28 March: Long Beach and Boreas

Thursday, 28 March 2019

We’d had this much rain.

The new water feature still has a slow leak.  The bow seat is still under water; the stern seat is exposed.

We drove by the Ilwaco fire station garden on the way to work…

…and then deadheaded Long Beach planters.

The welcome sign did not needs its narcissi deadheaded quite yet.

There was plenty of deadheading here and there on the main street (Pacific).

Allan’s before

and after

by Cottage Bakery

some primulas that I transplanted, blooming by Mostly Hats

Fritillaria meleagris

a bit of a color clash

I found a frog hopping along the curb.  It went into a tree garden drain pipe that I know will be parched dry this summer.  So I nabbed it, and even though I had sworn I was going to wait till frogs discovered our new pond, we took a break from work and drove froggie to our garden.

I hope it will like this better than a drainpipe next to a parking place.

Bentley, my friend next door, has had a haircut.

Allan’s photos

biscuit time

Bentley always has much to say, often in vocalizations other than barking.

 

Back to Long Beach…. We finished our deadheading.

By Malai Thai, our main patch of primroses

Fifth Street Park. NW quadrant

Fifth Street Park, NE quadrant

Allan’s photo

by fun rides

Tulipa sylvestris along the edge of a planter

The very pale Muscari is ‘Valerie Finnis’

Allan’s photos:

I rarely use double narcissi; they look splodgy to me.

Cerinthe major purpurascens

On to the Boreas Inn, where we finished mulching the lower and upper lawn beds.  I got an assortment of California poppies planted. Allan took all the photos:

deer tracks in bed mulched last time

before

before

after (two different beds)

I had brought my little red wheelbarrow, which I find easier to maneuver with a load of mulch.

old dahlia bed, before

so weedy; Allan tackled it while I planted poppies.

after

At home, sweet peas are erased the work board along with the poppies for the Boreas. We still need to get some mulch to the front entry garden at the Boreas.

 

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31 March: beach approach triumph

Saturday, 31 March 2018

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

We had an audience.

digging

We then planted sweet peas along the fence at the

Ilwaco boatyard garden.

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

Allan’s photos:

With that done, we returned to

Long Beach

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

deadheading

anemone blanda (Allan’s photo)

 

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

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

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

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

befores (Allan’s photos):

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

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

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

Our good friend Mitzu.

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

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

We had come all this way.

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

afters (Allan’s photos):

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

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

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

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

trilliums at city hall

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

drab!

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

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

my photos:

planter by NIVA green

variegated tulip foliage (battered by rain)

Dennis Company tree

under tree across from Dennis Co.

one early tulip…

and finger blight!!

Dennis Co planter

a flock of ducks at the Heron Pond

tree by Long Beach Pharmacy

Fish Alley

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

Third Street

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

Tulips ‘West Point’ and ‘Tom Pouce’

Third Street gazebo

Tulipa sylvestris

If this is Cool Crystal, it is awfully early.

Tulip acuminata buds

Allan’s photos:

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

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

Fifth Street Park

by Abbracci Coffee Bar

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

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

Shelburne Pub

epimedium flowers outside (Allan’s photo)

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

in the pub: Cosmo with Adrift Distillers cranberry liqueur

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

black garlic fried rice and a salad

Allan’s pub burger and salad

well deserved treats

 

delicious beeramisu

At home, I woke two sleeping cats.

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

The re-written work board:

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

 

 

 

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28 March: Shelburne and beach approach

Wednesday, 28 March 2018

a calendula by our driveway (Allan’s photo)

Fritillaria meleagris (Allan’s photo)

Shelburne Hotel

I had a few plant starts ( cyclamens from MaryBeth and Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ from Klipsan Beach Cottages) to plant in the Shelburne front garden.  It had been on my mind to get back there and see how the garden is doing.  I wish it would “do” faster.  I miss having lots of spring bulbs in it.  Next year!  I took some narcissi from my garden  and left them by the kitchen sink, hoping someone could find it useful.

Outside, the only especially maddening weed I found was the dratted Aegopodium, which is thick at the south end and, unfortunately, popping up elsewhere as well.

a horde horrendous little aegepodium leaves at the south end (among the scilla)

in the center of the garden….nooooo!

looking north

looking south

I was most pleased when one of my most admired local gardeners came round the corner for lunch in the pub and said that the garden HAD gone to weeds but was now looking much better.  He had brought two little friends with him.

One had hopped into the garden and was gently removed.

I am feeling so eager for the plants to start to show.

today

and March 11. Some progress.

I planted my baby Sansuisorba ‘Lilac Squirrel’ with Allan’s protective teepee.  I found that mine at home is finally leafing out so I could put my new one in here.

Long Beach, Bolstad Beach Approach

We returned to the all consuming task of weeding the beach approach, after doing a small bit of deadheading downtown.

in a downtown planter (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Before driving to the approach, we dumped Sunday’s debris and gathered some mulch.

our low tech method

on the approach garden (Allan’s photo)

mulch added to a couple of sections

We began weeding where we had left off.  The red buoy is at the end of the gardens.

six sections to go

Befores and afters (mostly Allan’s photos):

We finished one section in two and a half hours and started the next.

second section, before

I enjoy the parade of delightful dogs all day.

Our neighbour Jared strolled by with his good dogs:

Rudder and Yarrow

Below, see those holes in the weeds? That is where I had planted some Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, of which I have plenty, to try to fill in with something free.  Every one has been stolen and I am so exasperated.  And furious. This is why, other than shrubs and roses, the gardens look so empty.  This is why we can’t have nice things.

I also find much evidence of the theft by digging of narcissi bulbs.  Below, evidence that was discarded on the ground after some fool took the bulb and no foliage, apparently.  Or someone just pulled the plant apart for fun.  Deer do not do this to narcissi.

I placed it on the post for your examination.

I am just going to encourage more wild beach lupine.  I can’t have anything fancier here.

Sometimes I think about writing a letter to the editor or speaking at Long Beach city council.  Then I think that would just alert people to where to find good plants for free.

willows, by where we dump weeds

When I got this far in the second section, I did not think I would make it to the planter.  Allan put a cookie on the rock to keep me going.  I was not amused, so he placed it where I could reach it. Three ibuprofens later, I did make it to the end.

The afters, (all by Allan), section one:

section two:

Now we have this far to go to the buoy:

at home

In picking narcissi for the Shelburne this morning, I had noticed that a depressing number were tattered by snails, so I had to find enough evening energy to totter around the garden tossing out some Sluggo pellets.

Narcissus ‘Frosty Snow’, cat memorial garden

Narcissus ‘Frosty Snow’

center bed (with loads of shotweed)

Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’!

gunnera and rain puddles

I must divide this Japanese iris soon!

bogsy wood after rain

Oh dear, I may have coppiced my golden leycesterias and my smokebush too hard and too soon:

looks ominous

akebia by the driveway

Four beach approach sections to go and then I MUST get the rest of the sweet peas planted.

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16 March: mulching day

Friday, 16 March 2018

On the way out of Ilwaco, we dropped off and picked up books at the library.  Now I have an even bigger pile of books to read, which is problematical at this time of year.

Ilwaco Community Building

Community building garden with Ocean Beach Hospital and a salal I want to get rid of this year.

Supposing we do manage to dig out that tatty salal, what should we put in that triangular corner instead?  I am thinking.  The sidewalk is narrow and peculiarly designed there.

We began with a quick visit to the Basket Case Greenhouse, to give Roxanne some seeds to try growing for me.  If she succeeds, she will have some Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ for sale eventually!

Two seedy characters (Roxanne and me)

Right now, the Basket Case has the excellent Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’.

The leaves of Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ eventually revert to green. So it’s worth refreshing with a new plant every couple of years.

Peninsula Landscape Supply

Our first work destination was the acquisition of some Soil Energy mulch.

When we drove in, I had a brief wave of anxiety because the bins looked empty and I had not called to confirm that Soil Energy was in stock.

When we pulled up closer, I was relieved to see enough for us.

The fish of Peninsula Landscape Supply

The Depot Restaurant…

…was our mulching destination.

Before: I wanted to improve this tight and rooty bed and to plant a start of Tetrapanax.  Chef Michael wants tall things in here.  I tried to transplant a start of Tetrapanax last year to no avail.

Allan’s photo, south side of dining deck

after

We used the remainder of the mulch on the north side of the dining deck.

filling in along the edge

Allan’s photo

We were making good time, so we went to the city works yard in…

Long Beach

….and filled all our buckets from the city pile of Soil Energy, enough to mulch the arc garden at the Veterans Field flag pavilion.

Driving to city works, I had seen two sets of narcissi that needed deadheading, the first by the Coastal Inn and Suites.  We took care of that and noticed that the inn now has a tulip bed.

Very nice; we hope the deer don’t eat them.

Allan’s photo

Next, we deadheaded the tree garden in front of Abbracci Coffee Bar.

Allan’s photo

Feeling weary after the usual night of semi-insomnia (and dreams when asleep about the film Ethel and Ernest, now one of my favourite films of all time), I had a craving for coffee and a Pink Poppy Bakery treat.  Just as we finished deadheading, the closed sign went up in the door of the coffee bar.  Dang it! It was already three thirty.

I guess it was just as well, because it gave us time to get more done; we went through the Great Escape Coffee Drive Through instead.

The Shelburne Hotel

Our visit to the Shelburne garden was a quick one, just long enough to plant some Eryngium and Dierama seedlings and a bit of variegated saxifrage.

The epimedium whose leaves (some of them) I cut back in the rain a couple of weeks ago is blooming.  The flowers would not show if the leaves were all still there.

Remember the hellebore whose flower got broken off to many cries of woe (and blame)?  It made a new flower.

Allan’s vindicating photo

I made a fun photo of the Shelburne with the Popsicolor app last night:

Popsicolor: Double Mint, Natural Focus, Top to Bottom Gradient, Inked: India Ink, Enhanced

Ilwaco boatyard garden

We tackled the last of the targeted (by us) clumps of the Pennisetum macrourum, where we had run out of time yesterday.

Allan’s photo, before…the horror

I went over the last area he had dug and picked over yesterday, and had not had time to finish.  There were so many deep roots, I despaired of winning.  But humans WILL WIN this battle.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo: But what lurks beneath?

Yesterday:

looking north (the steam is from a boat engine that just got put in the water)

Today:

We had a look in the boatyard:

Right above the High Hope, to the left of the Starwest, is the spruce tree in the lower part of our old garden.

At home, Allan decided he had time to mow our lawn, and I unloaded and piled roots of the pennisetum for future wheelie bin disposal (it’s full now) until I ran out of steam, and then erased “mulch Depot” from the work board.

Skooter was sleeping on my go bag again.

Tomorrow, Saturday the 17th, is my birthday—not a big important one, just age 63, but worth a day off and (I hope) some garden accomplishments at home.

 

 

 

 

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6 March: work (and reading)

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Calvin was sunbathing on the bed, showing how much brown is in a black cat’s fur.

A blue blanket showed off Frosty’s pretty blue eyes.

Speaking of snoozing and blue blankets, here is a guest photo of Todd’s dog, Ansel.

The J’s garden

We had an accounting appointment in the middle of the day, so we started at J’s garden across the street from our house, a job we could easily leave and come back to later.

While Allan was fetching the lawn mower for the tiny lawn in the J’s back yard, Ed and Jackson Strange (Strange Landscaping) stopped by on their way to a much bigger mowing job.  Ed was on his way to mow around a garden we created and used to care for by the pale green house at the far right of this photo:

Jackson and Ed

After some schmoozing with Ed and some smooching for Jackson (not Ed, who is the one on the right), we all got back to work.

At J’s, I got locked into the back garden behind the new gate.  Allan had a bit of a hard time getting the latch open.  From now on we will be sure to prop it with a heavy bucket while we are working back there.  It led to some excitement about getting to our new accountant on time (our former one, in Ilwaco, has retired.)  We were only two minutes late, thank goodness, because we did want to make a good first impression.  Because her office is almost to Surfside, we took the opportunity to drive further north and east and tour The Oysterville Garden, which will be tomorrow’s post.

We did not get back to J’s till an hour before dusk, so the befores and afters, taken by Allan, have a different light:

before

after

before

after

before: shotweed

before

after, with sword ferns trimmed

sword fern fronds to go across the street to our compost bins

just after sunset

Long Beach

Prior to returning to J’s, we went to the Sid Snyder beach approach to tidy the planters there, AND did the spring clean up on the tiny flower garden at the World Kite Museum.  We had a look at a few of the street tree and planter narcissi downtown.

I love narcissi with reflexed petals and long trumpets.

My favourites are the ones with tiny cups.

I like them all (except for the split cup ones, which look messy to me); they are my favourite flower.

also plenty of crocuses

Allan’s photo

On the beach approach, we clipped santolinas so that they will remain in a silver mound.  Allan’s photos:

before

after

the westernmost planter, before

The gazanias came through the winter.

after

At the World Kite Museum, Patty came out to chat.

not much going on in this garden yet

As of midsummer, the hebes that were on the right (above) are gone, and I wonder if that will make this little bed less rooty, or it the roots were all from escallonia on the left (above, and on the right below) creeping in for better nourishment.

At home, after finishing J’s, we were able to erase two tasks from the work list, so I tightened up the spring clean up section.

reading

Over the last month, despite being preoccupied with blogging about reading from years before, I did manage to read three books.  I already mentioned this one:

And I may have mentioned this one which, of the three, if you only have time for one, is a must read for white Americans.  I say white Americans because I don’t think black Americans should have to re-traumatize over this horrible history. The book smashes the myth that Rosa Parks was just a quiet lady with sore feet; she was a firebrand!  This is the most historically groundbreaking book I have read in a long time.

This evening, I finished the third book.  It is essential reading:

I  now have a new stack of library books, all pretty much light reading, and during work season that is sometimes all I have a mind for.

I am quite concerned that I have so many books out of the library right now!

The black book to the right is an autobiography by Nina Bawden.  79 Squares is a re-read inspired by my book posts.  The Bookstore Mouse was recommended by Roxanne, who co-owns the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Dawn Powell (upper left) might have to go back till next winter; I have renewed her three times.  I have already started Ian Whitcomb’s novel, Lotusland (lower right).  The Private I is edited by Molly Peacock, who wrote the wonderful The Paper Garden that I recently read.

When will I find the time, especially since I am still obsessed with the blog posts about old reading and still have five years of books to do!?

AND the books poured in that I ordered while writing the book posts.

These are not all re-reads, some were new to me books that I found while adding books to my Goodreads list of books I’ve read.  The rarest came all the way from the UK and is called Nonie; it is a biography of Lenora Mattingly Weber, who wrote the middle-American midcentury Beany Malone series.

Please bring on some rainy days.

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1 March: Ilwaco projects

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Because I believed the weather forecast (rain and wind) and the wind flag flying over the port office, I decided we had better do a project more sheltered than working at the port gardens.  They and the beach approach garden are the worst jobs in bad weather.

I called Peninsula Landscape Supply and learned they are back to their daily hours instead of limited winter hours.  So off we went to get a load of mulch.

steaming hot soil energy

Note: When the mulch is hot, wait for it to cool before planting new plants in it.

one cubic yard

Elijah Blue fescue at Peninsula Landscape Supply

J’s garden

Our first mulching project used a little over half a yard, at the J’s garden across the street.  There, when previous owner had planted a pretty little garden, she planted many of the shrubs humped up on mounds.  Strange.  Too hard to dig a hole? By now, years later, their roots were exposed.  I have been looking forward to fixing this.

Soil Energy (Allan’s photo)

bucket application

before

after

before (hydrangeas in the center, back, are so humped up they are falling sideways)

after

after

before

after

fluffed up rose beds by back patio

Norwood garden

We had enough mulch left to do the Norwood garden beds, two doors down from us.

Allan’s photos:

The soil in the narrow bed in the back had looked quite poor and grey when we weeded earlier this month.  Now the bed looks rich and happy.

then

now

happy Euonymous

Port of Ilwaco

As we had worked on the two mulching projects, I realized the weather forecast had been quite wrong.  We could have pleasantly done the spring clean up all along the port.  With a few hours left in the day, we decided to get as much done there as we could.

Allan clipping sword fern behind (north side) the port office building

before and after

south side port office, before

after some clipping and two buckets of mulch added

I especially love narcissi with strongly reflexed petals.

Just across a little lawn is the marina, and the tide was high.

We decided to get as many of the Howerton Avenue curbside gardens done as possible, concentrating on the most walked-by ones, especially ones with the larger ornamental grasses.

red twig dogwood at the old Shorebank building

Shorebank: crocuses and kinnikinnick

by Ilwaco pavilion, before

and after

“drive over garden” before

and after trimming the santolinas (four different cultivars)

Fort George Brewery (office), before

and after (Allan’s photos)

Art Port Gallery, before

after

by Art Port Gallery

We surprised ourselves by getting all of the garden beds done except for the west and east ends. While not enough to erase the job from the work board, we should be able to finish it in just a couple more hours.

Home after 5 PM: Skooter was waiting.

Allan’s photo

Skooter and Frosty

Skooter, Frosty…and Calvin!  (Allan’s photo)

Somehow Allan found the energy to nip across the street and mow the J’s little lawn.

before and after

Even though they are invasive, I cannot help loving the yellow ranunculus (lesser celandine) in the lawn.  It’s not the most evil creeping buttercup.  I asked Allan to mow around it.  It will go dormant in the summer.  Sometimes I am just weak about plants.  But it is a cutie.

I’d love another nice day tomorrow so we could finish the port and the boatyard gardens and have the first spring clean up done!

work board tonight

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1 April: beach approach, of course

Before we get back to the beach approach garden, here, at the special request of Our Kathleen, are some cropped and blurred (to disguise the business) photos of the planter that was dissed in the story at the end of yesterday’s post. This planter was, I was told, “a little bit better in 2015″  but before that was “terrible”, and was still “not very good”…

July 2014 (accidentally photographed with “Vibrant Color” setting)

August 2014

August 2014

October (!!) 2014

November 2014

Thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday’s post, both on the blog and on Facebook.  I especially felt moved by the comment from Pam, Seaside’s city gardener, about how “public and vulnerable” it is to do our job.  In fact, that brought a tear to me eye.  (“Are you CRYING now?”)  I was simply shocked to hear that Ann Lovejoy, to me a garden goddess above all, hears criticism of her volunteer maintained public gardens.  Reminds me of when a passerby last year lit into me about the beach approach being weedy, when we had quite simply had NO time to get out there to weed.  Speaking of the beach approach, now that we have passed on several of our private gardens to Sea Star Gardening and also no longer do Andersen’s RV Park (because it sold last year), we have had the time to get the beach approach weeded early-ish this year…or rather, we are TRYING to get it done.

Friday, 1 April 2016

at home

The UPS truck arrived with my Mary Rose rose, from Heirloom Roses, for kitty Mary’s grave.  I was so happy to see it but did not have time to plant it yet.

shipped much earlier than expected!

Before work, I simply had to take some photos of our own garden.  I wish I had time to explore all of it.  I only get quick looks nowadays and am sure I’m missing something wonderful off in a corner.

Acanthus ‘Hollard’s Gold’

center bed back garden

center bed, looking southwest

tulips

tulips and muscari

Tulips and Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’

I have to time to deal with the horsetail!

garden boat ‘Ann Lovejoy’

east side front garden

front garden, Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Alba’ and Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’

front path looking east

I said to Allan that I felt like picking a bouquet of tulips and taking them to yesterday’s insulting Shopkeeper for shopkeeper’s sick relative.  Allan said “Don’t!”, just like City Hall folks had said when I commented that I felt like doing that.  What happened to kill ’em with kindess?  I picked tulips anyway but instead took them to a local business where we are always treated well.

a bouquet for Salt’s weekend

While I delivered the flowers, Allan popped one perennial into the Time Enough Books garden.

Geum ‘Mai Tai’ (Allan’s photo)

We planted a few plants in the Ilwaco planters and then back to…

Long Beach

The Bolstad beach approach garden

before, with a head start from yesterday (Allan’s photo)

Bolstad beach approach today, before, 12:15 AM

before: our goal is that planter with the light pole and banner

All of the “during” photos are Allan’s today.

before (Allan’s photo)

It has not been weeded since July, but most of the weeds came in the fall and winter.

Allan’s photo

Our neighbour Jared walked by with a friend from Ohio and with the two dogs, Rudder and Yarrow.  As he often does, Rudder ignored me…

…but he did let me pet him on the way back and even gently wagged his tail.

in the thick of it

Allan’s photo

I apologize for no photos of Allan swinging the pick to get the roses out from the streetside edge.  My ever so comfy clothes (free, passed on from a friend, my favourite clothing price) have no good camera pocket so I only take photos of before and after out here.  Why, why, why are pants made without pocketses?  So just picture him swinging the heavy yellow handled pick all day long, kind of like this guy, with pick instead of hammer:

John Henry

Allan’s photo

planter goal achieved! (Allan’s photo)

4 PM: beginning the next section!!

A distraction: a sirening police car went tearing out to the beach, a gazillion miles per hour it seemed, and later this procession came back.

a bad day for someone being escorted off the beach

an Anemone blanda saved from the weeds by Allan

Allan’s tools (minus the giant pick)

Because we had gotten one fourth of the section done yesterday,  and because the next section did not have as many roses, we got to the end of the next section also, all in seven hours today!  A section that takes 3.5 instead of 5-6 hours is a joy.

end of today’s second section.

How I cursed the kinnikinnick around thatrock as I whacked at it with the pick and clipped with the loppers.  It is ugly after this winter, or maybe from last summer’s drought, when, by the way, this whole stretch got NO water.  It does not cover the ground well enough to blanket our weeds and therefore does not deserve to be called a ground cover.  Many bad words were said to it.

Bad words cease when people walk by (unless I know them well).

Three deer went by; this poor critter looks mangy.

‘Twas a sad day for us when the deer discovered our species tulips in this garden.

Dogs to pet are a big treat for me at this job.

Me, the pick, and an enraged attack on kinnikinnick.

As Melissa says: “Humans win!” (briefly)

I have poppy seeds; my energy was gone so they did not get planted today.

after, 7:30 PM

today’s progress

finishing at sunset

telephoto of the buoy which is our goal

We were too exhausted to dump the debris, which is lightweight (roses pulled from along the edges), so we just took it home with us.

We are this far.

at home

dusk: Tulips close their petals

Erythronium

The work board: only five of 12.5 sections left!

To those with an eye for detail:  I’ve started calling the approach 12.5 sections instead of 13 because one area is shorter.

Tomorrow: more of the same, but guess who comes to help us?

guest photo: J9’s cat has found the catnip!

photo by Jeannine Grey

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1998 (age 73)

April 1:  Cool and gray but dry.  I planned to work on strawberries but the front beds are choked with two persistent weeds so I worked all afternoon in the tam area.  [former juniper tam bed turned to flower bed]  I weeded about a five foot wide area along the front and into the ditch in about four hours bending over and using my stool. MaryAnn came over to visit about half an hour and Darryl stopped by to talk.

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25 March: beach approach

Friday, 25 March 2016

I honestly thought it was going to be a stormy day, rainy and 45 degrees.  That’s what Siri told me last night at 1 AM.  She was mistaken.

We intended to begin the day by deadheading the Ilwaco planters, but it was Food Bank day and the streets were all parked up.

Allan managed to find parking to deadhead one planter.

 We spent the rest of the work day in Long Beach, thinking to do the Ilwaco planters on the way home.

street tree after deadheading.  some snail damage.

another street tree

Narcissi are my favourite flower.

Allan pulled some hardy geranium, not sure which one but similar to macrorrhizum in having a tidy habit, and we popped it into the garden at Penttila’s.  I found still more masses of damnable quack grass roots, of course.

Geraniums about to come out, to allow for more variety in this planter. (Allan’s photo)

Mission accomplished (Allan’s photo); room for some annuals.

“Skyler giveth and Skyler taketh away.” I do move plants around a lot.

Penttila’s mortuary, two days ago

today

in a garden on our way to the next project..

Our mission for the rest of the day: To get one more section of the Bolstad beach approach garden weeded.

the long narrow Bolstad garden (right next to the name)

before (Allan’s photo)

1:20 PM

By 3:20 we were only halfway done with the section (one of 13); worrisome

Our neighbours, Jared and Jessika, operate the Starvation Alley organic cranberry juice tasting room by the Long Beach arch.  Jessika ran by with her two dogs.

Rudder and Yarrow

One of the (few) pleasures of this job is all the cute dogs that walk by.

By six o clock, I did not think we were going to make it to the end of the section (the next planter).  My knee hurt like the dickens and Allan was moaning and groaning a bit, too.  Not only were we weeding but also clipping back, attacking with the pick, and trying to pull out rugosa roses right along the edge.  By 6:30, I was sure we were going to have to leave the last two square feet undone and was debating whether or not I could honestly erase the section from the work board.  Then, with a last burst of desperate energy and with the low evening sun in my eyes, we did it!

The final five minutes had some excitement when the extremely heavy pick fell of the planter and landed an inch from my toes.  That would have hurt.

really scary, must be much more careful in future and not get punchy and careless

7:02 PM

It is normal for one section of this beach approach garden to take six hours for two people.  That makes the entire job about 156 hours of work.  That is rather appalling!  We used to sometimes get assorted friends to help.  No matter who helped us (and we have had at least five different people give it a go), it never cut the time by one third so it’s faster to just do it ourselves.  Allan just reminded me that our helpers all liked to take a break, too…We just soldier on with complete focus and forget to take a ten minute break somewhere along the way (other than perhaps a necessary trip to the restroom).

after: state of collapse on the planter bench (Allan’s photo)

after, into the setting sun

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

rose debris to be dumped at city works

was able to legitimately erase one section of the beach approach

Work board lower right: Postcards is a future project for the Grandma Scrapbooks blog (sharing her old ones from 100 years ago).

I don’t think I can stand doing the beach approach day after day till done as in past years.  It requires so much standing still in one place, murder on my “collapsing” knee.  Tomorrow, we’ll do some deadheading rounds and then on the next work day, try to polish off a berm section which at least has more variety than the approach garden.  Tomorrow’s should begin with deadheading the Ilwaco planters and port gardens as we were too tired and sore to do it on the way home tonight.  But first, if only we can get up in time, we are going to caucus for Bernie Sanders.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 72):

March 25: Worked only 2 hours to exhaustion.  Yesterday Don said he would come out to help chip so I cleaned up the patio and in front of the wood box and piled it high on the pile.  He’s going to be shocked at the size of the pile.  I can’t find the chipper instructions.  My Dutch Garden new begonias are starting to grow.

1998 (age 73):

March 25:   1:00 to 4:45.  Today I moved all the pots of perennials from the greenhouse to tables etc outside where they’ll get rained on.  Then I washed all the white begonia baskets.  That was a big job!  Also cleaned Tabby’s “sand box”.  Tomato seeds planted on 3/20 and 3/21 are coming up!

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24 March: mortuary garden

I expected another stormy day off and instead woke to sunshine.  Hoping for nothing worse than a few showers, we decided to finish the mortuary garden (Penttila’s Chapel).

our Ilwaco Post Office garden

at the post office

 

On the way, we stopped in at our accountant’s office to sign our tax return.

Jennifer’s office: tulips

and accounting mascot, Helen

At Pentilla’s, I did a bit more detwigging of the dead bits on the coral bark maple.

before

after

I felt lightheaded enough while pruning to finally get the nerve to call the neurologist’s office for my test results…only to find, through a series of phone calls to his office and the hospital, that he had not been sent the results.  NOW he has them but his office is closed tomorrow, so perhaps I will hear on Monday.Oh, good, three more days that I can indulge in Ostrich Syndrome. If the results are good, he’ll tell me on the phone.  If bad, we have to go to Aberdeen again.  (During the worst of the lightheadedness, which did pass, I thought, well, I’m already at the mortuary, that’s convenient!)

Our main focus today was the north side of the front garden.

Allan’s photo, during a rain squall

kinnikinnick full of quack grass and creeping buttercup

The kinnikinnick is a horrible ground cover as its stems are loose and sprawling, giving plenty of room for weeds to come through, and its humped up centers are treacherous foot catchers.  There are ground covers that I think do the job much better: Geranium macrrorhizum and epimediums come to mind, and since we yanked a bunch of kinnikinick today, I think I will bring starts of something better to add to this garden.

Why the kinnikinick is so bad:

matts of white quack grass roots all tangled up with the kinnikinnick roots; horrible!

Allan’s photos: before

after

I got out huge mats of the white grass roots; this involved a lot of standing in one place and eventually my knee hurt like blazes.

After.  I threw in some poppy seeds.

lots of heavy and horrible weed roots

With some time left in the day, we deadheaded at Long Beach City Hall…

City Hall Garden

poeticus narcissi

trilliums and hellebore

after more deadheading at Culbertson Park

We got rained on hard thrice during the day, including when we went to city works to get some buckets of mulch for one of the parks.

Lightness around the edges always gives us hope.

more park mulching accomplished

Allan’s photo: Camassia

Allan’s photo: tulip

Allan’s photo: under a street tree

Allan’s photo with the Long Beach chop sticks; good one!!

Allan’s photo

Tulip ‘Portland’ (Allan’s photo)

primroses still going strong

While working with pain, I tried not to think of the doctor’s word “collapsing” about my knee.  As the upcoming total knee replacement, and how it affects gardening, weighed on my mind, I remembered the ridicule of a (former) friend toward a former neighbour (also a gardener by trade) who sought Facebook sympathy for his hip replacement.   I thought to myself weakly at the time that anyone, no matter how unlikeable, might validly seek sympathy for such an event, but did not speak up.  However…My narrative flow here is not about getting sympathy; it is about the interesting (to some) chronicle of the progression of age on the full time gardener.  So I might go on about my knee on occasion, and that is just the way it will be.

I am reading a good book called Being Mortal by Atul Gawande in which he quotes Philip Roth:  “Old age is not a battle. Old age is a massacre.”  For my grandma, knee pain was chronic from her mid 50s on.  The massacre of extreme debilitation came at about age 78; for my father, at 79 and for my mother, at 85.  Both mum and grandma had a son or daughter or granddaughter to help them live pretty well from 75 on when they began to weaken.  Childless, I wonder how that will go for me.  Many of my friends are childless; if we were together, we could help each other, perhaps.

Upon our arrival back home, the beauty of the garden was cheering, as was my greeting from Smokey:

Fritillaria meleagris alba

Tulip ‘Green Star’

another kind of frit, I think?

Tulip ‘Portland’

Dutch iris and Ribes speciosum

Tulip sylvestris

Arisarum proboscideum are blooming under its leaves.

common name, Mouseplant, with flowers like little mice diving into the ground

Allan’s photo

gold foliage in Allan’s garden

In the back garden, I picked a bouquet to take to Salt Pub.

back garden

Tulips

Tulips, with Smokey and Onyx

I must find time to weed the horsetail.

by the bogsy woods

Pulmonaria, corydalis, and Smokey

Corydalis

our neighbour Onyx

debating whether to cut that golden Hypericum to new growth at base

The Ann Lovejoy

Frosty

Fuchsia magellanica is already blooming!

Then we were off to Salt Hotel to meet Dave and Melissa for our weekly garden club meeting.

a bouquet for Laila

a nerve-soothing Gibson

our view

I had a Black Forest Ham melt in honor of having been working on a blog about my grandma’s recipes; she loved a ham dinner.

I almost forgot to take a photo of Melissa’s crab cakes.

Mel backs off from her dinner so I can take a photo.

Just in time!

We do enjoy our meetings! (Allan’s photo)

With Penttila’s erased from the workboard, nothing but bad weather and deadheading and doctors can keep us from the beach approach and berms.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 72):

March 24:  Don brought another check which makes more than 12 grand [for selling toy trains that had belonged to her husband, who had died in 1995].  He followed me over to the Texaco station down the road and I discovered they don’t have that thing on the hose that makes it so hard to put gas in the car so I should be able to pump my own gas!  Got gas for chipper, too.

1998 (age 73):

March 24:  Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower seeds are up in 3 days!

 

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17 March: flowers and kitty

I woke very early (for me), worried about our old cat Mary’s health.  She’s lost weight rapidly in the last week, and is no longer a round ball of kitty, and has lost interest in food. I would have had her in to the vet sooner had it not been for my own medical tests.  So I called Oceanside Animal Clinic and was fortunate to get an appointment in the afternoon.  Into the second bathroom I put Mary with food (with hopeful wishes she might eat) water and litter so that we could easily find her later, and we went to work for three hours.

This Irish cheese was on my breakfast patty, for St Patrick’s Day

The Depot Restaurant

We had a bit more mulching to do and four lily bulbs and a rosemary to plant at the Depot.

Depot north side window box

not much going on yet at the Depot flower garden; lots of lily sprouts at ground level though.

My theory about lilies at the Depot is that they fill the air with fragrance when diners get out of their cars in the evening.

Allan mulched the south side rosemary and ornamental grass bed with Gardner and Bloome.

Diane’s garden

I had a couple of violas and an Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’ for Diane’s pink and pastel garden.

the roadside garden

narcissi

more narcissi

Thalia, one of my favourite Narcissus

the container garden

right next door

soft wrinkly nose

And on the way to the Anchorage, a dog who often sits on a play structure had a wrinkly brow and his feet arranged just so.

Anchorage Cottages

I had an Agastache and a Symphytum variegata and some violas for the Anchorage garden.

Tulip sylvestris at The Anchorage

Long Beach

We had one hour left before kitty time, and used it to fill our buckets with soil energy at city works…

…and take it to do some mulching at Veterans Field.

Allan’s photos, before

after

And then…

Kitty intermission

Allan’s photos: Mary on her way to the vet

At the vet with one of the office cats

My friend Bette was there with her kitty (and note the very good dog, also)

and I got to meet a wiggly waggly puppy.

Dr Kelly (perfect name for St Patrick’s Day) checks Mary’s gums

Mary is probably 16.  Maybe a bit younger.  She needed to stay for blood tests and rehydrating and some vitamins and so forth so we left her there with a sense of deep foreboding as with a cat her age we feared kidney failure.

Long Beach again

We deadheaded the Long Beach welcome sign.

I’d been weepy to myself at bedtime last night (2 AM) about waiting for my own tests and about Mary being poorly.  Now I focused on getting more mulch onto Veterans Field garden beds and a small area of Fifth Street Park.

vet field corner garden, mulched

and more on the curved bed

leftover five buckets went to Fifth Street: Allan’s photos, before

after

Allan sheared some tatty schizostylus (before)

after

I planted two leftover lily bulbs and (in a planter) two Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’.

Tulip ‘Lilac Wonder’

Greigii tulip foliage

more short early tulips

impressed that these primroses are still in full bloom

Fifth Street Park, still too much darned weedy little alliums

These four kinds of lilies are now all planted here and there.

I felt potentially weepy about Mary.  At almost five, I called Dr. Kelly as she had requested and she expressed amazement that all Mary’s blood work came back perfect!  No kidney failure, good electrolytes, good liver function….so now Mary stays overnight for more hydration and maybe an X Ray tomorrow.  Her blood work was exceptional for an old kitty.  I felt much better, although she is “still a very sick kitty”.

We drove to city hall to do a bit of deadheading there.

On the way, in the little popout, we were pleased to see the tulips had NOT been eaten by deer after all.

Allan’s photo

City Hall garden

tulip (Allan’s photo)

Then, home, because we had an event to attend in the evening.  The event happened to be my 61st birthday.  We both changed into St Patrick’s Day green shirts and headed to the

Salt Hotel Pub

where our usual North Beach Garden Gang meeting included the full roster:  Allan and me and Melissa and Dave and Todd and Ed Strange.  It’s hard to get Ed out to one of our meetings so we were pleased he could attend.  I’m shy about inviting people to my birthday, so had stuck with just the usual Thursday line up.  Allan had asked if he should invite lots of people.  With all that has been going on lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and wanted to keep it small.  Maybe at 65 I’ll have a big big party!

Todd arrived with a crate full of the flower arrangements for which he is renowned.  Since we all looked at each one with great attention and pleasure, I’ll share lots of the details with you.  All are from his garden and woods.

Melissa, Todd, Allan

The trailing accent that looks like an evergreen branch is actually Elk Horn Moss that only grows in old growth cedar (I think he said) woods around here, and there is some like that where he lives on Willapa Bay.

The yellow puffs are Kerria Japonica

 

Todd, Allan, Dave

Podophylum ‘Spotty Dotty” (Allan’s photo)

Our Ed arrives!  (Allan’s photo)

our view, other than flowers

garden talk!  (Allan’s photo)

more garden talk (Allan’s photo)

We talked about plants and looked at plant pictures on our phones.

for example, from Todd’s phone: Corydalis ‘Blue Heron’

food arrives

food and flowers (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Madeline of Pink Poppy Bakery (our favourite baker) was in Ireland for a vacation, so Allan had turned to the Cottage Bakery to make a garden themed cake.  They did a wonderful job. Allan had coordinated with Dave and Melissa for them to pick the cake up today, thus making it a complete surprise.

Julez brings the cake!

birthday song

It was an extra boon that Heather from Niva Green (in dark shirt, with a halo behind her) had come to Salt that evening and was able to join our party.   It was extra cool that one of my presents was a gift certificate to NIVA green, my favourite shop ever.  And another was, all the way from Plant Delights Nursery via Dave and Melissa, five (FIVE!) Asphodeline lutea, a plant which I have been lusting after for quite some time.  I have just ONE in Long Beach and have longed for more.  Todd says this one is a cultivar with an extra good yellow flower.

sweet 61, not really 16

garden theme cake

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

our Melissa (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s arty floaty photo

We left three of the little bouquets for Salt’s Laila and Julez to enjoy and sent one home with Dave and Mel.  (Ed had already left to walk his dog, Jackson.)  I went downstairs to ask Julez to just save the flower containers for Todd and then I waited outside among the greenery in the courtyard.

out of the wind, amongst the greenery, sitting on a bench, looking at the half moon way above

It’s been a long day, and I have a few more presents to open, from Klipsan Beach Cottages and Allan and my dear far away Montana Mary, so I will leave you now.

Ginger’s Garden Diaries

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1998 (age 73):

March 17: Happy Birthday to Skyler.  Today I puttered around with paperwork and didn’t get out till almost 1:30.  I worked again digging out the strawberry plants.  When I got over to the asparagus bed those berry plants were nicer—probably nicer soil there.  As I dug the plants I also weeded the asparagus area which was overgrown with dandelions, etc.

 

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