blocks.

He found Heather of NIVA green setting up for the annual Peninsula-wide garage sale weekend.

Garage sale signs were already appearing. We do prefer ones like these with wire “feet” that don’t mash the plants.  (Allan’s photo)

Cerinthe major purpurascens and golden oregano (Allan’s photo)

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (Allan’s photo)

recently re-done Fish Alley barrels (Allan’s photo). They get water hauled by bucket.

When we got to Fifth Street Park and began weeding there, Cathy of Captain Bob’s Chowder brought us out a coke and an orange soda to help us keep going.  She said I looked tired.  I was more depressed than tired and her kindness cheered me up.

purveyor of delectable chowder and delicious crab rolls

Fifth Street Park

Fifth Street Park, northwest corner

Fifth Street Park, east side (Allan’s photo); I’d have deadheaded that rhodo, which was sort of the point of this photo.  The frying pan is much photographed by visitors.

Fifth Street Park, southeast corner (Allan’s photo) with gunnera and Darmera peltata

Next: weeding Veterans Field gardens

vet field (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Vet Field northeast corner (Allan’s photo)

We spiffed up Coulter Park although I am daunted at the area where thick salmonberry is coming under the fence and mingling with the thorny roses.  The beach approach garden proves I have no fear of weeding around roses, but this mess thwarts my efforts.

salmonberry and bindweed from the other side creating a nightmare

I think the solution is for the crew to backhoe out these poor roses and replace them with some sort of single trunked shrub so we can really get in there to weed.

We worked on the little pop out a block north of city hall, where two unhappy mugo pines struggle among a pernicious weed grass. We had not had time for it lately; now with a little more time in our schedule, we can keep up with it.

Last week I took this photo to remind myself to do it.

today

today

as far as we got…

Next week: will add mulch after trying to get more grass roots out.  They go deep and the soil is hard packed.

We had just time to weed city hall’s garden before dumping our debris.

City Hall west side

sidewalk tile by Renee O’Connor

I do so love this edge at this time of year.

City Hall north side

this spot could be a little better…

The predicted rain arrived at the perfect moment, when we were done.

city hall, east side

“Peggy’s Park”, east side city hall memorial garden for Peggy Miles.

After our debris dump, we just made it on time for our weekly dinner (second one this week!) with Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening), this time with Susie and Bill of the Boreas Inn.

The Cove Restaurant

attention to detail in the ladies room

Annika and Kiaia provided music and ambience.  (Allan’s photo)

Dave’s conchinita (Allan’s photo)

Melissa’s beautifully arranged meal by Chef Jason Lancaster

my ahi tuna

Allan’s vegetable stir fry

weekly meeting of the North Beach Garden Gang (Dave, Bill, Susie, Melissa, me)

golf course view (Allan’s photo)

We enjoyed this month’s art show featuring mosaics by our friend Annie.

My Woman by Annie Fletcher

We had achieved work success and so we would now enjoy a four day weekend.

---

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1998 (age 74):

May 26: Store day—Puget Power, Tim’s for Rx and QFC.  I had a baloney sandwich and ice cream for dinner.  I planted some seeds in early evening.

Read Full Post »

20 May: last planting time jobs

Friday, 20 May 2016

I awoke after five hours of sleep, thought briefly about the lost Golden Sands garden, and went back to sleep for two more hours.  The cycle of sleepless stress is finally broken.

Before work, Allan helped me place my mother’s birdbath in the front garden.  It will make a fine view from my writing desk.

Allan’s photo: Two round marks in the center are from yellow duckies that sat in the birdbath at Golden Sands…where it was only filled with water on the days we worked there, or by rain.

I found decorative glass pieces to put on those spots.

Mom’s birdbath under the Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’, from the window

On the front gate, we found a treasure:

Allan’s photo

Later, an email revealed it was from Patti of the Seaview garden.  She’d also given us some cool rusty stuff earlier in the week after Melissa’s birthday party.

rust from Patti (Allan’s photo)

At the library, I had a book to pick up: an interlibrary loan of book 4 of the Cazalet Chronicle.  We did some weeding along the sidewalk while we were there and I cast a stern eye on the clump of salal that wants to run to the right and interfere with the rhododendron.

I am sure its horrid roots are firmly entrenched under the sidewalk.  I want it gone.

I placed the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (rescued from mowing in the Golden Sands lawn) atop the wall  and Allan planted it.  The ones that had not been mowed flat, he cut back hard to avoid them looking wilty to passersby.

placing Rozanne at the Community Building

Allan’s photo, a planting place for Rozanne

pulling bindweed

Long Beach

the welcome sign

after pulling some horsetail

Next on the Long Beach town list: weeding the big pop out.

It was a pleasantly cool day for comfy clothes.

after…just a little better. The rugosa roses are rambunctious. I regret planting them here.

We checked on all the planters on the Bolstad approach.  A Mental Health Walk was planned along there for Saturday, sponsored by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

lots of sand in planters closest to the beach due to recent winds (Allan’s photo)

beach sand and verbascum (Allan’s photo)

This darling little dog was ignoring his guardian.  He came to us and Allan nabbed him and carried him back to her.

little dog on the loose (Allan’s photo)

I found some of the usual theft (which is one reason why the beach approach planters are especially challenging, the others being sand, salt, drought and wind).

one side: nice little golden thyme tucked in on the edge under the catmint

other side: matching thyme is gone, and the catmint is a small division to replace one that was stolen earlier.

Someone treats these planters as their own personal nursery of free plants.  I put golden thyme back on the shopping list, hoping the Basket Case still had some of the same cultivar.

Allan weeding

big footprints in the sand

a bit of weeding on the beach approach ground level

I realized with glee that our weeding job earlier this spring had been so effective that we could probably touch up the entire beach approach garden in just one day.  Soon, I hope.

rugosa roses

view looking east

the fairy door some good fairy added to a planter

am thrilled to see some of the poppy seeds that I planted have germinated

How beautiful thyme is when it is left alone to establish rather than being swiped.

To my delight, I found another fairy door in the garden.

telephoto so as not to disturb the occupants

rugosa roses that were cut back to the ground not long ago

reminder to self while parked near city hall: must remember to weed that tatty garden of not much up ahead on the corner

Jo’s Garden

We planted a plethora of painted sage in Jo’s garden.

Jo’s center courtyard

center courtyard daylily

northwest garden bed

The center of the shasta daisy patch is lower than the edges.  I think it because the Cow Wow! mulch got spread more thickly along the edge.

Plants respond to Cow Wow.  The center is lower.  Phlox is along the fence.

west garden bed

north side of house, looking east

center courtyard

guest cottage

painted sage (Salvia viridis) added to entry garden

salvias planting before (Allan’s photos)

and after

With all this planting of salvia viridis going on, I had better show new readers what it looks like:

Salvia viridis

I was relieved to see that the entry garden had begun to grow out of a mysterious problem of repeatedly dying foliage.  Jo was not at home till later today, but she texted me that she had figured it out.  She had sprayed with that anti-mosquito recipe that has been making the rounds on Facebook, with ingredients including mouthwash and epsom salts.  In the areas she sprayed, the plant leaves were burned.  Mystery solved!  Beware of where you spray that recipe (and note that Google will tell you it’s not very effective, anyway).

The big Annuals Planting Time is officially over for work, leaving only the rest of my annuals planting at home.

Basket Case Greenhouse

We couriered the cheque for plants from Long Beach over to the Basket Case Greenhouse.

in the perennial house

Geranium ‘Orion’, supposed to be even better than ‘Rozanne’

I recommend these echibeckias for long season of colour, even though they were not hardy for me. I was going to plant eight of them at Golden Sands! OH WELL!

With all the salvias out of the van, I actually had room to buy my two hanging baskets!

perusing the Blooming availability list, and remembering (finally) two hens and chickens for Diane’s little planter

I did get one golden thyme, then ran out of steam to go back to the beach approach and plant it.

World Kite Museum

We added Gardner and Bloome Soil Building Compost to improve the garden.

It takes an effort to get the tightly compacted mulch out of the bale.

Our friend Patty, the museum store manager and official Garden Waterer, came out to admire.

Ilwaco

In order to not have to water on Sunday, we drove around to all the Ilwaco planters and added just enough water to make them happy, without getting out the water trailer or the usual 20 buckets for bucket watering.  Thanks to rain this past week, they each needed just an empty Costco sized mixed nuts jar dipper full of water.

freshly planted not long ago

I did not plant any nasturtium seeds in the planters this year because last year, the deer feasted on them.

By the boatyard garden: someone had picked a bouquet and then abandoned it in a planter…which is not the meaning of the signs that read “please leave the flowers for everyone to enjoy”!

boatyard garden, looking south

north fence…once upon a time I had a garden along here, too.  It got dug up when new utility lines were installed.

east: the leaning tree garden and one little planter

center: Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

south end of boatyard garden

Salt Pub

After a brief time at home, I went out again to meet Our Kathleen for dinner at Salt Pub.  Allan stayed home because he was loading up his boat for a sailing adventure in Portland tomorrow.

Salt Hotel and Skookum Surf (surfing lessons)

I had just had time to pick a bouquet, something I try to do weekly for Salt because I value the place highly.

my delicious chili

Kathleen’s nachos

We had the baked to order cookie with ice cream for dessert; so good, and the end of such an eventful work week, that I forgot to take a photo.  We had been so deep in conversation that I had not even photographed the view of the port.

the moon over Salt after dinner

later, on my lap: Smokey and Frosty

Now for two days off in my garden.  I have a desire to not leave my property even for the Saturday Market.  Meanwhile, Allan will be off on a Saturday adventure.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my  mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1995 (age 71):

May 20:  1:00-7:40 with time out to eat.  HOT  Spent almost all afternoon planting flower seed (finally).  I love doing this job outside so it doesn’t matter if I’m sloppy.  Then I spent the evening sorting my seeds into: Do now, do next, do later i.e. plant in fall, winter, etc.

1997 (age 73):

May 20:  ?-5:30  Dahlias were my #1 job for today but it was raining.  It cleared up in early afternoon so I went out and got all the dahlias planted!  Then I started pulling the bedraggled forget me nots, the yellow invasive plants and sweet woodruff.  I am going to plant some seeds in front to see how they do.

1998 (age 74):

May 20: cool-rainy.  I had the blahs today.  I really didn’t want to go out but I did around 2:00.  I potted some tomatoes and needed more room in the greenhouse so I dragged the “window box” begonias out.  (Don’t ask me how I managed that.)  I replaced the tubs of tulips with the begonia boxes.  Then it started raining.  I also moved several trays of tomatoes to the greenhouse to be repotted (maybe tomorrow).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

10 May: back to Jo’s, eventually

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

In the wee hours, just  before sleep time,  I started thinking about the recent job debacle, when a new temporary manager of a place thought our courtyard cottage garden was “trashy”, and it sunk in that a staff member had suggested I bid on doing the job that I had turned from weeds and scrub into a garden and had been doing for over 6 years.  (She was trying to help; the temporary manager did not even bother to contact me before bringing in other people to bid.) All sleep fled till I took a benadryl.  (I wish Melatonin worked for me; it does not.)  I’ve been swearing off benadryl because of a scary study (inconclusively) linking it to Alzheimer’s. Lack of enough sleep made the sorting and loading of plants in the morning a matter of intense concentration.

breakfast: eggs from Garden Tour Nancy’s chickens

at the Ilwaco post office

Long Beach

The big plan for the day was to finish planting the “uppies” in the Long Beach planters that we did not get to yesterday, and pick up Jo’s cosmos and painted sage and get over to Jo’s to plant in good time.

Some agastaches (this year’s uppie!) ready to plant in Lewis and Clark Square

In the big Lewis and Clark Square planter, orangey-peachy agastaches will echo the colour of the Kabob Cottage behind the square, I hope.

Kabob Cottage earlier this spring

Four new perennials went into the Vet Field corner.  Helenium ‘Chelsey’ (red) and Lobelia laxiflora..  I need more of something along the front edge by the flag pole.

Vet field looking south; am thrilled no one is bothering the alliums

Planter Box

Long Beach took so much longer than I thought it would that we did not get to The Planter Box till almost two.

the main greenhouse

Today was the day we began picking up cosmos six packs.  The painted sage is not quite rooted enough so we will plant them on another go-round next week.

(By the way…three days later….we have picked up all we need and the Planter Box still has some left for sale.)

coleus ( a plant I’d get for myself if I weren’t too busy to nurture it)

Teresa and I admiring the Marble Arch sage; healthy but not quite big enough yet.

Basket Case Greenhouse

collecting some more annuals from the back greenhouse

rearview mirror of the van (Allan’s photo)

Jo’s garden

We did not get to Jo’s till after three and worked on cosmos planting, along with six choice Heleniums, for two hours.

cosmos going in (Allan’s photo)

Siberian iris (Allan’s photo)

honeysuckle (Allan’s photo)

 

just one area at Jo’s where we planted cosmos today

roses

Allan’s photo

and more roses

cottage window box (Allan’s photo)

neighbor dog visiting (Allan’s photo)

Long Beach welcome sign

We collected some buckets of soil from our pile at the city works yard to fluff up the sign garden. By 5:30, we were adding Cosmos ‘Sonata’ to the front and back of the welcome sign, along with four Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly” to the front.  I had debated about the latter, as it is a pain to deadhead.   Its bright yellow is perfect, though, for drawing the eye to the sign.

Todd stopped by to inform us that we rock.  He noticed the bidens along the front (a yellow trailing annual) and said it is a weed in North Carolina.   We agreed that its seeds are like painful little needles.

I was probably orating about the number of plants…

Allan’s photo, soil added to the back of the sign

front

back

My big plan was to finish the day by planting cosmos in the garden boat at Time Enough Books and watering the curbside gardens there and by the port office, while Allan watered the Ilwaco planters, and then sort more plants at home.  Even though it was only 6:30 when we finished the welcome sign, I simply could not find the oomph to do another planting job.  It was good thing that I went home instead and got to sorting as that task (including making lists on a clipboard) took until dark.  Somehow Allan found the strength to get the Ilwaco planters and street trees watered.

Tomorrow would be our day to return to the job that was on shaky ground, along with two longtime jobs, with cosmos in tow to plant at each one.

from a few days ago: Calvin on the quilt that Jo gave to me

1995 (age 71):

May 10:  Pulled broccoli plants that had gone to seed.  They are to be shredded.  Potted the rest of tomato seedlings in greenhouse.

 

Read Full Post »

22 April: Long Beach

Friday, 22 April 2016

The day began so rainy that I thought it might allow us to only get some essential Long Beach deadheading done.  The weather-induced late start meant that we did not get to Klipsan Beach Cottages and Golden Sands gardens as intended.  I told myself that they would surely be fine for five more days or so.

The Planter Box

We took the time to go to The Planter Box and use the rainy mid morning to clip back our cosmos being grown in the back green house.  It is so wonderful to have few enough jobs that I actually have time, for the first time in several years, to check on the cosmos now and “pinch” it.

Allan’s photo

at The Planter Box

trimming the cosmos to make it bushier and not leggy; will start planting it around Mother’s Day.  This can be done by “pinching” with fingers or with clippers.

Long Beach

The weather, while windy, cleared up enough to make it possible to finish deadheading the Long Beach planters (started on Wednesday) and Veterans Field.

Tulip ‘Formosa’ (and an old ‘Bleu Aimable’

rhododendrons and the Long Beach gazebo

Cerinthe major purpurascens across from the police station

planter with golden oregano about to get too rampant

Dutch iris (Allan’s photo)

Narcissus ‘Baby Moon’, N. ‘New Baby’, Tulip ‘Strong Gold’

I’m excited about the new to me me ‘New Baby’ narcissus, late blooming to go with ‘Baby Moon’

 

Sadly, no time for lunch at the delicious Kabob Cottage

Allan got two buckets of weeds out of the Vet Field beds.  (Allan’s photo)

Vet Field garden (Allan’s photo)

Having gotten enough deadheading and weeding done to move on, we addressed the drifts of spent tulips in the Long Beach welcome sign planter.

before

We made a trip to city works with the debris (lots of horsetail) and got enough soil to fluff up the front of the sign, and planted some geraniums ‘Rozanne’ alternating with ‘Orion’ (which is supposed to be even better than Rozanne).  I consider it too early to plant the annuals which will fill it out.

I had realized partway through that it was high time to dig out the thickly multiplied narcissi along the front.  It had gotten too thick and tall.  I moved some to the back and put some in buckets. Next fall, we will have the tulips in front.  Now, I have three buckets of extra narcissi to plant on the berms (something I don’t in the least feel like doing but I shall).  It was hard work and I know I missed some bulbs so will be removing more in the fall.

after

 

before, with lots of horsetail

after; have used up my mulch pile and need more.

We weeded the west side of Fifth Street Park and I finished up the east side while Allan went back to the difficult center berm weeding job.

Fifth Street Park, NE side

I disturbed this little one’s evening.

The nice guy from the Title Company and I were discussing how the BadAster keeps coming back.

I joined Allan at the berm where he was struggling with slow progress in hard packed thick weeds.

before (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

I found that even the heavy pick swung full force simply bounced off the weeds and so I got out the string trimmer in a state of high dudgeon.

strimmed…good enough?

after (Allan’s photo)

While dumping weeds at city works (again), I pondered further about how I felt that string trimming was just not good enough to allow the erasure of the third berm from the work board, even though I so want to, and then had a flash of hope: Perhaps next week, I can get that weedy “lawn” out with the half moon edger!  I’d even bought some poppy seeds to plant if only we could get the ground clear.  HUMANS WILL WIN!  (I hope.)

We had carried some plants for the planters around all day and had not got them planted, nor had I gotten more than just a few narcissi replanted in the south berm, nor had I remembered to take a photo of the rather good looking south berm, nor had we made it to KBC or Golden Sands at all.  Even so, I declared a three day weekend because life is short.

at home (Allan’s photo)

Allan captured the intense sunset. 

For those who like the Grandma Scrapbooks blog, I’ve published a new post there.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1995 (age 71):

April 22: Finished planting 9in pots) the rest of the Foster Farms.  Planted the pansy plants in baskets.  Planted the fuchsia plants in baskets.

1997 (age 73):

April 22:  gray and damp.  Went out to plant strawberries but ended up working on one row moving new daughter plants from middle of row and trimming and/or replanting other plants within the row.  After about 2 hours I was rained in.

1998 (age 74):

April 22 noon-5:00   I worked all this time transplanting tomato seedlings into pots using compost with mushroom compost.  When I thought it was 3:00 and I came in to take a break and was surprised to see it was 5:00 so I closed up shop and came in.  Rec’d the fall Dutch Gardens catalog!

 

Read Full Post »