I am trying to get this blog to be only one, not two, weeks behind before the next garden tour which is, in my garden-tour-experienced opinion, the best of the local tours by far, and so reasonably priced.
**Tuesday, 26 June 2018**
Our main mission was to water. Fortunately, the weather had been cool and occasionally misty here at the beach so no plants were distressed by our five day absence.
Ilwaco Post Office
Ilwaco post office
Long Beach
Lots of people asked me to ID Allium christophii.
Allium chrisophii
California poppies, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Cosmos ‘Pop Socks’, Agastache (Allan’s photo)
Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ and Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Alchemilla mollis in flower reminded me of how Riz Reyes defended it as a good plant.
sign of summer: a WSDOT (Wash. State Dept of Transportation) traffic counter (Allan’s photo)
I found out that a big healthy hydrangea had been removed and this area rocked over because someone thought hydrangeas were invasive. It made me think about the Hardy Plant lecture about the book Planting in a Post Wild World and about how important green spaces are rather than heat reflecting paving and rock. I was sad. Also flummoxed because who thinks hydrangeas are invasive??
Gunnera reflected, Fifth Street Park
I was disappointed as we drove home to catch someone we sort of know, who often passes by our gardens, who has agreed with us that picking and stealing is damaging, picking herself a big bouquet out of the Long Beach parking lot berms. When I asked her to stop, and she turned, I knew who she was, and I was sad. She said sorry, but I realized she was the same person that the city manager’s wife had seen picking. How disheartening.
To go on watering required a dose of ibuprofen and tylenol.
Shelburne Hotel
elephant garlic
Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ (Allan’s photo)
the first sweet pea (Allan’s photo)
Ilwaco
I watered the boatyard while Allan watered the street trees and planters.
audience (Allan’s photo)
Allan left me the trailer for weeds.
Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and santolina
When we got home, we found that our dear friend Tony Hofer had toured the garden and left us a watermelon.
Thanks, Tony!
**Wednesday, 27 June 2018**
The Depot Restaurant
watered
The Red Barn Arena
The “water me!” sign has been working.
audience
Diane’s garden
Allan’s photo (showing the house next door and the big Red Barn horse trailer)
Diane wanted more flowers in one of her containers that just had subtle hardy begonias and a heuchera so we went to
The Basket Case
a welcome rain as we left the Red Barn (where we leave our trailer to go to Diane’s because her driveway is tight)
Basket Case greeters
my buddy, Buddy (Allan’s photo)
Greeting is hard work.
Basket Case co owner, Darrell (Allan’s photo)
Diane’s again
some filling in on the septic box garden
The new roadside bed is taking a long time to fill in….I should have planted more. (Allan’s photo)
Must remember, re perennials: “The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.” But I should have filled in with more annuals.
The Planter Box
I was on a quest for some plants for a restaurant friend.
The neighbour’s cat was visiting Teresa.
Klipsan Beach Cottages
We got there pretty late, but we did get there!
birdbath view
The garden is full to overflowing, the way I like it. Beloved friend and KBC manager Mary likes more space between plants, likes some ground showing. Now I have Planting in the Post Wild World to cite!
The tall plant is Thalictrum ‘Elin’.
Cosmos ‘Xanthos’ (with ‘Seashells’ in the corner)
Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Steroidal Giant’
OleBob’s Restaurant, Port of Ilwaco
In the evening, we redid some pots for our friend Chef Laura of OleBob’s. They had been full of dead and dying pampas grass, of all things.
before, June 15th
Someone had pulled the pampas grass out, which saved us some time.
working on it
after, with pancho. Lemon balm and lemon verbena included for Chef Laura to garnish her tea. (Allan’s photo)
At home, I found THIS MANY snails on one cluster of lilies. They went for a long walk.
my cute little nemesis
**Thursday, 28 June 2018**
Ilwaco
I do love an all Ilwaco day. Our mission was to water as many of the port curbside gardens as possible.
We started at the fire station where I was furious that someone had stolen a cheap little silly celosia. Stealing from a volunteer garden and even worse from the volunteer firefighter’s garden!
There used to be three.
Fire Station garden (Allan’s photo)
We went on to weed and water along the port curbside.
the only eremerus of many that bloomed, and it is short. (Allan’s photo)
Let it be known that except for Time Enough Books and the Freedom Market gardens, we do the curbside only (left) not the business properties (right).
one of my favourite beds
When I got to my most favourite bed to take my usual photo, I yelled.
Someone had put great gaping ugly holes in my photos.
The santolina will recover. The lavenders might not.
I was livid. I went to the port office, where I have been mildly agitating for some signs at the boatyard, and waved my arms around. Of course, the office staff was supportive and upset on my behalf because they all love the gardens. I posted the photos on Facebook, too, with an accompanying rant, and our dear friend Artist Don Nisbett spotted it. He emerged from his gallery with this, which by the time he found me watering nearby he had already shown to the port; they just wanted him to add the word please.
He is going to laminate signs and the port will get them installed in my most favourite curbside beds and at the boatyard. The number is the non-emergency police number. I know they have better things to do than go after plant thieves…but…it was a brilliant idea to add that.
I am not a hugger, but Don got a big hug.
When we got home, Allan dug out a sickly hypericum stump for me, the one I cut back and later regretted…
I had time to sift out a couple of barrows of compost for the now empty spot.
looks like bin four is full of good stuff
I got one of my new ladies in waiting planted in one of my new troughs.
tag by Dan Hinkley, I do like that sort of thing.
At the end of the day, Don came over with a present for us.
T shirts!
Oh, why the crab, you might ask? Ilwaco is a fishing community and one of its biggest fisheries is crab. Don had already made this “crabby gardener” art. I don’t know who he was thinking of when he painted it. 😉
**Friday, 29 June 2018**
I woke up feeling like a cough or cold was brewing in my lungs. This worried me because I am a hypochondriac AND because I am obsessed with getting to the Grays Harbor garden tour next weekend. I canceled our Garden Gang dinner because of feeling poorly.
Skooter behind the garage
J’s and Norwood gardens
We started at the J’s, kitty corner across the street. I heard meowing and looked at our house and saw Skooter watching us.
He is to the right of our driveway.
Blackberries that were coming from next door got cut.
Allan’s photo
Weeded the Norwood shade garden, too (two doors down)
our post office garden
Long Beach
Welcome sign finally has some colour, but is no Withey Price masterpiece…sigh.
We checked to see if the rugosa roses had been machine-trimmed on the beach approach, which I was hoping for. They were not. I felt very sorry for myself as I started to shear them. They were out onto the road a few inches and this will not do for the heavy traffic of Fourth of July.
poor pitiful me
I sheared and Allan picked up. After, Allan’s photo
There was no street parking downtown, so we parked in the big parking lots. I wondered if we are going to have to string trim the big center berm…and when?
We watered all the city planters in town but not the ones on the beach approaches.
I was grumpy because a new fence is blocking an alley where we have ALWAYS walked through with our hoses when there is no main street parking.
While working, I met a nice blog reader named Peggy, which cheered me up considerably. She offered to bring a crew of friends to help us put up our heavy cement bench! I demurred because the garden is a mess and I have to focus on weeding for company next week. It was awfully sweet and I may end up taking her up on it in August.
Allan’s photo
The nice Wind World Kites owner took my heavy bucket of water and walked it to the far planters in Fish Alley. His greeting is always “How’s the hardest working girl in Long Beach?”
Thank you!
Shelburne Hotel
We watered.
Salvia ‘Black and Bloom’ in the back garden
Allan went up to water the sad rose on the balcony above the pub deck. I was watching because it worried me; if it gets too much water, it will overflow onto the deck where people are dining.
casting a suspicious eye
It was going well, with the drained water from the rose pot going into the gutter. Then it turned out the end of the gutter was missing and whoosh, a small waterfall went onto the deck, just missing a diner. Thank goodness she was a cheerful and understanding sort. I was so mortified I cried out NOOOOOOOO as the water fell, and then went and hid in the van. fretting that the episode would end up on Trip Advisor. “I was dining on the deck and the gardener poured water on me and the other gardener was in the garden yelling NOOOOO and it was not a pleasant dining experience. One star!” We will NEVER water than rose again when anyone is dining.
I dared to emerge again and did some weeding along the front and was soothed by guests enjoying the garden.
sweet peas
front garden
Ilwaco
Allan watered the planters and street trees and the post office garden while I watered and weeded the two west beds at the port.
before
after, with many oxeye daisies cut back or pulled.
I met two lovely people who just moved to Ilwaco. I was so sure I’d remember their names, but have forgotten now. I had pulled some elephant garlic out of this part of the Freedom Market garden…
…because people use it as a walk through. The new folks and I agreed that it is unexpected that people would walk and jump over the log. But they do. I gave them the bulbs to either eat or replant in their new garden. I was so tired I was not up to finding a spot for them.
Meanwhile, Allan had been watering.
watering at the post office (Allan’s photo)
sanguisorba at the post office (Allan’s photo)
We finished at sunset.
Allan’s photo
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