In my continuing quest to catch up to the present day….
Monday, September 2, 2013
The day began inauspiciously with the discovery of a broken glass ball in the garden by the front steps. It had been tucked into that bare spot by the pot of water….How it rolled so far is beyond me. Allan blames cats.
There was no fallen apple to explain it…
Before we left for work, our friend and fellow garden businessperson Ed Strange stopped by and what with sitting around schmoozing for awhile, all of our days got off to a late start. No wait, Ed had probably been working since eight AM and was taking a late morning break!
We accomplished a one-off weeding job that had been on the schedule for a couple of weeks. Last week’s rain put it off because it is not a job we would want to do in bad weather. Too many people driving on busy Sandridge Road would feel sorry for us.
helping out at The Basket Case…before and after
Next, Jo’s garden, where we have been working once a week to keep it up to the perfection it enjoyed on garden tour day.
Jo’s garden
Jo kept saying how sad it was to see the garden going down…and it is, even though many of the flowers keep blooming.
the northwest side
A pair of doves or pigeons (I’m not much of a birder) cooed in the tree by the birdfeeder area….
And I wondered if they caused competition for the little birds.
Pine siskins I do know! (I think.)
That was not much to accomplish for one day. A weekend off seems to make it hard to get revved up on Monday, and added to that the fact that it was the Labour Day holiday Monday seemed to sap our will to work into the evening. We remembered that the Depot Restaurant was having its annual Labour Day ribs special and were lured into an early dinner….at 5:30! We usually eat at 11:00 PM at this time of year…after I am done with a blog entry (and thank goodness Allan cooks or it would be cold cereal for me).
inside the Depot
Gazpacho soup
Just imagine: “Gazpacho Seville: Traditional Cold Spanish Soup with Plum Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Sweet Bell Peppers, Smoked Paprika topped with Grape Tomato Salsa ”
Oh my, it is my favourite summer menu item.
Outside, the Solidago ‘Fireworks’ put on an excellent show even though last week’s rain had somewhat knocked them over.
‘Fireworks’ goldenrod and cosmos in the Depot garden
When we got home there was still enough light to cut out another strip of lawn to fill the wheelie bin. I continue my internal debate about whether or not to turn this whole area to gravel paths and a scree garden.
it’s not the prettiest lawn….the concrete to the right is my neighbour’s driveway
Tomorrow we would have to get cracking on work again, but for now…dusk is peaceful at home.
back garden at dusk
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
In the morning watering of the greenhouse and patio plants, I noticed that my miniature cattail was in bloom.
cat tails
I would never make the mistake again of planting them in a natural pond (as I did at my old house) but they look great in a water tub.
The Sugar Magnolia pea that Nancy Allen gave me is blooming and making pretty purple peas even though I planted it quite late.
Sugar Magnolia pea
garden boat in the morning
front garden looking east: still pondering whether to make gravel paths
As is convenient when I dawdle while Larry and Robert’s garden needs watering, Allan had left for their place five doors down across Pearl Street. I walked down and joined him.
Past Tom and Judy’s house, heading west
the Larry-Robert garden boat, looking south
sad little squirt on this side of the three river rocks
While we have been watering pretty regularly, the state of this Coreopsis ‘Flower Tower’ (should be at least five, if not eight, feet tall! rather than about six inches) shows that it is not enough. We will be mulching this whole garden with cow fiber as a fall project and it will hold moisture better next year.
In concern over the weightiness of the new this year Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’…..seems to be leaning way too much…I pruned it a bit and hope I don’t regret it later. Allan brought the tree back from Seattle. I wish it had started out smaller and more upright.
before and after
Next we drove to Casa Pacifica, a garden near Wallicut Farms. It had been three weeks or so (more?) since we had been there. It has water problems so nothing grows much in summer, not even the weeds.
the two shy dogs, Darcy and Spook
two indoor kitties watching from a screen door
Even that bit inland the day was hotter. We deadheaded the twelve whiskey barrels of annuals. A daisy had made its way into one of them.
There wasn’t much to do in the garden borders. Spider season has begun and they are all over the gardens.
Right after I took the above photo and then had to deadhead the buddliea to which the spider had attached its web, it ended up on my wrist trying to crawl up my sleeve. My cries of “NO!” were more gutteral than shrill and seemed to scare the spider away.
Next we deadheading the Long Beach welcome sign…hundreds of dead little blossoms of Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’.
Acidanthera just started to bloom at the welcome sign
yellow Bidens along the edge is self cleaning….
While we watered the Long Beach planters, I considered that the reason that people sometimes thank me for working is that they think I am volunteering. Even though we took over all the planters several years ago, some of them still have signs naming a business or individual who used to maintain them.
Some of the business names don’t even exist anymore, like The Rocket Diner and Las Maracas Restaurant.
One of my planter favourites: Salvia patens
While I watered the main street planters, Allan was bucket watering the Bolstadt beach approach planters and hose watering the street trees. I still had nine planters to go (of 37 plus six whiskey barrels) when I looked north and saw him watering his last tree.
He’s so far away you can’t see him in the photo…but I could.
Just about then, I looked in the planter just showing at the bottom of the photo and saw three gleaming jewel cases. CDs, I thought; what could they be?
not very hidden
I am sorry to say they turned out to be three porn movies. Particularly creepy ones purportedly featuring teenage girls. They ended up broken in the garbage but I had to wonder….I have often found empty beer cans and liquor bottles in the planters near bus stops, but….Wouldn’t someone have to be pretty drunk to forget their porn when the bus came?
the bus stop from across the street
I’m glad I found the discs before someone’s child did.
Shaking off that weird experience, we finished the day with Allan watering the Ilwaco planters while I weeded the boatyard. The port and boatyard gardens needed to be perfect for the annual Slow Drag at the Port, coming up on Friday.
boatyard garden
a good section with Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and cosmos
Solidago ‘Fireworks’
I can think of a few gardens we do that do NOT have Solidago ‘Fireworks’: Boreas, Ann’s, KBC and The Anchorage. What an oversight!
We then dumped our debris in the peaceful boat trailer parking area at the east end of the marina.
I love this view and am sad there is going to be a building and parking lot put here, or at least that’s the word around town.
The words “paved paradise and put up a parking lot” come to mind.
