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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23 August: work and wilt(?)

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Yesterday, I noticed some disturbing wilting on the Eleagnus ‘Quicksilver’ by the garage.  I posted a couple of photos to Facebook this morning….

By the time we got to our first job, Ann Lovejoy had replied that it might be verticillium wilt. (One of the greatest things about Facebook is being Facebook friends with gardeners I admire.)  Anxious Googling ensued.  Turns out this is all too common a disease.  I’m amazed now that I’ve escaped having it in all the years I have gardened.  Just in case that is for sure what my Quicksilver has, I realized it might have to be removed.  It was a daunting thought on my mind all day.  What if it spread to my Japanese maples or worse yet my new Acer campestre that I want to see get huge?  However….I had to turn my mind to work.  I will admit I was googling verticillium all day between jobs.  I learned that Eleagnus is especially susceptible to it.  And that maybe Davidia is not; I certainly hope that is true because my beloved Davidia ‘Sonoma’ grows in the same bed.

The Depot Restaurant

north garden

Red Barn Arena

Allan’s photo, before

and after trimming Shasta daisy foliage

Allan trimmed and watered while I walked across the pasture to…

Diane’s garden

Misty hobbles across the pasture to greet me.

The toll was a belly rub.

Arriving at Diane’s, I immediately noticed that the septic box thingie had been cleared of weeds.

an empty palette for planting

My inspiration for planting this will be Somsri’s garden.

Misty again

the roadside garden

I look forward to a fence being put up along the road edge of the lawn so that the narrow verge garden can be replanted.

I weeded next to the porch….

…and petted Holly’s paws and schnozz.

a narrow gap by the wall

AlLan joined me just as I was planting a stray penstemon into the septic garden.

Long Beach

While passing through town, we made an emergency stop to stake and tie a gladiola.

Allan’s photo before it was fixed

The Anchorage Cottages

Mitzu (Allan’s photo)

The key drop box had a new resident who Beth was afraid  would get hurt if someone dropped keys into the box.

way down inside….this little frog comes out sometimes.

bikes to borrow (maybe guests’ bikes, too)

sweet peas

center courtyard

north end of center courtyard with walk through to west lawn

Bells of Ireland

The Planter Box

We stopped just to say hi to Theresa, whom we had not seen for awhile.

in the big greenhouse

fuchsias and begonias (Allan’s photo)

succulents (Allan’s photo)

by the entryway

pretty little portulaca (moss roses)

After a brief visit and some moaning about my possible verticillium wilt, we headed back to work at…

Klipsan Beach Cottages

…where after an hour of weeding and deadheading, I took some photos for the KBC Facebook page.

looking in the east gate

the birdbath view

bright new rose foliage

Strobilanthes atropurpureus

Helenium

I love this plant.

lilies and Thalictrum ‘Elin’

threadleaf coreopsis and Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

Soleirolia soleirolii (baby’s tears) was one of my grandma’s favourite plants.

cottages on the ridge

sit spot under Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’

clipped some ivy to reveal a frog

sanguisorba

St Francis in the dog memorial garden (Allan’s photo)

We had time for more work, so on the way home we weeded in Long Beach at

Veterans Field….

where the flag pavilion garden is getting taken over by Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’.

I like it.

home

I clipped and clipped at the Eleagnus branches and the more I clipped, the more I knew the whole plant had to go. (One gardening source said to “put the bed [where verticillium wilt occurred] to lawn for 15 years”.  !!!)  Teresa advised soil removal, as did other sources….  I think I am instead going to try planting resistant plants here.

Allan helping

Huge roots invading in all directions is one reason it had to go.

Looks like it had nitrogen fixing roots…just too many of them.

I don’t know if this cut shows verticillium wilt inside or not.

It is gone. I moved a volunteer cotoneaster to take its place for now.

From the past…Eleagnus ‘Quicksilver’ by our garage fills the whole front garden with fragrance right now.

Sure looks different without it.

I had originally planted it for privacy in case a bad neighbour moved into Nora’s house.  Now we have Devery next door and we dote on her, so having the big shrub gone is not a problem.  I would like a cool eucalyptus for the spot; they resist verticillium wilt.

And of course, we also have Devery’s dear little Royal as our neighbour next door as well.

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16 August: back to the work rounds

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

After a glorious garden tour day trip, we were back to our Wednesday work rounds.

at home, Dichroa febrifuga (right)

Davidia ‘Lady Sunshine’

at the post office

The Depot Restaurant

…the usual watering and weeding….

south and east of the dining deck

the view from inside (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

hops dangling from the lattice (Allan’s photo)

lattice wall of hops on north side of deck

Allan’s photo

north of the dining deck

lilies and persicaria

Once upon a time, when I first started buying lilies, I did not like the ones with polka dots.  Now I love them.

You can see I cut off the pollen on flowers that might brush and stain people’s clothing.

The barrels and window box flowers on the north side are planted by Roxanne from the Basket Case.

Diane’s garden

Holly arrives home and is happy to see me.

Misty relaxing

my dear old friend Misty

the roadside garden with Stipa gigantea and blue Perovskia

project for this fall: start planting up this septic tank box

The Red Barn

While I took care of Diane’s garden, Allan watered and deadheaded at the Red Barn.

oregano

I will replace this sad old Erysimum soon!

The Basket Case Greenhouse

I wanted to see what new perennials were available, and did find some, along with a chrysanthemum that will have “green” flowers.

lots of good new lavenders

zinnias

I found some Geranium ‘Rozanne’ which I will keep till later for replacing four of the ‘Orion’ geraniums in the Long Beach welcome sign.

me and Buddy

sweet Penny (Allan’s photo)

We stayed for a long time having a conversation about current events, which was so absorbing (described as a mental health break) that when I finally said we must get back to work, we almost drove off with the van tailgate open. A shout from Roxanne’s father saved the day.

Klipsan Beach Cottages 

looking in the east gate

blue berries on Billardia longiflora

honeysuckle berries

lilies

lilies and veronicastrum

in a container, white flowered little shrub that I cannot ID

hydrangea glowing blue in the shade

lilies and cosmos

hardy fuchsia

hummingbird on agapanthus (Allan’s photo)

We have started to pull some of the bloomed-out Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.  It will always come back.

before and after (Allan’s photos)

The Anchorage Cottages

office courtyard (with a peculiar camera effect on the chimney)

sweet peas

center courtyard

center courtyard garden

I met this darling Cairn Terrier.

Port of Ilwaco

We watered the Howerton Avenue curbside gardens under our watering care, from the Ilwaco Pavilion to the west end.

It started as a warm evening.

gardens still looking fine

Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’ (Allan’s photo)

Eryngium and yarrow (Allan’s photo)

Time Enough Books garden boat

I trimmed back the elderberry but my foot hurt too much to walk on the river rock to pick off the yellow leaves!

The next morning, I would be delivering some flowers to Nisbett Gallery and I’d ask Allan to pick off those yellow leaves.

Just as we were finishing the watering, the weather quite suddenly turned to this:

While the drizzle was enough to make us soaking wet, it was only enough to briefly refresh the gardens.  The watering had still been necessary.  Of course, Allan got asked by a passerby why he was watering while it was raining.

 

 

 

 

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9 August: to KBC and back

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

We checked on the J’s hydrangeas across the street.  I admired my sweet peas on the fence, one of only three sweet pea successes for me this year.  (The others are the Ilwaco boatyard garden and the Anchorage Cottages.)

J’s sweet peas

inside the fence

We watered at the Depot Restaurant and I completely forgot to take a photo. I think that’s a first.  I blame thinking too much about my sore heel.  The lilies still looked fine and the Persicaria ‘Firetail’ was in full bloom.

On the way to the Red Barn, I got a photo that I’d wanted last week of an attractive Seaview garden corner.

As you can see, we had lovely, cool, grey weather.  If some of the greyness was from smoke, it did not smell of smoke our make our eyes burn.

The Red Barn

Allan watered and deadheaded and photographed.

Red Barn garden

gazania

oregano

Diane’s garden

I deadheaded and fertilized the containers and tidied the corner garden.

I finally decided the fireweed (known in the UK as rosebay willowherb) had to be pulled from alongside the road, before it goes to seed throughout the garden.

before

after

The cloud of blue is the best Perovskia (Russian Sage) I’ve ever grown and it comes back every year with increased vigor.

Holly was on the porch.

Stargazer lilies blooming in the container garden

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We did the usual tidying.

looking in the east gate

in the fenced garden (under the Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’)

looking up from the bench

Here you can see the bench under the Tetrapanax

agapanthus

lilies and veronicastrum

Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

This lily has been blooming for three weeks.

Cosmos ‘Seashells’

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan saw a mother and kit raccoon outside the fence at the woodsy end of the garden.  They hissed.

Allan’s photo

Long Beach

We headed south to Long Beach and got a head start on tomorrow (Long Beach day again) by weeding Veterans Field gardens.

flag pavilion garden with Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’

blue provided by eryngiums (Allan’s photo)

I was pleased when the woman from across the street walked by and said how much she likes the little corner garden.  I had been thinking it still looked pretty tatty after the front of it was run through by someone (human or dog) much earlier this season.

‘Jackmans Blue’ rue, eryngiums, drumstick alliums in the corner garden (Allan’s photo)

We watered the Sid Snyder planters.  The folks at one of the two horse ride establishments said to me, “You’re the only one we’ve ever seen watering these planters.”   Yep, I said, it is only me (or Allan.)

Horses and dogs were done for the day and being loaded into their truck and trailer.

the westernmost planter (Allan’s photo)

We checked on the kite museum garden.

Patty said they had been getting lots of compliments on the new look.

Here is a before photo, showing it looking pretty tidy because we had just string trimmed it.  The hedge to the left was made of tatty old hebes.  Ed Strange (Strange Landscaping) did the river rock work.

deadheading

Ilwaco Boatyard Garden

We finished with what I thought would be a short session but turned out to be about an hour and a half of weeding at the boatyard.  As the annual poppies get removed, the garden is looking more architectural.

looking south

looking north

stems of Stipa gigantea (Allan’s photo)

flowers of Stipa gigantea (Allan’s photo)

must have more lilies next year

If there is a next year for gardens….I have been trying to appreciate every flower and garden moment more than ever with the possibility lurking of a nuclear winter, thanks to the blustering uncontrolled president…of this country.

boat work (Allan’s photo)

cute boatyard dog (Allan’s photo)

a sleek metal boat with headlights

local fisherman and his very good friend Ernie

When I got home, I was pleased to find Smokey and Calvin snoozing together again.

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19 July: workweek, part two

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Today was the day when we check up on all of our non-city gardens.

The Depot Restaurant

north side of dining deck

the weekly watering at the Depot

Persicaria ‘Firetail’, hops on the lattice

The Red Barn

our little garden

Only my sore foot and lack of time kept me from digging out part of this sad Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.  “It’s green,” said Allan.

tigridia (Allan’s photo)

Diane’s garden

my good friend Misty being camera shy

Misty, Diane, Holly

Misty got a belly rub to make up for the photos.

Holly is decidedly not camera shy.

Oh, and the garden:

The Anchorage Cottages

The garden was dry here, too.  I had to send messages about that AND do some watering, which means less time for weeding.  (Some waterers-in-training are on the job.) Only ground level had water problems; the pots and window boxes were fine.  Allan fertilized them.

sweet peas in office courtyard (Allan’s photo)

The Planter Box

We chose some plants for the tree garden by Abbracci Coffee Bar.

at the entrance

I bought myself a variegated rush

lots of tomatoes in the big greenhouse

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We did the usual tidying. This is the one garden where I never have to worry about watering except perhaps a couple of plants in far, obscure corners.

In the swale, I noticed that a twinberry had come up and was blurring the composition.  I usually leave this area to Allan; he did not know this was a “weed shrub” to me.

before

after

This was followed by a set of photos for the KBC Facebook page.

looking in the east gate

the birdbath view

view of the fenced garden from a lawn bench

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

Port of Ilwaco

We watered all down the port of Ilwaco.  This was the task that was hardest on my sore heel today.  (I have been consulting Dr Google and I think it may be the dreaded plantar fasciitis.  I have been gleaning many useful tips for home treatment, including stretches and ice.)

Allan had an audience from one of the street trees…

and in the Loading Dock Village garden.

east end of the marina (Allan’s photo)

by the Tuna Club (Allan’s photo)

Port office garden and Basket Case baskets

gulls, boats, blue water

curbside gardens

garden boat at Time Enough Books

Someone swiped all but one of the flowering stems on the eryngium, center.  With clippers (secateurs).  I do notice.

curbside by Salt Hotel

The pot shop has a new paint job.

multi tasking

After all that hose dragging and connecting and disconnecting, later that evening when we were watching telly, we heard rain, and it rained substantially instead of the “less than 1/10 of an inch” that had been predicted.

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21 June: in the wind

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

From my breakfasting window, I noticed something that was striking in person but hard to photograph:

three echoes of blue, two levels of catmint and ceanothus in the background

one of my new (last year) roses, Westerland

We started with a visit to the port office to check on the hanging baskets, and that’s when we learned that there was another marine wind advisory, so the baskets continued to hang in a sheltered spot for one more day.

on the desk at the port office

wind warning (Allan’s photo)

port office curbside gardens

We drove by the boatyard garden for a second time just to record how it is looking.

ceanothus blooming in the boatyard garden

The scrim of horsetail will be addressed next week.

a boat coming in

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We just learned from a gardener whose spouse owned the Aallotar for many years that “Aallotar is a character from the Finnish epic Kalevala. I think it means something like female wave spirit.”  I did indeed Google it and found “water nymph” and “lady of the waves”.  Fascinating!  I would love to hear many stories about this boat.

I do know that it was built many decades ago by the Kola brothers in this old boathouse, located on the meander line.

The old Kola boathouse.

We were pushed around by 25 mph wind gusts all day.  It is a good thing that I have The Deadliest Catch to which to compare our small potatoes wind misery.

Our work is not this hard.

The Depot Restaurant

north side of dining deck

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ and Phygelius ‘Cherry Ripe’

Rodgersia flower (Allan’s photo)

I’d been watching every week for caterpillars on the Leycesteria on the south side of the deck.  Today, they had arrived, so we cut the whole thing down because that is just unappetizing to see when dining. For years, the shrub grew here with no problems, till the caterpillars discovered it a maybe four years ago.

Allan’s photo

ornamental grasses enclosing the deck (Allan’s photo)

The Red Barn Arena

Disney, with her son peeking through the garden

Amy and her barrel racing horse

Disney

later

This time, I was not snubbed by Disney’s son.

Red Barn garden (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

wind damage (Allan’s photo)

A crow was in the barn harassing a swallow’s nest and being harassed in return by terribly upset swallows.

Allan’s photo

Delosperma ‘Fire Spinner’ in a planter by the entrance (Allan’s photo)

We did a brief deadheading of the planters next door at Diane’s garden and then went to

Long Beach…

where we loaded up some buckets of Soil Energy mulch at the city works yard.

Again the killdeer mother was upset that we were near her babies and pretended to have a broken wing.

brave mama

Allan’s photo

I think after awhile she figures out we are ok.

mother and child (Allan’s photo)

decreasing mulch pile

Our mission was more weeding and mulching on the Bolstad beach approach.   Almost photos from here on are Allan’s:

in a beach approach planter

planter weeding

in the parking lot

before

weeding

The garden had not been mulched for years and much sand has blown in.

other folks working

at end of first trip, picked up our cheque at city hall

We weeded the little popouts at last.  Whoever had put a pot inside some rearranged rocks for the past two years and taken care of a cluster of annuals had abandoned the project…

So we re arranged the rocks more or less as they used to be.

I never was able to find out who had temporarily adopted this little pop out.

the next li’l popout

These do not get any supplemental water at all.  We used to hose water them from a faucet underground…and maybe should make more an effort with them again.

little popout number three, before weeding. with a tree trying to resprout (now a shrub of sorts)

I asked Allan to finally cut out the saddest little mugo pine in li’l popout number four.

so much better!

We weeded in Veterans Field where I fumed mightily because someone had clipped the tops off all but one of the elephant garlic.  I had planted them as a shout out to the Friday farmers market that takes place here.  Many bad words were said after looking around to make sure no one but Allan could hear.  For this public gardening frustration I quit many good, peaceful private garden jobs!

fuming

I fumed and thought about planting chives along the front of this problematic garden.  It was thrown together in haste when the triangular corner bed was made to house a memorial plaque; the plaque then was put somewhere else and the garden has remained a sort of thrown together bunch of plants.  It needs to be better planted with sturdier edging plants that can withstand abuse…and maybe with many more elephant garlic, of which I have an endless supply.  Maybe chives along the edge, for the farmers market feel.  Maybe some rosemary, too.

New Fun Rides have been added a block south.

We finished with a 7 PM collection of more buckets of mulch and more fluffing of the beach approach.

I made the mistake of giving one seagull just one corner of a cookie.

Within seconds, all of these gulls arrived.

At the works yard, we had also collected two buckets of plain old dirt from the debris pile and used it to fill in the trench where the bricks came out at the Norwood garden.  That got us done with a nine hour work day.

 

 

 

 

 

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24 May: three dog day

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

The Depot Restaurant

I had noticed how low the east garden bed was and remembered (amazing!) to bring some soil for it.

before

Allan’s photo

Basket Case Roxanne had done the north side planting!

I texted Chef Michael to be sure to start the sprinkler system, a very sophisticated system of spouters that relies on his turning it on and off manually at the faucet.  It doesn’t reach the expanded north side garden so we have to hose water that at least once a week from now on.

World Kite Museum

We returned to where I’d wimped out from the cold wind yesterday evening.

Patty came out to discuss some plant for the garden area.  (Allan’s photo)

planting

planted up the pocket garden

That bit of front lawn and those hebes are going to be hoiked out soon, and river rock put in (not by us),  with a stepping stone for accessing the pocket garden.  

We put in one Geranium ‘Rozanne’ at the Long Beach welcome sign and then drove north to…

The Basket Case Greenhouse

I needed a very few small plants for the Red Barn and Long Beach.  We still had a van load of cosmos that we had to get planted today in order to have an empty van to hold more cosmos from The Planter Box, later in the day.  We were already running late by an hour in my desired schedule.

my new friend Penny

Guess who got a very hurried but really thorough belly rub?

darling Penny (Allan’s photo)

If Penny were my dog, I wouldn’t be blogging right now, I’d be communing with her.

a lovely new (to me) heuchera, ‘Sweet Tea’

I collect heucheras, and it is a mark of how tired I was that I did not even look at the tag and snag this one.  Running late with so much to do (because it always takes longer to plant than I hope it will) was stressful.  I was trying to hold onto my new philosophy of don’t panic, just keep doggedly and calmly plugging along.

In the parking lot, someone (not likely to be a blog reader) wanted to pull me aside to have a conversation, despite my saying rather desperately, “It will have to be brief, we are running late!” I was lured by the thought that it must be something about gardening, which might be helpful or educational or even a job I could pass on to Sea Star Gardening.

Conversations about gardening happen daily with passersby and are part of our public relations, especially with tourists.  But this conversation blindsided me by being a personal matter, and not an easy one to solve in a couple of minutes.   No!  Please, thought I, please don’t expect a deep conversation during Annuals Planting Hell! I did my best to communicate under pressure, and my best was far from adequate to the other person’s needs.  I was left baffled and unsuccessful socially, as per usual. This cast a pall over the next half hour but I soon met up with a canine cure.

(The other result was that later in the day I realized I had been so distracted that I did NOT get the trailies I needed for the Veterans Field planters; they will remain bare of trailies till after Memorial Day.  A small matter that no one but me will notice and that bothers my sense of perfection.)

some stuff for me, some for LB, but not all that I had meant to choose…with Roxanne

The Red Barn

I planted and weeded under a cloud from the recent fraught encounter.

horsey hood ornament

The tough, gravelly small garden got some red Phygelius from my garden (where I regret planting it because it is so vigorous). And some coreopsis to complete the barrels.

Diane’s garden

Here comes the canine cure! Diane’s new puppy, Holly,  had come to her new home  this week.  She was out for a little walkabout when we arrived. (Allan’s photos till we get to KBC)

assuring Misty she is still my favourite

Diane picks up Holly…

All time and plant worried were forgotten.

new friend

That was wonderful. As for the time delay, meeting the family members of clients is always important. And we got Diane’s cosmos planted, along with a Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’ to scent the enclosed back patio.

cos ready to go in

also an Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’

Long Beach

We managed to get the cosmos into four areas: Fifth Street Park NW quadrant, NE quadrant, Veterans Field corner bed and flag pavilion bed.

NE Fifth Street Park, where I hope a couple of Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’ will scent the evening air.

Allan got us a takeaway Pink Poppy treat and coffee from Abbracci Coffee Bar just two doors east of the park.

much needed

Pink Poppy Bakery rhubarb cake went down a treat.

Vet Field flag pavilion (with camera strap)

planting vet field corner garden

The Planter Box

By now an hour and a half later than planned, we picked up our cosmos and painted sage. Neither Allan nor I took one photo as we rushed through this plant pick up; Teresa had kindly remembered to set the white escallonia I wanted out for me or I would have forgotten it.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

I had hoped to be at KBC by 3 PM; we got there at 4:45 and planted and mulched and weeded.

outer lawn (Allan’s photo)

other side of semicircle of rhododendrons

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

putting Gardener and Bloome Soil Conditioner, from a heavy muddy bag, onto the lawn bed (Allan’s photos)

before

after

I got the KBC painted sage planted.  The rest for other gardens will have to wait for next week.  When we were done, I took some garden photos, all in the fenced garden, for the KBC Facebook page.

right: Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’

sit spot

Dutch Iris

It had been drizzling lightly at times, making for good planting weather, except for a 20 mph maddening wind.

aquilegia

Allium ‘Mt Everest’

Did not quite get Allium bulgaricum in focus.

Allium schubertii starting to bloom

We had been going to prune the uppies and outies on the honeysuckle but we ran out of time.

It would make Denny happy to have this pruned and tidied.

On the way home, we stopped yet again at the Long Beach welcome sign to add a couple of yellow bidens to the east end, where we’d built up the soil.

It looks fantastic to reach to the very end.

home

We did not get home till 7:30 and had to unload all the painted sage and new cosmos and water everything, including pots on back patio.  The evening light was beautiful.

New panels on east fence are keeping the clematis on my side!

Where there are no fence panels, my clematis bloom on my nice neighbors’ side.

I pulled one through to admire.

Also love my new last year Fremontodendron.

The tag said Fremontodendron californicum likes no water in summer.  I need to get more of these for droughty areas in Long Beach and Ilwaco.

some erasures from the work board

We now have two days to try to achieve perfection in the Port of Ilwaco gardens (plus more cosmos planting), Long Beach parks and planters, before Memorial Day very big tourist weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

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