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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21 April: little things

Friday, 21 April 2017

I had some small work tasks to complete, after which I figured we would make it out to the beach approach to get at least half a garden section weeded and clipped.

My own garden looked enticing…

…as did Smokey,

Frosty,

Skooter,

and neighbour cat Onyx.

But work we must.

work board this morning

Port of Ilwaco

A bit late, I transplanted some chives and elephant garlic to the Freedom Market garden.

transplanted these Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ starts to a less walkedupon spot!

Making the store’s garden as pretty as this, the curbside garden, is my goal…except for the walking upon is a problem.  So, making parts of it pretty is my goal.

Long Beach

deadheaded the welcome sign, front…

and back

We decided we had better dig out the ivy in the big Lewis and Clark Square planter next, in case we punctured the sprinkler system.  Best to not do that, but if it happened, best to do it when the city crew is available rather than after hours.

While Allan did the digging, I planted some Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ in nearby planters.

the shrubbiest planter’s one week of glory

so called “blue” tulips for the police station

street tree (Allan’s photo)

Folks were gathering in Veterans Field, half a block away, for a “Walk for Veterans”.

The walk begins (Allan’s photo)

The planter in question (Allan’s photos), before:

variegated ivy

and after:

That was not easy.

a lot of ivy to dump at city works

When we arrived at city works, we learned that the planter at the south end of town was ready to plant.  I’d noticed the same planter as before, still roughly mortared, but now full of soil again.  The crew had met with the frustration of the one replacement planter breaking when they tried to move it…so now they will be doing their best to re-mortar the old one and make it look good.  Therefore, it was time for us to plant it.  This changed our day by giving us a more pleasant project than weeding the beach approach.

We rescued the little roses that I had heeled into the mulch pile and that had gotten covered with a new load of mulch!

found it!

battered but alive; good thing I knew sort of where to dig.

I also gathered some little shrubs, left over from volunteer planter days, that I would put elsewhere rather than back into the planter.

ready to plant a few things

Last fall, a vehicle drove into this planter and cracked it, and moved it enough to crush the plumbing system (now fixed).

roses and Rozannes in

It makes me nervous to plant all fresh plants for fear someone will steal them.

Next…something that we had to do today…

The Red Barn’s…

…little garden needed deadheading and weeding.

The Red Barn has crabbing as well as horses.

crab pots

While I was weeding, one of the dogs came by…

and snubbed me!

all pretty well weeded

Diane’s garden

Next door, we deadheaded and weeded at Diane and Larry’s place.

narcissi deadheads (Allan’s photo)

new planters to drill holes in (next time)

planter assortment

I love fringed tulips!

In the past, fringed tulips’ edges have browned off in the rain.  This year, we got massive record breaking amounts of rain and yet the fringes look great!

Tulip ‘Green Star’

Diane likes pastels, and purples and whites, not yellows and reds and oranges.

Tulip ‘White Parrot’

Basket Case Greenhouse

We drove a mile or so up Sandridge Road to get some plants for the almost empty Long Beach planter.

pelican for sale

Darrell, Roxanne, and me talking plants

Long Beach

Now we were able to make more of a planter impact, leaving room for annuals when the weather is a bit warmer.

Allan’s photos

At City Hall, we planted a couple of shrubs from the planter’s former array.

This variegated boxwood from a planter a few years back…

is now somewhat balanced by a variegated euonymous.

driving home, 6 PM

It had gotten HOT today, and for once I had been grateful for a cool wind.

We just barely had time to go home, unhook the trailer, unload some plants, load a couple agastaches, drive back to Long Beach, plant the agastaches in the planter, and be ten minutes late for dinner with Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) at

The Cove Restaurant

petting Lacy on the way in

Cove entry garden

arriving late

refreshing dinner salad

Sondra’s lasagne for me and Dave

lemony prawns scampi for Melissa

Reuben with waffle fries for Allan

a dessert for four of us to share

The four of us solved some of the world’s problems (we wish); tomorrow Allan and I will try to solve more at an Earth and Science Day demonstration.

ivy job erased!

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31 March: shortened work day

Friday, 31 March 2017

I knew the day would be shortened by a political event.  It got shortened much more than that.

Skooter likes to go outside for about ten minutes after his bedtime snack, and then return to go to bed.  Last night, at 1 AM (typically late night for us), he came tearing up the ramp to the cat door and burst in to the living room at top speed.  Sometimes the cats enjoy chasing each other.  This was different.  Something rammed up the ramp behind him and slammed into the cat door frame. Then there was blood on the kitchen floor.

I got my shoes on and a flashlight as fast as I could, which was not as fast as I wished, and went outside for a look.   A woman was out in the street (at 1 AM?), and she seemed to be cradling and talking to something in her arms. She walked away so fast that I had no hope of catching up to her.  I  thought, does she have a little dog that got after my cat? That seemed impossible.

Skooter’s foot bled; he would not let us look at it, and he yowled and growled for an hour from his favourite late night sit spot in the hallway.  He then took his place next to Allan’s pillow and complained some more.  I felt terrible that he was in pain and got very little sleep myself.

I woke in intense anxiety at an early hour and got an urgent veterinary appointment for the afternoon.  But meanwhile, we had to go do some plant shopping and some work.

On the way to work, I felt compelled to pull some weeds in our volunteer garden at the Ilwaco post office.

one weed bucket pulled, at least one more to go

The Basket Case Greenhouse

The Basket Case, under new ownership (Darrell and Roxanne) is now open every day.  We bought some violas for two jobs and admired the refurbished greenhouses.

new greenhouse entrance! and new co-owner Darrell on the left

checking out the annuals for later on

check out desk with mosaic by Roxanne’s mother, Anna.

fairy gardens

Allan’s photo; That is a lot of fairy world for $25.00

the perennials house

bleeding hearts

Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’

Callistemon…choice, and unusual to see it for sale here!

Plant talk with Darrell.  We take our plants to heart.

That was a pleasing visit and not one to cut short.

I still hoped to get two small jobs done before vet time.

Diane’s garden

Next door: Horse bundled up for a rather cold day.

The yellow ones are for The Anchorage.

pots with a few pansies and violas added

my good friend Misty

Fritillaria meleagris (Allan’s photo)

roadside garden

Bad weather has prevented the removal of the tree stumps. Eventually we will help with a re-creation of this front garden.

The Red Barn

a mat of weeds mixed with California poppy seedlings

Allan’s photo

We did an adequate but imperfect job of weeding because we were running out of time.

 

a mare named Sophie going out to pasture as the weather warmed up (Allan’s photo)

Oceanside Animal Clinic

At home,  Skooter did not enjoy being put into his carrying crate.

our neighbours one door east 

not a good day for our dear Skooter (Allan’s photo)

one block north, on the way 

at the vet, another orange kitty (Allan’s photo)

member of clinic office staff (Allan’s photo)

more cuties (Allan’s photo)

The veterinarian cleaned up the hurt foot that Skooter would not let us touch, gave him a two week antibiotic shot and a pain shot that will last for three days, and said that the bite on his rear paw had indeed been caused by a small dog.  She could tell by the kind of puncture.  I said, Could a small dog really run up a cat ramp? and she said yes, in the frenzy of chase.  The garden is almost dog-proof….but not tiny-dog-proof.  I can think of a couple of places where a small dog could have squeezed in.

Now, because the wounds are on his paw pad, Skooter has to stay indoors for ten days until he is healed (and must have hydrogren peroxide applied twice daily.  No one will enjoy that one bit).  He loves the garden so much, and the watching of the frogs in the water boxes, and he will not understand why he must stay in.  I feel almost as sad as if I had to stay indoors for ten days of spring time.  At least I would have books to read.  (Cats are said to live longer if they never go outdoors.  Humans would also be safer from predators, including bad humans,  if they spent their lives indoors.  The idea of that makes me feel suffocated.)

We had a very quick turn-around at home before going out again to arrive late to the…

“Burma Shave Sign campaign to invite our Congresswoman and the community to our town hall.”

But first, a garden peek over the fence by where we parked in Seaview:

nicely done

and a Little Free Library across the street

We walked past a car with a bumper sticker that we knew had to belong to one of the demonstrators.

on a different car

So the idea was to use signs to illustrate that we wish Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler would meet with her constituents on the Peninsula. (I, of course, have never voted for her.)  She has not held a town hall discussion meeting with her constituents here for six years, I am told.  As a group of local liberals, there are most certainly some items we want to bend her ear about.  Other speakers, including one of her potential Democrat challengers for 2018, will appear at the event.

my photos:

oops, her name is misspelled on a last minute sign!

except…Jaime is a congressWOMAN….

Allan’s photos:

by the busy Seaview intersection that is one main entry to the Peninsula

We will be having the town hall with or without Jaime.

group photo

Afterwards, most of us repaired to Chico’s Pizza for an early dinner and discussion hour.

Back home: The work board list got just slightly shorter.

This blog post got written.  And now for the poignant watching of the final episode of Grimm, one of our favourite telly shows.

You may have noticed we had a lot of rain this month.  From The Chinook Observer, our local paper:

“March came in like a lion and, well, pretty much went out like a lion. Rainfall for the month set a new 149-year record of 17.77 inches, smashing the old record of 16.16 inches in 1975. Third place goes to March 1997 with 16.15 inches.”

Also from the paper: The ribbon cutting ceremony from the new car charging station where we weeded yesterday.

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16 Feb: jobs and dreamy garden

Thursday, 23 February 2017

I had complete faith, when I saw the fairly decent weather, that we could complete three more spring clean ups today.

The Red Barn

our good friend Rosie (Allan’s photo)

at The Red Barn Arena

the farrier and our client, Diane

Rosie loves eating hoof trimmings

Farrier’s truck (Allan’s photo)

We care for five containers and a narrow garden bed at the barn.

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ had not made it well through winter.

removal project; now the narcissi will show up.

sad Erysimum

We unhooked the trailer in order to go next door to Diane’s garden; her driveway was too full to turn around with our full rig.

Ice on water nearby shows how cold the air still felt.

Diane’s garden

At the barn, we had learned from Diane that the new septic still has not been installed.  That means that re-doing her roadside garden won’t happen till perhaps the end of March.

Stipa gigantea, driveway entry (Allan’s photos)

after

The trees have been cut down along the roadside garden and the stumps will be removed.  The county mowing truck mowed down the heathers and rosemary, the only plants we left behind when we dismantled the garden last fall….probably because it no longer looked like a garden (and it is part of the roadside verge).

hydrangea, before pruning

after

Diane reminded me that I had spoken of pruning her old blueberries.  We removed 1/3 of the old growth, hoping to encourage better berrying.

before

after

Allan had a long walk, twice, back to the debris pile at the barn.

My dear friend Mistie, aged 10, who is doing much better than she was last fall, got a good belly rub and hugging.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We made our second spring clean up trip to KBC to cut back the ferns.

Denny, Mary, and Bella

darling Bella

view in fenced garden, east gate

crocuses and Iris reticulata

crocuses

and more crocuses

 

clean up of the driveway garden, before

during

and after talking to Mary about how she wants room to plant some dwarf conifers here.

east end of pond island bed, before and after trimming ferns

the pond, before

Allan’s brave crossing

before (Allan’s photo)

after

after (Allan’s photo)

The pond island has many ferns, most of them awkward to reach.

before

after

by cottage eight, before and after (Allan’s photos)

near cottage one (Allan’s photos).  Those ferns probably got missed in last year’s pruning.

Allan rescued St. Francis.

the dog memorial garden for Misty, Debbie, and Raven

the first narcissi in the A Frame garden

Allan noticed them, too.

Pieris

rhododendrons

primroses

hamamelis (witch hazel) and the cottages on the ridge

I never did get to KBC over the winter to read more cottage journals.  I got too entrenched in my reading chair at home.  Maybe next winter.

by the clam cleaning shed

the last fern of the day

The temperature had dropped drastically.  We were glad to be done.

The crocuses had closed up.  (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

a dreamy garden

In the van, just before leaving, I checked my messages and saw that Our Kathleen had sent me a real estate link.  Although we are not house hunting, she knows we like to see interesting properties.

Here is the link.

“This is so much more than 4 vacant land parcels. Enter the gates and you enter a private garden like no other. 100s of plants in containers, a grove of bamboo, mature trees and beautiful one-off gazebos and garden features. All of this is anchored by a grand pavilion made from steel and found materials in the grand style of The Rural Studio and Samuel Mockbee. The site features a private well, 2 RV cleanouts, 100amp power, sleeping area, kitchen and bathroom, and 40′ steel storage container.”

I swiped these three photos, because I suppose at some time the real estate listing will go away.

amazing pavilion

a party from the past

a paradise!

I had to see, so we drove about fifty blocks north, only to find another aspect of the property’s perfection:

It has two big gated driveways and you cannot see in, at all—complete privacy.

The other gate

Allan stood on a bucket and said no one was there. He took some photos over the gate…because I was desperate to see inside and I was too sore from work to stand on a bucket.

It is glorious.

Even though there is no house in there, the description included a sleeping area, kitchen, and bathroom.  Oh, if I were even five years younger…I feel too old to uproot my Ilwaco garden.

While fantasizing about living in the 40 foot storage container, I had to firmly remind myself of the advantages of living near a bookstore, post office, library, hospital, and Salt Pub.  And yet…this one will haunt me for awhile.  It had 4000 more square feet than our property does.  I did some online snooping and found the owners are just a bit more than a decade older than us.  That increased my feeling of being too old to move.

Maybe you can buy it and invite us over.

Salt Pub

Tonight, Our Kathleen was in town for our weekly North Beach Garden Gang meeting.  Sadly, Dave and Melissa were unable to attend.

the view

Our Kathleen (Allan’s photo)

pub burger

tacos

smoked tuna melt

vanilla creme brulee

We stayed till after closing time, as I figured we would, and that is why I skipped a blogging day.  I was so tired that I forgot to erase three more jobs from the workboard until the following morning.

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11 October: a dreaded project done

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

We heard a big storm would arrive at the end of the week, so we embarked on some jobs of light deadheading and grooming, hoping to have time for one fall project.  I had actually started a work board, with a list of bulb planting and a project list.  The bulbs are not here yet and the project list is so far just one thing:

Mike’s garden

We finally got round to clipping the boxwoods at Mayor Mike’s garden.  I started the project and had to turn it over to Allan when my back went into a big SPROING.

tidy boxwoods; I just wish they had been planted close enough to meet.

Allan’s photo

The Red Barn

After clipping back tall Helianthus along the fence

one of two whippets who came to be petted

mother and son (Allan’s photo

Diane’s garden

I like Helichrysum ‘Limelight’ climbing through a barberry.

Diane’s roadside garden (Allan’s photo)

I should add the moving of the long narrow portion of this garden to the list of fall projects.  We had been going to delegate it to Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) but now I think we will have the time and energy to do it.  The plants must be dug and stored in a pile of mulch till the septic system is redone and then the garden remade next spring.

The Anchorage Cottages

center courtyard

our good friend Mitzu (Allan’s photo)

looking east over the Anchorage lawn

Long Beach

We did get done with the Anchorage in time to embark on a project.  We decided to re-do the planter in front of Stormin’ Norman’s kite and gift shop…IF we could find a parking place next to it, and we did, sort of.  (Allan had to unhook the trailer and wheel it to the crosswalk end of Fish Alley.)  I was happy to have a job in the shade because the sun was actually hot.

I had dreaded this project because I thought all the soil would have be dug out and replaced.  We don’t have a pile of new soil at City Works yet and I feared we’d not be able to scrape enough out of the dregs of the old pile.  I also predicted it would be ever so hard to do, and it was.  My motivation was that I felt that Stormin’ Norman deserved a much more interesting planter.

before: a great splodge of Muehlenbeckia axillaris (wire vine)

I planted the wire vine a few years back, thinking it a house plant that would make a delicate little trailing accent and would not survive the winter!  It swamped the planter and almost everything in it.

a big project

combing through the soil for little pieces of root; moved the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ to the outer corners

replanting bulbs

after

I was surprised at how much soil was salvageable.  We did not have to top the planter up with more.  This disadvantage of not removing all the soil is that I fear the vine will resprout from tiny bits of root.  We will keep a close eye on this planter to remove any that reappears.

On the way south: Something bad had happened to a lamp post downtown.

!!!!

good for us that is not a planter lamp post.

Oh, how I laughed when I saw this reader board at the bank.  They seem to have run out of “r”s for “Cranberrian Fair”.

Kite Museum

We even had time to check on the kite museum.  I was glad we did; the cosmos looked pretty awful.

before…and the shade was cold now.

after…to be re-checked later this fall.

at home…a clematis in bloom:

I finally finished reading Nella Last’s Peace and loved it so much.  I will share some of it on a rainy day post later this fall.

Real time update Saturday 15 October:

Here is the storm moving past us offshore. And staying out there, giving us only 60 mph wind gusts at the port, a normal seaside storm. No more tornado warnings today. That was the worst weather anxiety I’ve ever had here. 

 

---

1997 (age 73):

Oct 11:  I only worked about 3 hours.  I was going to plant bulbs in the patio but ended up rolling up the flat hoses, raking up the cut up branches that I chopped a few days ago, picked up the weeds etc that I pulled yesterday in front and brought in wood from the wood box.  I feel I accomplished a lot even tho no bulbs got planted.

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6-7 July: a short workweek

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Today was our day for all the jobs other than Long Beach and Ilwaco.  At this time of year, about an hour and a half of deadheading and weeding is all we need to do at the bigger ones.

Calvin says he would like me to stay home.

Post office garden looks bare where we removed some grasses along the edge. I do not like to see so much soil.

in the post office window

The Depot Restaurant

Dierama at the Depot

“angel’s fishing rod”

camera now known as Spot

Persicaria was abuzz with bees.

garden north of dining deck

I trimmed the pollen out of the flowers that might brush someone’s shoulders.

The Red Barn Arena

our little Red Barn garden

I carry with me some organic mint horse treats for occasions such as these.

Allan’s photo

garden supervisor

a noble profile

“Horses make a landscape more beautiful.” -Alice Walker (Allan’s photo)

barn cat

Diane’s Garden

along the road

Lavatera ‘Barnsley’

blue veronica

back yard containers

The Planter Box

We stopped to get me a couple more bags of potting soil.

front patio display

Calendula ‘Strawberry Blonde’

roses

Allan’s photo

Marilyn’s Garden

from the street

looking south

Scooter

Moments communing with animal friends are the best part of my day.  It was HOT, thus the hat.

looking west from the deck, giant Miscanthus hiding the garage next door

looking north

my good friend Scooter

telephoto

I asked Allan to prune some shrubs away from the house in the native hedge by the narrow east side path.

before

after

Klipsan Beach Cottages

When we arrived and parked, the warm sweet piney smell reminded me of childhood camping near Lake Wenatchee.

blue sky, sweet smells, looking up by where we park

Melissa texted this photo from The Oysterville Garden, where she and Dave were working today.  She wrote “[The garden owner] wanted you to see the allée.”  If I had gotten this text while we were still way further north at Marilyn’s, we would have driven over to Oysterville.

Hydrangea ‘Incrediball’ in Oysterville

At Klipsan Beach Cottages:

sit spot with Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’

Agapanthus

Bella

Sarah

birdbath view, for the weekly record, spots or not

The Anchorage Cottages

greeted by my good friend Mitzu

Escallonia iveyi at The Anchorage

An old yucca that had sat not doing much for years decided to bloom this year.

center courtyard

in the center courtyard

Kindly note how the purplish inside of the Allium tones perfectly with the purplish part of the Agastache.

This was completely intentional, as always.  😉

Allan made a bench in the Zen Courtyard sittable again.

during.  Allan says the bench was buried when he started.

after

Long Beach

We added some nice Soil Energy mulch to two of the Long Beach street trees.  We are planning to do this to several of the trees where soil shows.  Soon we will be out of our mulch pile, and the city crew is so busy we may not get another pile till fall.

all fluffy

Ilwaco

evening light on our apple tree

On the way home, I got a text from Jodi across the street asking if we could take on the garden of their little beach house.  I like it, it is small, and the commute is short, so I said yes.  Later in the evening, we went over to look at the project and sat around their fire circle with glasses of fine wine.

…along with my new friend, Daphne.

We’ll be starting the project after the upcoming garden tour weekend of July 16th.  It will give you something new to look at on this blog.

Thursday, 7 July 2016

I had not intended to have a two day work week.  Today was supposed to be the watering day for Long Beach and Ilwaco.  Pouring rain made it a Garden Tour Blogging day.  The rain barrels filled up and I was happy and content.

Because of the rain, Allan and I went to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum (3.5 blocks west) to see a photography exhibit.  A modern photographer has photographed the landscapes described in a book that Allan recently read:

While we were there, the museum director, Betsy Millard, offered us four panels of some old fencing.  It is marvelous stuff that would make our garden look like something from The Addams Family.  I looked at it and tried to lift an end of one section and felt my leg sort of give way and sorrowfully said we just couldn’t do it.

With Betsy.  I used to be much stronger.

The fence  has been replaced by local welder Jacob Moore (also of Pink Poppy Bakery) with a fence that echoes the railroad theme of the museum courtyard, where an old train car from the Clamshell Railroad is on display.

Allan’s photo

new fence by Jacob’s Hammer (Allan’s photo)

the old train car “Nahcotta” (Allan’s photo, taken yesterday)

I went home and brooded and fretted and realized I have an almost impossible time asking people for favours.  I posted about this issue on Facebook along with the realization that I could actually pay someone to deliver those excellent gothic fence pieces (not that I know exactly what to do with them yet).  I am used to being the one paid or asked to do things for people, not the other way around. Within an hour, I had offers of help and an arrangement to get them delivered on some later day by Jacob himself.

Meanwhile, Allan fetched the one small piece that would fit in our trailer.

sliding it under the new fence

at home. You can see how the wide pieces would overpower our tiny little wooden trailer.

 In the evening, we had our meeting of the North Beach Garden Gang at…

The Cove Restaurant

We were joined by Todd this time, always a treat.

same old story…going on about finger blight (plant theft) or some such thing. Allan, please feature someone else talking next time. It does happen!

strawberry and feta salad

spicy Thai prawns

vegetable noodle bowl (Allan’s photo)

We stayed till after closing, as always, and were given sweet little desserts by the delightful Lynn, our server.

Thank you!

We always know it is time to go when she gets the vacuum cleaner out.

Sondra’s Cove Restaurant garden at dusk. (Allan’s photo)

There would be no lingering and talking in the parking lot today because of sideways wind and rain.

I’ve already written about July 8th in the “plant tag” post of a couple of days ago so next will be the July 9th weekend.

---

Ginger’s Garden Diaries 

from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago

1997 (age 73):

July 7: cool and cloudy  Picked raspberries—froze 2 pkgs.  Worked from 3:00 to 5:00 “pruning” rows 1 and 2 of strawberries.  Called in Bluestone Perennial order.

1998 (age 74):

July 6: HOT  Today I worked in the shade planting seedlings into several bowls.  There are several plants (annuals) too tall for bowls.  I think I’ll plant these in some big peat pots and some in the peat trays so I can plant them directly into the flower bed when they are big enough to fend for themselves.

July 7: Another morning headache so I took this day off.

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29 June: all the other jobs

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

in which we do all the jobs but Long Beach and Ilwaco

at home

front path, looking east

The Depot Restaurant

Grasses enclosing south and east side of dining deck. This fall, I will try transplanting some Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’ there.

north side of dining deck

east wall

Dierama (Angel’s Fishing Rod)

looking southeast from the parking lot

The Red Barn Arena

our little Red Barn garden

Diane’s garden

along the highway

The Basket Case Greenhouse

We stopped to see what was left of the end of season sale and I bought a few variegated oregano and thyme for the Ilwaco post office edge.

me and Fred (Allan’s photo)

Fred and Nancy are retiring right after this end of season sale…and that is another “letting go” that is happening this year.  They have buyers who will take over the business.  I am fighting the “It’ll never be the same!” feeling.

Marilyn’s garden

looking southwest from the road

from the driveway

looking south

Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ (Allan’s photo)

looking north

Allan’s photo

There is a lot of plant snobbery about plain ol’ shasta daisies.  Well.  I like ’em, and that is my truth.

looking west from the back porch

Allan weeded along the back wall.

While we were away garden touring, Marilyn’s daughter sent me this:

“so love all the poppies and red this year. thank you, garden magician” photo by Nancy Gorshe

And I don’t think I have posted these yet:

Scooter and a deer, photo by Nancy Gorshe

photo by Nancy Gorshe; the deer are eating the Crocosmia this year.

Klipsan Beach Cottages

my good friend Bella

and Sarah or Tommy

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

Helenium ‘Autumn Lollipop’

Helenium ‘Autumn Lollipop’ is so cute!

Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’

birdbath view

sit spot

lily

roses and hydrangea with Thalictrum ‘Elin’ on the left

Allan’s deadheading of ‘New Dawn’ rose, before

and after

Anchorage Cottages

center courtyard

A ceanothus that had been slowly dying had finally completely plotzed, so Allan cut it down.  I recently read that it is not unusual for ceanothus to die off like this.

before

after

Now the one on the other end of the center courtyard garden a tall healthy ceanothus throws the garden off balance…drat.

Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (blue potato vine)

east wall near office

office courtyard

Since the Hardy Plant Society garden tour weekend, I have had a nagging feeling that I need a new client who is a plant nut, with a big budget, and no need for hardscaping, and who would just let me play with planting new plants.  I realized today that that client is ME.

At home, Allan found this unusual carrot in a package and thought it should be recorded:

 

 

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