25 Feb: boatyard

Monday, 25 February 2019

The hellebore that was a birthday present a year or two ago from Our Kathleen:

Perhaps she can remind us of its name.

A bird family is making a nest outside our kitchen window.

Allan’s photo

 

Last night I had assured Allan that we would probably have today off because the weather forecast suggested the temperature would stay below 42 degrees (F). I need to stop making assurances that I cannot keep. By midmorning, a 46 degree temperature called for at least cutting back the grasses and some perennials at the Ilwaco boatyard…just when Allan was making himself a list of other things to accomplish.

I am still using my phone to take photos because I want to sit in my lazy comfy chair when I get home and type on my pad rather than at my desk with my computer. This despite the arrival of a new (used) camera whose photos would be much crisper.

Lots of crocuses and iris in the post office garden:

Boatyard, before, looking south, with Panicum ‘Northwind’, which I intend to divide into three later in the spring:

I found that The Toy (shown above at the edge of the sidewalk) made quick work of the grass, and, to my great job, also is strong enough to trim the santolinas…

…although I am going to wait till the nights are above 30 degrees before I trim them. The experience of trimming them with The Toy was such a delight that it was hard to resist doing them all today.

Looking north

Lots of little poppy seeds:

Allan’s photo

The Toy also works great at trimming the new growth of Ceanothus back from the sidewalk edge.

Across the street from the boatyard was the biggest pile of free pallets I have ever seen. I found myself pondering more compost bins.

You might want to read up on the supposed residual toxicity of some pallets vs others and how to allegedly tell the difference. I haven’t bothered…but there might be something to it.

We met a pleasant tourist, who stopped his car to ask us where he and his mother would enjoy visiting here. I suggested the two lighthouses at Cape D; he said his mother collects lighthouses and had never actually seen one! And I suggested the Ilwaco marina, with Time Enough Books and the Don Nisbett Gallery, and the Long Beach boardwalk, and Oysterville. Awhile later he drive by, now heading from the marina to the lighthouses, and told us how much they had enjoyed meeting Don and that they had bought a painting. Don later gave Allan and I a chocolate candy each and told us the painting had been one of clammers.

The boat that sank and is now being worked on:

Allan’s photo

Befores and afters (Allan’s photos):

The view from the south end of the boatyard garden:

Allan’s (tele)photo

Finishing up:

It took us only three and a half hours to weed and trim the whole boatyard garden (except for santolinas), a speed unheard of before, thanks to us each wielding The Toy. We bought two so have invested over $200 in working faster and therefore making less money, a bit of a conundrum.

During our boatyard session, Amy and April of the Port Office staff had walked by on their lunch break. We were able to find out that the former garden by the south wall of the office is indeed to be a garden again and so we went to weed it.

My view while weeding there:

Allan’s photos:

Our good friend Ernie walked by with his human.

Allan’s photo

Afterward, we hauled a large quantity of non-weedy compost to our home compost bins, which are now heaped high with unchopped debris.

The work board tonight :

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24 Feb: spring clean up along the Port

Sunday, 24 February 2019

Despite chilly weather, we spring cleaned from the east to the west end of the Howerton Avenue curbside gardens at the Port of Ilwaco. You may note we did not trim most of the santolinas. Because it is still freezing cold at night, I am waiting on them till closer to actual spring.

Dramatic clouds decorated the horizon south of the marina.

East end garden (Allan’s photos):

David Jensen office, before and after:

Oddly, while Allan was trimming one of the grasses today, a man walked by and said “I’ve never seen a man do that,” apparently meaning he had never before seen a man gardening.

A rain shower sent us home to unload the clean (non weedy) plant debris we had collected so far….more gleanings for my compost bins.

Half an hour later, we were back on the job.

From now on, I will call the former ShoreBank building “At the Helm”, the name of the new hotel with pub (The Waterline Pub) that is due to open sometime this year.

I could not help but clip some of At the Helm’s ferns. The Stihl trimmer made quick work of it. Last year, no one trimmed them and the many dead fronds hurt my eyes.

Looking east from the Ilwaco pavilion (At the Helm is the red building):

The drive-over garden (between two big driveways):

Powell Gallery/RiversZen Yoga garden (Allan’s photos):

Removing some weedy catmint from a bed by the Don Nisbett art gallery; I put some small, clean pieces back in:

I had a look at the garden on the south side of the Port Office. What to do? I will have to ask if the plan, after last year’s building remodel, is to have a deck or to recreate the garden.

The marina in sunshine:

Port Office curbside garden (Allan’s photos):

The good mulch (Gardner and Bloome Soil Conditioner and/or Harvest Supreme) that we added to the Time Enough Books curbside garden has been well worthwhile. The garden is full of poppy seedlings, and the plants are now much more vigorous than before.

Narcissus ‘Julia Jane’

The rest of the photos are all Allan’s.

West end gardens:

On the work list, as soon as the nights are less cold, is the addition of some Phlomis and a few other plants to these beds.

I got to meet a wonderful dog. She said “Woo woo woo!” and was ever so soft.

Despite the break for rain, we got the whole length of Howerton done. The Toy (the Stihl trimmer) really speeds us up with this kind of work.

Across the street from the west end garden:

Allan said he could not decide which photos to send me of the rainbow he saw later at the east end of the marina. I couldn’t decide among them, either, so here they all are.

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19 March: beach approach & more

Monday, 19 March 2018

Shelburne Hotel

We began at the Shelburne because I wanted to plant sweet peas along the front picket fence, inside and out (which I did, especially back breaking and kind of annoying with all the traffic going by, to be bent way over on the sidewalk side!)  I had asked Allan to prune the outside of the boxwood square around the sign.  When I saw some creeping buttercup popping up in the main garden, I asked him to go ahead and prune all the sides of the boxwood so that I could have time to weed.  I also had some cyclamen, donated by Our Kathleen, to plant.

The garden will be much more interesting next March, because we will have planted a variety of narcissi!

Below, the menace of Aegopodium is appearing under the rhododendron at the south end.  Oh, woe!  I used to have it beaten back to the rhododendron area (never got it gone because the roots go into all the shrubs there); today, I found some popping up at the south end of the garden.  I have a bad feeling that sometime in the last nine years, it got moved around because someone found it pretty.  I will prevail and beat it back to the south end….I WILL!  (For the area where it prevails, as it will, I must remember to tell the chef that the leaves are edible and can be used as a garnish; they taste of cilantro.)

in amongst the scilla lurks trouble

When planting sweet peas, I ran across a scary clump of Lysmachia punctata’s pretty pink roots way under the soil, and it took the pointy shovel to get them out…and probably not all of them.  It is also all over the garden.  I don’t want a wave of mustard yellow that lasts for two weeks and then is gone, so I am trying to beat THAT plant back to just a clump or two.  It is a typical cottage garden plant that many people like but is so very pushy.  Next time, I will take a photo of how pretty the roots are.  If only the flowers were as lovely in colour as the roots.

Allan’s photos:

before

before

The boxwood hedge used to be so low I could step over it…sort of like mounting a pony, but still….

Now it is so tall that a “door” has been cut into the back of it.  To shear it back to the proper size would make for an ugly bald look for awhile, so Allan just sheared into the green.  I had not thought ahead to have him bring the electric shears, so this was all with hand-power hedge shears.

before

during

after

after

I still had so much to do that I had asked him to shear the pathway side, as well.

before

after

Allan found this photo that shows how big the boxwood hedge was in 2007!  Back then, the shrubs were considered sacred; I remember finally getting to cut down the forsythia so that the sign showed better.

far left, under the sign!!!

Now we had such a large tarp full of boxwood cuttings that we decided to take them home to a compost bin.  And, due to a communication breakdown, all the starts of Libertia dug up on Saturday had ended up in the trailer.  They would be in the way, and so, after disposing of the boxwood cuttings, we planted almost all of them at

The Port of Ilwaco.

calm water today at the marina

low tide

planting libertia

We could hear a cacophony of cawing from our Bogsy Wood, across the big parking lot.

telephoto, showing maybe one third of the crows.

three nice libertia added to the Freedom Market (pot shop) garden. (Allan’s photo, before he planted them)

Finally, in the mid afternoon, we got to our goal garden of the day:

Long Beach, Bolstad Beach Approach

before (all Allan’s photos)

before

before (rugosa roses)

An extreme telephoto shot shows a gentleman who had a wheeled platform and a garbage can and was picking up garbage.

during

a nightmareish painful job

thorns and weeds toughly rooted in

I had picked this as a good beach approach day because the wind was supposed to be around 10 mph.  Instead, it blew at a cold and annoying 20 mph.

Three hours later:

after

after

after

I had almost bailed with five feet yet to go because my hands hurt so much (and my toes!) but we kept at it till the section was done.  There are thirteen sections—now ten to go.  Each takes at least three hours, except for one that has so much swamp grass from below that we hardly even bother with it except to trim the roses and pull the biggest of softer weeds.

after

At home, I was able to erase one sweet pea job and one beach approach section.

We had been offered the opportunity to meet tomorrow at the boatyard with the Port Manager and the engineers-or-whomever who are going to be doing the wash-water project, to see if it will impact the garden.  But the meeting will be at 8:30 AM.  Knowing that aching arms from beach approach work would likely give me extra insomnia and that tomorrow is another hard beach approach day, I would never make an 8:30 AM meeting no matter how concerned I am about the garden.  I decided it is just as well to wait for a secondhand report; otherwise I would be interrupting the important port business with questions about whether my (not yet planted) sweet peas will be disturbed.

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10 November: working through the list

Friday, 10 November 2017

If we methodically work through the fall clean up list, we might get it done by the end of this month and then be on staycation.  I’d like to be done (except for post frost clean up) by Thanksgiving (Nov 23).  This is not looking likely because of a prediction of at least five days of bad weather.

Port of Ilwaco

On the way to the port, we saw the sure signs of approaching crab season.  The crab fishing fleet has to wait for the crab to size up properly before it can begin.  They always hope for the beginning of December but often have to wait.  While they wait, they prepare their pots.

crab pots by the old Kola boathouse

I began with the small garden on the south side of the Port Office building.

port office garden with lots of lavenders to clip and one last big cosmos pulled

after (Allan cleaned up with his new, pretty quiet rechargeable blower)

It was a big advance recently when we acquired a battery operated blower.  I had avoided them because of the noise.  Allan picked out a quiet-ish one, and it does make the job go faster than a broom.  Perhaps he will insert the make and model here, for those who like specs.  ( A Greenworks 80V blower  Same battery operates our heavy duty string trimmer and could operate a replacement chainsaw or a mower in the future.)

just across Waterfront Way from the little garden

I joined Allan to help finish up his project, the final clean up of the Time Enough Books garden.

Each business has the garden or courtyard (or in some cases, just a parking lot) on the south side of the sidewalk.  The north side is the curbside garden, maintained by the port (usually by us, with the exception of a fish processing business that clips their own escallonias).

Time Enough Books, east side before

and after (elderberry lowered behind the boat, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ clipped down in front of the boat), Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ pulled by the entrance to Purly Shell Fiber Arts)

before (Allan’s photos)

after

Time Enough Books west side garden, before

west side, after, with elderberry and tall grasses and more cut all the way down for ease of Christmas decorating; that was one year of growth on that elderberry, which we chop down every November.

before (Allan’s photos)

after

after easy peasy blower clean up

The Depot Restaurant

Allan did the once yearly chopping of the bamboo in a very narrow space between the deck and the building.  I am not even sure I could fit in there.

His photos:

bamboo all up in the works

after

A portly repairperson would have a hard time getting to that equipment even without the bamboo

We like the bamboo for long stakes.  I realized Allan would have to run it home before we loaded up the debris that I was cutting from the garden to the north of the dining deck.

trailer with long bamboo

He made quick work of taking the bamboo home and returning with an empty trailer.

I chopped down almost everything in the north garden.

before

Sous chef Jamie emerged from the kitchen and I asked him if he would leave up the Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’, which I love for its tiny yellow flowers still showing way up high.

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’

He could not see the appeal of the old, worn plant, and I figured his opinion would be shared by most passersby, so down it came.  I am extra glad now, because a great deal of wind is being forecast and it would have had to be chopped next week for sure.

Solidago ‘Fireworks’, Persicaria ‘Firetrail’, and old ferns were for the chop.

after

I did leave up the late blooming Sanguisorba.

Sanguisorba menziesii ‘Dali Marble‘, backed with a self sown cotoneaster and with Cornus ‘Hedgerows Gold’

There will be one more short session of clean up in this garden after the first heavy frost.

I had hoped to get a couple of Long Beach planters cleaned up.  The frost is not yet here, and yet I woke up in the morning realizing I am tired of California poppies and nasturtiums’ last few blooms.  We ran out of time, so that will have to wait.  I wanted to get home with some daylight left to pick a bouquet for a friend who is recovering from surgery.

at home:

Allan’s photo

an autumn bouquet about to be delivered to dear Ilwaco friend

I got such a touching card from my neighbors.  I love the way it recognizes the true friendship I shared with Smoky.  (It wasn’t lopsided; it just photographed that way.)

Thank you.

On the work board, as much was added as erased.  I realized the port office garden looks battered by rain and needs a bag of mulch.  And I see that I need to add the Depot to the “post frost clean up” section.

I really hope we can accomplish all the pre-frost clean up before the end of this month.  All we need is five workable days!  ….Or six, since things usually take longer than I hope.

 

 

 

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6 November: fall clean up continues

Monday, 6 November 2017

Frosty looking cute in the morning

Even though my neurotic cat Frosty (the late Smoky’s brother) still wants to sleep in the garage rather than have to spend the night indoors, I won’t let him.  It is cold out there.  He wakes me up at 6 AM yowling to go out, so I then open the south cat door for him.  So far the other two cats have not figured out this happens.  Frosty seems to go out and then come back in soon after, because I find him asleep in my room when I wake up again.

Long Beach

We happened to nab a parking spot right next to a street tree that needed its batch of Lysimachia punctata cut back for winter.

before and after (Allan’s photos)

We found a reversible rock.

not sure what it means

The Anchorage Cottages

We left Long Beach to work at the Anchorage first, mainly because I did not know how long we would be there, and the rest of the time could then be devoted to Long Beach.

Arbutus and Melianthus major in the center courtyard

arbutus flowers (to be followed by strawberry like fruit, thus the common name strawberry tree)

I love arbutus so much, why do I not have one in my yard?

I’ve been meaning for ages for us to dead-wood the arbutus. No time for that today.

I did a nice under-pruning and lowering from the top of the big Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ in the corner; wish I had a before picture.

just an after

Allan pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ from the narrow bed under the blue sign, and on either side of it he planted some starts of shasta daisies.  I know folks who would turn up their noses at that.  I think the daisies will look spiffing with the white window trim.

before and after (Allan’s photos)

I put some redtwig dogwood twigs in the window boxes, just because it is something I like to do.

Long Beach

I planted a whole pot of cloves of elephant garlic on the west side of city hall.  The very few that were there this past summer were a hit with the city hall staff, who called it  “The Horton Hears a Who plant.”  It was so disappointing when someone picked off all the round flowers that I said I was going to plant so many that surely some flowers would be left next year.

planted them on the upper tier

after planting and clean up of the long narrow tiered beds that were planted originally by Gene and Peggy Miles, when Gene was city administrator (Allan’s photo)

lots of clean up accomplished on the north side, too

I do not clean up my gardens this way.  I leave a lot more plants standing into late winter.  In public gardens, most passersby would not understand that and would just see it as messy.

We turned next to pulling Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ at the front of Coulter Park (Allan) and tidying up a planter across the street (me).

Coulter Park, before and after (Allan’s photo)

Allan also photographed the planter project.

before

After work, we returned a couple of forgotten Halloween party items to Scott and Tony’s townhouse in north Long Beach, along with a tall houseplant that needed a place with tall windows.

painted rocks that Scott and Tony’s friends leave in their little entry courtyard

Port of Ilwaco

We did a security check on the business of a friend who will be out of town for two more days post surgery and then had a look at the garden at the port office.  It needs some trimming.  We were almost out of daylight, so it will not get done today.

Allan’s photo

Almost sunset at the marina:

home

I feel sad when I come home to Calvin sleeping alone, in the chair where for the past couple of months he spent the day sleeping with his new best friend, Smoky.  I wish he would bond with Frosty.  He must miss Smoky as much as I do.

Calvin wakes up.

Two nights ago, when I was petting Calvin, I realized I had already lost the hand memory of how much softer Smoky was than any other cat.  Calvin feels soft to me now.  I clipped a tiny bit of Smoky’s fur, before his final visit to the vet.  It felt intrusive to clip very much. It is just enough soft fur, in a little wooden box, to touch with one fingertip.  I can’t bear to go there. But I don’t want to forget that softness.  My hand aches to pet him again.

Smoky and Calvin on October 7th

Calvin and Smoky on October 19th

October 26th

Frosty and Smoky, mid October.  Note the subtle patterns on Smoky’s oh so soft fur.

Smoky was nice to all cats, humans, and nice dogs.

Frosty and Calvin will share my lap, but without affection and with the occasional squabble.

Frosty and Calvin a couple of nights ago

detente but no affection

I occupied my mind with a re-write the work board, dividing the fall clean up list into before and after the first heavy frost, for the purpose of giving me more tasks to erase.  Erasure gives me satisfaction at day’s end.

I then got to erase City Hall and Anchorage.

Below, at 2:45 AM (technically the next day):

Frosty, the odd kitty, has a new favourite place now that he is not sleeping in the garage: right in the middle of the open space in the bedroom.

Why not a comfy chair?

As I write this two days later, he is sleeping in that exact same peculiar spot.

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5 October: Ilwaco and KBC

Thursday, 5 October 2017

While divesting ourselves of the Ilwaco street tree branches that we had pruned yesterday evening, we  admired of the east end of the marina.

I found out later that the floating enclosure is a pen…

…for young salmon, used in a recent study of some sort.

Butch, the owner of Coho Charters (the red building) is my go to person for fishing questions.

We headed north, with a brief stop at the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Allan’s photo, getting rady for Halloween

a selection of new plants at the Basket Case

including nice Euphorbia ‘Glacier Blue’

Next stop: picking up a yard of Soil Energy at Peninsula Landscape Supply. We were worried because the Soil Energy pile had been way low last time, and might be all gone.  When we arrived, we saw a truck and trailer ahead of us.  Who were these people competing with us for the last of the pile, I thought anxiously….until I saw they were our good friends Judy and Larry.

Allan’s photo

Larry, Judy, me: friends with similar goals

We were glad there was enough in the Soil Energy bin for two loads.

We parked off to the side and the mulch came to us. (Allan’s photo)

Klipsan Beach Cottages  

Our first actual job of the day was a tidying and some cutting back at KBC.

Allan dug out a daylily, the same kind that he dug out for me in my own garden recently.

It is prone to daylily leaf streak. (Allan’s photo).  The flowers are hardy fuchsia.

before cutting back Thalictrum ‘Elin’

and after

The thalictrum will come home with us for Halloween decor.

Allan cut down one part of the rugosa rose.  The whole shrub is going to come down later.

After. Now you can see through to the lower fenced garden.

As you can see, the day was (too) warm and bright.

view in the east gate

the birdbath view

the inner bench circle

a huge bud on the Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’

fall colour on hamamelis

Allan captured the moment when Mary noticed the leaf colour.

We didn’t see Denny today.  He had had a knee replacement (his second) on Tuesday and was at home napping.

                           Long Beach

On the way south, we checked up on the beach approach gardens and the Long Beach city hall garden.  This weekend’s two days of clamming will generate a lot of passersby.

the foyer at city hall (Allan’s photo)

MaryBeth stopped by when she saw us at City Hall.  She gave us a present that she had been carrying with her for the next time our paths crossed.

After checking on the Sid Snyder approach planters…

the westernmost Sid Snyder planter (Allan’s photo)

…we made sure the World Kite Museum garden looked good, because their annual One Sky One World event is this weekend.  The philosophy of One Sky, One World is needed more than ever now.

Pleased with the new containers at the kite museum.

Ilwaco

The south third of the Ilwaco boatyard garden was our destination for the yard of Soil Energy that we’d been hauling with us.

looking south from the gate, before

soil applied by bucket

cutting back Pennisetum macrourum from the sidewalk

and after….I had suddenly realized the garden should start where the paved sidewalk starts.

The dredge has been at work lately, clearing mud from the channel which is so necessary for the marina to thrive.

scooping up mud

and depositing it on a barge.

boats

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We still have sweet peas blooming on the fence.

sweet peas all the way to the top

bright red sweet peas

We had run out of Soil Energy about twenty feet from the end of the garden, so another load will be necessary.  The end needs such a small amount that I sort of cheated and erased boatyard mulching from the work list, changing it to mulching at the port and Time Enough Books.

The summer is long gone and I still have not accomplished one thorough, end to end good weeding at home.

At home: The garden gift from MaryBeth.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

El Compadre Mexican Restaurant

We had this week’s North Beach Garden Gang dinner with Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) at El Compadre.

hard to get a good photo of the inlaid tables that I admire so much.

Allan’s photo

tiled window frames

As often happens, we were the last to leave.

Now for an extra long weekend, during the quiet time before fall clean up and bulbs.  My goal is to not leave my property for four days while I accomplish some gardening.  Allan has some boating goals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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27 and 29 Sept: a short work week

Wednesday, 29 September 2017

Allan was sad to see the painting of the shed gutter had not worked.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo: Paint had fallen into a spider web.

This spider, who had likely entered the van on some plant debris, had made a web inside my van door.  I did not let her come to work with us.

These garden spiders don’t scare me.

We stopped at Dennis Co on the way to work to get some paint for the window trim (which you have seen in yesterday’s post).  Allan was also able to repaint the gutter successfully.

Anchorage Cottages

The weather was just too hot to do any of the pruning projects we had planned.

These viburnums can wait for another day.

arbutus and hydrangea in the center courtyard

On the way to our next job, I was appalled at the temperature.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We stayed only to do the most important deadheading and tidying.  The heat was just too much.

bird bath view

roses

the other bird bath with Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

Japanese anemone

hardy fuchsia

autumnal hamamelis

Peninsula Landscape Supply

We picked up a yard of Soil Energy.

bird baths by the pond

We learned that starting next week, PLS will be going to their off season hours, open till three on Tuesday, Thursdays, Saturdays.  This will require us to be less spontaneous during mulching season. We will have to make proper plans and schedules.

signs available in the office

On the way back to Ilwaco, we decided we had to delay our boatyard mulching project till early evening’s cooler weather.

Ridiculous weather! What happened to our nice crisp autumn?

home

This is the handsome gate of our “Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm” neighbours to the east.

At the base of the ornamental plum in our front garden (a tree I did not plant) is a hamamelis glowing with autumn colour.

Look to the left side of the tree trunk.

 

Tiger Eyes sumac

another hamamelis

I retreated indoors from the heat and was joined for a bit by our neighbours to the west, Devery, and her dog Royal.

It was Royal’s first time in our house. He was excited.

Ilwaco boatyard

After five o clock, we mulched 1/3 of the boatyard.  I think my estimate that three yards will cover it all is pretty close.

before (Allan’s photo)

after (Allan’s photo)

Allan sweeps up

Aster ‘Harrington’s Pink’

leveling mulch with a broom

looking south from the north end

As we had begun our mulching, a Londoner on a bicycle had stopped to ask the location of Salt Pub.  I had to tell him the sad news that it is closed on Wednesdays.  Where could he eat, he asked, after returning from a two block jaunt to make sure Salt was closed.  I was sad to say that the only option was our little local market.  In an ideal world, we would have invited him to come to our house for a campfire, with sausages, and then driven him to his campsite at Cape Disappointment, but our conversation took place just as we got stuck in to an hour of unloading mulch.

After work, we went to the little market ourselves in search of some fancy sausages, and found him outside.  He had managed to find an apple for his dinner, with some cheese that he already had.  I was afraid that “Disappointment” might sum up his feelings, and I did so wish he had been here on a night when Salt was open.

the Londoner

I was able to guide him to having breakfast tomorrow morning at the Portside Café, where his quest for pancakes should be well satisfied.

We had a good chinwag about politics.  He said he almost bet £5000 on Brexit not passing, and woke up in shock that morning (and relief that he had not made the bet). He had experienced the same shock and dismay last November 9 at the result of our election.

I told him that I used to be married to a Leedsman.  “Oh, that must have been tough!” said he.

Allan and I did not succeed at the local in our quest for fancy sausages so drove on up to Sid’s Market in Seaview, where we met with success.  We also met again a nice RVing couple who had asked us at the boatyard where to shop for groceries.  They, too, had met with shopping success. We then went home to have a campfire on the one of the warmest evenings of the year.

Nicotiana by the campfire

the moon just caught in the trees

Allan’s photo

coals

When I looked at the temperature at 1 AM, it was still 72 degrees outside.  That is just unheard of here at the beach.

Friday, 29 September 2017

After taking Thursday off so Allan could finish painting the shed, we slept late.

Skooter slept late, too. He puts his feet over Allan’s head like earmuffs.

We had believed the forecast of a half inch of rain.  The rain came overnight rather than during the day, which turned out so fine that tourists would be looking at our public gardens.  While we did not have to water, we certainly had to tidy after all.

This much rain overnight!

By the post office, we saw the first sign of Ilwaco Halloween.

And so it begins.

The Depot Restaurant

just some quick deadheading

Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ towering

Long Beach

the welcome sign

We tidied the gardens at Veterans Field while the Columbia Pacific Farmers Market was in session.

Allan’s photo

I found a home for a duplicate plant of mine in Fifth Street Park. I had bought in, then realized it was the same white sanguisorba I had acquired at a Hardy Plant sale from Dan Hinkley, back when it just had a number, not a name.

Allan planted it in here, toward the back.

Needing energy, we got coffee to go.

at Abbracci Coffee Bar

We did a walk around town just to deadhead the planters.

passing by the farmers market again

I stopped it at NIVA green to take a few photos for their Facebook page, and for some reason I had to buy this little stove.

It spoke to me somehow.  Now it is mine and I don’t quite know what to do with it.

Allan pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ from under the street tree near the pharmacy.

before

after

Here is a sad thing: The old, peeling cranberry mural on the south end of Dennis Company is now almost covered.  $58,000 has been spent to try to restore it five different times, and it is now too far gone to save.

Goodbye to a Long Beach icon. (Allan’s photos)

The paint peeled badly after a restoration just a couple of years ago.

Here it is in better days.  I will miss it.

We then drove up to Peninsula Landscape Supply for another yard of Soil Energy.

The shaved ice booth was heading down to Ilwaco for Saturday Market.

Ilwaco boatyard garden

We got another third of the garden mulched, all the way to the south side of the gate.

Unfortunately, we have to cover a multitude of poppy seeds.  In my own garden, I might dig and replant them.  No time for that here.

I’ve saved seeds and will re-sow.

To finish our relatively short day, we deadheaded the cosmos at the port office and Time Enough Books gardens.  I took some photos of the marina from near the port office.

someone else enjoying the view

an hour before sunset, along Howerton Avenue

home

Kniphofia ‘Earliest of All’ is changing shape.

Devery came to pick some Cripp’s Pink apples to make some applesauce.

She stood on a bucket to get some.

Canna in bloom in the water boxes

I made a sit spot in the new bogsy wood clearing.

on the table: broken china bits that I found in 2010 when making our garden

I had a sudden brainstorm which Allan helped me bring to fruition.

Skooter supervising

He helped me move this….

…out to the salmonberry cave….

…where I like it very much.

And it gave me room for a new little sit spot on the east wall of the house.

Next: another long weekend.  We are enjoying the short work weeks between tourist season and the soon to arrive fall clean up and bulb season.

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23-24 Sept: gardening energy returning

Yesterday, in a photo caption, I mis-identified the Ilwaco Fire Dept as Long Beach. No idea why!  Fortunately, astute blog reader Our Kathleen caught the error.  

Saturday, 23 September 2017

I thought I should go to the Saturday Market for a few photos for Discover Ilwaco, since the market has only two more weekends to go and might get rained out on the last one.  I had not been to the market much this summer because of my sore heel.  Now that it is feeling better, I can walk without constant pain.

I decided to not disturb my neighbor Rudder with pets.

Approaching the market, I noted that the tall ships were tall.

De Asis produce

two tall ships

Allan had signed on for tomorrow’s “battle sail” on one of these ships.

Mandolin Pete with a guitar instead outside Don Nisbett’s gallery

busy market day

a market patron

two little cuties

I was eager to get home to my garden, but when I did, I found that going to the market had sapped my energy, so I accomplished little.  Allan worked on painting his shed.

before (Allan’s photo)

Allan painting his shed.

I accomplished one thing, with Allan’s help a bit: digging out the snail chewed hostas.  I am giving up on them.  Almost.  I chopped off a little piece of each to try to grow in a drier spot.

can’t look at this anymore

I was then inspired to sift some compost, so the day was not wasted.

In the late afternoon, rounding the corner to dump some sifted compost along Willows Loop West, I was stopped by a beacon of light.

It was the glowing of Kniphofia ‘Earliest of All’, an ironically late blooming kniphofia that Todd gave me.  It is spectacular.

Kniphofia ‘Earliest of All’ illuminated by late afternoon sun

Kniphofia ‘Earliest of All’

lovely compost, not sifted ultra fine because it is going on a perennial bed.

I finally decided this horrible heather had to go. OUT.

Allan’s end of day photo

Sunday, 24 Sept 2017

Ed Strange stopped by to pick up the hostas.  His hosta patch is glorious and mine will be happier there.

Ed’s Jackson

Goodbye Sum and Substance and the other one

Allan departed to walk to the port, first to tour a Tall Ship and then to go on a sail.  It would, however, not be a battle sail; he had gotten a call this morning that their gunpowder had not been delivered, so the event was now an hour shorter Adventure Sail.  That will be tomorrow’s post.

I had company at noon ish: Dear friend Judy S., her spouse Larry and sister Rosalie.  We had a gratifying tour of the garden (because they like it) and a good talk in the shady campfire area.

Rosalie, Larry, Judy

I dug this hardy fuchsia out of the (now compost mulched) former hosta bed and gave it to Judy.

Skooter

I had a surge of energy and got ALL my ladies in waiting planted.  It helps a lot that my foot is hurting much less.

Asclepias fascicularis

Asclepias speciosa

Eryngium proteiflorum (went in by the garden boat)

The strawberries are trying to take over my would-be scree garden.

Eryngium padanifolium

Chocolate Shogun is near the base of the lady.

Astilbe ‘Chocolate Shogun’

My Metapanax delavayi from Xera also went into the former hosta bed.

Metapanax delavayi berries

Metapanax delavayi berries—thrilling!

I sifted more compost.  Frosty stayed close by.

I got the third bin sifted and emptied and put new newspaper down at the base (as a weed barrier).

Now I have two full bins of old debris, and will start layering the brown with new green material in the empty bin.

I took the last sifted wheelbarrow load of compost to a weedy path on the east side of the fire circle and proceeded to weed in preparation for mulching.

weeded and ready, but….

I remembered that I had thought this might be a cool spot to have a pond, probably one made out of a big, and I mean REALLY big, tub. because tree roots would prevent digging.  A tub like the ones I saw in this garden in Portland.

I stared at the garden bed for at least ten minutes, just trying to decide.  Big tub pond here? With a bench around it maybe? But where to get a big tub like that? And it is far from electricity (if one wanted a burbler in it).

to tub or not to tub

A big tub with a curved bench in front, where people could sit some distance from the campfire, would be amazing.

I finally dumped the load of compost onto the old hosta bed because I did not want to waste it on a bed that might get transformed.

old hosta bed with ALL the mulch

Allan returned, well satisfied with his Tall Ships sailing experience.  As a reward for much garden and painting progress, and because the evening was almost windless, we had a campfire dinner.

It has been an enormous relief to get my home gardening energy back.  One large factor has been that my foot is hurting much less than during midsummer, when it made it impossible to do much on days off but sit and kvetch and read.

 

 

 

 

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6 Sept: garden and music visitors

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

We took the morning off to receive guests Jay and Diane, all the way from Florida!  I’ve been Facebook friends with Jay since he first visited our garden in 2014.  On that occasion, I was smitten with his insightful questions.  For example, he wanted to know who had been my greatest gardening influence.  When I said my grandmother, he asked to know her name “because it is important to say people’s names.”  He was here visiting his Long Beach sister, along with his good friend, Diane.

Jay and Diane arrive

Jay gave Allan and I each a t shirt of this delightful design from a place called Barberville Pioneer Settlement.

We walked out into the garden.

It’s looking rather autumnal.

I took note of what they noticed.

honeysuckle

honeysuckle berries

honeysuckle flowers

 

wild impatiens (touch me not, my small and controlled patch of noxious weeds)

Everyone jumps when the seed pods pop.

an odd dandelion seedhead with a topknot

Diane said the Leycesteria (Himalayan honeysuckle) reminded her of shrimp plant.  She ate a creme brulee tasting berry.

fence decor

We sat around the fire circle for awhile (where we are not having fires lately because of dry conditions).

Diane wanted to visit the willow woods outside the south gate.

the swale between us and the port parking lots

the willow woods (Not many people ask to come this far into the depths of the property)

followed by Skooter and Smokey

We all smelled the fizzy leaves of the Stachys ‘Hidalgo’ (7 Up Plant).

Diane noticed my carniverous sarracenia.

Jay went with Allan to the workshop to look at two autoharps that he is borrowing for the week of his visit.  Diane and I walked around some more, and I noticed what she noticed:

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’

Helenium ‘Carnival’

Pink phlox (left) and escallonia (right)

this hardy fuchsia

my mom’s red velvet rose

By now, Jay and Allan had repaired to the house to look at more of Allan’s old musical instruments.

a dual player dulcimer that Allan built back in the 1970s.

Jay and Diane left, with Jay carrying two autoharps.  Two more plants were especially noticed:

a white passion flower

and of course, they had to smell the peanut butter leaves of Melianthus major. (Tetrapanax in the foreground.)

Melianthus major

Allan and I waited for a couple of hours before going to water at the port; he was typing away at a boating blog post while I read the ever-disturbing news (hurricanes, Dreamers in jeopardy, fires, flooding).

Had a greenhouse tomato for lunch: Black Krim, very mild.

Then we were off to do a couple of hours of watering and weeding at the port.

hooking our hose up to the hose at Time Enough Books

watering the Time Enough Books curbside garden

the westernmost bed

I am not cutting plants back right now.  More plant life will help keep people from standing in the garden during Slow Drag on Friday (I hope).

west end of Waterfront Way

Foghorns out on the river have been a constant for the last couple of days.

The river is out past the marina, which is entered through a rather narrow channel.

I had intended to do the boatyard garden as well today.  Our working drive was weak.  Allan wanted to get back to typing, and I was not averse to going home and postponing the rest of the work till tomorrow or Friday.

I took another walk around the garden, noticing things.

Everywhere I stepped, Frosty was underfoot, as he had been with our visitors today.

Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’

a table of ladies in waiting

I managed to get just one plant planted:

Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ from Xera Plants

back garden…not quite sure, a varieated lonicera maybe?

very autumnal with Darmera peltata and astilbe

I long for a campfire. The fire danger is excessive right now.

Even well watered astilbe is crisping up.

I am giving up on hostas as soon as I find the strength to dig these out!

I couldn’t get a GOOD photo of my favourite bird, the common flicker.

Have been completely lax at deadheading my own cosmos.

fragrant Sinningia tubiflora from Xera Plants.

Salvia patens backed with Roscoea purpurea ‘Spice Island’

Am pleased with this basket I made with ‘Lemon Slice’ calibrachoa, black eyed Susan vine, and Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate’.

That was an excellent day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 Sept: Wednesday jobs on Tuesday

Tuesday, 5 Sept 2017

The grim and hateful news that protection is in jeopardy for young Dreamers (children of undocumented immigrants, teenagers and young adults who grew up here, knowing no other country) cast a pall over the day even though it was expected.  We hope this gets sorted out in the next six months.  We are proud of our state of Washington, which is resisting this decision. As President Obama said today, “This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people — and who we want to be.”

Allan and I have already helped pay the rent, as did other concerned locals, for a local family with children, whose breadwinner (a well respected community-minded man with no criminal record) was arrested by immigration authorities, and we will continue to help in that way as much as we can.

Today we did the job routine that has become our Wednesday rounds, in order to get as much if not all work polished off before Rod Run Friday. I like to have that day free to mentally rev up for photographing the Slow Drag at the Port of Ilwaco.

ash on a spider web from wildfires way upriver (Allan’s photo)

The Depot Restaurant

the usual watering and deadheading and weeding…

north side of Depot deck

Cornus ‘Hedgerows Gold’ and Eryngium

The Red Barn Arena

also the usual watering and deadheading and weeding…

near the garden (Allan’s photo)

Diane’s garden

The usual weeding and deadheading and a bit of supplemental watering….

I was pleased that the new planting from last week had made it through the heat. (Allan’s photo)

belly rub for Misty

a different angle on the garden

My good friend Misty.

These, or at least some of them, are going onto the new septic raised garden soon.  Even in this shady corner, they were rich with bees.

Holly was on the front porch (Allan’s photo)

roadside garden

Cosmos (‘Daydream’, maybe)

Long Beach intermission

We drove west again to Long Beach to buy a chrysanthemum at Dennis Company (Basket Case is closed Tuesdays), pick up our check, and make a bank deposit.

Yesterday, I photographed almost all of the Long Beach planters after the sun disappeared behind a smoke haze and a lot of flowers had closed up.  Today, I photographed this one to compare in bright light.

yesterday, flowers closed because of dim light

today

City Hall north side. Allan picked the yellow leaves off of the rhododendron.

Basket Case Greenhouse baskets.

I am flummoxed by a new lens spot that is not responding to cleaning.  It is sort of funny how many pocket cams we own, each with some sort of flaw.

The Anchorage Cottages

We learned from the housekeeper, while doing the usual weeding and deadheading (but not watering)  that the most asked about plant right now is Leycesteria formosa.  She wanted an ID.  I gave her the common name and the info that the berries are edible and taste like burnt caramel, but with a bitter aftertaste.

Leycesteria formosa (Himalayan honeysuckle)

Leycesteria formosa

I also showed her how the Melianthus major in the center courtyard smells like peanut butter.

center courtyard

Melianthus major

And I showed her that the petals of yellow tuberous begonias taste like lemon.

tuberous begonia

The chocolate cosmos is already a regular feature at the Anchorage, and I promised that next year I would try to add a 7 Up plant (Stachys ‘Hidalgo’) to the array.

In deadheading the sweet peas, I saw this:

It was suggested that this might be the frog who lives in the key box (where guests are no longer allowed to drop their keys) but no, I looked…

key box frog is still there

Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’

window box from indoors (Allan’s photo)

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ seeds mimicking the rope in the sign

I asked Allan to take the tatty old painted sage out of a pot and replace them with a chrysanthemum.

Allan’s photos

 Because I said sage and not sages, he left the white one in.  I pulled it, leaving the chrysanth off center.  Oh well!

Klipsan Beach Cottages

When we arrived at KBC, a guest had just checked in for a brief stay and introduced herself as a blog reader!  She was Dawn, sister of Debbie W who comments regularly, and although I had met both of them while touring recently near Menlo, my face blindness kept me from recognizing her.  It was a delight to see her at KBC (which she had read about on the blog, and had visited years ago).

me and Dawn: Hi, Debbie!

Allan and I did the usual deadheading and grooming and weeding, with no need to water (We love that!)

looking in the east gate

the bird bath view

After yesterday’s daytime scorching heat and evening wind, lots of leaves and fir needles had fallen into the garden.

Mary raking the paths

in the fenced garden

one of Mary’s roses

All summer I pull Japanese anemones, and then I love them when they bloom.

Podophyllum (Allan’s photo)

Bella on the lawn (Allan’s photo)

Bella in the basement as we left (Allan’s photo)

Port of Ilwaco

We decided to get a head start on tomorrow’s work by watering and weeding along Howerton Avenue at the Port, starting at the east end.

When we arrived home to pick up another hose, we found a shocking sight.  Our quiet, bucolic, country-feeling street had been painted with bright lines.  I do not like it.  Allan thinks it is going to speed up traffic instead of making it safer.

the way it used to be

now

Since the double yellow line means no passing, a traffic cop could write tickets all day three blocks west at the post office, where passing and U turns are frequent.  When I kvetched about it on Facebook, I learned that other residents (just some that I know) are also not thrilled.  We wished we had been asked or notified. It is what it is now.  (We learned the next day that the Department of Transportation done-it.) There is not enough paint remover to take us back in time.

It cheered me up to pet Rudder from next door.

At the east end of Howerton Avenue, I made the radical decision to simply skip watering the easternmost bed.  Some rain is predicted for later this week—not much, but enough to help this quite drought tolerant bed.  I think my snap decision was influenced by feeling disgruntled about the street painting job.

east end bed

Yesterday’s heat scorched even the armeria (sea thrift); watering today will not fix that.

If we get no rain, we will have to break down and water this garden on Friday.  It is the most difficult and requires the longest hose length.

We found a rock in a garden bed further west:

As I walked along weeding, I made mental note of plants I want to move in the fall, like this Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’ that is languishing in the bed by the Fort George Brewery office.

sad Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’

Further down the street, in my favourite bed, the same grass is doing much better.

by the Ilwaco pavilion, more sheltered from wind

a happier Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’

I am not doing much clipping back today.  I want as much plant growth as possible in all the beds to keep people from standing upon them during Friday evening’s Slow Drag.

The drive-over garden has knit together again.

Port Office garden

low tide with haze, possibly from wildfire smoke upriver mixed with fog

can’t see the hills to the east at all

Howerton Ave: smoke or fog? We could smell smoke, faintly. (Allan’s photo)

Our friends in Portland and Olympia are experiencing heavy smoke and falling ash from the fire east of Portland in the beloved wilderness area of the Columbia River Gorge.  Some photos: here, and here (before) and here.

We left off at Time Enough books and will do the rest of the watering tomorrow afternoon and evening.

 

 

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