Wednesday, 3 September 2014
We did our work route all the way up to Marilyn’s garden and back. The rain yesterday enabled us to wait till tomorrow to water Long Beach, which means we can get a three day weekend again (because the planters will be able to wait till next Tuesday for more water).
Before work, I picked a bouquet for Luanne.
Then, off to work. First, we drove all the way up Sandridge Road to the Eric Wiegardt’s art gallery.
Wiegardt Gallery
I picked a little bouquet of huge cosmos flowers; they’d be over by the weekend. Gallery manager Christl could enjoy them for one day in a vase.
We had brought most of the clump of Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) that Allan had dug out of our front garden yesterday. One piece went in the north garden bed at Wiegardt’s.

In the front garden, Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ has lost its blue flower colour but the stems are still lavender-blue.
I took Christl the bouquet and saw that she could see cosmos from her window now; I’m glad we redid the bed outside the office/framing room last fall.
Last week’s photos of Eric’s flower paintings were a hit, so here are some more.
Marilyn’s Garden
Next, we drove north about 45 blocks into Surfside to attend to some deadheading and weeding in Marilyn’s garden.
I remembered that the colchicum were blooming in the Wiegardt garden also, and I had forgotten to photograph them, AND I had forgotten to check on the little Eucomis that had started to emerge last week. Drat. I had thought of it, and then…no follow through, as Robert used to say.
Who says you can’t have lots of flowers in a garden with deer?
I know there is some Joe Pye weed somewhere in the garden; it has gotten hidden so we planted a new piece where it will show next year.
Klipsan Beach Cottages
Back south again, below Ocean Park to KBC; we checked Oman Builder’s Supply garden on the way and it needed nothing from us.
The corner by garage wall and greenhouse, above, got a piece of Joe Pye Weed.
Golden Sands Assisted Living
At the Golden Sands courtyard garden, I thought as usual about all the plants I am going to bring here this fall to make it better in late summer. I have made a list, to which I must add Japanese anemone (another I may regret).
The Jerusalem artichoke is at the request of one of the residents. It is quite a runner (she even warned me of that), as is the pink phlox from my garden. I may be filled with regrets by this time next year. However, the resident wants to eat some Jerusalem artichoke; she misses it from her old garden “at home”.
While Allan strimmed the patch of lawn, removed another of the old and ugly carex that languish behind the garden beds, and planted the last piece of our former Joe Pye weed, I occupied myself weeding out an awful lot of blue scabiosa starts to make room for new plants to come.
Andersen’s RV Park
I deadheaded endless (seemingly) Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ in various containers.

After these six, there are still five more big containers of the stuff here and there. It was HOT and I wore my hat.
This weekend is the last really big tourist weekend of the year, the Rod Run To the End of the World, a massively huge classic car show event. After it is over, I can start tearing tired plants out!
Anchorage Cottages
While weeding an area at the Anchorage by one of the parking spaces, where the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is looking tatty, a lot of ugly evening primrose rosettes have appeared from who knows where, and some horsetail has crept in, I was feeling that it is so hard to make every garden look good now. At that moment, a guest walked by and said “I love your gardens here so much. I come at all different times of the year and they always look so beautiful no matter what the season.” Well! What impeccable timing she had with her compliment.
The usual weeding and deadheading of all the planters was my main focus after that.
By the time I had deadheaded those two pots, I felt quite quite done for the day. I barely managed to hobble over to deadhead the brick chimney planter.
And yet…if we could just do one more thing, tomorrow would be so much easier. So we did…
The Long Beach Welcome Sign
Fortunately, I do not tire of deadheading cosmos. Well, not much. Ok, a little tired of it all.
Allan strimmed the weeds around the outside and that helped a lot.
It was a good thing we did the welcome sign. Allan went into the grocery store to buy enough treats and campfire food to get us through the weekend. There will be no shopping during Rod Run; we locals know to stock up in advance. As I waited in the car, I got a text from Jo asking “Did you come to my garden today?” I called her immediately and said I thought we were supposed to come on Friday as she had company coming Monday. No, somehow we got mixed up as she also has company coming…tomorrow night! Fortunately, we got so much done today that we have time for her AND Long Beach tomorrow, and the result is that we just may have most of Friday off. The sooner we can retreat from the crowds, the better, so I am happy.
The one Rod Run event I will attend is Friday night’s slow drag at the port, always amusing and just a block from our house.