Thursday, 2 June 2016
I accompanied Allan on a grocery shopping trip to Warrenton, Oregon, solely to detour into Seaside and see Pam Fleming’s public gardens. (Checking out the plant selection at Fred Meyer would be a bonus.)
Pam Fleming has been the public gardener for downtown Seaside for as long as I can remember, and every year her gardens get better. The gardens run along both sides of Broadway from the main highway to the beach view turnaround.
We drove and looked at the first couple of blocks as I took photos from the passenger window.

Beach Books is where the walking tour begins which Pam gives every July.
Then a parking place opened up on the busy street and we decided to walk to the turnaround and back to get a close look at the gardens. What a good decision!

a whirly spoon leafed osteospermum; she likes the kind with more of a color pattern but it has become hard to find.
I hope no tavern patron gets thrown into this pocket garden this year.
As we strolled by a café with outdoor seating, a walker approaching said to two folks seated there, “Looks like the perfect life.” “It’s our think tank,” said the sitters; “We’re solving the world’s problems.” “How far have you gotten?” “Not very far.”
When the business storefronts change hands, sometimes Pam’s planting scheme is thrown off; she might have plants from Mexico in front of a Mexican restaurant and then have it turn into a souvenir shop instead.
Unlike some people, when I see a plant that I want in a public garden (like the primrose above), I do NOT help myself.

As always, I envy the variety of street trees…not just boring old columnar pears like we have. Here: paperbark maple.

At first, I thought this kid might be one of Pam’s workers, till I realized he was playing hide and seek.
Now I had reached the turnaround. Allan had walked back to get the van and come pick me up.
I found these two plaques deeply touching:
On the way back to the highway, one block over:
On the way north, we had a look at the garden of an ironworks shop in Gearhart.
We accomplished our grocery shopping at Costco. I miss the old, smaller store behind the Fred Meyer. The big new one has lighting that makes me feel dizzy and disoriented. I find myself thinking that I must visit an optometrist immediately:
I prefer mood lighting while shopping.
Further toward home, I succumbed to the siren call of the Fred Meyer plant department.

eastern view from the highest part of the 4 mile long Astoria Megler bridge over the Columbia river.
The only flaw in this excellent day (other than the lighting at Costco) was that I had not organized a visit with Pam herself. I felt we would not have time to do that, shop, and get to our weekly dinner in time. Oh, how wrong I was because we got home with two hours to spare. I did spend it puttering with my new plants; however, visiting with Pam would have been better, and rare.
The Cove Restaurant
We were slightly late to our North Beach Garden Gang meeting because I found it hard to tear myself away from my new plants.
We usually stay until the serving staff start sweeping up and vacuuming. Carmen made an amusing show of sweeping right by our table.
After dinner, the usual lingering in the parking lot:
Tomorrow: back to the watering rounds.
Ginger’s Garden Diaries
from my mother’s garden diaries of two decades ago
1998 (age 74):
June 2: HOT in afternoon!! Noon to six I finally got those tulip bulbs (from the tubs and pots) planted in the garden area next to the onion and asparagus bed. Boy I’m glad to have it done. Then I planted seedlings into pots—the next move will be to plant them into the various bowls. The next main job is to start planting the perennials that are on the picnic table.