Saturday, 16 May 2015
Ilwaco
We began our Saturday with a brief trip to the Ilwaco Saturday Market, for photos and for a treat from Pink Poppy Bakery.
Allan’s photo from the port office deck
Allan’s photo
a damp day
We bought Swedish Traveling Cake for work, and Chai cupcakes for after dinner.
Allan could not resist some pickled garlic.
our neighbours’ booth (Allan’s photo); They have a staff of booth-runners at markets all over the Northwest.
inside Time Enough Books at the Port (Allan’s photo)
I bought Ken Druse’s new shade garden book, having ordered it at Time Enough Books.
Allan’s photo
Bookstore owner Karla and I talked about how excited we are that the Salt Hotel is about to open at the end of the block, and how much it will revitalize the port.
I’ve been so busy that as I write this a week later, my new Ken Druse book has not yet emerged from its bag.
On the way north, Allan had a book to pick up at the Ilwaco Timberland Library. He photographed the handsome unfurling of the ferns that I pruned there fairly recently:
Dutch iris still blooming in the tiered garden (Allan’s photo)
As we headed north to work, I took the first of several photos for the Rhodie Driving Tour photo album.
in Seaview
The Depot Restaurant
a check up on the Depot garden
Allan planting some bright yellow sanvitalia in the barrel by the east window.
I had a sudden revelation: Why does not the garden on the north side of the deck extend further east? What was I thinking, stopping it an an angle like that. No one does much mowing or strimming of that grass, so why not get rid of it?
needs expansion!
Today’s plans did not allow time to implement the idea.
Long Beach
We had forgotten to add two Geranium ‘Rozanne’ to the back of the welcome sign.
sweeping up after some horsetail control
The Planter Box
We needed more cosmos, necessitating a stop at The Planter Box.
snapdragons
calendula
Back in the employees only greenhouse, I saw a gorgeous Dicentra called ‘Valentine’. I’ve never seen one so red. I want it badly…but it is sold already.
Dicentra ‘Valentine’, now on my must have list.
want it, can’t have it!
a cart full of six flats of Cosmos ‘Sensation’ and ‘Psyche’ (Allan’s photo)
On the way out of the back greenhouse, I noticed some Cosmos ‘Candy Stripe’ on the sales floor. They had got past me thus far; I snagged one 6 pack for my own garden.
Wish I had more of this picotee cosmos.
Allan’s photo of me carrying the Candy Stripe cosmos; he thought the flowers looked like bagpipes.
Traveling north to our next job, we sustained ourselves with our Pink Poppy Bakery treat.
leaving the Planter Box carpark with Swedish Traveling Cake
Golden Sands Assisted Living
wheelbarrowing cosmos down the hallway (Allan’s photo)
I truly entered Annuals Planting Hell while planting 60 cosmos in the Golden Sands garden. Maybe the sprinklers weren’t on yet; I found some of the ground was dry underneath so had to put water in each small hole. I had not brought a dipper, so tried a tiny plastic dish that Allan found. My head just about exploded with how long it took and after about ten cosmos, I walked out to the car (a long trip down the hallways) for a proper dipping container (a reasonable sized Costco plastic jar that had held nuts). Life immediately became easier.
On one side of the courtyard, the red rhodos are blooming at their unpruned height.
southwest corner
On the other side, they got pruned severely. I did not and do not approve, but everything outside the four quadrants of flowers is out of my hands.
the tall and the short of it (short ones are in southeast corner)
I also noticed that the shrubs under the windows had been pruned to window sill height, but apparently at the same time someone had severely chopped two of the roses, planted by volunteers (outside the flower quadrants).
roses chopped severely…at the wrong time of year. Why? I do not get it. You can hardly even tell there is a rose in each of these photos.
detail: WHY????
Oh well…I must just focus on our four quadrants…which are about to burst into bloom.
Northwest quadrant
mom’s red rose in NW quadrant
NE quadrant
aquilegia
Rudbeckia starts from our Kathleen are sizing up!
SW quadrant; Allan handwatering in case the sprinklers are not yet on.
SE quadrant with the first of the sweet williams.
I’m horrified to see salal appearing at the edge of the SE quadrant!
No time for salal control.,..and can’t find out about sprinklers because it is Saturday.
Allan strimmed the center lawn and spared a scabiosa that had reseeded there. (I’d like it to be all moss and flowers…) (Allan’s photo)
We have a mini-river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in that mossy lawn. Allan weeded around them. (Allan’s photo)
Klipsan Beach Cottages
I did some light weeding and planted 24 cosmos. While I did so, Allan weeding along the north fence.
before: Allan’s photo. That buddliea, belonging to a neighbor who never retrieved it, has languished in that pot for years and has now rooted into the ground.
After: I didn’t agree with cutting the pot away, but now I regret that so he can do so next time! (Allan’s photo)
I resisted the buddleia rescue because they are now maligned and considered weedy (except for the new sterile cultivars). We can just keep the old flowerheads trimmed and it will be fine. Poor thing.
Dutch iris
rose clambering into the bay tree
to the right: Thalictrum ‘Elin’
Allium multibulbosum (white) and albopilosum (purple)
Allium multibulbosum
rose with Anthricus ‘Ravenswing’ and Dutch Iris
I wish I knew this rose’s name.
another of Mary’s roses
…whose name I wish I knew.
the weekly view
looking in the east gate
the lower level of the fenced garden, with Knockout roses
Next door, by where we park, a couple of the rhododendrons at Joanie’s cottage have come into bloom too late for the Rhodie Tour.
red one…
and pink one
The prettiest compost in the dump pile. Allan found this pile of spent flowers from Rhododendron ‘Cynthia’, raked out of the pond
Ocean Park
On the way north to our next job, we did a driveby check on the Oman Builders Supply garden….It did not appear to need our urgent attention.
Oman Builders Supply Ocean Park
This house and rhododendron caught my eye.
This lineup at the Ocean Park Post Office caught Allan’s eye.
Marilyn’s Garden
Next, we planted cosmos in Marilyn’s garden in Surfside, our northernmost job. The garden had gotten terribly weedy in our absence.
Allan’s photos, along the house, before
and after
He rescued a buried Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ at the corner of the house.
That Phygelius has to be pulled out from around that Eryngium, though; the Phygelius has crept sideways out of its alloted space and will get much taller than the Eryngium and will hide it again. Next time!
during…it was worse when I started!
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
horsetail among the phygelius
after
Virburnum
Cosmos in
looking north down the path
and south
At the very end, I had to wade in to clip the blackberries that i saw while taking photos.
on the way home
There was some excitement at an intersection when three emergency vehicles drove by, and a large fire axe flew off the firetruck and landed in the ditch just north of us…and not, as it could have a few seconds earlier, in the nose of our van.
Allan retrieved it.
We took it back to the fire fighters, as we had seen where they were going (a few blocks north). They were surprised that it had come loose.
Allan’s photo
The axe was riding in that slanted holder; very odd that it flew out so forecefully.
After that adventure, we took the Nahcotta route home and photographed just a few more rhododendrons before dusk.
Rhododendrons by Willapa Bay (just south of Nahcotta Post Office)
At home, I was able to erase a few more planting tasks from the work board.
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…to …to the sheltered sit spot at the southeast corner of the house, where this was our view:
Tangly Cottage Gardening 