21 April: weeding and fun

Saturday, 21 April 2018

I actually do think that weeding, in my own garden, among plants that I like and  therefore enjoy a close look at, is fun.  Sort of. I don’t mind it, if I have time to keep up with it.  I started in on the west front garden (between our driveway and our neighbour’s driveway) while awaiting my social engagement.

MaryBeth came by with a gift of a generous clump of her Kerria japonica (with pompon-like flowers), and we walked into my back garden and I got her a clump of my single-flowered Kerra japonica.  She also brought me a book written by the husband of Margaret Drabble, one of my favourite authors.

Allan will enjoy it, too: “Michael Holroyd confronts an army of automobiles in this charming book. Weaving together memoir and historical anecdote, he traces his relationship with cars through a lifetime of biography.”

Soon after, Our Kathleen arrived for our lunch date at the Shelburne Pub.  She had picked up some violas for me and helped me, by un-potting them, while I bunged them into the edge of the front garden (for edible flower garnish).

Shelburne front garden, looking north

and south

This may have been Kathleen’s first time dining in the pub, at least in its new incarnation.  We had good food and a good long talk; it has been awhile since our schedules coordinated.  I look forward to her living here full time after retirement.

I am working my way through all the non-oyster items on the menu, so this time I tried the crispy, crunchy, and satisfying fried chicken sandwich, an unusual idea that I have never seen anywhere else.  The “Fisherman’s potato salad” has smoked herring in it, also innovative and delicious.

Kathleen had the pub burger.

Followed by bread pudding:

A musician played mellifluous guitar in the living room.  We were there at the quiet hour before the early dinner crowd.

I put some money in his hat.

Back at home, I finished my weeding project:

before (from a couple of days ago)

this evening

The back garden at 7 PM:

two cats

tulips

window box detail

In the window boxes, the redtwig dogwood twigs that I put in for winter interest have rooted and will go into the garden when I change the boxes to annuals. The tulip is ‘Princess Irene’.

It would have been a good day for boating had Allan not been still recuperating from his cold.

Because the chill wind prevented weeding till dusk, I had time to finish In the Eye of the Garden by Mirabel Osler.  After watching the harrowing film, Detroit, I returned to peaceful garden reading at bedtime with Osler’s A Breath from Elsewhere.

Guest photos:

I thought you would enjoy these photos from a neighbour’s walk in Beards Hollow, a woodsy trail to the beach about a mile west of us.

photo by Missy Lucy Dagger Bageant

photo by Missy Lucy Dagger Bageant

Beards Hollow, via google

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19 April: the relief of work

Thursday, 19 April 2018

I was surprised in the morning when Allan woke me up by saying breakfast was ready and that he wanted to go to work.  As (I think it was) Mark Twain said, the proof that worrying works is that most of what we worry about it does not happen.

Skooter having a drink on the plant table (Allan’s photo)

I picked a bouquet for the Shelburne.

Allan dug some borage and red mustard starts for the Shelburne.

removing a deadhead at the Ilwaco Post Office.

The post office garden is looking drab.  Mulch would cheer it up but there is a limit to how much mulch I can provide from my own budget.  Soon the plants will cover the grey looking soil.

I told Allan we could have a light day with just some fertilizing, planting, and deadheading. (The usual story!)

Our first stop was at

The Planter Box 

to buy some Dr. Earth fertilizer.

Allan’s photo

at the Planter Box

With our bags of Dr. Earth loaded up, we headed south again to

Long Beach

and gathered up the very last of the pile of Soil Energy mulch.

all gone, need more

We weeded and deadheaded at city hall and added the mulch to the wide part of the west side garden, where it had been looking beaten down and sad.

much better

even better with horses

Horses make the landscape more beautiful. –Alice Walker

Allan’s photo

We weeded the narrow beds along the side; we did not plant the top tier and would not have chosen so much Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, because it has a short season of bloom.  I’ve mixed some elephant garlic in along the top because the office staff loves it so.  Last year, the flowers got stolen as soon as they opened; I hope that with MUCH elephant garlic, some will be left.

We checked on Veterans Field again, the main site of this weekend’s Razor Clam Festival, and I remembered that I had wanted to plant some chives in the corner garden.  I happened to have a bucket of chives with me and realized the red mustard would look good there, too, evoking the Farmers Market that takes place there on summer Friday afternoons.

species tulips and nigella (love in a mist)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

I have realized that the red monarda is spreading like mad throughout this garden, even though I had thinned it earlier.

monarda all over the place; will have to thin it some more.

We went after more of the scrimmy little horsetail and too much hesperantha (schizostylis) in Fifth Street Park and added Dr Earth to this area.

looking much better

Instead of putting the Dr Earth bag behind Allan’s van seat, I put it behind mine so I could access it better when parked in traffic.

camassia just colouring up (Allan’s photo)

I stopped a sweet dog named Bananie from running into the garden to snuffle the fertilizer.

Good Bananie. (His person was nearby.) (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We saw a U Haul with interesting artwork.

We like garter snakes. They eat slugs.

On the way back to city works to dump our debris, we remembered to deadhead the little garden at Culbertson Field.

We also remembered to deadhead by First Place Mall….

Tulip ‘Silverstream’ (I still forgot to check it for scent and for silver edges to the foliage.)

Tulip ‘Silverstream’…I can see the variegated foliage in this photo by Allan!

Tulip ‘Silverstream’ (Allan’s photo)

Tulip ‘Silverstream’ (Allan’s photo)

…and, thanks to Allan, we remembered to deadhead the planters on the Sid Snyder beach approach and to deadhead and fertilize the World Kite Museum garden. Manager Patty was just bringing in the display banners.

Our “short” day had now reached 5 PM and we still had the Shelburne garden to do.  I was so glad we had spent more time in Long Beach to make it look better for Clam Festival.

Shelburne Hotel

I got the fertilizer bag out from behind Allan’s seat and fertilized the front garden.  Then I realized I had been using evergreen and azalea fertilizer.  I got the fertilizer bag (all purpose) from behind my seat and added more.  When I do fertilize, I tend to under-fertilize, so it will all work out.

Mustard and borage went into the west garden:

I added nasturtium seeds (in the front garden, too) because the chefs need many for garnish flowers.  Orchid Cream, Caribbean Cocktail, Vesuvius, Tip Top Mahogany, Alaska, Variegated Queen, Dwarf Cherry Rose.

Also some Calendula ‘Frost Princess, ‘Pink Surprise’ and ‘Kinglet Mix’ and some Bright Lights and Celebration swiss chard for some stem color.

By the pub deck and here and there where it might find a space to grow in the back garden, I planted more night scented stock seeds.

We decided to dine at the pub, as the workday had gone on until 6:45, longer than planned, and moved the van and work trailer a block north so as to not take up two parking places.  (Allan took into the pub with him a couple of disinfected wipes to spare the staff from any cold germs on his dishes.)

My bouquet still looked good (especially after I arranged it a little better than this:

Allan’s photo

looking south from the north end of the garden

from the sidewalk

From the front entry, looking south:

looking north

In the Shelburne living room, singer Bryan O’Connor was performing.

He is the spouse of Renee, the creator the tile work in Long Beach that you saw earlier in this post (the sidewalk tile and the obelisk).

I had a most tasty salmon special on black rice, and a cranberry cosmo (with Starvation Ally Cranberry Juice).

and delicious cranberry curd tart

Allan had the black garlic fried rice.  I reminded myself with one bite how tasty it is.  I could eat a casserole dish of it.

and “beeramisu” for dessert.

A local couple who were in the living room (lobby) listening to the concert bought us our dinner!  As we drove away they were just emerging, and I thanked them again. “For all you do!” she called out!

At home: I have whittled down the work board more than I expected this week, and Allan seemed none the worse for wear after a long day.

A most wonderful thing happened: I got an email from the woman who is the little girl pictured in my blog post about visiting the Isle of Skye in 1975, telling me what life was like there, then.  She is not, as I always wondered, related to Donovan, but she did know him when she was a child!

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13 April: mulching day

Friday, 13 April 2018

By late morning, the considerable overnight rain had stopped and so we went to get a load of Soil Energy at

Peninsula Landscape Supply.

Allan’s photo

one yard Soil Energy (Allan’s photo)

When I returned from the office, I just waited for Allan to drive out to pick me up.

Another rain gauge:

I browsed the pavers while waiting.

The Shelburne Hotel

A few people expressed surprise, beginning at Peninsula Landscape Supply and continuing at the Shelburne, that we were working on such a cold windy day with a forecast of heavy rain. Again, we were determined to get the back garden’s west beds mulched before the removal of the six square railroad tie beds next week.  It would be a circus with railroad ties going one way and a wheelbarrow going the other.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

all nicely mulched

looking north

The totem creature garden, between building and fence, is going to be an ornamental shade bed.

I was concerned about the new fig tree bed; it seemed a little too soggy so we raised the planting  just a tad, with rocks from a handy pile nearby and some more soil.  I do not think we need to replant the tree; the soil is still at the proper depth on the trunk.

These railroad tie beds will be removed to make room for a graveled open space next week, suitable for weddings.

That will give me an L shaped garden along the west and south fence to plant herbs and edible flowers, as requested.  I am concerned because the west side is rooty from a cedar in the SW corner (which I would remove) and only gets morning sun.  Some wheeled containers in the patio might be provided, too, for growing more herbs and flowers in full sun, and those could be wheeled to the side if space were needed for an event.  I think morning sun might be enough; if not, I will have to turn the west bed into a shade garden and find some other place to grow herbs. ( I used to provide edible flowers from my own garden to the Shoalwater Restaurant when it was part of the hotel.) Hardy fuchsias will definitely be added; they won’t mind some shade and their flowers are edible.

While Allan had wheelbarrowed the mulch, I had time to do some much needed weeding of tiny weeds in the front garden.

looking north

looking south from the north end

looking south from the entryway; we added some mulch under the rhododendron, left)

To celebrate getting done with what we hope is the last biggish project of the springtime, we had a late lunch at the pub.

Someday, there will again be dining on the south deck.

garden sandwich, French onion soup, a side of “fisherman’s potato salad” (with smoked herring, sounds odd but it is good), and some nice hot coffee.

After lunch, I longed to go have a look at Diane’s garden, one of our jobs that we had glimpsed, down her driveway, as we drove south with the mulch.  It now seemed too late, almost five, to go to a private garden, and the rain had begun along with an even colder and stronger wind.  So no visit there until Monday or Tuesday; I hope all the flowers that I glimpsed from the highway last until then.

I was able to cross a project off the work board:

I have a feeling that we will not be working this weekend.

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11-12 April: dinner, work, dinner

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

I did not want to clutter up yesterday’s Bad Tempered Gardener post with our weekly North Beach Garden Gang dinner meeting.  Almost weekly.  We missed last week because I was feeling so under the weather about losing my feline friend, Calvin, that I thought I was actually getting ill.  And Melissa was out of town.  Now, because of learning about The Guild of the Garden Lovers, I wish we had named our group a guild.  The word gang did come from this photo, taken as we (Todd, Allan and I, Melissa and Dave, representing three gardening businesses) were in Seaside to tour Pam Fleming’s downtown garde

In the Depot Restaurant garden this evening, we did a bit of pre-dinner deadheading and Allan photographed some lily sprouts:

It felt good to see Dave and Mel again to catch up on their gardening exploits of the last two weeks.  Tonight was burger night (Wednesdays, till tourist season starts).

dinner salad

clam chowder

Allan’s photo; diners can choose from the plethora of burger toppings

Thursday, 12 April 2018

It was windy and chilly, this sort of day:

We worked at the Shelburne instead of having a nice cozy reading day.  At home, I picked some tulips to take to the innkeeper.

in our back garden

Snails got one of these four narcissi.

rain gauge since I last used it a couple of days ago

bouquet on its way

in the post office garden

Near the Shelburne, I photographed a cute Seaview cottage.

I recently learned that Camp Hungry is a vacation rental; if you have always wanted to see the darling inside, click here for a good snoop.

The Shelburne Hotel

Because other hotel workers will be tearing out six old flower beds next week, we needed to get our own back garden project done because it would be hard to find room to navigate around other workers.

We spent seven hours tearing out Ficaria verna (lesser celandine) and orange crocosmia (montbretia), both of which will do their best to win by coming right back from each little bulbil and corm.  I learned recently that Ficaria is a class 3 noxious weed here because “Lesser celandine outcompetes and excludes native plants. It emerges before most other spring ephemeral plants which can give it a competitive advantage over our native understory plant communities. It is invasive, difficult to control and is spreading in Washington.”  More importantly, per Wikipedia: “The plant is poisonous if ingested raw and potentially fatal to grazing animals and livestock such as horses, cattle, and sheep.”  Now that I know all this, I am going to try to get it out of MY garden, where it is going rampant in two areas, having hitchhiked in when I moved a couple of hellebores from my mother’s old garden (where the celandine was there when she bought the place.

Before:

Shelburne project, looking south

looking north

The hotel’s instagram and Facebook have such a beautiful description of the view from the room that looks out to the above garden bed:

So I was particularly eager to make that view look better than horsetail and old, non-blooming orange montbretia.  Seven hours later:

Allan’s photo

That was hard work, and I dread to think what we missed that still lurks beneath.  The celandine was only in one bed, thank goodness, because each one spewed dozens of tiny bulbils.  We will be policing these beds regularly for pop-up crocosmia and celandine.

I looked at the front garden without time to weed it today:

looking south

north end of the bed especially rampant with teeny weeds

and ground elder WITHOUT variegation is popping up willy nilly.

As we were loading debris, my wasband and former co-gardener, Robert, who had worked with me at the Shelburne many times in the mid to late 90s, was passing by.  He was inspired by my armload of clipped sword ferns…

…and my clippers and knee brace to say that an armload of clipped plants, a pair of clippers (secateurs), a knee brace, and one other (unspecified) thing should be my coat of arms.

With our digging done, Allan and I celebrated stage one success with dinner in the pub. Its seating has now been extended into the hotel lobby.

You can even have your meal by the fire.

cranberry cosmo and cranberry lemonade

I had delicious jambalaya (which you can order WITHOUT oysters) with a perfectly cooked egg on top, an egg with a frilly edge. I love that.

vegan nachos (Allan’s photo)

Here is another example of the Shelburne’s fine prose:

They don’t make hotels like this anymore. Not one room is alike. Hidden staircases, mysterious dark hallways, it is a beautiful maze of uniqueness. Some rooms even have private or shared decks; some of the decks even lead to our lower garden and give a separate entrance to your room.  Shelburne Hotel is truly a wonder to walk through.

It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Washington State, and every one of its newly refurbished rooms is now available for booking.  A painting behind the check-in desk shows the hotel as it was, before the stained glass windows were brought back from England and installed along the front:

At home, I set out some containers of the crocosmia corms because, to my surprise, despite my warnings, four members of the Peninsula Gardeners facebook group wanted some.  I had shared with them what Anne Wareham wrote about it in The Bad Tempered Gardener.

P.S.  My new  (used, refurbished) Lumix arrived…with an unformatted card, that refused to format for quite some time, although eventually Allan did succeed at getting it to work.  I am afraid to use it for every day work, as every Lumix I have had soon succumbed to “system error focus” and “system error zoom”.  My idea is to use it for garden touring and at home photos.  We’ll see how long I can keep to that.

Despite dire weather warnings, we hope for a non rainy window tomorrow in order to mulch the area we weeded today.

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31 March: beach approach triumph

Saturday, 31 March 2018

Before work, Allan helped me dig up a start of Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ to take to the Shelburne.  I have it planted in a big old garbage can planter, not easy to divide from.  The one I got from Todd for my birthday is Eupatorium fortunei ‘Capri’, which is shorter and whose foliage is a brighter pink.

We had an audience.

digging

We then planted sweet peas along the fence at the

Ilwaco boatyard garden.

I still don’t know the extent of the possible digging.  The construction crew for the new boat washing thingie cannot dig the sweet peas all up, can they?  I figure there is no way they would dig all along the base of the fence, although they may have to go under it a time or two…

Allan’s photos:

With that done, we returned to

Long Beach

We first deadheaded the welcome sign.  Just in time for spring break, it’s in an awkward pause between narcissi and tulips.

deadheading

anemone blanda (Allan’s photo)

 

We then returned with enthusiasm to the final section of the Bolstad beach approach garden.

I had offered up free rugosa roses (with plenty of warning about how they run) on a Facebook group for Peninsula Gardeners.   I recall that about four group members said they would come get some, so I asked Allan to start by pulling the roses right along the edge (where we try to keep them back from sidewalk and street).

We have this much left to do.  The buoy has been our goal all along.

As it turned out, only one couple showed up for roses.  I saved two buckets of cuttings for a friend who is out of town.

befores (Allan’s photos):

I found a painted rock from “Long Beach school” hidden deep under lupines.  A lot of these rocks get put in places where plants grow over them and only the gardeners will find them.  I put it on better display.

I did not complain about picked narcissi yesterday, deciding to give the finger blight rants a one day rest.  Today, I found several narcissi clumps whose flowers were plucked and one big hole where something got stolen, probably a nice clump of narcissi.

We had a delightful visit from our friend Mitzu, former staff member at a place where we recently quit working.  She and her people were going for a walk.

Our good friend Mitzu.

At 3:30, we made it to the end!

“Ocian in view!”, as Lewis or Clark wrote.

We had come all this way.

And the vehicle traffic had not been nearly as bad (for weeding on the street side) as we had expected on this sunny spring break Saturday.  A woman walking by said, “Your town is so pretty! I love coming here!”

afters (Allan’s photos):

We will add some mulch when a new pile is delivered to city works.

A bit of deadheading by the hotel/townhouse/arch end of the beach approach, and we were done.

We had an audience from a hotel window. (Allan’s photo)

Allan and I separated, he to dump debris and then to deadhead the south blocks of planters and street tree gardens and me to deadhead city hall and the north blocks.

trilliums at city hall

The wider part of the west bed needs more narcissi planted next fall.

drab!

I had wanted to take a March photo record of all of the planters and street tree gardens.  Due to bright sun and deep shadows and to my camera battery dying, this mission failed. My iPhone camera couldn’t handle the light contrast. We did get some pretty photos, and enough of a record that I can use to make a list of which planters are low on narcissi.

Here are some of the end of March flowers of Long Beach.

my photos:

planter by NIVA green

variegated tulip foliage (battered by rain)

Dennis Company tree

under tree across from Dennis Co.

one early tulip…

and finger blight!!

Dennis Co planter

a flock of ducks at the Heron Pond

tree by Long Beach Pharmacy

Fish Alley

an Easter rock (from “Vancouver Rocks” group, SWWashington)

Third Street

Lewis and Clark Square, Tulip ‘Formosa’ which usually blooms in late April

Tulips ‘West Point’ and ‘Tom Pouce’

Third Street gazebo

Tulipa sylvestris

If this is Cool Crystal, it is awfully early.

Tulip acuminata buds

Allan’s photos:

shrubby planter left over from volunteer days (that hebe!)

If I could get up the energy, I would like that to be the next planter we clear out as it looks rather dull most of the time.

Fifth Street Park

by Abbracci Coffee Bar

This old planting of azaleas and a rhododendron (not by us) is only interesting right now.

With all of Long Beach town deadheaded, we repaired to the Shelburne Hotel to plant one Eupatorium ‘Pink Frost’ and to reward ourselves for our completed days and days of weeding the beach approach.

Shelburne Pub

epimedium flowers outside (Allan’s photo)

The hotel lobby now includes spillover pub seating. (Allan’s photo)

in the pub: Cosmo with Adrift Distillers cranberry liqueur

I had black garlic fried rice and am still remembering its goodness as I write this a day later.

black garlic fried rice and a salad

Allan’s pub burger and salad

well deserved treats

 

delicious beeramisu

At home, I woke two sleeping cats.

The only let down to the happy end of the beach approach project was that Calvin’s cough has come back.  It was so bad in the late evening that I thought of the emergency vet.  Some soothing medicine I had left over from Smoky helped him, so that he can wait till Monday to go in for an asthma shot.

The re-written work board:

I have every intention, some time in the next two weeks, of working on a new volunteer garden project at the Ilwaco Fire Station.

 

 

 

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26 Feb: KBC/Shelburne

Public Service Announcement (because we’ve been saying Basket Case will reopen on March 2nd):

Monday, 27 February 2018

We had a beautiful sunny day to head north to Klipsan Beach Cottages and then south to the Shelburne.  Before work, I dug up some cool plants for the Shelburne garden.

acquiring a clump of Solidago ‘Fireworks’

I was so sad to find that my Sanguisorba ‘Lilac Squirrel’ looks dead, and even sadder on the following day when I found that all sources for it appear to be sold out (Digging Dog, Far Reaches Farm, and Plant Delights).

I dug up some Persicaria ‘Firetail’ and some Persicaria bistorta superba (not sure about that one because it has a rather short period of bloom), two kinds of sanguisorba and a helenium, some elephant garlic and some little starts of a showy red mustard, and some Egyptian walking onions (cute and ornamental).

While loading the plant buckets into the trailer, we saw this neighbour.

Allan’s photos

strolling west, looking for another garden to snack on

Our volunteer Ilwaco post office garden needs some weeding.  No time for that today.  There is a chunk out of the golden oregano (front corner) where I swiped some for the Shelburne last week.

crocus close up

On the way, to work, we made a hellebore quest at

The Planter Box.

Jackpot. I just needed one.

an artistic display in the garden shop

Klipsan Beach Cottages

On our first visit this year to Klipsan Beach Cottages, we mostly did the clipping back of sword and deer ferns so that their new unfurling fronds will show (and because the old foliage will look tatty by midsummer).  Also pruned some roses and hydrangeas.

Allan makes the yearly bold leap over the pond to trim the ferns. So far, he has not fallen in, but I am always ready for an even more exciting photo.

after

before

after (Allan’s photos)

Pulmonaria in bloom on the pond island bed.

Looking in the east gate of the fenced garden

inside the fenced garden before going after that big sword fern

after

Bella examines my work

Bella thinks it is time to go to the beach. Mary chases after. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

sword ferns by cottage 8, before and after (Allan’s photos)

The garden is just waking up.

crocuses

The bench holds lily bags; I planted some in big pots to be brought forward when in bloom.

I clipped old hellebore leaves from the lawn border.

NOW I spy a little snail.

After the work at KBC, I dug up starts of plants to take to the Shelburne: Sanguisorba obtusa (the kind with pink feathers although not as good as ‘Lilac Squirrel’), Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’, Arisarum proboscideum (mouse plant), Saxifraga dentata.  It’s been awhile since I had a garden (other than the port gardens) that needed lots of plants.  I rotate plants around all “my” gardens.  Skyler giveth and Skyler taketh away.

The Shelburne Hotel (and Pub)

We planted lots of free starts and a couple of hellebores and three different dicentra and some lily bulbs and 40 sprouted but healthy looking yellow tulip bulbs from an anonymous well-wisher.

The street in front and the parking lot were so full that we parked on the next block to the north.  We soon learned that the pub was having a “soft opening” by word of mouth to people connected with the hotel restaurants (plural, because the same owners, Tiffany and Brady, also own the Adrift Hotel and its [pickled fish] restaurant.

With almost all the plants in, I had a bit of a crisis.  I could not find my most special pink feathery sanguisorba!  I searched anxiously….

There they are, at last! in a pile.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

We then repaired to the pub and sat at one of the new tables in the main lobby.  The pub has been cleverly expanded to include a larger area than it used to.

in the Shelburne pub

our table in the lobby, with glassless  interior windows into the pub.

Allan’s photo

On the way out, I looked at the garden with all its new plant babies.  I am eager to see them grow.

Looking north: Allan made a bamboo mini-teepee over each clump of lilies.

looking south

Ilwaco Community Building

We were just in time for the city council meeting.

shade garden at the entry to the Ilwaco community building.

Allan’s photo, crocuses closed up for the evening (with poppy foliage)

City Council meeting was brief but productive.

Allan’s photo

We were home by 6:45, giving me time to do a post for books read in 1996.

At home, KBC came off the work board for now.

 

 

 

 

 

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