21 March: sweet peas and daffodils

Thursday, 21 March 2019

Today, all of the photos but a few close ups of narcissi and of nursery plants are Allan’s.

At home, fortifications keep Skooter away from a birdhouse.

It has passed inspection and they’re remodeling inside. 

Diane’s garden

I planted sweet peas along the picket fence, and we mulched with Harvest Supreme.

Last fall I cut back some annual sweet peas to the ground rather than pulling them. They’ve come back; I’m not sure what to make of this.

I hope the new sweet peas do as well as last year’s.

The raised bed in the back yard got some sparaxis, tigridia, and seeds of night scented stock.

The violas have reseeded into the gravel in front of the raised bed.

Allan saw my good friend Misty while I was still in the front garden.

That was our only job today. We had an appointment with our accountant way up in Surfside and so we made two nursery visits on the way.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

Roxanne has a broken ankle at a most unfortunate time of year, every gardener’s nightmare.

We discussed seeds and I bought some granular Mycorrhizae fungi for planting in my own garden. Just spelling that correctly made me realize I have been pronouncing it with an extra R. (It’s not micro.) The trick (per Gardeners’ World) is to rub it on the roots when planting, which is why I have been seeking the granular or powdered form.

I tend to have poor success with seeds. Roxanne will try to grow a few for me that I long for, among them Nicotiana sylvestris, Nicotiana ‘Only the Lonely’, and Eryngium giganteum.

Penny said hello with doggish vocalizations.

The Planter Box

I got some barley straw to fight off pond algae, and a proper leaf scooping net.

Lots of gorgeous spring bloomers are available right now.

Ocean Park

After our accounting session, we took a slight detour to admire the massive planting of daffodils along Bay Avenue, which runs west to east from the ocean to the bay. The planting runs almost a third of its length and was accomplished by the newly formed (last year) Ocean Park Village Club.

It is breathtaking.

Salt Hotel and Pub

In the evening, Allan attended a Salty Talk with dinner and a view of the Port of Ilwaco marina.

Smoked tuna melt

 

I stayed home because I had an overwhelming desire to watch more of Gardeners’ World 2013 on Inside Outside TV.

With rain due tomorrow, we intend to take a couple of days off and get back to sweet peas after the weekend.

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10 December: a little house

Sunday, 10 December 2017

I wrenched myself away from gardening projects today, and Allan from writing his boating blog post (the one that published a couple of days ago) to attend a housewarming party for our friend Sarah, author of The Marble Game.   We arrived in the last hour of the party.  The conversation among her friends turned to how some of us just like to stay home, but we all wanted to see Sarah more than we wanted to stay home that day.

Sarah has a brand new little house.  It would have been a tiny house had there not been rules in Ocean Park that a house cannot be smaller than…600 square feet?  It is a LITTLE, darling house, so new that it does not yet have its final coat of exterior paint or all of its indoor trim.

cozy

 

an ocean view from the kitchen, and a fire circle

stairs to the loft

looking down (Allan’s photo)

the lofty view (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

We enjoyed Sarah’s potato leek soup and some bread, with cookies for dessert.  I loved seeing Sarah’s good dogs again and her brand new kitty, Wally.

Wally is a snuggler.

a very relaxed kitten

Mabe

and Piper

We had the perfect housewarming card for Sarah, from The Card Lady.

naptime

The yard is on two levels, open in the middle around the house, and surrounded with evergreen huckleberry shrubs.  Sarah was a garden designer on the east coast.  I’m excited to see what she does with it.

north east corner, overlooking evergreen huckleberries

After we departed, we took ourselves on a driving tour of the neighbourhood.

I do love a tower.

an enticing path

sign says “CAMP…something…”

outflow from Loomis Lake

Those yellow outbuildings by the slough, above, are by a manufactured home for sale right on the slough…with a double lot as big as mine.  OH how I want it!  I miss having a natural water feature in my garden.  If it had been for sale when we were looking in 2010…I wonder if I would have picked it.  Maybe one of you will buy it so I can visit.  Maybe one of those outbuildings could be a tiny house…

Further west:

fancy porch

We drove to the Ocean Park approach (Bay Avenue) to see the sunset.  Allan’s sunset photos:

Part of our mission was to go to Oysterville after dark to see the lights at THE Oysterville garden and another house nearby.

While waiting for dusk to end, we passed the time at Oysterville Sea Farms…

Allan’s photo

on the deck overlooking Willapa Bay….

looking east

looking south (Allan’s photo)

…and we bought a jar of cranberry butter to “pay” for enjoying the deck.

in the shop

Oysters are the main feature.

We then found the lights we were seeking.

At THE Oysterville garden, only two of the boxwood balls were lit up; we’ve heard that on some evenings, more of them are:

Back in Ilwaco, while dropping a couple of books in the library drop box:

Ilwaco Timberland Library

Now, back to the garden for me for at least three more days of this almost summerlike weather.

 

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27 Nov: impractical dreams

Monday, 27 November 2017

We joined up with Scott and Tony to go on a real estate jaunt.

Rudy welcomes us to Scott and Tony’s place. (Allan’s photo)

Bailey and Rudy had to stay home.

inside Scott and Tony’s townhouse

The Old Church

Up north in Ocean Park, this old 1940 church had come up for sale, for the second or third time since I moved to the peninsula 25 years ago.  If it had been for sale in 1994, Robert and I would surely have bought it instead of our Ilwaco fisherman’s shack, and we would have been north-enders instead of Ilwacoans.

the back

The lot is only 5000 square feet, but if with it had come with the chance to also buy the lot behind it, it would have been a good enough size.

big empty lot to the north

In 1994, we lucked into a double lot to buy in Ilwaco.  I think that if we had not moved it Ilwaco, I would have been content with the church’s 5000 square feet to garden in, as my Seattle garden was only 3000 square feet.

The old church is walking distance from the Bank of the Pacific and Okie’s market…

That’s the Bank of the Pacific and some shops, from the back yard.

…and Jack’s Country Store, Oman and Son Builders Supply, and the Ocean Park Library.

While waiting for the realtor, we took an appreciative gander at all of the adorable cottages on the block.

 

Rock Lobster Cottage

His and Hermans

Fat Captain Cottage

right across the street

At the church, we were joined by Scott and Tony’s friends Robb and Cheryl and their adorable dog, Skipper, AKA “The Chosen One”.

Skipper

Realtor Mary Kay Ramage arrived to let us in.

front porch view looking west

and east (It is next to Ocean Park Resort.)

Inside the church, we found that there would a be a lot of work to do to make it liveable.  I will say that back in 1994, I could have managed to live in it pretty much as it is, with the addition of some sort of mini-kitchen.  You’d understand if you saw the primitive and rustic conditions of the Ilwaco fishing shack where I did live for 14 years!

the ceiling in the foyer

the entry foyer

Allan’s photo

Above us was a mysterious door way up high, under the square tower.

Allan’s photo

just inside

the nave? a baptismal spot? We wondered about the two tension cables that seemed to be holding the side walls together.

Allan’s photo

Above, I wondered if the big hatch in the floor had once held a baptismal tub.  We don’t know what kind of church it was.  I wish I could find its history.  So far, my online search has failed. Perhaps it was a folly rather than an active church.  Ocean Park was a church-oriented community when the town was first built.

I could live here. Or…I could have when younger.

a little stove for heat (Allan’s photo)

Tony thought maybe this back room with four doors and a buzzer was some kind of confessional.

Allan noticed that there had been a little stairway leading up to this door to the nave.

the bathroom, and a book bag from Powell’s Bookstore in Portland

in the very back, a drop down storage space

This dream was beyond all of us at our ages.  As one of us said, “I’d be dangerous if I was thirty!”  I think I might have been tempted at age 55 when we were looking for a new place in 2010…but I trust Allan would have had more sense than to go from one rustic space to another.  By then, after 14 years on a double lot, I would have soon felt frustrated by the tiny gardening space.  Tony and Scott had thought it might make a wonderful vintage and antique shop.

Maybe YOU could do it.  Here is the listing.  There is a big part of me that so regrets not going to live in that amazing space.

Deer Lake

After all our dreams died because of the church needing too much work, the four of us drove north to Surfside to visit Lorilyn, a friend of Tony’s who had attended our Halloween party (as had Robb and Cheryl).  We wanted to see her parents’ park-like property.

over the garage (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

It has a pet cemetery (“very Stephen King”, said Lorilyn).

blessings to Trouble and Fluffy

and to Our Buffy

A temporary fort, for the grandchildren, had been built in the summer and will be rebuilt next year.

mossy paths

Lorilyn and Allan

One side of the large property is bordered by the delightful small Deer Lake.

I would love to live by this little lake.

telephoto

On the way back south, Tony picked up a couple of delicious U-Bake pizzas from Jack’s Country Store, and we dined on pizza and salad Chez Scott and Tony.

Rudy hoping for scraps (He got a healthy treat instead)

Shoeboxes of Joy

While driving south again, Allan and I stopped at Coulter Park to make a monetary donation to the annual Shoeboxes of Joy project.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

You may recall that we tidied the garden along this ramp last week.

wrapped shoe boxes waiting to be filled

Assorted treats and supplies will go in the boxes.

Each box will be topped with a mini Christmas stocking filled with candy.

There are boxes especially for folks with diabetes, and extra boxes of cat or dog treats for people with pets.

Six to seven hundred people are served by this program, and the organizers are always trying to find more to make sure no one is missed.  They get help in this from various local societies and from the Long Beach and Ilwaco mayors.  Any boxes left over get taken to the Christmas day  dinner at the Elks.

Tomorrow: Rain or shine, Allan is going to help decorate the Crab Pot Christmas Tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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10 June: four north end jobs

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

I had a hard time getting going this morning.  Devery stopped by while doing her daily check up on Nora’s house and picked some strawberries from our garden;  I have asked her to do so as I am too busy to keep up with them.

Allan’s photo; Devery is there!

Allan’s photo

strawberry pickers

Allan’s photo: tadpoles in the water boxes

by our driveway: poppy flowers in the Eleagnus

Ilwaco post office garden

Post Office garden….I assess it can wait till tomorrow to be watered.

First job of the day:

the staking of a windblown Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ by Azure Salon

Basket Case Greenhouse

Our stop at the Basket Case was simply to pick up five plants for Long Beach planters, to replace plants stolen recently by thieving varmints.  While there, I was delighted to see Ed and my nephew, Jackson Strange.

Ed, Nancy, and Walter and Shadow

me and Jackson

most darling!

still some left of one of my favourite perennials: Agastaches (hyssops)

As we departed, a cedar waxwing had gotten into the main greenhouse and was having a hard time figuring out how to get out.

Allan’s photo

Marilyn’s Garden

We began at our furthest north garden, in Surfside.

My good friend Goldie came to greet me.

Goldie

my very good friend

looking north from the back steps

I was mad at myself because I forgot to bring some painted sage to plant here.  Next time!

Alliums

Allium albopilosum

interlude

On the way south to our next job, we bought an oscillating sprinkler at Jack’s Country Store, which resulted in driving down Ridge, one block over from the highway.  There I admired two pocket gardens which I do think might be asked to be on the garden tour next year or the year after that!  (I believe Nancy has enough gardens this year.)

garden one, a sweet cottage garden…

with river rock walls…

and a driftwood fence.

a few blocks south, a handsome fence and patio

Klipsan Beach Cottages

While I groomed the fenced garden, Allan did some weeding along the woodland swale:

before

after

He got a whole heaping wheelbarrow of weeds removed.

In the fenced garden:

looking in the east gate

view over the birdbath

Verbascum

one of Mary’s roses

sit spot

fuchsias and daylily well matched in colour

honeysuckle

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’

Jude’s petals on boxwood and Hebe ‘Boughton Dome’

Rose ‘New Dawn’ from outside the fence

outside: Euphorbia and fennel

Golden Sands Assisted Living

blue sky by our parking place…and hardly any wind!

On the way through the hallways to the courtyard garden, I met a new friend named Susan.

Susan, very friendly and sweet! (Allan’s photo)

I had not even been sure we should take time to stop at Golden Sands, till I had remembered that the birdbaths surely needed filling, and indeed they did.

Each one had acquired a yellow duck. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo: These birdbaths seem to await our arrival to be filled.

The tiny Tiger Eyes sumac may finally decide to grow this year. (Allan’s photo)

brand new seating by the dining room doors

The weekly overview of the four quadrants:

SW quadrant

SW quadrant

long view of NW quadrant

NW quadrant

NE quadrant

detail

long view of SE quadrant

SE quadrant

SE quadrant

As we left, I made another new friend named Ginger.

Guiding Ginger so she did not get under our vehicle.

my new friend, with the same name as me mum

Andersen’s RV Park

Allan took on the project of weeding by the entry.

before

after, a subtle difference

before

after; an impressive difference—The rose is Rosa rugosa ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’

He also tidied up along the walkway by the restrooms and laundry room.

before

after

I weeded by the garden shed, the picket fence garden, and the Payson Hall boxes:

the garden shed garden

climbing rose on one of the two cottages

the picket fence garden

west side, the poppy field

red poppies, many still to come

and California poppies mixed in

home

I had to do a good watering of the front garden with the new oscillating sprinkler, and on the back patio I found that the Hymenocallis (Peruvian daffodil) had begun its brief and amazing show:

Hymenocallis

AKA Peruvian daffodil

Coolest thing today: Mary and Denny of Klipsan Beach Cottages gave us a blue gate leg table.  Wrestling it in and out of the trailer was hard (easier for Allan) and rearranging our comfy guest chair to make room for it was mentally hard, but it is now in a spot in our living room where I will be able to have breakfast while looking out the window instead of in the windowless corner (where the dining table naturally fits, due to a low hanging ceiling light fixture in the double wide floor scheme).

new table in the garden book corner

Next: two mostly Long Beach days during which I do hope we can manage some more beach approach weeding…

 

 

 

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8 Oct: work and fire

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Long Beach City Hall garden, where we picked up our check.

Pink Poppy Bakery is closed for a bit for good reason.

The Planter Box

Our first mission of the day was to get a few plants for KBC Mary’s birthday.  The Planter Box was right on our way, although I forgot to get some lavenders for the port gardens.

fall colour at The Planter Box

more fall colour

The Planter Box is pumpkin central….

and also has lots of adorable little gourds.

Teresa’s favourite pumpkin

They may have a “guess the weight” contest for this giant pumpkin.

Golden Sands Assisted Living

One of the Golden Sands residents had asked if we could bring back my mother’s three tiered lighted plant growing rack.  So we did, but what a trial it turned out to be.

Allan re-assembling it in the parking lot

It took time at home to break it down to ride in the van, and then 40 minutes at Golden Sands to reassemble it.  The parking lot was not a wise choice for an assembly site, or perhaps the unwise choice was trying to save time by leaving the fluorescent light tubes in…because we lost one in a great crash, and much time had to be spent sweeping up the pieces.

Not one tiny piece could be left behind in case a dog was walked along that area.

It was a bad and time-sucking start to the workday.

In the courtyard garden, I went after the usual problems while Allan strimmed the center lawn.  (We find it quicker to weedeat it than to take time to bring a mower and have to wheel it in and out via the long carpeted hallway.)

from the south end of the courtyard

I am trying to control the rampantly reseeded aquilegia (columbine) and the spreading white achillea (yarrow) and the beach strawberry.

columbine, yarrow, and beach strawberry…pesky.

The SW quadrant is particularly full of columbine.

We had no time to pull the annoying pink hardy geranium from the SE quadrant.

One wheelbarrow load of assorted thugs was all we had time to pull today.  Allan took some detail photos:

A rose planted by a volunteer….

…outside of the quadrant gardens.

My mom’s Joseph Coat rose

mom’s copper coloured rose

Klipsan Beach Cottages

from the east gate of the fenced garden, with part of Mary’s gift at lower right.

We brought her three Rudbeckia ‘Irish Eyes’.

and three ornamental cabbages (in the lower pot) to add to the display she had already made.

a well behaved aster in the fenced garden

aster with Agapanthus seedheads

Hebe ‘McKeanii’, the little hebes that Mary planted last week; tag claims the foliage is chartreuse, probably in springtime.

one of the hardy fuchsias

Golden Sands needs hardy fuchsias!

Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’ blooms late with white flowers

Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’ is going strong.

Schizostylis will bloom for weeks longer.

Some of the bad aster has prevailed and looks pretty now.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ has been wonderful this year.

Melianthus major close up

black currants and tetrapanax

Fuchsia ‘Debron’s Black Cherry’ with a small rhodo throwing some late blooms

Wiegardt Gallery

A bit further north, we found havoc being wreaked along Bay Avenue: the utility company and the highway department were cutting lots of big trees along the edge of the road, a very radical form of keeping tree limbs off the power lines.  Citizens were wielding chain saws to collect firewood so the atmosphere was far from peaceful.  It was a startling change and I read later on Facebook that some locals were displeased.

looking south with chainsaw wielders in the background and tall trees gone from the skyline

lots of noise and ruckus

Cosmos still blooming in the front garden of the gallery

Gallery manager Christl came out to chat and to show us that she had been to The Planter Box and purchased our favourite gardening tool, the Ho Mi (Korean Hand Plow, Zen Digger, EZ Digger):

While we chatted over the sound of chainsaws, I admired the light on the berries of the  cotoneaster that grows on the front lawn.

Cotoneaster

not sure which cotoneaster, but it is taller than me.

with the stems of Stipa gigantea

Andersen’s RV Park

We then headed south to halfway down the Peninsula and Andersen’s.  I deadhead the many, many, many Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’, a non stop annual bloomer.

looking west

The park was busy midweek because of clam digging days.  The clam tides are set to certain days in fall, winter, and very early spring, and a license is required to dig a limited amount.

Allan had deadheaded and tidied the Payson Hall clubhouse planters.

I had intended to start pulling asters and weeding the west side garden.  I could not get motivated.  All I could think of was how much I wanted to go home and have just one more fire.  So I told myself the asters still had a bit of blue and should not be pulled yet.

Don’t you see the haze of blue?

goldenrod in the west garden, far from ready to cut back

My work ethic is not what is once was.  Off we skived to have a fire and roast some sausages, using the fairly good excuse that rain was due in two days, and then more rain for a week, and Allan needed to get the lawn mowed before it became too long and wet.

home

On the way home, it looked like fog was blanketing the south end of the Peninsula.

When we got to Ilwaco’s Black Lake, the sky became blue again; the fog had just been over Seaview.

In the back garden, I took some flower photos and then had much enjoyment snapping dry salmonberry stems for kindling.

Fuchsia ‘Grayrigg’

another hardy Fuchsia

another very flouncy hardy Fuchsia

One of my newer acquisiton which has lost its tag.

After the so satisfying session of snapping dry salmonberry branches, and with the lawn successfully mowed, we settled in to burn up all the rest of last year’s fallen alder branches.  I felt a strong urge to not have any left, to start afresh and see if enough dry branches fall this winter to provide all of next summer’s fires.

view from my fireside chair

Allan said he saw something spooky over the port, and at first he could not figure out what it was…then he realized it was local resident Dave’s kite high up in the fog.

The building in the background used to house our beloved Pelicano restaur

He went to get a closer look.  Every evening, Dave takes his dog and his kite for a walk along the port.

Allan was not thrilled with my fire building technique.

sausage roasting

less elegantly known as a hot dog with cheese and chipotle filling

and the wood burns down

the ceremonial burning of this year’s fire poking branch

and naught left but coals

The fog had rolled in, the fog horns were sounding on the river, and the lights of boats in the marina were reflected in the luminous night sky.

marina lights south of the bogsy woods

peaceful night view

to the southwest, the much brighter lights of Jessie’s Fish Company where workers were bustling with forklifts

the very end of campfire season?

I’m already sad that all the wood is burned up and might get enough dry firewood from J9 for maybe just one more fire if we have another clear autumn evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7 Dec: beautiful things

Saturday, 7 December 20 2013, part one

  Snow Postscript

Susie Goldsmith of The Boreas Inn sent me three photos of the garden in snow, too late to go in yesterday’s post.

Boreas, looking west from the end of the garden

Boreas, looking east toward the hot tub room. The garden has disappeared.

Boreas southwest deck

Looks like the snow caught Susie by surprise with the pillows still out there!

Thanks, Susie!

We began our day with a quick stop at the Ilwaco Saturday Christmas Market just to get some photos for Discover Ilwaco.

I noticed that the newly painted house just south of Tom and Judy’s (that has recently been remodeled with a view dormer) almost matches a house further up the hill.

houses of blue in our pretty town

We stopped by Olde Towne to do a compost bucket switch.

Luanne made this tree of mussel shells…collected when she visited her daughter in Maine.

She’s also spray painted these Alliums I brought her some while ago from the boatyard garden.

I still did not have time to stay and celebrate staycation at Olde Towne, as we had to get on to…

The Peninsula Gift Shop Tour 

I am not much of a shopper (except for the garden), so when I find a little gift shop that I like, it is special to me.   I had been asked by Karyn Zigler of Home at the Beach to take some photos of their Saturday gift shop tour which included some of my favourite places.   The shops on this tour were not the kind that just sell “Long Beach” t shirts and other tourist mementos.

The weather caused me dire suspense because I do not like to go out in snow and ice at all, at all, at all.  If I had not said I would take photos, I would not have set a toe into Long Beach.  (The sidewalks and roads in Ilwaco, in contrast, had already lost their slick cover.)

Allan humoured me by finding parking spots that allowed me to get into the shops without walking on anything white.  It was rather an embarrassment when, while inside the shop Beautiful Things, I saw a car park and two ladies more elderly than I get out and walk sure footed over what to me had been impossible ice.

Here are some of the lovely objects that I saw.

Home at the Beach

618 South Pacific Avenue, Long Beach

home decorating display room

Owners Kathy and Karen have a business of interior design, as well, with flooring, window coverings, and whatnot.  I love the floor in the room above.  It’s about $3 more per square foot than what we were thinking of using, but the pieces are sturdier and I like the pale colour and the realistic grained texture.

clear crystal decor with snowy background

Here is an excellent motto for staycation!

sandpipers

Kathy and Karyn once explained to me once the difference between nautical and coastal, or beachy…

This is nautical, with red and blue, and boats, and flags.

Most of “Home at the Beach” is more blue, white, sandy, and pale grey.

These guys are just a touch too silly for me!

Lots of happy shoppers turned out despite the weather.

treats

Outside, the city planter, with its annuals removed, lay under a smooth blanket of snow.

Note the scary icy street!

Beautiful Things

Two doors north, a new shop has just opened.

Beautiful Things

Karyn of Home at the Beach with Jude, the owner of Beautiful Things

The owner does this skilled upholstery.

I like the artificial tree.

white on white

crystal with snow backdrop

The Wooden Horse

I like the stuff in The Wooden Horse shop at 311 South Pacific so much that I picked it to be the January ’14 cash mob location.

The Wooden Horse…I like the pallet shelving

kindness and celebration

The shop is owned by the men who also own Inn at Harbour Village in Ilwaco (and Stormin’ Norman’s kite shop) and who bring us the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner.

treats

Wooden…pigs

Hello to Linda, in red, a regular reader of this blog.

As we left The Wooden Horse to go to the next shop, we encountered the Ilwaco “Epic Echo” Glee club just heading our way, so back into Wooden Horse we went to listen to them caroling.

Glee!

caroling

glee club

M & D Designs

Just a few doors north at M & D Designs:

M & D Designs

This shop of local arts and crafts will be the February cash mob site.

delicate pine needle baskets

stained glass, backed with snow

Allan had got a photo of the Fifth Street Park one block to the south:

the clam squirting control device is coming along!

the scary icy sidewalk areas he helped me avoid

one of the planters we recently redid is completely smooth.

Next to it, an old planting of shrubs in one of the planters that we want to re-do.

NIVA green

Our very favourite shop of all time came next on the tour:  New, Vintage, Inspired, Artful, and environmentally conscious with lots of artistic upcycling.

NIVA green at 104 Pacific North

We recommend our friend Sarah’s children’s fantasy series, The Marble Game.

paper lamps

a shop full of colour and fascination

bird feeders

Owner and artist Heather Ramsay makes string tins with scissors:

one of the best presents!

and lamps out of tins:

Heather’s lamps

Heather had some wonderful cookies from the Danish bakery in Astoria.  As always, I found a few good presents to buy AND we got a nice bar of soap as a door prize.

Stylin’ Consignment Shop

I honestly thought that because of the weather, we would not make it any further north than NIVA green.  Earlier, Allan had expressed some concern about not wanting to wreck our nice van.  And yet…we heard the roads were better the further north one drove, so we decided to test out the conditions a wee bit further north at Stylin’, 600 N Pacific.

Santa was just about to drive off, heading from Stylin’ to NIVA green

The shop is a in cute little cottage.

The blue, clear sky is the culprit for our cold weather!

It amazes me shop owner Jan finds such nice items to sell on consignment.

This picture frame caught my eye.

We decided to be very bold and head all the way to the two shops in Ocean Park.  I had been so sure we would not get to all the shops that I had not even gotten myself a “passport” at Home at the Beach.  Allan had one, and if he got a stamp from each shop, he’d get entered into a raffle for some sort of prizes.  We both would have had a good shot because the weather was keeping the north enders mostly at the north end and the south enders down here!  Oh well!  So on to Ocean Park.

Allan had lived in colder climes, Spokane and Idaho, and has experience driving in worse weather than this.

the road going north

On the way we talked about our fortitude in going out in such weather to support local shops with picture taking, if not a lot of buying, and wished that more than 23 people had come to see our garden on the Edible Garden tour!  When the weather was lovely!  Of course, the shop keepers can’t because they are always working during the various garden tours.  Linda from The Wooden Horse guarantees she will get garden tour Saturday off next year.  (We can’t complain about attendance when we were on the BIG garden tour, Music in the Gardens, as we had more than 500 people come through that day.)

Beach Home Old and New

On Bay Avenue, Ocean Park

Beach Home Old and New

wintry scene

If I didn’t already have too many little things, I would have to have these.

garden decorations

These are said to be sturdily assembled, unlike others some friends have purchased elsewhere that have disintegrated in short order.

pink, with a little teapot

sunlight and snow

local photography

Sweet Williams on Bay

A few blocks to the west sits Sweet Williams, one of the original  fine gift shops on the Peninsula.

Sweet Williams on Bay

in the front window

east side window

Just across the street I saw a seasonal vignette at Adelaide’s Coffee: a Christmas tree in a car.

Owner Katie Williams loves Polish pottery

Our client and friend Mary of Klipsan Beach Cottages is close friends with Katie AND collects Polish pottery, so we have had a good look at many of these gorgeous pieces and have gotten some as cherished gifts over the years.

Katie also carries of an assortment of delicious truffles.

Sweet Williams

Now for the drive back south.  Allan would definitely get his passport completely stamped!

heading south to Long Beach

Long Beach Pharmacy

Allan popped into the Long Beach Pharmacy gift shop.

Long Beach Pharmacy

a display by our friend Artist Don Nisbett

I looked at the icy parking lot from across the street and delegated the photo-taking at the pharmacy to Allan while I entered the last shop of our tour.

Deux Chapeaux

I’ve always found Deux Chapeaux to be a good place to find a greeting card, bubble bath, and elegant soap for a present.

Shop owner Sharon has excellent taste in cards and exquisite taste in women’s and children’s clothing.

cute children’s clothes

The cutest!

I have rarely had children in my life (since being one).  I wonder if children themselves get as much of a kick out of adorable little clothes like these as the adults do who dress them up.  I hope so.

The women’s clothes are richly coloured and gorgeously far removed from any sort of life I have led.  I think this is the only place on the entire Peninsula where one could find garments this lovely.

The blue one really speaks to me!

Sharon’s shop

Deux Chapeaux

When Allan joined me, he completed his passport.

With 45 minutes to spare before the end of the tour, we slid back through the streets of Long Beach where the ice remained worse than anywhere else.

driving south near Fifth Street Park

We only had one scary sliding moment when trying to stop for a pedestrian who wanted to cross in the middle of the much icier block by Dennis Company;  he saw we were not going to be able to stop and just waved us on.

Fifth Street

We now had about an hour and a half before the big Ilwaco event of the season:  The lighting of the Crab Pot Christmas Tree.

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24 Nov: bulb time, day 16

Sunday, 24 November, 2013

Today was a big bulbing day.  With no recreational or social stops whatsoever, we drove straight up to Klipsan Beach Cottages, where we had 566 Narcissi to plant at the A Frame.    The A Frame sits down lower than the eight cottages that line the ridge and is to the south of Mary and Denny’s house and the entry road.  Like all the units, it is privately owned, and when the owners Pete and Darlene are not there it becomes one of the vacation rentals.

The A Frame from the entry road (taken after our planting session)

The A Frame

When tossing out batches of bulbs for Allan and I to plant, I have learned that if there is a batch of 5 to 10 in a bag, it is easier to find them if I just drop the bag and then whoever plants arranges the bulbs in a pleasing pattern.

bags in a ground-cover-y area

Otherwise, the bulbs disappear into ground cover (here, beach strawberry that has had the nerve to move in to the area, and sweet woodruff, which I most decidedly did not plant.  It is a nemesis of mine!).

When looking for somewhere to fit that many bulbs, I noticed an impractical in and out swoop of the lawn between a few hydrangeas that Darlene had had planted a couple of years ago.  Denny agreed the area was awkward for the lawn mower so I decided to join up the hydrangea semi circles.

before

after

Unfortunately, the horrible ivy just beyond the garden actually is on the neighbouring property next to the irregularly shaped lot.

bright sunshine and strong shadows

Again, the sun shone powerfully, blinding me as I moved from sun to shade.  While digging out the new bed I got so hot that I changed into a summer shirt and was awfully glad I had not removed it from the car.  It was 61 degrees!

blue blue sky

Someone told me later that the unusual number of jet trails in the sky were from jets being turned around due to a big storm in Texas that has delayed many flights.

In the beds around the decks of the house, I planted the showy narcissi that I chose (unusually) this year:  Flower Record, Tropical Sunset, Fragrant Rose, High Society.  I hope they won’t be too gaudy.

by the deck

I thought for sure I had pulled the last of the painted sage yesterday at the boatyard.  Here was a healthy clump still in bloom by the A Frame’s propane tank!

Much of the A Frame garden is wooded.  Once upon a time, ivy covered the soil between the A Frame and the cottages till Allan and I hacked at it and rolled it off like a noxious carpet.

sparsely treed woods reclaimed from ivy

To plant in that tough ground and in the rooty spots of the newly created hydrangea bed, I found that the new red tool we recently got from Back Alley Gardens in Gearhart outshone my beloved Ho Mi (Korean hand plow, E-Z Digger, Zen Digger).

My ho mi supplanted by the hefty red tool

The warm sun continued to make bulb planting feel unseasonal during our entire long session at KBC.

the last leaves of Tiger Eyes sumac

over by the garage

and the matching pump house door

I had been terribly worried toward the end of our A Frame planting  that we would not get done in time to do Marilyn’s garden as well.  We did, and with enough time to take some Christmas decoration photos.

It feels weird to see Christmas decorations out in the summer-like weather.  Mary went ahead and put them up today because later this week, she will be so busy with visiting family that she won’t have time.

tower of white lights in the garden

I have not been able to bear cutting down the wands of the Dierama (even though they hang over the path)

Up on the cottages, Mary hung a wreath for each one.

cottage door

wreath with ocean view

A little after two thirty, we went north to Marilyn’s garden and planted a considerably smaller batch of bulbs: only 136.

We leave many of the tall perennials and grasses standing all winter at Marilyn’s as they provide shelter and seeds for the birds she loves to watch from her window.

I did pull the cosmos, painted sage, and cut back some flopsy perennials along the path to make room for bulbs.

before

after

Just when we had finished, I noticed that in the driveway garden, a double pink Hellebore is already about to bloom.   I cut all the tatty old leaves to the ground, as one is supposed to do.

Hellebore before

and after

Hellebore in bud. It will be glorious.

Much to my delight we got done in time to go to Wiegardt Gallery with enough light to cut back some perennials and plant 20 more Narcissi bulbs.  This job absorbed 10 of the ‘Fragrant Breeze’ bulbs that I forgotten to account for in my last order.

Allan chopping perennials (and the last, still green cosmos pulled out)

As the sunset, I took some photos of the ornamental grass area by the road.

My favourite, Stipa gigantea

I wanted to take photos showing the view to east and west on the paved walking path that goes by Wiegardt Gallery.  First,  I noticed all the windblown grass blades all over the lawn.

uh oh….a mess on both sides of the paved walking path.

 With enough light left to pick them up, I gathered over three hundred blades in a big armful.  It is the sort of job that leads to counting.  Allan did not understand why I didn’t just rake; I felt the area was too large, and there were too many leaves, and it was just easier to gather them.

He helped me finish.

Then I could take a tidy set of east and west photos.

looking west along Bay Avenue toward the ocean; the sky was pale pink. Really.

looking east to Willapa Bay, with another pink sky that did not register

To the left, the Pacific Ocean.  To the right, Willapa Bay.

Bay Avenue. What they call Peninsula Highway, we call Sandridge Road (along the bay)

Now we have but three batches of bulbs to plant other than mine own, one large, one medium, one quite small.  It is all contigent on an order of 200 tulips arriving that were due on Friday and have somehow got hung up in Portland (according to UPS tracker).  Without them, bulbing is now at a standstill.

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7 Nov: storms and stores

Thursday, 7 November, 2013

I had been so sure we would have the day off that I was shocked when sunshine awoke me.  The sky to the south, more white than grey, perhaps boded that some work time could be found before the predicted storm.  We decided to try.  I have a few plants left to put in the ground for clients, and it is better to do so before the soil gets colder.

I went to the patio to grab a chunk of a Libertia that we divided from the Golden Sands garden.

The cosmos in the garden boat, while sideways, still have a few blossoms.

One pink dahlia is going strong.

the blue river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (still blooming!) would look better if I had tidied it up…

I should do something about the squash (one real, one fake).

I WILL pick those squash tomorrow.  One has sunk into itself like a popped balloon but I think two are left.

one tall sweet pea vine to the very top of the deer fence

We then made the forty five minute drive to the Wiegardt Gallery to plant three Ilex ‘Sky Pencil’ and a clump of Libertia and, we hoped, do some fall clean up.  We also hoped to plant a Hellebore and a Libertia at Klipsan Beach Cottages.

Wiegardt Gallery west side, now with five Ilex ‘Sky Pencil’

and one little Sky Pencil to add some verticality (eventually) on the south side.

It is just past the end of the hose!

We chopped down some Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ (unusually short, in a northern bed that does not get much water).  While I might have continued to enjoy the blackened foliage against the pale variegated Miscanthus, I think it is one of those tableaus that passersby would see as something undone that should have been done.

before and after, with Miscanthus variegatatus and Siberian iris and Libertia

The weather having turned  dire, we popped into the gallery for a moment to get out of the wind, hoping it would die down so we could go on to the KBC garden.  Earlier in the month, Eric had picked from my wheelbarrow some tattered cosmos blossoms to paint.  Today I picked him a bouquet of the last of windblown flowers.

the last of the cosmos, from some plants we had pulled up

warm inside

I love the painting at the center, left, with red flowers: Knautia macedonica

Gallery manager Christl says she asked me for the proper spelling of Knautia!

rose painting by Eric Wiegardt

Afte chatting (and consuming some Finnish mint chocolate candy offered by Christl) we went back out into the now pelting rain.  Allan came up with the bright idea that we should try again to go to the Oysterville Store to ask the owner if he wants to be “cash mobbed” in March.  Last time we went, we happened upon his lunch break and missed seeing the inside of the store.

rain….daunting us from working

wind in the Wiegardt garden

Oysterville Store it would be.  The wind chased us over to Nahcotta, just east on the bay….

Nahcotta oyster shell mountain

…and on up to Oysterville, where we parked right in the middle of quiet Territory Road for some stormy day photos.

Territory Road, looking north

the iconic Oysterville picket fence

bay view bench

I snooped with my eyes over the fence of the Huson garden, a garden created by the owners of another favourite garden of mine, a garden in Ruston that I still think of often.

Oysterville garden

along the road

It is magnificent.

Across the street, a couple of hardy fuchsias still bloomed, one overhanging one of the pumpkins that Huson has placed throughout the village.

Because the dashboard clock told us the store would not be open for another few minutes,  we took a detour past Oysterville Sea Farm.

oyster beds and gulls

Oysterville Sea Farms

oyster shell road

across from the Oysterville Store

a photo of the store/post office taken last February

We usually see Oysterville only on a rainy day off!

You can read some history of the Oysterville store in Sydney Stevens Oysterville Daybook.

In the window of the front door, a big dog greeted us.

I wanted to stand around and pet him, but he wanted to go outside and find someone to play ball.

in the store: books

a parlor off to the side

cozy wood heat in the main room

Allan buys some Jean Nitzel greeting cards at the counter

Owner Greg Rogers told us that the candy case was original to the old store.

Old timers remember this.

a historic scale

Greg also told us that the table on which the scale and candy case sit had belonged to his grandfather, Ernest Rogers.  Ernest, while working at Davies Coffee and Spice on the Seattle Waterfront in 1915 had bagged (or otherwise sorted into containers) coffee on this very table and then delivered it to Chinese restaurants.

Greg has a fondness for old signs.  The “Information” sign below is part of a park (?) sign from Hawaii, part of which was burned in a volcano eruption or lava flow.

signs

The cities, above, are part of the trajectory of Greg’s life, as described in this article.

behind the counter

in the store

A connection from Ilwaco to Oysterville:  Kelly of Blue Crab Graphics screen prints the t shirts.

We spoke for awhile of cash mob ideas and then Allan and I re-examined the weather through the front door.

still rather dire

I continued to hope, as we departed, that we could get just two plants planted at Klipsan Beach Cottages.  Allan pointed out that we had done a lot of time in the van to very little time working.

I wish I had stopped to take a photo looking west as we came over the hill from Oysterville to Surfside.  The ocean waves crashed dramatically high and pampas grass in residents’ gardens bent sideways in the wind.

We tried for another photo from Bay Avenue in Ocean Park but there were too many storm watching cars parked right in the scene.  Tp pass the time in hope of a weather break, we shopped at Sweet Williams on Bay for Christmas cards; owner Katie Williams always has some with a coastal theme.

Sweet Williams on Bay

Polish Pottery

The sky had just a bit of blue as we entered and left Katie’s shop.  I knew better than to fall for it. The wind had picked up to 30 mph.  We gave up on work and headed back to Long Beach in lashings of sideways rain.

at the Bolstadt street light

Back in Ilwaco, we saw from our driveway a garbage can heading north to south along Lake Street and Pearl.  Although our wheelie bins are of a substantial size and weight, it looks like this one might end up at the Port.

wheelie bin on a journey

Getting home from work early was a good thing today.  We had a project to do in the garage, making space for bulb sorting.  Tomorrow a large bulb delivery is due to arrive.

I got plant tags from the summer stuffed into a 5 gallon bucket.  Sorting them will make a useful winter’s day project and perhaps I will even make a database of what plants have been added to my garden.

sorting project

I rooted for the Danger Tree to harmlessly fall….

Danger Tree!

admired the Melianthus major in the front garden…

A heavy frost could take this down.

and a hebe in geometric bloom:

very tidy

The Fatsia is blooming in Allan’s garden.

Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’

and some annuals are still blooming by the garage.

even a double impatiens!

The leaves of Nora’s maple are turning by the window where she used to sit and wave to us when we came home.

We miss her.

After considerable reorganizing and placing of seasonal tables (including taking Allan’s sorting table from the middle of his room!), we are now ready as can be for bulb hell time.  I have fingerless gloves:

It gets chilly in the garage.

My Colorblends mug for hot cups of tea:

It’s rather a strange design.

I like the way the Colorblends order always comes with some Dutch newspaper inside.

Usually there is a little giftie enclosed, like the mug, or some tulip coasters, but not this year.

I have paper, a clipboard, a chair, a calculator, crates to sort in, bags, a sharpie (better have more than one) and a U shaped table arrangement…and still room for the van to park.  One table is for tulips, one for narcissi, one for small bulbs and one for Alliums.

Couldn’t be more ready…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 14: rainy work and pie

We left home late because of an unexpected visitor: a gentleman from North Carolina who was friends with Jeff and Mary (two doors down) and was here to go fishing with Jeff.  He had heard from Mary about our garden (and from her back porch, there is a view down Nora’s back garden showing an enticing glimpse of ours).  I walked through with him as he took lots of photos to show his wife.  She is, he told me, a painter who likes to paint gardens, and he told me her name so I could Google her website later on.

I was impressed with how well he saw the garden and what he chose to photograph; he noticed the tunnel cut through the salmonberry with a painted door at the end.  Not everyone notices that.

It took me two weeks to get around to looking up her page, Connie Winters Art.  I strongly encourage you to peruse it; she is a wonderful artist!

We began the work day with a quick fix: taking some buckets of water from home to the two most westerly planters on the Bolstadt beach approach in Long Beach.  There had been a misunderstanding:  Allan thought I meant to have him skip watering them because we are so bored with the planting of plain old vinca out there (done by someone else ages ago).  I had noticed them wilting the day before and wanted them refreshed before kite festival.  Had we known what the day’s weather would bring, we wouldn’t have bothered.

On the way we saw these folks photographing their vintage autos by the iconic arch.

the Bolstadt arch

Next, I had a small mission.  Teresa of The Planter Box had messaged me the day before asking if I wanted a “Pistachio”.  Before she even finished, I asked “Pistachio Hydrangea??!”  Yes!  It had been on my list of plants to acquire for ages, so I got two, one fore me and one for another garden….probably Larry And Robert’s where we can keep a good eye on it, although it would also look good against the greeny colour of the Wiegardt Gallery.

Hydrangea ‘Pistachio’ from The Planter Box.

I admired a beautiful Clematis for sale.

And then, way up north to Marilyn’s garden….

begonias on front porch at Marilyn’s

Phygelius

I think this is some kind of phlox, but I wish I knew for sure.  It spreads, but not aggressively (so far) and the deer do not eat it:

phlox? wish photo had turned out better

?

I have inquired on the Plants to Identify Facebook group, as I should do more often.

Helianthis ‘Lemon Queen’ is starting to bloom and will put on a good tall show for a few weeks.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, a favourite perennial

I am amazed the deer are not eating Marilyn’s lilies.  Do I dare plant more throughout the garden?  I might try!

oriental lilies

looking northish from the back steps

bronze fennel, lovely and thuggish (too many tiny seedlings)

Next, the usual routine:  Back down to Wiegardt Gallery on the cusp of Ocean Park and Nahcotta.

The bed on the west side of the building is so unsatisfactory to me.  It does not get enough water (not for lack of trying, but soaker hoses just do not work well) and just looks scraggly.  But I have a solution!   Pam Fleming of Back Alley Gardens will be pleased to hear that I want to plant evergreens here.  Because of rampant deer and because Eric did not like it when I used to have two escallonias (too big!) , I am thinking three groups of Ilex ‘Sky Pencil’.  That may be trite, but I know they will work.  And surprisingly few people on the Peninsula use them.  (So they are not trite here…yet.)

terrible, terrible, terrible

If it got more water, the Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ would be beautifully tall.  I must get rid of the horrible Geranium ‘A.T. Johnson’…have tried…it is a curse.  The nice pine scented Geranium macrorrhizum can stay.  If it were my garden, I would plant some lemony small very columnar gold conifers….

The north bed looks better with three variegated Miscanthus:

height and repetition

I still love the view to the street (Bay Avenue);

lots of grasses with cotoneasters and a few rhodos

Some drizzling began while we were weeding at Wiegardt’s.  By the time we got to Oman Builders Supply Ocean Park store, we had a serious situation.

rain and lots of it

So we went to the Full Circle Café…

driftwood fence, Full Circle on Bay Avenue

inside…nice and dry…

with pie

The sad thing is we had just eaten our lunchbox sandwiches or we could have had one of their tasty lunches.

We waited for awhile and saw the sky looking brighter to the southwest…so set off again optimistically.

The café is almost this close to the ocean.

The Klipsan Beach Cottages garden awaited us.  Even the birds looked rather hunched and miserable, as we had called the weather wrong and the rain soon returned.

hunkered down

After awhile, I took shelter from the torrent in the garage.  Allan was off working under some trees.  Neither of us were prepared with proper coats for this weather.

unfinished job

Mary, garden owner, had come out to chat and commiserate.  At first I told her we would bail out for the day and come back.  Then I realized that the weather already had us running behind and it is a long drive back to KBC, so we perservered and worked through the weather.

in the fenced garden

sweet peas

Veronicastrum virginicum…

with lilies

After getting thoroughly soaked, we bailed on the rest of the day and went home.  I managed two photos on the way to check the greenhouse tomatoes:

Sarah Sloane’s bird

And a quotation; a reader has asked me for more photos of quotations in the garden.  Eventually, I hope to do a post with all of them together.

from “The Pleasures of Merely Circulating”

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Fourth of July

We had another day of work with a big break in it…for the Old Fashioned Fourth of July Parade in Ocean Park.  I’m not much of a patriot (love the planet, think there are other wonderful countries, etc etc) but I am always able to enjoy this community parade just for its utter charm and cuteness.

Both Allan and I took photos.

for Judy

July Beach Clean Up is always on the 5th.

The Grass Roots Garbage Gang unicyclist

Grass Roots Garbage Gang

Lady Liberty

Railroad Club

Railroad Days will be at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum on July 20th and 21st.  (We will attend on the 21st because the 20th is…Garden Tour day!)

We love our Coast Guard and their Auxiliary Patrol.

The parade always closes with the shopping cart drill team.

shopping cart drill team

The song was Surfin’ USA, thus the nose holding and swimming motions.

Eventually, we will have our parade photos uploaded to Facebook and I’ll add the links here.

Just before the parade, I had seen Karyn Z from Home at the Beach on the deck of the Lighthouse Realty Ocean Park branch, and the owner of the realty company had invited us to partake in their feast “because you do so much.”  I thought she meant Facebook (because we were taking photos for assorted pages) but then realized she meant gardening.  After the parade, we took her up on her offer, and the feast was delicious.  Company owner Todd Kaino sat with us for awhile and proved to be full of interesting stories about growing up in Ilwaco.

yummy picnic food, thanks to Lighthouse!

Lighthouse realtors in their parade t shirts

We had managed to put it a little bit of work before the parade, starting with the watering of Larry and Robert’s garden and then a quick stop at Klipsan Beach Cottages where we did not get everything done.  So back through the pretty streets of Ocean Park we walked to our car.  We had a mini garden tour on the way.

Door House

The Door House was on the Music in the Gardens Tour a few years back.  I don’t remember the flower bed above.

Door House north side

When I said to Allan that a “window box” like the one below would make our garden look better for the edible tour, he pointed out that all the windows are the same size.

at the Door House

Just down the street, an adorable pink cottage that was on the 2007 tour still looks wonderful.

Debbie’s house

another view

Just down the street, a handsome stand of Matilja poppies (Rhomneya coulteri):

behind a picket fence

I have found these so hard to get started and it occurs to me I have not checked lately on my latest effort to grow them.

We admired this nearby gate:

And then we were at our car and went back to work, first at the Wiegardt Gallery.

Wiegardt Gallery

And then on to Marilyn’s in Surfside, continuing our quest to get it ready for the tour.  Allan weeded by the driveway, I weeded the back swale, and then I started removing strawberry from along the house (rampant wild beach strawberry) so the rock edge shows.  I learned from Ann Lovejoy that it is always good to have a strip of rock next to the house for access, washing windows, and for not having shrubs mishapenly crammed against the walls.

Marilyn’s before

and after

evening light at Marilyn’s

I have less than a week to do my page (on this blog) about deer resistant plants in Marilyn’s garden.  Oy, and here I am still running four days behind in the daily writing.

at Marilyn’s

After Marilyn’s, we went back to Klipsan Beach Cottages to finish our usual time there (which varies from an hour to two…)

Denny was proud of his nicely painted Ho-Mis.  Ho Mi=Easy Digger=Korean Hand Plow, one of our favourite tools.  Supposedly these blue handles will keep me from accidentally making away with Mary’s ho mi!

Denny’s cunning plan

evening roses

inside the fenced garden

One of Mary’s favourite Clematis was blooming so low, under a rose, that we almost missed it.

Clematis sieboldii

Denny watches Allan deadheading roses.

And then…home at last.  July 4th on the Peninsula is not the time to stay our working till dark so we were home by eight, and even before dark the personal fireworks began exploding all around.  I found Smokey all curled in the protective bathroom sink.

Smokey’s bunker

The kabooming would keep us up till late and the very next morning would be the July 5th beach clean up.

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