16 April: clam fest prepping

Tuesday, 16 April 2019

Long Beach

We had to leave the beach approach weeding for next week, because now our time must be spent getting downtown Long Beach ready for the clam festival.

The first Saturday in May used to be our target for the final spring clean up, until the clam fest was revived a few years ago, always in mid April.  You can read about the first year here.  Now the pressure is on.

We started in Veterans Field because the tent will be set up in the adjacent parking lot (at least, we assume that tradition will be followed).  All the photos are Allan’s through most of the day.

Veterans Field is large (here shown in summer with market tents) with two small gardens: a narrow arc shows at lower left and a corner garden at upper right.

Not surprisingly, the arc garden was weedy.  The flags overhead made an intense flapping racket because of the strong wind.

better

The corner garden was not as weedy as I had feared.

red anemones, white narcissi, Jackman’s Blue rue (which got a haircut after this photo was taken).

Even though we did not have time to weed more of the beach approach garden, we did pick up some Soil Energy mulch….

Some of it went in the center of the Vet Field arc garden, where I had previously removed a large quantity of Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’ which was not getting enough water to be happy.

My plan is to put some starts of eryngium and echinops (blue globe thistle) in there.

I also planted bachelor buttons seeds (cornflowers in the UK) and stepped on them to press them into the soil, like Monty does.

Then out to the beach approach where we had enough mulch left for one half section.

The wind was a big bully.  I thought about how I would be watching Deadliest Catch in the evening and that at least we weren’t crab fishing on the Bering Sea.

Deadliest Catch

Shelburne Hotel

The Shelburne was a good place to work out of the wind.

Easter weekend will be a big one at the Shelburne, we think, so we spent the rest of our day weeding and tidying there.

Allan checked on the upstairs deck planters.

chickweed!

One of two planters that we did not redo last year is coming up with mint and fennel.

In the garden, a leaf speared by Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’:

front garden

another spear

I finally got out my camera and took some photos of the garden.

We ended the workday with dinner in the pub.

chopped salad with chicken, and smoked salmon reuben (just a peek)

delicious blackberry cream cheese tart

Allan’s dessert

at home

I have started a four part series on BritBox TV that I love: Tales From the Coast with Robson Green.

Tonight I saw sand art with artist Mark Treanor, who said, as the sand washed his art away, “We all disappear.”

It always amuses me to watch Robson Green whether in a drama series or these travelogs because he looks so much like my ex spouse, the Leedsman (but a little over ten years younger):

Their voices are similar, with a northern accent, so it is inescapable that I think about the disappeared past of 29 years ago.

 

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12 April: Long Beach and Shelburne

Friday, 12 April 2019

Long Beach

We checked on the Long Beach welcome sign, where the vole damage does not seem to have increased at all, thank goodness.

I did not examine the tulips closely.  Ignorance is bliss.

We deadheaded two blocks worth of planters downtown.

I don’t think I have grown Tulip ‘Suncatcher’ before.

Suncatcher…very showy.

Allan’s photo

The tulips and the tulip foliage look great despite all the rain.

in front of Stormin’ Norman’s

We then took last time’s debris to city works and picked up a buckets-load of Soil Energy mulch.

Allan’s photo

And then, out to the beach approach to see how far we could get with the mulch on the sections we had already weeded.

We barely had enough for the first (westernmost) long section, the longest of all of them.  Then, on to weeding, hoping to get at least one half section done.

a thorny job

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo (telephoto; we were far from that close to the background hotel)

This week is spring break so the town is full of happy tourists.

Rain came, steaming on the road.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We only got one half section done…

Allan’s photo

…and we still have this far to go.

Vehicle above is on the wrong side of the road to politely avoid us, unlike many who cut it very fine as they pass us, despite our traffic cones and Allan’s safety vest.

We dumped today’s debris and finished deadheading the other four blocks of downtown planters.

Tulip ‘Akebono’ is one of my favourites.

I love Akebono’s green sepals and delicate, thin red edge (which does not seem as visible on these).

Allan’s camera picked up the red edge, on the yellow, behind the red tulip.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Tulip ‘Green Star’ (Allan’s photo)

Tulip ‘Green Star’ (Allan’s photo)

I am partial to all the viridiflora tulips.

‘Akebono’ (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

😦 Allan’s photo

more Green Star (Allan’s photo)

I’m thrilled to see buds on my asphodeline.

I was not thrilled to find evidence of finger blight by Fifth Street Park.

Some flowers were just picked and dropped; perhaps someone yelled at the thief?

broken, not clipped with secateurs

And some were downright taken.  There should be five or six orange tulips in each of these clumps.

The ones across the street were as they should be.

The weather had become pleasant again after the rain and wind that drove us off the beach approach, and so we did a big tidy up of the northwest quadrant of Fifth Street Park.

our audience (Allan’s photo)

before (Allan’s photo)

There was way too much Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, hesperantha, and the ever maddening horsetail (the little scrimmy one) and some kind of belligerently spreading skinny allium.

after (Allan’s photo)

after

I might use some kind of annual along the front, so that it can be cleaned more easily of weeds in the autumn and winter.

Unfortunately, we had much more to do so no time to have a late lunch at Captain Bob’s Chowder.

camassia in the southwest quadrant

We deadheaded the last two blocks….

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

…and the Sid Snyder beach approach planters, where we saw two darling dogs…

…and a remarkably cute goat.

We deadheaded at the Kite Museum and almost got stuck dumping our debris at City Works.

Allan’s photo

Shelburne Hotel

While Allan did our grocery shopping across the street, I deadheaded at the Shelburne and noted an influx of weeds, mostly sorrel and creeping buttercup, that must be dealt with by next weekend.  I resolved that the next nice day would be partly spent there.

hmmmmm….what happened here?

I put down Sluggo all along the fence where I had planted sweet peas.  I could see a few of them, tiny and threadlike, emerging.

looking north

looking south

Looking south from the north end….In the distance, walking away, is Seaview Sara’s spouse and their dog, Jet; I had finally met the lovely dog for the first time.

Tulip ‘Akebono’ again

only one tiny hint of the red edge

Tulip ‘Spring Green’

Tulip ‘Queensland’

Tulip sylvestris

I had finally learned, from Monty Don on Gardeners’ World, that T. sylvestris is fragrant.  I rarely think to smell a tulip.  I did, and it has a beautiful scent.

not sure which one this is!

The work board has gotten ever so slightly shorter.

 

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4 April: more beach approach

Thursday, 4 April 2019

The weather surprised us with a workable day.

Tulip ‘Lilac Wonder’ at the Ilwaco post office

Long Beach

We plunged right back into weeding the Bolstad beach approach, with the hope to finish three sections, by which I mean three HALF sections; I have divided it up more in my mind to make it psychologically easier.

Allan’s photos tell the tale.

I LOVE poms!

one lonely tulip that the deer did not eat

By this point, I really wondered if we were going to make it to the end…which would be three short sections.  It was one of the harder, more grassy areas.

I was determined but exhausted.

It would be nice to be able to leave the clover and birdsfoot trefoil and vetch for pollinators.  I want to but I don’t think people would understand.  What do you think?

Allan doesn’t like the vetch because it climbs all over the roses in a cloud of pink….and the birdsfoot in a cloud of yellow.

We did it! You can see there are grasses still at the very base of some of the roses.  My arthritic right hand, going into its 65th year, just cannot get those out very well anymore.  Once the roses leaf out, the grasses there will be pretty much hidden.  That’s just the way it is.  In a more refined garden, I would manage it (or delegate).

We were delighted to reach our goal.  On the way south, we deadheaded two blocks worth of narcissi in Long Beach….

Tulip ‘Lilac Wonder’ at the police station.

…and the Long Beach welcome sign.

I have begun to notice that there is little sign of the pink and white tulips on the back of the sign.

just one patch out of 100 tulip bulbs

The front looks floriferous.

But when I got in close, I found several tulips like this…drooping, and when I pull them, the stem comes right out.

This says to me that voles have taken up residence in the planter and are eating the bulbs.  This means that for next year, the tulips would have to be planted in cages or pots covered with mesh….or this might be the last year that tulips will be the spring show at the welcome sign.

Voles won’t eat narcissus bulbs so the spring show might have to be all daffodils; some are late blooming…but then there is so much bulb foliage to deal with.  How very tiresome to have to ponder this.

With our work in Long Beach done, I did a quick check up on the Shelburne Hotel garden while Allan did some grocery shopping across the street.

The garden is looking fine and needed only a small bit of deadheading.

looking north

the first Dutch iris

My neighbors were at the pub!

Bentley and Cota

Allan’s photo of Bentley

looking south from the north end

looking south from the entry way

Allan’s photo

I had received in the mail a plant order….I was happy to see it but I wished the plants (some agastaches) were in some sort of little pot (even fiber, to save on plastic) rather than just loose and needing immediate attention.

I have to admit that I was so tired, I just bunged them into a bucket and will deal with them tomorrow.

The work board tonight:

 

 

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29 March: Js, port and Shelburne

Friday, 29 March 2019

We weeded and mowed the pocket lawn at the Js across the street.  I planted some sweet peas along the white picket fence by the front gate, just because I have extra seeds.

Js front garden

Allan’s photo

a handsome Berberis darwinii next door

a passerby (Allan’s photo)

At the Ilwaco Post Office, I planted some sweet peas along the fence. I have never succeeded in growing them here, but I live in hope.

lilies emerging (Allan’s photo)

At the port, we worked our way from the east to the west end, planting poppies in some of the curbside beds (me), and weeding and deadheading (Allan).  He took all the photos at the port.  By poppies, I mean California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, in assorted colours—Buttercream, Copper Pot, Tropical Sunset, Dusky Rose, Rose Chiffon, Pink Champagne, Jelly Beans, Alba, Bridal Bouquet, Appleblossom Chiffon.

CoHo Charters curbside bed

Dave Jensen architecture office and the Tuna Club

At the Helm hotel (not open yet)

At the Helm curbside

by Ilwaco Pavilion

so far not much picking this year

Time Enough Books curbside

one of the Purly Shell pups (about six months old)

Time Enough Books

before

after

Time Enough Books entryway

photo especially for Tony Tomeo

Muscari paradoxum, which I adore

We went to The Shelburne Hotel for the rest of the workday.  I had really wanted to spend all day there, but it seemed important to get the California poppies planted at the port before the rain returns.

Allan tackled the annoying Ranunculus ficaria in the back garden, bagging it up for disposal.

before

after

And in the limited time we had, he also went after some of the montbretia that is trying to return.

I took out more of a run of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ in the front garden, in an area where it is partly shaded and turned sad and mildewy by late summer.

After: I want hardy fuchsias there instead.

not very showy yet

Muscari ‘Helena’

Tulipa sylvestris

We had our dinner in the pub.

Allan’s smoked salmon reuben

And now for two days off (maybe Monday, too, if a predicted rain storm arrives).  I intend to not leave my property, and Allan has a boating plan for one of the days.

 

 

 

 

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20 March: sweet pea planting begins

Wednesday, 20 March 2019

The Shelburne Hotel

Allan examined the wisteria that we (mostly he) pruned a month ago. The buds are just barely showing. He was able to remove some more branches. Until they fully bud out, it is hard to tell what has been cut and what is still alive.

He checked the planters on the decks and planted some night scented stock, tigridia, and sparaxis in the bigger ones.

Tulipa sylvestris is the yellow.

I got the sweet peas planted all along the fence and mulched with Gardner and Bloome Harvest Supreme.

Allan watered the garden because it has been so hot, dry, and windy.

The wind was still mildly annoying. I must say that both yesterday and today were too hot for my comfort at 72 F. But…mustn’t grumble. A cold rainy day would have been worse.

Sun and shade

My Melianthus major survived the cold here and will have its old stems cut down after this weekend’s Celtic music festival. I thought the garden needed some height right now.

Long Beach

We picked up our check at city hall and learned that it’s been suggested that planting wildflowers is a solution for the beach approach planter thievery. That won’t work out there in the dry salty wind unless the planters get watered regularly (and not by us hauling buckets). The watering has to become part of the same it’s water truck routine as the watering of the hanging baskets…not as often but at least a couple of times a week. So far, wildflowers in general (poppies, for example) are not drought tolerant enough to take the beach front conditions without supplemental water. Only the plants most desirable to thieves…lavender, sea thrift, santolina…survive out there with no summer water.

I was cheered up from my brooding about it by the narcissi on the north side of city hall…

…and later by some street tree and planter narcissi.

We planted the sweet peas in Fifth Street Park. This involved a lot of hesperantha (formerly schizostylis) removal. It is so lovely in autumn and such a pest the rest of the year.

Allan removed the horrible mildew-prone Dorothy Perkins rose on the low fence in front of Captain Bob’s Chowder. Because of the low fence height and the narrow driveway, we can hardly let it bloom at all without it sticking out in the way of vehicles, and what blooms it did have were always nasty white with powdery mildew.

Allan’s photos:

I added some sparaxis and tigridia to the two nearby planters that we redid last year.

More glorious Tulipa sylvestris

I had thought we might get Diane’s sweet peas planted today, as well. No. The park took us well into the early evening.

Reading

Over the last couple of weeks, distracted by garden shows to watch, I slowly read a book at bedtime.

While I enjoyed it, I liked his later book, Sourdough, better.

Here are my favourite bits.

The passage below reminded me of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City (San Francisco).

I have been feeling lately like I have lived an awfully long time, and also that having fifteen reasonably healthy years to go is awfully short. Here are the thoughts of a much younger character:

On the work board, the sweet pea jobs have begun to disappear. The beach approach weeding is assuming a low priority at the moment as I am more interested in a day of mulching and improving the Boreas Inn garden and another day of sorting out, deep weeding, and some rearranging of the Shelburne garden.

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10 March: last of the wake up calls

Sunday, 10 March 2019

Again, the night had been just below freezing. The front garden still had a vestige of Friday’s snow.

Allan reset the sundial an hour ahead

We began next door but one (two doors down) at The Norwood Garden.

Before (Allan’s photo)

The north bed felt cold on working hands. At least the ground was not frozen and so we could accomplish our weeding.

I’m thinking that small hardy fuchsias would be good in here between the hydrangeas. Must wait till warmer weather before planting them.

On the east side:

Next, we went several blocks east to Mike’s garden.

Allen trimmed the pampas grass… I have only planted one pampas grass in all my years of gardening, in my first year on the peninsula. We have, however, had to care for many. They have now made it to the noxious weed list.

After (Allan’s photo)

The front garden’s variegated buddleia needed a trim (another noxious weed plant I do not plant, except for the new sterile cultivars on rare occasion, but I take care of some that are already established and make sure that they do not reseed).

The front garden then got a good tidy up and path raking.

Allan’s photo

The gorgeous red flowering pieris might win someone over to pieris who has so far resisted them.

The ground on the shady north side was frozen.

That was the last of the garden wake up calls for this spring.

We went on to Seaview, to weed and tidy at The Shelburne Hotel.

Allan went up to the second floor decks to check on the planters.

Old planting of fennel, not by us, before and after.

He tidied the little bog garden on the north side of the building. I wonder if the canna will come back; I doubt it.

I learned this winter on Gardeners’ World that one should remove old figs from a fig tree to get better new fruits. I had forgotten to do so.

It is done now.

I thought the hardy jasmine had plotzed…

…but a closer look gave me some hope of new buds. I just clipped off some of the dead leaves.

The front garden has lots of small bulbs blooming already, and more exciting bulb foliage coming on.

The rapidly dropping temperature in the late afternoon inspired Allan to ask if we were going into the pub after work. Yes. We enjoyed hot toddies….

…a special of fried calamari…

…comfort food of mac and cheese…

…and a smoked salmon Reuben.

At home, the wake up calls are now all erased from the work board.

I enjoyed the look of that for a moment before creating the new work list with the sometimes dreaded beach approach weeding.

I don’t feel the dread of it as much this year, perhaps because I feel well caught up with work so far.

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20-21 February: other than Wisteria

Wednesday, 20 February 2019

While Allan pruned the Shelburne Hotel wisteria (see yesterday’s post), I did some garden clipping and tidying before helping to load the debris.

Before:

After:

I was happy to see the beginning of the spring bulb display.

With the wisteria debris loaded into the trailer and the trailer parked at home, we joined Our Kathleen for burger night at The Depot Restaurant.

Baked apple cider

Allan’s photo

Apple cobbler

Vanilla bean flan

We had a good long talk and, just as in My Dinner With Andre, we looked around when the kitchen lights went off to realize that we were the only diners left and that the staff was tidying up.

Thursday, 21 February 2019

Our small Pond was lightly iced over.

The pond edges are cluttered, like my mind.

I noticed that next door, Nora’s patch of snowdrops is blooming by her garage.

After a dump run with yesterday’s wisteria clippings, I decided that the remaining pile of wisteria at The Shelburne, along with what we would clip today, would not be enough to fill the trailer for a second dump run. In order to save our clients money by combining a load, I resolved to collect some more debris first.

Long Beach

We visited City Works to ask the crew for a pile of Soil Energy mulch and picked up a bucket of gravel for a low edge on the Heron Pond garden.

Allan’s photo

The area we weeded earlier is level with the sidewalk now but needs some river rock (of which there is a bin at City Works) to dress it up.

We could have dumped today’s LB debris at City Works…but It would save time to just include it with the dump load.

We spring cleaned the corner garden at Veterans Field…

….and clipped and weeded the little popouts.

Allan’s photos. The Toy makes quick work of ornamental grass shearing.

I walked over to the main street to check on a planter that I had been told had been recently dug in (plumbing problems). The damage was minor. To my distress, I saw on a different planter that someone had picked every single flower, the crocuses and irises and early narcissi, and shredded them into a pile left on the edge.

WHY?????

I carried the petals back to show Allan. I had resolved to not get so upset about finger blight this year and have already failed in my resolution.

The Depot Restaurant

We trimmed the ornamental grasses on the south and east side of the dining deck. That doesn’t mean we can erase The Depot from the work list, as the north side garden is still untouched.

The Toy, which made short work of the lighter grasses, is not strong enough to go through the giant Miscanthus, whose stems are like bamboo.

The Shelburne Hotel

While Allan finished the wisteria pruning and made the second dump run, I did more general spring clean up of the garden. (I wish I had a before and after of the excellent pruning of an old woody hydrangea that I accomplished there yesterday.)

Anyone who has a lot of sword ferns to clip should buy themselves The Toy. It is available at Clatsop Power in Astoria and is saving us a substantial amount of time.

It also worked wonders on zipping through the epimedium. You can trim epimedium to the ground now so that the new flowers show off. I just thinned it here to avoid a bare effect.

In the garden:

We worked on wisteria clipping and clean up till dusk and then rewarded ourselves with dinner in the pub.

Brian O’Conner performs there most Thursdays. His deep and resonant voice makes any song emotionally moving. I resolved to try to dine there most Thursdays this year. That may be a resolution I can keep.

He plays in the parlor, which is adjacent to the pub and also has pub dining.

View from our favourite table

Hummus appetizer

My favourite, chopped salad with Mary’s fried chicken

The work board this morning

And the work board tonight

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20-21 February: wisteria project

Wednesday, 20 February 2019

With a beautiful day instead of the predicted rain, we tackled the wisteria project. Other jobs got done, as well, as you’ll see in tomorrow’s post.

Pruning the Shelburne Hotel wisteria (unpruned for twelve years) had been hanging over my head for a year. Last year, we didn’t have time during the proper pruning months (winter and early summer). Allan would have to do all the ladder work, so I’m not sure why it weighed so heavily on my mind. Perhaps I feared another year would pass without us getting it done.

Most of the photos are Allan’s.

Before:

Our friends Ed and Jackson Strange stopped by to chat.

At the end of the day, we had a trailer load of debris which we took home and parked overnight. The wisteria still had uppy growth that would have to wait till the next day because we were out of daylight.

After (before the clean up underneath):

Thursday, 21 February 2019

After a trip to the dump, we did a few other trimming jobs because of my theory that the rest of the wisteria would not make a full dump load. That was correct, but my plan threw the timing off so that Allan had to make the second dump run before the wisteria was quite done. We are still left with a partial load of whippy, twisty growth….without enough for another dump run, so it will have to be slowly disposed of at home (wheelie bin and shredder).

I find getting rid of debris to be the second most irksome part of gardening. (The first is finger blight aka vandalism.) I liked the attitude of an Astoria gardener who used to have the policy that she would pile debris but not haul it away.

However, that does not work in public and resort gardens.

Anyway! Today Allan and I refined the wisteria pruning so that we are both well chuffed about it. When it leafs out, Allan will go up the ladder again and pull out any dead stems.

Almost after:

My mental guide had been this RHS article, especially the part about hard pruning of a severely overgrown wisteria. The vine had not flowered well last year, and what flowers it had were mostly buried in the tangle of branches. Allan hadn’t read the article so was relying on my advice and on instinct. I am worried we pruned it too hard for much bloom this year. It had to be done… The messy piled up tangle was not at all attractive.

I wish we had a before photo looking up; no sky showed at all.

During:

After:

After all that work, we are short on “after” photos.

After leafing out, we hope to refine it some more, and after the hoped for flowering, even more, and from then on, it should be an easy job twice a year.

Here’s our third batch of debris, an unfortunate result of my underestimating how long day two of the wisteria pruning would take.

Some of it would be good basket makings for a weaver of natural baskets. I thought of that all the way through the job…. It can be harder to give material away than to just quickly dispose of it, and with rain and maybe snow on the way, speed was of the essence.

Friday, 22 February 2019

Due to the lack of after photos, Allan decided to go out today (a cold and rainy day off) and acquire some.

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20 October: Bulb Time day 9— LB and KBC

Saturday, 20 October 2018

For me, this is day 12 in a row of work.  (Allan got time off while I sorted bulbs for two of those days.)

I must be getting old, mellower, and wiser because I did not think of yesterday’s planter criticism annoyance first thing upon awakening, nor had I had any planter nightmares overnight.

Long Beach

We planted in Fifth Street Park, all four quadrants, lots of narcissi, some camassia, some crocus.

Melianthus major, Fifth Street (Allan’s photo)

sweet peas still blooming (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

more sweet peas (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

It was truly Bulb Hell getting the narcissi into the hard, rooty soil in all four quadrants.  When it was done, that sort of bulb hell was over for this year, as all that remained was the welcome sign and planting in some pots.  Over for Allan, anyway.  I still have my bulbs to plant at home and may find some hard, rooty soil there.

We dumped debris at city works and covered the new mulch pile with a tarp so that weeds won’t seed into it.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

On the way north, we stopped to get two Geranium Rozanne for the planter we (Allan) dug out two days ago.

Allan’s photo at The Basket Case

Penny (Allan’s photo)

browsing

Buddy and Penny

buying and chatting with Darrell

Penny (Allan’s photo)

Klipsan Beach Cottages

greeted by Mary and Bella

and Sarah

I planted tulips in pots while Allan did some fall clean up clipping.  Half the pots will stay at KBC for the new owners next spring, as it is a tradition to have pots of tulips in the fenced garden.  The other half will go with Mary and Denny to their new home in Naselle!  They will be only ten minutes further away from us than they are now (although not on the way to anywhere we usually go).

sit spot

part of Allan’s project, before

during

after cutting Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’

Allan’s photos

Thalictrum ‘Elin’ got cut to become part of our Halloween decor.

Allan walked to the swale to pull a lot of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and daylily leaves and found, to our delight, that other KBC helpers had already cleaned it up beautifully.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

I got the tulips all planted in the pots (mostly viridiflora, or green, tulips, my favourites). This year, I had been going to get some colours other than “green”.  After I got the Shelburne garden back, I had to get green ones for the green-painted inn: Spring Green, Green Wave, Green Star, Virichic, Night Rider.  Greenland and Artist and Golden Artist are viridifloras I did not get this year because you can’t have everything; budgets won’t allow it.

looking in the east gate

Billardia longiflora

the bird bath view

the pond garden

Now except for the Long Beach welcome sign (whose bulbs are not here till the 25th), we are done with bulb time at jobs.  Tomorrow, I will plant my own bulbs.

Long Beach 

After yesterday’s infuriating revelation that a citizen is threatening a letter to the editor about how utterly dreadful the Bolstad planters look, I decided we had better have a look at them on the way home.  Based on the dire complaint, I expected to find dead plants and massive weeds.  But no!  Clearly, the city crew had done some watering and the plants that remain have proved their toughness.  So tonight, I will present a Planter Reference Post for Bolstad.  As usual with PRPs, it will be rather dull.

On the way back through Long Beach, we saw a big tour bus parked at Scooper’s Ice Cream, from a “Beeline Tours” company, with a cute logo.  The bus had huge windows…

like this…(photo from Beeline Tours)

…and all lined up in the windows were folks of retirement age, each with an ice cream cone.  We found it a sweet sight to see.

Shelburne Hotel

We stopped for five minutes of cosmos deadheading.

looking north

sweet peas

Right at the sidewalk entryway, deer have eaten the roses!

front garden, south end

OleBob’s Café

After going home and unloading all the empty bulb boxes and bags and the bulb food, we repaired to OleBob’s at the port for another celebratory dinner.

tasty dinner salad ((Allan’s photo)

Chef Laura, who is from Uraguay, showed us some wonderful photos of a Brazilian beach that she will soon visit to see her brother.  The beach has a free lending library!

You can borrow books or a surfboard on Praia de Pipa (Pipa Beach)!

Why, I reflected as Laura spoke of southern countries, were we not taught at school to say the names of the countries properly? We learned Paraguay and Uraguay with a hard G, not Para-whay, the way Laura properly pronounces it.

Tomorrow, Allan is FREED from Bulb Time, and my bulbosity continues for one more day at home.  In a week, we will have the last bulb planting day at the welcome sign.  I overspent my budget this year so I WILL resist the end of season sales.

The work board tonight:

 

 

 

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11 October: a tiring project and a reward

Thursday, 11 October 2018

Long Beach

At last we had time to do a project that had been weighing on my mind: dig out the wire vine, Muehlenbeckia axillaris, from the planter in front of Stormin’ Norman’s.

I planted it years ago, thinking it was a cute little trailing house plant that would not make it through the winter.  After a very few years, it had done this:

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

It had been cute and then had gone suddenly berserk.

We dug it out, but did not take all the soil out because we thought we could control any wire vine that popped out from pieces of root. (And oh, how we had tried to sift through and get all those pieces.)

Today:

before

The wire vine has returned throughout the planter despite semi-diligent attempts at control.

We were incredibly lucky during the digging out stage to get a parking spot right next to the planter.

Allan moves the trailer closer in.

such a lucky spot!

Before:

Allan’s photo

cleaning the perennials

After all the plants were out, as Allan removed the soil in the wire vine planter, I pulled the Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ from the next planter.

before

after

Most merchants don’t like tall plants in front of their shops. The Wind World Kites guy loves the crocosmia and jokes that he now has nowhere to hide.

After much digging and removing all the soil and the tattered years-old landscape fabric that separates soil from gravel, we found roots down IN the gravel.  This is ominous.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We hauled the heavy debris to city works and dumped it in an inhospitable spot and returned with buckets of the last of the mulch pile and some landscape fabric from the works shop.  It was utterly exhausting, heavy work, especially because this time we had to park half a block away and haul everything

My back was panging, so I answered some garden questions while standing straight against a wall.  Part of the job is to be friendly to tourists.

The woman in blue was from England and had lived there till 1958.  I asked her if she had heard of garden writer Marion Cran.  She had not.

with new fabric to keep the soil from migrating into the rock

I had had rather a stroke of genius; we also brought the last two hanging basket innards and used that soil to extend what we had.

Allan’s photos

putting plants back in

Allan deadheaded a block worth of planters while I re planted.

Allan’s photo

Upon his return, the planter was done.  Many bulbs were also replanted.

Last week:

Stormin’ Norman’s

Today, after:

I was able to salvage all the perennials by carefully inspecting their roots.  I will be watching closely for any sign of wire vine emerging from them; if it does, out they will come.

Across the street is a planter I quite like (even though the matching santolina was stolen).

I have enjoyed Cosmos ‘Xanthos’.

pink gaura

I used the pink gaura to replace the bad agastaches in the Agastache Catastrophe (a batch with diseased leaves).  The gaura has been good and has bloomed longer, with no deadheading, than the agastache does.  I will use it again next year, along with perhaps the shorter white one, ‘So White’.

colourful Long Beach

After our project, we deadheaded and tidied a few more planters.

chrysanthemums

a rogue white flower stem

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and yellow chrysanths

pink chrysanthemums starting to fade

I love the chrysanthemums that have perennialized in some of the planters.  They take up too much room to have them in every one.

The Shelburne Hotel

We had time to tidy up the back garden at the Shelburne.  Chef Casey had found akebia fruits on the south fence.  I sought them out under cover of the vine.

the akebia vine that I planted years ago

akebia fruits…I saved one to try out but I have forgotten to do so.

(I did try it a couple of days later.  The insides have a sweet pulp that is so full of seeds that there is little food to offer.)

Asian pears on the west fence

Someone had filled the bird bath with bean seeds. (Allan’s photo)

The beans in pots are well past their prime.

I picked off some moldy old beans….

…and then realized I remembered the hotel’s Halloween event and realized I should leave them till after Halloween.   I then decided to leave the old Joe Pye Weed and some other plants to add a spookier ambiance to the front garden.

spooky Joe Pye weed

“Get ready to sit, sip, and talk to the spirits at the Shelburne Hotel. Will be having Chariot reading Tarot cards by appointment (starting at 6pm on 10/26), Adrift Distillers Amaro release (10/27 from 5pm-7pm), seasonal cuisine, and cocktails that represents the spirits at the hotel.

Will be playing the Shining in the Inglenook both nights as well.

COSTUMES ENCOURAGED.

So join us for our haunted gathering at the Shelburne. Dine and drink with the ghost…maybe even say hello?”

The Shelburne’s sister hotel, Adrift, suggests something about a ghost in the garden!

Hmmm.  I’m not saying whether or not I have ever seen Annie May in the garden.

front garden, looking north

and south

Halloween is a good reason to leave the long, draping wisteria till November before a preliminary pruning.

We rewarded ourselves for an exhausting day with a tasty meal and drink in the Shelburne pub.

As diners arrived at the pub, Brian O’ Connor began to sing, as he does every Thursday.  You can sit in the living room to listen and dine, or sit in the pub with the music as ambiance.

His deep and distinctive voice has an emotional quality that draws a regular audience on Thursday nights.

We heard part of the performance during our relaxing meal.

chop salad with fried chicken, fish and chips, cranberry cosmo

The bartender and I agreed that even though we are not usually fans of fried chicken, the version offered at the pub is delectable.  (I get it as a side on the salad.)

so good

fish and chips (Allan’s photo)

My favourite dessert on the peninsula these days is the pub’s cheesecake tart with blackberry topping.

On the way home, we checked out some Halloween decorations in Ilwaco.

Lake Street

Spruce Street

Lake Street (Pirate Lucy Dagger’s house)

We have accomplished all our little work board projects other than mulching.

accomplishments still don’t include the indoor at home projects left over from last winter

I enjoyed the partial emptiness for a moment before adding Bulb Time.

That list is even missing two small job.

Tomorrow, the bulbs come and the sorting begins, a rather dreaded task that hurts my brain.

 

 

 

 

 

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