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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13 Sept: to KBC and back

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

The work board has sprouted a list for fall.

The top “later” project at Diane’s, restoring the roadside garden, has to wait for a new fence.

While I struggled to get going, Allan hauled my clipped salmonberries from the bogsy woods and loaded them into the trailer.

It’s about a 200 foot drag. (Allan’s photo)

J’s garden

We began across the street. While painters are working on the house and garage, we had let the blackberries come through from the yard next door.  How did that happen so fast?

before

Allan’s photo

after

This load went to the dump.

The Depot Restaurant

The soil was damp enough so that we did not have to water.

north side of dining deck

autumnal Solidago ‘Fireworks’

Agastache ‘Mexican Giant’

Basket Case window box and planter

and another Basket Case window box and planter

We had time to do a good clipping of the escallonia that always wants to block the railway history sign.  (No photos of that project.  I was having a very hard time getting myself in gear for today.)

The Red Barn

While Allan got started on weeding and watering, I had a look at a horse.

tail brushing

“One Last Cruise”, nickname Cruise, named because he was the last foal of his breeder.

That was Mr. Amy with Cruise, and here comes Amy her ownself.

Allan’s photo

Diane’s garden

I then walked across the field to Diane’s garden.

My good friend Misty awaits her belly rub.

Oh, look, fence posts!  Looks like the fence is going to go up sooner than I thought.  I hope we can remove the strip of sod that will be outside the fence; that would be very hard to maintain.  Of course, it will be harder to remove the sod edge once the fence is in.

Holly peeking out from the porch. Soon she will have a big place to play.

Basket Case Greenhouse

I was on a quest for Lavender ‘Hidcote Blue’, but I had bought them all last time.  I will check at The Planter Box next week.  It was still pleasant to visit with Darrell and Roxanne..

Basket Case

The Dodge truck display that Basket Case put together for Rod Run.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

schmoozing with owner Darrel

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We did a lot of deadheading and cutting back of rose canes.  I made it so this hydrangea shows again:

A before and after would have been dramatic. Rugosa rose with a rambling red rose threaded through it.

Allan pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ to make a better view through the deer fence.

before

after

I’m going to ask if I can do a severe pruning of that big rugosa rose later on.  (Mary was away for the week, and I did not have time today, anyway.)

the east gate

gate detail; the glass ball was my idea!

It is sad that my former partner, Robert, got post polio syndrome and could no longer do heavy work like welding.  He was so talented at it.

east gate

He called this one the Fish Gate.

south gate

sit spot with Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’…and a sprout, in the foreground.

seeds of tree peony

The leaves of the peony always get crispy and ugly in the late summer, so I pick more off every week.

ugly tree peony leaves (Allan’s photo); I wonder if this is normal or if they are diseased?

Allan found that the fairy door had gone missing!

home regained

Billardia longiflora

Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’ (Allan’s photo)

cottages on the ridge

Long Beach

We decided that we had time to get a head start on Long Beach tasks by tidying Veterans Field.  On the way, we saw a new garden at a cottage that I always admire.

“Kite Flyers Only” Cottage

The Long Beach Peninsula could have an amazing cottage tour of its own if enough people could be found to open their cottages to strangers.

Veterans Field flag pavilion garden

Vet Field corner garden, cosmos (Allan’s photos)

cosmos and eryngium

home

While Allan mowed the tiny lawn in the J’s back garden, I somehow got a burst of energy after watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse and decided to rescue a container of bamboo from being overrun with hops and honeysuckle.

Allan’s shed repair photo from two days ago shows the before.

tonight: rescued bamboo

this much debris! J9 wants some hops for decorating.

Skooter

 

 

 

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5 Sept: Wednesday jobs on Tuesday

Tuesday, 5 Sept 2017

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

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

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

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

The Depot Restaurant

the usual watering and deadheading and weeding…

north side of Depot deck

Cornus ‘Hedgerows Gold’ and Eryngium

The Red Barn Arena

also the usual watering and deadheading and weeding…

near the garden (Allan’s photo)

Diane’s garden

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

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

belly rub for Misty

a different angle on the garden

My good friend Misty.

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

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

roadside garden

Cosmos (‘Daydream’, maybe)

Long Beach intermission

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

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

yesterday, flowers closed because of dim light

today

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

Basket Case Greenhouse baskets.

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

The Anchorage Cottages

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

Leycesteria formosa (Himalayan honeysuckle)

Leycesteria formosa

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

center courtyard

Melianthus major

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

tuberous begonia

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

In deadheading the sweet peas, I saw this:

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

key box frog is still there

Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’

window box from indoors (Allan’s photo)

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ seeds mimicking the rope in the sign

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

Allan’s photos

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

Klipsan Beach Cottages

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

me and Dawn: Hi, Debbie!

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

looking in the east gate

the bird bath view

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

Mary raking the paths

in the fenced garden

one of Mary’s roses

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

Podophyllum (Allan’s photo)

Bella on the lawn (Allan’s photo)

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

Port of Ilwaco

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

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

the way it used to be

now

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

It cheered me up to pet Rudder from next door.

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

east end bed

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

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

We found a rock in a garden bed further west:

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

sad Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’

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

by the Ilwaco pavilion, more sheltered from wind

a happier Miscanthus ‘Gold Bar’

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

The drive-over garden has knit together again.

Port Office garden

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

can’t see the hills to the east at all

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

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

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

 

 

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