13 Nov: fall clean up continues

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

I wanted to capture how sparkly the azolla looked on our small pond after a night of rain.

I failed to show the sparkle.  Azolla is a water “fern” that came in to my ponds on some plant or other.  If we have a hard freeze, it might go away.  I like it.  I just scoop it out with a net and throw it on the garden bed nearby.  A most interesting article in Scientific American, “Can the Fern that Cooled the Planet Do it Again?”, tells about its prehistoric history and how it might be useful against climate change.  The article also states that is is edible (and tastes “like a blade of grass”). It’s a must read.  Perhaps azolla should be taken off the noxious weed list, eh?

midday back garden; the hips are from Rosa moyesii

Norwood garden

We finally got two doors down to the Norwood garden to trim up the small garden beds.

Allan thought the entrance needed a bit of a trim…

…so he fixed it.

trimming lavender

before, east side (forgot the after)

west side lavender before

after

The lavenders are probably a decade old and still bloom profusely.

I fretted over the privet I cut back hard last time, to make it more shapely next year.  I scraped at a stem with a fingernail and it is green underneath, so it should be fine.

Allan weeded the north bed.

We then stopped at the Depot Restaurant just to water the window boxes.

still blooming (Allan’s photo)

Long Beach

We went to Dennis Co in a quest for mulch, the quickest place to buy some bags for a south end job.  They did not have what I wanted (Soil Building Compost and potting soil).  How can potting soil be missing from the stock in winter?  Surely people repot their house plants, at the very least.  (There was one stack of potting soil bags of the fanciest and most expensive sort that is out of my league.)

However, the stop did reveal to us how terribly messy the two northernmost planters were.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ gone all shabby

after

As I turned my attention to the planters across the street, Lezlie and I sighted each other.

Lezlie!

Just this morning, I had sent her the link to this delightful blog post with this hilarious bit about going to town: “Today we had a day trip to the big city, well a city anyway.  We wore our best smocks held neatly in place with baler twine and caught the horse and trap into town.” Lezlie and I had a good laugh about it because “getting out the old mule and buckboard” is how we describe the effort it takes for her to come all the way south (about a fifteen minute drive) or for us to go all the way north to visit her in the Klipsan Beach area.

We got to pet this beautiful dog who was watching me work.

Allan’s photo

As for the second planter, if a santolina still looks good, I like to leave it till spring before trimming.  But if it looks like this…

….I do this.

after

Meanwhile, Allan had sheared back a street tree garden where the BadAster has firmly insinuated itself.

While I would have liked to collect all those leaves, we did not have time.

The Planter Box

We drove on to The Planter Box for our mulch and potting soil.

autumn display

As we were leaving, Teresa asked if we could identify a plant from a customer’s phone photo.  We could not.  But in the course of the conversation with the customer, Heidi, we learned that her uncle was Frank Herbert (author of the Dune series, which i loved in high school).  When I learned she is not on Facebook, we talked about the book I have been reading called Anti-Social Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. She recommended a book called The Soul of Silence.  It was a fortuitous introduction.  (I wish she and I could be Facebook friends.)

The Red Barn

We did a thorough weeding of the narrow garden bed and mulched it with Gardner and Bloome Soil Conditioner.  I had hoped one bale would be enough, as I had other plans for the second bale. The garden bed took both.

The main weed here is the annoying creeping sorrel.

Allan’s photos:

before

our good friend, barn cat Cosmo

in our van

after

I admired the way someone had decorated one of the planters.

pineapple sage and fall decor

Diane’s garden

Next door to the barn we did more fall cutting back at Diane’s garden.  We were rather anxiously racing sunset. I had been unable to remember if I had clipped back the tall sanguisorbas.  My own blog’s photos of last time had showed me we had not.

The roadside garden at dusk, after clipping the sanguisorba and some other plants:

I think I can consider the roadside garden as put to bed for the winter.  There will be just one more visit to Diane’s to tidy her back garden containers if we have a hard frost.

in Diane’s back garden

Allan trimmed the bed next to the house.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’s dried flowers will look fine through the winter.

The work board tonight:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 July: several jobs

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

At home, here is my rose ‘Veilchenblau’, proving that Allan’s improvement of the front garden deer fortification is working.

Not a clear photo.  I almost missed this blue-violet rose this year.  It is from a cutting from my old Ilwaco house… from a cutting from my Seattle garden…made from a cutting from the rose belonging to Louise Runnings, mother of Bryan with whom I lived from January 1982 to August 1986. So many memories. That rose goes back many years.

J’s garden

Yesterday evening, I had not finished pruning back branches that were hanging over the fence.  We have a new tool for that, on the left, recommended to us by our neighbour, Scott.  (He’s Cotah and Bentley’s dog-dad.)

Allan’s photo, an improvement over our old pole pruner

before

after (Allan’s photos)

The new pruner is great.  It has clipper-type grips that you squeeze to get it to clip.

On the J’s path, thyme is in bloom.

The Red Barn

We weeded and watered.

barn swallow photobomb

gaillardia gasping for water

Diane’s garden

We weeded, deadheaded, and watered two areas.

containers

two salvias, Black and Blue and patens

Holly, Whiskey, and Misty got biscuits.

I groomed the roadside garden, where the sweet peas are doing well.

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

Stipa gigantea

The septic vault garden:

Allium christophii, Brodiaea ‘Silver Queen’. ‘Jackman’s Blue’ rue

Long Beach

I tidied up Veterans Field gardens so we would not have to do it later in the busy Fourth of July week.  I am not happy with the corner garden.  I took some plants out because it was too dry.  Now parts of it are wet and the horsetail is too happy. After weeding, the garden looks beat up.

I am happier with the flag pavilion garden.

Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ and Salvia ‘May Night’

Meanwhile, Allan used our new pole pruners to get blackberry out of Third Street Park.

The new pruners worked a treat.

busy Third Street Park (Allan’s photo)

The Boreas Inn

We weeded and did not have to water because we can count on Susie, owner and innkeeper, to do it.

Despite improvements, the sandy soil is a challenge, making the poppies at the west end quite small.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

A veronica planted by Susie

deer prints (Allan’s photo)

Deer are not eating the lilies. (Allan’s photo)

During the two years when we gave this job away, some Eutrochium (Joe Pye weed), which likes moisture, got planted in this challengingly dry (despite watering) garden.  Here, it is knee height.  In my garden, it is as tall as me. It wants rich, moist soil.  In the fall, I will try to find a position for it closer to the inn instead of in the sandy lawn beds.

Salvia ‘Amistad’ (means “friendship”)

It can join Amistad in the Garden Suite bed, where Susie did go out and smell the night scented stock and agrees it is amazing.

Matthiola longipetala, night scented stock

You have to think carefully about what will grow this close to the beach.  One of these days, I am going to make an educational blog page about the plants that I like best for beachy gardens.

the path to the beach

Long Beach

We finished by doing a quick weeding of the little pop outs.

before

after

They never get supplemental water.

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5 March: more wake up calls to gardens

Tuesday, 5 March 2019

I persist in using my phone for photos instead of my crisper new (used) camera. This must change, soon. It all has to do with the lazy desire to blog from my comfy chair rather than my computer desk.

Before work:

I asked Allan to take some photos of his black hellebore. He took all of these in his garden:

We began the workday with our first call of the year to

The Red Barn.

I was pleased to see Cosmo the barn cat…

…and Junior the dog.

Next door at..

Diane’s garden

….we trimmed perennials in the garden beds and the raised box garden.

My good friend Misty woofed a greeting, and got a belly rub.

The raised septic bed:

Allan’s photo

Allan trimmed the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and more in the roadside garden:

Long Beach

We polished off two little jobs by trimming the Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ in Veterans Field…

Allan’s photo

…and then, in the big pop put, trimming lavender and the regrettably vigorous rugosa roses and some of the so-called dwarf pampas grass (now on the noxious weed list).

At home, the work list is getting streamlined. With rain mixed with…snow!…predicted, we may have a few days off, not least because my friend of 40 years is coming to the peninsula for three nights.

Work board tonight

I will be taking a break from working and blogging while she is here.

In garden show news, I discovered that a website called Tubi has the entire series of Glorious Gardens from Above AND that the DailyMotion website has a wealth of Love Your Garden shows that I haven’t seen. I’m thrilled to have more Love Your Garden to watch. So far, Love Your Garden has played without ads, but an episode of Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens had an ad every three minutes. It’s fair for a site to support itself with ads…but every three minutes makes my head spin.

Soon it will be daylight saving time, time to put my all-consuming British garden show addiction aside for gardening season. I have been greatly moved and inspired and given new energy by my hours of watching. I’m sure I will still be watching some (especially if BritBox has the new Gardeners’ World). But it is almost time to leave the comfy chair for the long days of spring and summer.

Yesterday evening, one of the glorious gardens that Christine Walkden took me to was Powis Castle, of great interest because of course I grow lots of Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’.

My year of plans for my garden are much smaller but are quite exciting to me.

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15 Nov: down to one

Thursday, 15 November 2018

Instead of the predicted rain, we had another beautifully sunny day.

Long Beach

I had woken up early with a thought of cutting down what loomed in my mind as a terribly out of scale miscanthus in Fifth Street Park, which was not even supposed to be on today’s agenda.  When we got there, it did not look anything like the monster in my mind.

So instead, I used The Toy (Stihl cordless shears) to cut down a much smaller grass on the other side of the park, one that does not die back well.

before

after

Brainstorm: In late winter, when we return to work, we will move a bit of this grass over the other side, by that not so big miscanthus, to make the two end pieces of the park match better.

The Red Barn

We mulched with a bale of Gardner and Bloome compost and admired the horses.  Horse admiration is really why I keep this tiny job. (Also, it is conveniently next door to Diane’s garden.)  Allan’s photos:

a Friesian

before

after

The Shelburne Hotel

Allan checked the pots up on most of the second floor decks and balconies:

We had two missions: a preliminary trimming of the vastly overgrown wisteria and more weeding and cutting back in the garden.  We were especially going after orange montbretia, badaster, aegepodium, and misplaced and aggressive Spirea douglasii.

The wisteria will get a massive cutback in February.  It has built itself up and up into a huge mound, with dead underneath, and its flowers are mostly hidden.  Today was only a small beginning.

before

after

the vast mound

after (leaving some street-view-blocking leaves for now)

I began, and then Allan took over while I weeded.

after (Allan’s photo)

Allan is in there.

after

before, inside the fence ((Allan’s photos)

and after

It will be February ladder work by Allan to do the rest.  (I will haul the debris to the trailer.)

At the end of the work day, the garden was far more cut back than I would do with my own.  I think the tidy look makes most hotel guests feel that the garden is cared for in winter.

looking north

looking south

Even with all the mulch we have applied, I wish the soil level was higher in there.

looking south

back garden

calendulas for Chef Casey

back garden, pineapple sage

The one mission I did not complete this fall was a thorough (although probably futile) dig out of the madly running and stinky houttuynia in the bed above.  It is now on my agenda for February 2019.

pub windows aglow

We sadly could not be lured into the pub tonight because we had a full trailer load of debris to offload at home, some for the wheelie bin (invasive weeds), some for the chipper and some for the compost pile (clean debris only).

And now we are down to one day of fall clean up: The final work visit of all (our) time to  Klipsan Beach Cottages, scheduled for tomorrow.

 

 

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18 July: the north day

Wednesday, 17 July 2018

I call the day we go to Klipsan Beach Cottages our “north end” day out of habit, because it used to include Marilyn’s garden up in Surfside.  KBC is north, but the peninsula goes on considerably further north.

You can see above Grayland, on the other side of the mouth of Willapa Bay, where we had such lovely garden touring on the weekend.

We started at

The Depot Restaurant

with the usual weeding and no watering.  Although the sprinkler system does not hit the whole garden, last night’s rain had it wet enough.

Direama (Angel’s Fishing Rod)

I deadheaded and checked on the watering of the plantings on the north side; the window boxes and barrels were planted up by Roxanne of the Basket Case Greenhouse.

Just west across the street is the Sou’wester Lodge and RV park, where cabins and vintage trailers are for rent.  All sorts of interesting artistic and musical events happen there.  For the last almost two years, I have been too tired to go to them; it’s not that I have lost interest. The energy to get out and about in the evening is not there, especially if it involves socializing with new people.  I get too tired to make words (although Allan might disagree about how many words I make).

I advise you to check The Sou’wester out, maybe stay there when you visit our area.

At the Depot, I keep picking away at the escallonia that wants to block the sign.  Yes, if it were mine, I would cut it all the way down.  But I can’t here, so I keep thinning it to try to get new growth all the way through, and then I can cut it way back.  It was not such a problem before that sign about the Clamshell Railway went in.

We stopped at Sid’s Market, across the street from the Shelburne, for some milk for a friend.  With no cars parked in front, I had a great view of the Shelburne Hotel.

The Red Barn

We did our usual weeding, watering and deadheading.  The deadheading of shasta daisies has begun.

our good friend Rosie and the garden

by the main barn door

It’s a small garden.

I like seeing the horses.

by the side barn door

Tigridia

Diane’s garden

When we arrived at Diane’s garden, I saw a big hanging basket with a card sitting on the back steps and immediately knew that Larry, who had been very ill, had passed away.  The garden today was cared for with sadness.  Every galvanized container, large and small, in my garden is from Larry, who used to collect them for us.  He had a saw sharpening business in the past and made a special little rig (my word) to sharpen the blades of Allan’s little rechargeable chain saw.

I had decided to plant one of my three Teucrium ‘Purple Tails’ from Markham Farm along the roadside garden, because it is a tough plant. A bee discovered it while it was waiting in the parking area.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

in its new home (Allan’s photo)

roadside garden

the raised box garden

Cosmos ‘Pop Socks’

Nasturtium ‘Caribbean Cocktail’

The Basket Case Greenhouse

Roxanne had grown me some Eryngium giganteum from a seed packet I bought.  I am terrible at growing from seed.  They look good.

I bought them all.  She also gave me some agastaches and other plants that she grew from seed as a gift to comfort me for the earlier Agastache Catastrophe of 2018. Please note that her nursery had nothing to do with said catastrophe; she was just sympathetic because I kvetched a lot to her about it.

Roxanne and a bouquet

Fortunately, Allan realized before we drove off that I had put the flat of eryngiums on the trailer hitch and forgotten to load them into the van. Otherwise we would perhaps have had an eryngium catastrophe today.

Joe’s Place

We had two things to deliver to our friend Joe, whose truck was broken down: a maritime history magazine from the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and a half gallon of milk.  I have written about Joe’s place before, here.

Joe, a veteran, is flying his flag as a distress signal because of his concern over the Trump-Putin connection.

Joe creates and sells “Dangerous Toys”.

driveway partly made of crushed china

fence; I share Joe’s liking for old Spartan trailers.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Just our usual summertime hour of tidying the fenced garden and surrounding areas.

outside the fenced garden

elephant garlic with little paper hat on

dierama

lily

and lily

and lily

and lily

rose

rose

And what do I see in the photo above but a bunch of bindweed that I missed while I was there.

agapanthus, much deeper blue than the bright sunlight shows

Allan’s photo

our good friend Bella (Allan’s photo)

Shelburne Hotel

We would be watering and tidying tomorrow.  Today, we just had a little project, putting a canna in the bog garden that Allan cleared of blackberries last time.  Even though it won’t get enough sun, I hope it will look ok for the rest of the summer.  My plan is to put some darmera peltata starts in there in the fall.

Last time:

This odd little nook had the native blackberry in it.

Today:

Allan’s photo

A big plastic tub is in the basis for this; maybe it was once supposed to be a pool.  It is by the ramp where one enters the north side of the restaurant dining room:

Or one can walk this way to the front door.

In the back yard, I found that the Sunset runner beans (grown from seed by Roxanne) have beans now.

front garden: sorry to see the goatsbeard flowers fading to brown

Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’

Port of Ilwaco

We did the watering of the curbside gardens.

telephoto at midway

Allan had bought a new hose (because of the one that got its end driven on yesterday).  I am pleased that it is long enough to reach the drive-over garden…if I shoot the water at it from five feet away.

Allan dragged the heavy hose for me past the garden he was watering to the next one.

by ArtPort Gallery

I delegate most of the weeding of that one to Allan because I find it painful to walk on river rock.

my view while dumping some garbage in a port wheelie bin

A bit of our old garden is trying to survive the construction (new wall and windows) at the port office.

Hang in there, garden will be back soon.

pots at OleBob’s Café and fish market

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’

Eryngium (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

I think that when Sapphire Blue reseeds itself, it turns itself into this basic, beautiful, smaller flowered eryngium.  Is that possible?

If we can polish off the rest of the week’s tasks tomorrow, we will have Friday off. I want to enjoy my own garden in the peak of my lily season.

 

 

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30 April: some planting

Monday, 30 April 2018

Skooter taking in the sun on the front porch

My most beloved Monty Don (host of Gardeners’ World) says that black beetles are a sign of a healthy garden, and that they eat slugs.

Here’s one crossing our driveway this morning. (Allan’s photo)

I love the way the slightly darker, glossier post office sets off our volunteer garden:

Stipa gigantea

By the way, someone convinced me that Stipa should be pronounced with an i like pipe or ripe.  Montagu DON says Stee-pa. So! Stee-pa it is.

Allium neapolitanum

The Red Barn Arena

We met the new barn cat, Cosmo.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew overhead while we worked.

Allan’s photos

my new friend, 9 months old

Someone had left a gift of buttercup flowers in a barrel.

We are still not over our bad, debilitating colds, but we do feel more energetic today.

Tulip clusiana ‘Lady Jane’

crabbing gear at the barn

Diane’s garden

Allan added a bale of Gardner and Bloome mulch to the driveway corner garden.

before

after

I added an Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’ and some more sweet pea seeds to the long roadside bed.

Our main focus was adding some Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon and Pink’ and ‘Sangria’, Salvia patens, Nicotiana langsdorfii, and some seeds (alyssum, pale yellow cosmos ‘Xanthos’, night scented stock, peachy nasturtiums) to the raised septic garden.

Over the fence:

Allan’s photo

I am most pleased with the display so far in this new raised bed.

Tulip ‘Cummins’

Tulip ‘Cummins’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’

Tulip ‘China Town’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’ in a pot

The Planter Box

We visited The Planter Box to see if they might have a columnar ornamental pear to replace one that got taken out by a drunk driver in Ilwaco.  The only one was THIS size:

PB co-owner Raymond is a tall man. This tree is maybe even too big to even fit in the sidewalk hole!

Well.  We had thought we were not going to have to be the ones to deal with the tree issue at all, and now that it is so late, we may just have to plant flowers in that one sidewalk spot. I heartily rejected the proposed idea (not proposed at the Planter Box!) that we should just put in a different kind of tree.  You cannot put in one odd duck in a run of ten street trees.

If only the Planter Box had had one the size of their manageable apple trees:

At the Planter Box:

Armeria maritima (sea thrift)

artichokes

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Due to bad weather, and our bad colds, and our Shelburne Hotel garden project, we had not been to KBC all month.  We found that the deer had been getting into the fenced garden and eating the roses.  Other than that, all looked well enough and we got the garden somewhat groomed and a few plants planted in a busy two hour gardening frenzy.  I was grateful that Allan did all the planting—my least favourite gardening job.

Allan’s photos:

a new Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ 

The podophyllum has gone from one leaf to three this year.

unfurling sword ferns

My photos:

tree peony

roses stripped by deer

Thalictrum ‘Elin’

Tulips ‘Black Hero’ and ‘Sensual Touch’

Tulip ‘Formosa’

Tulip ‘Formosa’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’

Tetrapanax

viridiflora tulips

pond garden

tulips and Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

taking leave of the tidied up garden

more

On the way home, we made one little stop at the Shelburne, where Allan staked a little (will be big) Fuchsia ‘Sharpitor Aurea’; I had gotten worried it would be stepped on.

I had to do billing, so might not get to watch any Gardeners’ World this evening.  Maybe…just one episode at bedtime.

later:

Bliss. In episode five of year 2015, a jungle garden is visited.

You can watch the segment Here .

At age 60, Monty can gracefully flop to the ground to commune with the plants.

I envy that spryness.

Takeaway: “It is important to make ponds because we’ve lost the ponds that used to be on farmlands all over the country.”

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5 March: four jobs and a goodbye

Monday, 5 March 2018

Shelburne Hotel

All we intended to do at the Shelburne was to pop in some lambs ears and a Chelone (pink turtlehead), plants from my garden.  We parked at the south end of the block and there, we were deeply bothered by the site of the sidewalk edge garden which looked ever so tatty.  We found ourselves tidying it up.

The rhododendron has tons of old montbretia around it, and someone has planted (sometime in the last ten years) persicaria, probably a division of the ‘Firetail’ I planted in the main garden years ago.

before (Allan’s photos)

after

before

and after

before

after

I admired the main garden, looking north.

Long Beach

As we headed toward our next intended job, we paused at the welcome sign to clip some annuals (yellow bidens) that still had signs of life.

Someone had the utter gall to clip and steal the spotlight from the front of the sign.

I saw this in the police report a few weeks back.

When I see that deer are eating the grape hyacinth on the sidewalk corner of this planter…

….I become very concerned about the fate of the tulips that are just emerging.

The Red Barn

We attended to the spring clean up at our littlest job.

One of the horse people’s nice dog, Junior, came for pets.

Allan’s photos, before

after

before

after

The Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ came through the winter surprisingly well.

Diane’s garden

I pushed the wheelbarrow across a pasture to the garden next door.

My dear old friend Misty!

lots of early flowers in the septic box garden

I planted lilies along the roadside fence and we weeded and clipped.

Allan’s photos fill out the rest of today’s blog.

before

after, with me planting lilies

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to clip

Long Beach

We went back to our project of tidying the Bolstad beach approach planters and shearing back ornamental grasses in the garden there (of which there are not many, for which I am grateful at this time of year).

before

after

Soon we will have to weed this whole darn garden, all the way out to that distant red buoy.  It has lots of lawn-like grass again and I dread the job, as always.  It looms as soon as we get the spring clean up list done.  Even before that, we must clip the roses in the first section to the ground, which we do every couple of years.

On the way home, I checked my messages and got some surprising news: At one of our resort-type jobs, the manager that we had worked with for the last several years is no longer working there.  I will let astute readers figure out which place, based on the fact that we resigned this very evening and it will therefore no longer appear in this blog, AND based on the clue that said manager is the person belonging to one of our favourite dogs.  No doggie friend, no point in going to that job!  (Lest anyone be worried, this is not, of course, Klipsan Beach Cottages, our most longtime job of 20 years.) This meant that at home, I had to write a resignation letter, in which I recommended three excellent gardening businesses which would be good to immediately replace us: Sea Star Gardening (Dave and Melissa), Willapa Gardening (Todd), and Flowering Hedge Design (Terran and Shelly).  I had already checked to be sure that one of the three has time for a new job, so I need not feel bad about leaving the garden.

This worked out well for us.  I had been hoping to drop a job since adding the Shelburne.  I have requested a play date sometime this summer with my doggie friend.

Tonight, I was able to erase two tasks off the work list.  We still have the Sid Snyder approach planters to do before erasing that task.

I continued to work on billing, and in the process made a list that may interest some, of all the free plants I have added to the Shelburne hotel garden in the last two weeks.

5	Allium ampeloprasum	elephant garlic
2	Allium cepa	Egyptian walking onions
3	Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’
2	Arisarum proboscideum	mouse plant
2	Artemisia ‘Ghuizo’
1	Chelone lyonii	pink turtlehead
3	Eryngiums	sea holly
1	Erythronium	dog tooth violet
2	Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies
2	Geranium macrorrhizum
1	Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’
3	Iris foetidissima
2	Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum	golden oregano
1	Persicaria ‘Firetail’
2	Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’
1	Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba
2	Primula veris	cowslip primrose
3	Sanguisorba ‘Pink Elephant’	burnet
1	Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’
1	Sanguisorba candadensis
3	Sanguisorba obtusa
2	Scrophularia auriculata ‘Variegata‘	figwort
1	Solidago ‘Fireworks’	(clumping) goldenrod
2	Stachys bizantina ‘Silver Carpet’	lambs ears
1	Stipa gigantea	feather grass
1	Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Steroidal Giant’	rice paper plant
1	Verbascum	mullein

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20 Nov: almost done

Monday, 20 November 2017

We have a guest photo today from Steve of the Bayside Garden.

“The “Lion’s Head” maple (Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira’) putting on quite a (late) show”

Today’s work photos were all taken by Allan except for one puppy picture.  My mind was completely obsessed with getting as many tasks erased from the work board as possible.

Allan loaded a second wheelbarrow for today’s first job.

I think our yellow rain gauge is broken.

fallen willow leaves in our garden on Willows Loop East.

We intended to start today by applying six large bales of Gardner and Bloome mulch to the Ilwaco Community Building garden.  Usually, parking has been good there on Sundays and Mondays (when the library is closed).  Today, the lot was all parked up so we drove on to our next job.  This made for extra heavy work for Allan, who had to shift the heavy bales around to make room for loading and later offloading debris.

It wasn’t till a library visit the next day that we were reminded that the alternative high school is now housed in the community building, so it will likely be a full parking lot on all school days.

Diane’s garden

We were so pleased to have a good weather day to get Diane’s garden clean up done before Thanksgiving.

raised septic bed before

after clipping Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

Next year, the sedum won’t be as leggy because we will prune it halfway down in late spring to make it more compact.  I also transplanted three potted chrysanthemums and a couple of white California poppies into the raised bed.  While I tidied up all the potted plants, Allan clipped the Stipa gigantea and some perennials in the roadside garden and pulled the cosmos.

before

after

We left this handsome stand of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ till spring clean up

clipping perennials in the side garden

after

We had perfect weather except for one heavy rain squall that we sat out in the van.

At that moment, Diane came walking over from the barn with Holly.

Puppy Holly is dog sized now.

The Red Barn

Next door at the Red Barn, we did just a bit of tidying and clipping in our very small garden there.

in the pasture

The Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ in the barrels just might bloom all winter.

World Kite Museum

We had just a bit of clipping and cosmos pulling to do in the little garden.  Recently, we had recommended Sea Star Gardening to prune the long escallonia hedge, and it looked spiffing.  Patty emerged for a chat; we told her we will be back after a heavy frost to tidy up the six new blue containers.

after

I am pleased with how well the big purple penstemon is doing in two of the blue pots.   I figured the penstemon would have only a short period of bloom and then get moved into the garden.  Instead, it has been a do-er.

Penstemon Admiration Society

Even though I was getting concerned about time, we next went to

Coulter Park, Long Beach

to trim around the monument and to pull Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ next to the ramp to the old train depot building.  The ramp remodel has made that garden hard to get at.

before

after

We dumped our almost overflowing load of debris at City Works.  Allan had to shift the bales  again to do so.  With one hour to go before dusk, we started mulching at the

Ilwaco Community Building.

We used the Mary-of-Klipsan-Beach-Cottages method of dumping each bag into a wheelbarrow and breaking up the clods, then wheelbarrowing to our destinations.

The ICB parking lot is a steep one with weird angles.  The story is that the engineering was wrong by some inches, so the pitch is awkward for driving and walking.

The little red wheelbarrow was also in play.

the tiered garden, before

This garden got the old fashioned dump the bag and cut it open method.

after mulching

In previous years, we have used bulk mulch from Peninsula Landscape Supply.  However, this autumn, that business is closed Sunday and Mondays, the days that we are able to do this job.  We decided to go with the bagged mulch, which is easier to use and also a little bit richer (and costlier).  It fluffs out a lot from a big compact compressed brick, and covered enough ground to make a difference.  Because it takes less time to acquire it and to apply it than applying loose mulch, it saves on labour costs and might factor out about the same as bulk mulch for a smallish job.

Soil Energy has “composted wood products, aged screened sawdust, screened sand, composted chicken manure, lime, fertilizer and iron. (pH 6.2, brown tan in color, 38.9% organic matter).”

Gardner and Bloome Soil Building Compost is “Recycled forest products, arbor fines, composted chicken manure, gypsum, oyster shell & dolomite limes (as pH adjusters), vermicompost, bat guano, kelp meal”.

We buried some maple leaves in with the mulch.

shade garden at the entry to the library

We got done just as the street lights came on.

home

I had the satisfaction of erasing much from the work board.  I even put a question mark after the beach approach task; it is not that importan,t although we will do it if we have a nice day before the end of the month.  Most of what’s left has to wait for a heavy enough frost to make another go-round necessary.  That might not happen till mid December, if at all (and if it does not, the go- round will happen anyway).

In the evening, I read the brief and harrowing novella, Of Mice and Men.  When I added it to my Goodreads list, I found this perfect review:

We finished watching Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl documentary, including all the special features.  I recommend it highly.

I wish we could have one more nice day before the end of the month to polish off the pre-frost work list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 October: still watering

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Skooter had spent the night in Allan’s laundry hamper. (Allan’s photo)

We made a quick check on Mayor Mike’s garden and then tidied and deadheaded at…

The Depot Restaurant

The rain has been enough to make ground level watering unnecessary.

north side flowers by Basket Case Greenhouse

The Red Barn

We met an absolutely darling little dog named Delly or Deli…I think.

the most perfect little dog

And I found an appropriately painted rock for a horse barn.

And met another lovely dog, Junior.

Junior’s person had just been attending to a horse stall and said to his dog, “Ok, horse time is over, now it’s dog time!”

Junior and his guy’s truck with our small garden in the background

We then went next door to

Diane’s garden

where Misty got a belly rub.

Diane agreed that the small strip of lawn outside the new fence can be removed for easier maintenance.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Someday very soon, that will be our project along with replanting the roadside garden.

Long Beach

deadheading the welcome sign

Veterans Field

While watering the containers by the Vet Field stage, I noticed something new:

I admired the rhododendron leaves in the mini park behind Lewis and Clark Square, where Allan pulled some of the Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.

Allan’s photos, before

after

Before watering the planters, we dumped our debris and then picked up our repaired lawn mower at Bailey’s Saw Shop, where I was amused by this sign (the basic labor rate is $70 per hour):

In downtown Long Beach, I went north, watering planters, while Allan went south.

City Crew member pressure washing in Fifth Street Park

I found a painted rock.

a sign for sale at The Wooden Horse gift shop

While watering outside Funland, I kept hearing a robotic voice saying “Space Invaders”.  For some reason, I was tempted to go in and play. (I did not.)

Funland

Funland planter

The planters were definitely thirsty, and just a few cosmos had gotten crispy.

Cosmos (Allan’s photo)

California poppies and hesperantha (Allan’s photo)

hesperantha and asters (Allan’s photo)

santolina before (Allan’s photos)

and after

Coreopsis ‘Star Cluster’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan found a rock.

The week had been somber because of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, as attested to by the half mast flags.

We finished Long Beach with a tidying of Fifth Street Park.

butterfly on aster in Fifth Street Park

Ilwaco

I walked around and checked most of the planters and street tree pocket gardens while Allan watered them.

Allan’s photos while filling the water tank at the boatyard:

My….

…was low because my foot hurt, so I did not make it to all of the planters.

Acidanthera in a mostly shady planter

I was mightily annoyed to find, in a planter outside the pharmacy, that a special diascia had been stolen….again.  I don’t know when it happened because Allan is usually the one to care for these planters.

Just a hole left, with the protective label dropped into the hole.

a plea ignored by the plant thief

The water trailer (Allan’s photo)

A photo of the missing tree spot (victim of a bad driver) turned into a before and after when I decided to do some pruning on a tree a block away.

before

My foot was hurting a lot, so I asked Allan to take a break from watering and drive me home before I did the final intersection.  It can wait till tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I cut some lower limbs off one of the street trees.  These are supposed to be columnar pears, but I find them anything but columnar.

Allan helping with my spontaneous mess

after (a bit more of the Portside Café now shows in the distance)

On the way home, we had noted a handsome stand of corn on Second Avenue.

New homeowners have made a new garden.

At home, a harvest:

 

 

 

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20 Sept: a mostly easy Wednesday

Wednesday, 20 September 2017

We got a late start because of rain in the morning.  From last night to mid morning, we had had this much rain:

the rain gauge

So we would not have to water this week, much to our delight.

Calvin enjoying the overflowing water bowl.

Skooter enjoying the view from the roof.

The Depot Restaurant

…only needed a brief deadheading visit.

ornamental grasses around the dining deck

neat yellow bands on the Zebra grass (Miscanthus ‘Zebrinus’

Long Beach

We got a small head start on tomorrow’s Long Beach tasks.

deadheading at the welcome sign

welcome sign front

Allan’s photo

The “you” was blocked by unproductive cosmos greenery…

…so Allan fixed it.

Anchorage Cottages

Mitzu coming to greet us.

Allan’s photos: closing in

closer

and closer

center courtyard

Center courtyard arbutus was popular with bees and a hummingbird or two.

Soon we will trim the viburnums in this bed.

Cosmos ‘Sonata’ in the office planters (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

sweet peas looking tatty…will give them just one more week….or two

The Planter Box

My quest for a few more plants for Diane’s septic box garden netted a couple of heathers, armeria and lavenders.  A good selection of fresh new plants on display made me wish I had a bigger new garden to do.  We got three bags Gardner and Bloome Harvest Supreme for the Diane project.

Pennisetum ‘Jade Princess’…gorgeous and tender

assorted echinaceas

Klipsan Beach Cottages

All we accomplished was some light deadheading and deadleafing and a bit of weeding.

The fairy door had taken a tumble…in the almost tornado of Monday, perhaps.

fixed (Allan’s photos)

Mary agreed we could cut down the rugosa rose, below, right, background.  The stems are looking ugly and it needs refreshing.

rugosa rose; we will wait till the leaves do their nice color change.

too early for fall clean up

I noticed that the Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ that usually reaches the top of the greenhouse is half that height this year.  Perhaps the sprinkler did not reach far enough into that area.

sit spot

bird bath view

What is up with the cosmos growing so tall with much greenery and no flowers?  I googled and the conclusion was too much nitrogen fertilizer.  That might make sense, because Mary does fertilize this garden, and I applied fertilizer pretty lavishly at the welcome sign, and also I tend to put a dab of fertilizer (Dr Earth all purpose or rose and flower) in each planting hole.  It paid to finally google about this cosmos problem.

The Red Barn

…just got the slightest tidying.

our audience

This fellow is especially handsome.

Diane’s garden

Allan did the mulch spreading and planting in the middle of the huge septic tank thingie.  I planted along the edge and tended to the rest of the garden. I should have taken photos and did not.  Allan did.

We can now take this project off the work list because the basics are done.

home

our neighbour Royal with his bestie, Frosty

Allan took a nap, saying that the job at Diane’s had been hard, and that it used to be easier to just jump up onto a raised bed.  I share his regret at “not getting stronger”.

Tomorrow: Without having to water, we should be able to get a Long Beach planter project done without having to rush.

 

 

 

 

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