1 May: 2 nurseries, 2 jobs

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

The Planter Box

We went to buy mulch, and I found some irresistible plants. Allan took photos.

Teresa showed us a bird nest in a pot, protected by hydrangea stems and flowers from the plant being bought. The birds had already fledged.

Basket Case Greenhouse

I was scoping out what they had for future reference, but of course bought some plants. Allan again took some photos.

Diane’s garden

We weeded and added some mulch and a few plants to the septic vault garden.

I had a nice view through the next door trees of a horse.

I weeded and deadheaded the container area.

Last year, Van Engelen mistakenly sent unnamed tulips instead of white and blue hyacinths. They did not charge for them because of the error. They turned out to be parrot tulips that don’t stand up well here to rain.

At least they were free!

Allan weeded along the road and planted three more clumps of sweet peas that I had seeded in pots this spring. We will add some more plants this month. We want to make it extra good because this might be our last year at this job, as we will both be over 70 next year. But I don’t know if I can tear myself away from our animals friends on these jobs! White flowers are a spectacular Crambe maritima.

Although Diane and her dog Holly were not home, Bentley showed up from next door for his biscuit.

This time, I had a big biscuit for him instead of the new small ones that disappointed him last week. But right after this photo was taken, his young housemate Quinn stole the biscuit and ran off with it. Being old and slightly befuddled, Bentley turned down a replacement biscuit and sadly wandered off.

I tried to get him to take another biscuit but he would have none of it.

The Red Barn

Allan walked through the barn to put our bill in the drop box and said hello to a horse.

Bentley showed up again, and this time took a biscuit and wandered off to bury it. He always buries them. Later, after we had weeded the little garden (oops, all we photographed was animals!), one of Bentley’s human friends said to him, ‘You just buried something!” We wondered how she knew, and later realized it was because his snout was dirty from digging the bone into the sandy pastureland soil!

I guess you can tell that the garden in mid spring is not as showy as the animals. (We haven’t seen Cosmo the barn cat for two weeks; we inquired, and he was probably napping in the barn loft.)

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5 March: a brief work day, finally

Tuesday, 5 March 2024

After a successful and productive two conversations about our stray cay situation, one with the shelter and one with the vet clinic, we finally and belatedly left the house…but not quite to go to work. First, we ran an errand. We dropped off a canned cat food donation at the animal shelter to thank them for being so nice (although they are so overhwhelmed with stray cats, they can’t help with our mystery cat for a couple of weeks or more).

so skinny

Our catio cats are still skeptical about the situation.

We went to The Planter Box garden center and got some straw to make a cozy outdoor cat bed.

At the Planter Box, with owner, Teresa:

Finally, at about two o clock, we were able to start visiting our work gardens for the first time this year!

Ilwaco Fire Station and Post Office

The first stop, two blocks from home, was one of our two volunteer gardens. We got the last of the narcissi bulbs and the last two sword ferns out of the north bed, which is going to be cemented over. I brought the sword ferns there to begin with and will take them home again, as there is no other shady area at the fires station suitable for them.

Then we cut down some grasses and perennials on the south side. The narrow east and west beds will have to wait for another day.

We cut down a couple of perennials at the post office, where we saw our friend Pancho…

…but at both gardens, we left the santolinas unclipped since we are still getting such cold nights.

J Crew Cottage

At the garden kitty corner across the street, we didn’t complete the job but did get something important done: zipping the old fronds off of the sword ferns before the new ones unfurl. Before and afters:

We also trimmed the Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ which I have made a feature along the driveway.

These successes made me happy that we are finally getting our comparatively small amount of work done. (It had been interesting to drive through Long Beach on our way to the Planter Box and see none of the park gardens have been trimmed up yet. If we still had that job, we would have started work by mid February at the latest.)

Hoping for two more days of good weather to get a good start on the work year. We are almost but not quite retired and will be working maybe two days a week or less.

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9 July: Shelburne balcony gardening

Monday, 9 July 2018

Shelburne Hotel

We began our work today with a project: cleaning out some old dead pots of plants up on the hotel’s second floor decks and balconies.  I had not been up there for a decade.  I must say that I no longer prance easily up the stairs.

Before we went in, I took photos outside because the grey cloudy light made the garden look quite fine.

The stained glass panels above the peaked roof with arched window form the edge of one of the decks.

sweet peas all along the picket fence by the sidewalk

Yes, I am obsessed with this garden.

Ok, enough of that!  Up the stairs we went with a couple of buckets of potting soil. Allan did almost all the schlepping of soil and eventually plants today.

In the deck off room 4, we found two pots to redo and one that was salvageable.  We could tell they had mostly been filled with perennials from the garden.  I had not realized till recently that there were still pots up on these decks.

room four from its private deck

This deck used to be shared with room 10 ( think)  but it is now all 4’s.

the view to the west over the roofs of the kitchen and bakery

This pot, emptied, went to the back garden when we realized it had no drainage hole.

still alive, with fennel and lemon balm

better

To replace the pot with no hole, Allan brought in the potted rose from the porch above the pub deck.  Now we won’t have to worry about watering it and having waterfalls cascading onto the diners.

With two big pots empty and the dry soil and plants in garbage bags, we emptied and refilled the small pots on the three south balconies.

view from the western room down to the totem pole shade garden

and the totem pole

The three south balconies and the room 4 deck can only be accessed when no one has rented those rooms.  So the three south balconies would get succulents that don’t need much water.

We turned to the front deck, which is accessed by two rooms and also from the hallway.  There is a water faucet there that must be got working again so the plants can be watered. (The next morning I happened to see our friend Don Anderson the plumber, who cares for the Shelburne, and he will make that happen.)  Otherwise we have to find an empty room, fill a small bucket at the bathroom sink, and clean up any mess we make, or haul water up the stairs.  I look forward to having that faucet back.

center deck

Nandina with old English ivy growing on a bamboo pole and an old branch! Odd, and it is a noxious weed here.

I fought the English ivy out of the pot and Allan cleaned the other pot of dead plants.  I decided a nandina, to match, would be best for now.  It is actually a bit too sunny for them here, but later they can go in the garden.  It will be a battle (maybe impossible!) to get the one out of the pot with the small opening.  I would rather do that battle this fall.

the other pot before emptying it

Big garbage bags of dead plants and dry rooty soil were hauled downstairs by Allan, along with multiple buckets.  I was worried when he came back upstairs looking quite spent.

I had to go into my favourite room, the one above the pub that has the second story porch that used to have a potted rose.

inside the most beautiful room of all

window and door to private porch with stairs down to dining deck and garden

This room has its own sitting room behind stained glass windows.

With a writing desk.

Back to deck four with the rose, and a pot with fresh soil.

and the hallway deck

I had to go down the stairs backwards; fortunately, I know of a set of stairs that does not go to the lobby.

More garden admiration on the way out:

I thought maybe the English Nursery, just a few blocks south, might have a nandina.  It did not, but I did get three good succulents and a pretty scabiosa there.

Allan’s photo; yes, the owners, Dirk and Jane, are English. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

English Nursery daylilies

Hostas are their specialty.

We returned to the Shelburne and went upstairs just to put three Sedum ‘October Daphne’ in the three balcony pots.  Well….Allan went upstairs.

the three balconies

I put some water in the pot with no hole to see if it would drain at all.

And then off we went, supposedly to water in Long Beach.  A light misty rain began.  I was suddenly so exhausted I could not face watering the Long Beach planters.  The half hour of mist made it possible to put the watering off till tomorrow (we decided after a drive through town to make sure).

I felt so deeply tired that I could have laid down in the dirt and slept..and I am not a napper at all.  Yet I gave the Planter Box a call and learned that they had a nice nandina….and we were off!

at the Planter Box, many reasonably priced plants

I had planned to finish the Shelburne pots  Wednesday…but I couldn’t wait.  We would have gone to the Basket Case, too, had they not been closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Garden hint of the week: When we got back to the Shelburne, I was fussing with the nandina to get a dandelion out of the root ball.  Allan had a genius idea and pulled the root out with pliers.

It worked a treat.

All the plants got schlepped up to the second floor by Allan.  (We had left some potting soil up there.)

the stairs going up (Shelburne photo)

The center balcony got a (sort of) matching nandina.

Allan’s photo

A crock in the corner got a little lemon cypress, heathers, sedums, all for texture.

New pots are going to be acquired by next year.  The planting in the crock is temporary and not ideal because that crock has no hole.  It won’t get too much water this summer.  I hope.

center deck all cleaned and swept and nice; the skylight is over the dining room.

Cypress looks like a beacon from the hallway.

The replanted pot on the number four deck has a rescued dahlia with one stem and an almost invisible dahlia in the middle that I took pity on.  I now think I should have put the tiny dahlia in the garden and put something better in the middle.

Little dahlia has one week to hurry up and fill in or else.

We added to the south balcony pots.

pots on the three little balconies

Here are some views from those three balconies:

The water was slowly draining out of that pot.

And some interiors of those three rooms:

Down the stairs again, one trip for me, several for Allan, who had a second wind.

My back stairs way, that goes down into the dining room that is only open for dinner Friday and Saturday.

I fixed up one more dead pot on a downstairs deck.

shady end of the front garden

After all that, we still had to water…

Ilwaco.

Allan got the water trailer and watered the street trees and planters while I watered the boatyard.

A touch of finger blight:

pulled out elephant garlic

Someone picked poppy seeds and left a mess…so rude.

I weeded four buckets of weeds and then did the watering.

Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’

santolina flowers

daisy…from Jo’s garden originally.

elephant garlic and a please don’t pick flowers sign

Angels’ Choir poppies

Several of the boat owners were most complimentary about the garden today, including one from Westport who recognized the names of Terri and Bill, whose garden is on the July 14th tour.

his boat

watering obstacle course

I had to go around the big boats twice to get to the hoses.

After finishing the boatyard watering, I truly could hardly walk.

8:30 PM

Allan took me home and then went back out to water the post office and fire station (our volunteer gardens).

post office at dusk (Allan’s photo)

I am anxiously counting the days until the July 14th tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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30 April: some planting

Monday, 30 April 2018

Skooter taking in the sun on the front porch

My most beloved Monty Don (host of Gardeners’ World) says that black beetles are a sign of a healthy garden, and that they eat slugs.

Here’s one crossing our driveway this morning. (Allan’s photo)

I love the way the slightly darker, glossier post office sets off our volunteer garden:

Stipa gigantea

By the way, someone convinced me that Stipa should be pronounced with an i like pipe or ripe.  Montagu DON says Stee-pa. So! Stee-pa it is.

Allium neapolitanum

The Red Barn Arena

We met the new barn cat, Cosmo.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew overhead while we worked.

Allan’s photos

my new friend, 9 months old

Someone had left a gift of buttercup flowers in a barrel.

We are still not over our bad, debilitating colds, but we do feel more energetic today.

Tulip clusiana ‘Lady Jane’

crabbing gear at the barn

Diane’s garden

Allan added a bale of Gardner and Bloome mulch to the driveway corner garden.

before

after

I added an Agastache ‘Cotton Candy’ and some more sweet pea seeds to the long roadside bed.

Our main focus was adding some Agastache ‘Acapulco Salmon and Pink’ and ‘Sangria’, Salvia patens, Nicotiana langsdorfii, and some seeds (alyssum, pale yellow cosmos ‘Xanthos’, night scented stock, peachy nasturtiums) to the raised septic garden.

Over the fence:

Allan’s photo

I am most pleased with the display so far in this new raised bed.

Tulip ‘Cummins’

Tulip ‘Cummins’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’

Tulip ‘China Town’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’ in a pot

The Planter Box

We visited The Planter Box to see if they might have a columnar ornamental pear to replace one that got taken out by a drunk driver in Ilwaco.  The only one was THIS size:

PB co-owner Raymond is a tall man. This tree is maybe even too big to even fit in the sidewalk hole!

Well.  We had thought we were not going to have to be the ones to deal with the tree issue at all, and now that it is so late, we may just have to plant flowers in that one sidewalk spot. I heartily rejected the proposed idea (not proposed at the Planter Box!) that we should just put in a different kind of tree.  You cannot put in one odd duck in a run of ten street trees.

If only the Planter Box had had one the size of their manageable apple trees:

At the Planter Box:

Armeria maritima (sea thrift)

artichokes

Klipsan Beach Cottages

Due to bad weather, and our bad colds, and our Shelburne Hotel garden project, we had not been to KBC all month.  We found that the deer had been getting into the fenced garden and eating the roses.  Other than that, all looked well enough and we got the garden somewhat groomed and a few plants planted in a busy two hour gardening frenzy.  I was grateful that Allan did all the planting—my least favourite gardening job.

Allan’s photos:

a new Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ 

The podophyllum has gone from one leaf to three this year.

unfurling sword ferns

My photos:

tree peony

roses stripped by deer

Thalictrum ‘Elin’

Tulips ‘Black Hero’ and ‘Sensual Touch’

Tulip ‘Formosa’

Tulip ‘Formosa’

Tulip ‘Cool Crystal’

Tetrapanax

viridiflora tulips

pond garden

tulips and Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

taking leave of the tidied up garden

more

On the way home, we made one little stop at the Shelburne, where Allan staked a little (will be big) Fuchsia ‘Sharpitor Aurea’; I had gotten worried it would be stepped on.

I had to do billing, so might not get to watch any Gardeners’ World this evening.  Maybe…just one episode at bedtime.

later:

Bliss. In episode five of year 2015, a jungle garden is visited.

You can watch the segment Here .

At age 60, Monty can gracefully flop to the ground to commune with the plants.

I envy that spryness.

Takeaway: “It is important to make ponds because we’ve lost the ponds that used to be on farmlands all over the country.”

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22 March: working in miserable weather

Thursday, 22 March 2018

We did not do much work today.  We’d have done none, had we not had an appointment with our excellent new accountant who lives at the north end of the Peninsula about forty minutes away.  Since we were driving north, we also resolved to do a bit of work up that way.

First, we stopped in at the Port of Ilwaco office to try to find out more about the boatyard garden (will it be dug up for an important water project, and if so, how much?).  I could not connect with the port manager today to find out. We did deadhead the narcissi on the south side of the office in the full-on cold wind. A shopper from the Don Nisbett Art Gallery next door got caught in my photo because I was too eager to escape the wind to let him walk out of the way before snapping the shot.

On the way north, we bought some potting soil and two more packets of sweet pea seeds at

The Planter Box.

(I have resolved to plant sweet peas along the boatyard fence as I always do.  Surely the diggers, if diggers they be, would not dig by the fence all the way along.)

at The Planter Box

violas

After our accounting appointment, we briefly worked at

Klipsan Beach Cottages

where Allan trimmed a big sword fern and I planted a few sweet pea and poppy seeds.

looking in the east gate of the fenced garden

I recently came across a photo that compares the yews when Robert and Denny laid the pavers and the yews were first planted in 2003:

and now:

The garden, while still somewhat bare, has plenty to show of interest:

early tulips

blooming rosemary

blueberries

new foliage of Thalictrum ‘Elin’ which will tower overhead.

summer in the fenced garden with Thalictrum ‘Elin’ at middle right

Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii

Euphorbia (dulcis ‘Chameleon, probably)

Euphorbia myrsinites (donkeytail spurge)

daphne (several years old despite a miffy reputation)

azalea

double hellebore

pieris

pulmonarias

hyacinths

camellia (Allan’s photo)

And inside, out of the bitter cold and wind that was blustering even in that sheltered garden:

our good friend Bella, sensibly indoors

Ed’s garden

On the way south, we visited our friends Ed and Jackson Strange to drop off some plant starts (libertia and Lonicera fragrantissima and some rugosa roses; he can pot up and sell the latter at his big plant sale on Memorial Day weekend).

Jackson was most excited to see us.

We humans toured Ed’s exquisite small garden.

a WELL mulched gunnera

the deck

Erysimum ‘Winter Orchid’

In the back garden, I scored a presale on the sort of garden bench I have wanted for a long time.

Ed helped Allan load it into our trailer, where it still sits, because I can’t help unload it.  We need help to get it into the back yard; the top piece is SOOOO heavy.

Long Beach

The sun had come out again as we drove further south.  Even though the wind was cold and fierce, we decided we could just about stand getting some buckets of mulch for Fifth Street Park.

Allan’s photo

before

after (Allan’s photos)

While Allan applied the mulch, I deadheaded narcissi in front of the Hungry Harbor, and then we rewarded ourselves for our work in truly miserable wind, with crab rolls at Captain Bob’s Chowder.

Captain Bob’s is behind the NW quadrant of the park.

Captain Bob’s cookies

Refreshed and warm again, we soon got cold by deadheading a few narcissi at city hall and then a rough deadheading of the narcissi at the welcome sign.

before

I took my after photo from inside the van….

….while Allan finished up the back of the sign, somewhat out of the wind and in a rain squall.

The rain stopped again.  We had had enough.  The local weather shows why we could not take anymore today, with 34.5 mph wind that felt like 35 degrees:

 

I had some cyclamens from MaryBeth to plant at the Shelburne. Next time!

At the library, we picked up a book and Allan took these photos:

Fritillaria meleagris

hellebore

and a quilt

At home, I delivered some narcissi clippings to the compost bins and ever so briefly enjoyed my garden.

Corylopsis pauciflora

a good crop of shotweed in this bed

window box

Frosty came with.

Allan’s photo

None of us stayed outside for long.

All I could erase today was one sweet pea task; Fifth Street still needs more mulch.

I am determined to take tomorrow off in order to avoid more cold wind.

 

 

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7 June: work before play

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Another two part post, as this blog falls further behind real time.  Our day had only four jobs, two of them brief, and would end with a tour of THE Oysterville garden, which always deserves its own post.

The Red Barn Arena

Amy and her barrel racing horse

Allan’s string trimming alternative to using round up right behind the garden

My friend Disney, the mother whippet, who likes me. It is her son who snubs me. Unless I have a treat.

Diane’s garden

new lawn going in by Steve Clarke and crew

All we did was fertilize and deadhead the three groups of back yard pots.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

I had a check to deliver and a few plants to seek.

middle greenhouse

north greenhouse

Middle greenhouse; all three greenhouses have many choices.

Allan’s photo

I love this peachy diascia, and that is my favourite tender fuchsia, Pink Marshmallow.

I got myself an Orange Rocket Barberry, shown here with Roxanne. This time, I won’t forget to water it. I’ve killed two Orange Rockets by neglect in the first year.

a poster by the sales desk

The Anchorage Cottages

Allan pruned the center courtyard viburnums to keep them from coming forward into the perennial border.

Allan’s photo: before, coming too far forward

 before (Note that I do not like the look of the Arbutus on the right.  I gave it some Dr Earth fert.)

after

Mitzu supervising

during

after

Dutch Iris

with gorgeous markings

‘Eye of the Tiger’ Dutch Iris

Dutch Iris and Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’ (blue potato vine)

Two of the four windowboxes

Climbing hydrangea

north end garden

climbing rose and ceanothus

The Planter Box

I wanted 18 more painted sage for me, and more Dr Earth rhododendron fertilizer, and then I saw some Cosmos ‘Double Click’ and ‘Seashells’ and ended up with two full flats of plants.  Oops.

at The Planter Box entrance

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We spent an hour in intensive grooming of the garden.

east side of fenced garden with Climbine Cecile Brunner rose and honeysuckle

looking in the east gate

birdbath view

Allium ‘Mount Everest’

The gold is Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’

clematis

Mary had a little time to work with me. She is picking snails that are hiding in a daylily.

Allan had planned to clean up buttercups along the roadside edge of the swale (by the road up to the cottages).  He found that the housekeeping and grounds crew had done a beautiful job there, so he did not have to.

Allan’s photo: well done, and not by us.

Allan’s photo

This gave him time to do a good clean up on the outside of the fenced garden.

Podophyllum (Allan’s photo)

bindweed on the weigela! (Allan’s photos)

Allan’s photo: One of Mary’s snails on the run.

We then went north to THE Oysterville garden: Tomorrow’s post. On the way, we took a scenic route through Ocean Park.  Allan’s photos:

on Park Avenue

While I went into the Oysterville garden, Allan detoured on foot to the bay to look at the boats.

Oysterville by the bay

These are all part of the Oysterville regatta, a July event that seems to be an invitational event sort of for the Oysterville crowd.    Everyone uses the same kind of boat so that skill is the factor in winning, followed by a barbecue.

On the way home down Sandridge Road, we saw that (as expected) Steve Clarke and Co had completed laying Diane and Larry’s new lawn to perfection.  We did not stop; it did look like there will be room to create a very narrow remake of our roadside garden although I’m concerned about it being closer to the road, thus more nervewracking to work on.  We shall see!

In Ilwaco, we drove down Howerton to assess the gardens and saw both artist Don Nisbett and Butch of Coho Charters.

Fisherman Butch

Butch said, “No matter what they say about you, I still think you do a great job!”

 

 

 

 

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31 May: better than expected

Tuesday, 31 May 2017

The workday began late because when I was walking peacefully with a mere 1/3 watering can to the greenhouse to water my tomatoes, my back went into a spasm.  I hobbled in (after watering the tomatoes!) and stood against a door for awhile to straighten up and slathered on some Traumica, the miracle cure that Jenna gave me a sample of awhile back.  I am a skeptic about natural cures so it’s not a placebo effect when I say this stuff is amazing.

I was still somewhat disabled as we took off for work, and I felt anxious about the day.

Looked at my post office garden from my passenger seat instead of getting out to pull a weed.

Because of the late start, I decided to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow and slingshot around the sun by not doing Diane’s garden first, as originally planned.  The task awaiting there was to move about a half yard of river rocks. They had been used to edge the roadside garden.  We had stacked them against the house when we dismantled that garden for the septic installation project.  That had seemed like an ideal place until we recommended the brilliant Steve Clarke to install her new lawn.  He was going to wrap it around the side of the house, so now the rocks had to go to a new storage spot.  Maybe by end of day I’d be able to bend over to bucket up the rocks.

The Depot Restaurant

I watered; Allan ran the string trimmer by the parking area.

Depot garden today

We lowered the escallonia to make the sign show. (Allan’s photo)

The Anchorage Cottages

I filled in the planters with some painted sage while Allan did some weeding.  I put off till next week the pruning of the center courtyard virburnum, which is sneaking forward into the perennials border.  My back was feeling considerably better by now although I still moved cautiously.

our good friend Mitzu (Allan’s photo)

Anchorage center courtyard

The Planter Box

I had used up all my painted sage so needed some for Diane’s garden.

white dahlia at the Planter Box

a bit more painted sage and some fish fertilizer

some chicks (Allan’s photo)

Klipsan Beach Cottages

As we parked behind the fenced garden, we heard a great screaming ruckus up in the trees.  “It’s a bald eagle,” said Allan.  In a rather horrible way, the eagle appeared to be eating out of a stellar jay bird nest.  The jays were off to the side screaming and shrieking.  (Allan later pointed out that the jays are also known to raid other birds’ nests.)

looking up

Not a nice bird at all. (Allan’s photo)

talking back to the angry jays (Allan’s photo)

In the garden, Allan’s project was to prune the honeysuckle over an entry gate.

before

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

view from on high (Allan’s photo)

after, no longer raggedy with uppies

After weeding and grooming the garden, I took some photos for the KBC Facebook page.

driveway garden with purple and pink Geranium sanguineum

pink Geranium sanguineum

with chartreuse Lady’s Mantle

a crevice garden!

dianthus

Allium schubertii getting starrier.

Allium albopilosum just getting started

Allium bulgaricum

Thalictrum ‘Elin’ getting taller (in front of the dark pink rugosa rose)

Another angle: The thalictrum has the blue-grey foliage.

birdbath view

I asked Allan to take some photos of the big rhododendron by where we park.

The Basket Case Greenhouse

Allan’s photo

I needed to pick up some plants for one beach approach planter in Long Beach.

a hen visiting from the house next door (Allan’s photo)

another bird

hens n chicks

afternoon snack

Allan’s photo

got two of these gorgeous diascia for me

Gazania ‘Sunshine’

I also had the pleasure of picking out two baskets for our house.  (I’ll have to get photos of them later at home.)

Allan’s photo: The center basket with pink and yellow was one that I picked.

Diane’s garden

We got to Diane’s at five, prepared to move a pile of river rock.  As we entered the garden, I saw the most joyous sight:

Steve had already moved it with a back hoe!

yard looks leveled in preparation for lawn installation

Allium (Allan’s photo)

Allium albopilosum (Allan’s photo)

some of the back garden pots

I squeezed Diane’s painted sage into a couple of the pots rather than out in the garden bed by the road; that bed seems dusty now with everything that is going on.

my good friend Misty

I also got to see the new puppy, Holly, twice!  Once here, and once at our last job of the day…

The Red Barn

Diane brought Holly over while checking on Diane’s horse.

I was snubbed by a whippet again!

He breezed right by me.

Our little Red Barn garden

At home, I was able to erase more from the planting list.

Allan prepped for our first job tomorrow by hauling soil amendments two doors down.

Guest photo:  Steve and John saw an Allium bulgaricum in Astoria and sent me this photo from a small garden on Exchange, just above the Fort George Brewery:

Steve’s photo

And Melissa sent me this from THE Oysterville garden:

Melissa’s photo

 

 

 

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22 May: more planting time

Monday, 22 May 2017

I couldn’t stay at home with my friends, because we had many plants to plant.

Smokey

Frosty

always in the mood for a belly rub

Skooter on the front porch…

blocking the door with his hind legs. “I couldn’t go to work today; my cat wouldn’t let me out.”

We did go to work, starting with picking up some more cosmos at

The Planter Box

I could not resist this gorgeous clematis.

a hot bright day

The temperature was already soaring, and would soon be up to 85 degrees F.

More clematis, that I did resist, so they might still be there for you:

baby birds (Allan’s photo)

little bitty poultry (Allan’s photo)

Erin’s garden

Melissa and Dave were working at our former job, Erin’s garden, and had some Agastaches and boxwoods for me among other Blooming treasures.  We stopped to load up the plants.  I was thrilled to see my old friend Felix:

I’ve missed this guy!

Allan went up the stairs to look at our old garden.  I would not be surprised if those are our original santolinas from the creation of this garden several years ago.  It pleases me to see it looking so good.

Long Beach

For the rest of the day, Allan took all but three of the photos.  My lack of enjoyment in the task of planting translates into not thinking about taking pictures.

No plants stolen out of the most recently completely re-done planter.

City crew member repairing the cracks from when it was driven into by an errant vehicle. They had been repaired, but needed to be mudded with a consistent color.

You can see from the lamp post flag, above, how very windy it had become.  For once, I did not mind the wind so much because it cooled the air.  However, at 20 mph, it was a little hard on the new plants we were planting.

As we went around, I pruned Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ so that it will not be top heavy. Now the flowers will be smaller and the plants won’t splay open.

I almost removed this stray elephant garlic just for looking like a silly onesie. It was saved by being hard to pull.

Because of the heat and wind, we had to water every planter into which we plopped cosmos starts, and each plant had to be pinched for bushier growth.

one of our two watering apparatus

We’re using agastaches from Blooming, via the Basket Case, for uppies by each pole.

I sent Allan to deal with the above planter.  I couldn’t face hacking into the running, aggressive Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’, left over from volunteer days.  (I think that often the volunteers just used to put in free starts from their own gardens.  Which is fine, except that free starts tend to be pushy plants.)

The spot Allan battered out for the new plants probably won’t last for long before being encroached on again.

I swear we will redo that planter this fall, with a total dig out and new soil!

The Agastache ‘Mexican Giant’ had better get giant quickly.

Third Street Park. I wanted to go across and met that dog, The Mighty Quinn, but was too busy planting.  By the time I got over there with some cosmos, he was walking away.

Ilwaco

utter chaos in the vehicle by the end of the day

We unloaded all the new plants onto the driveway so I could sort and water them.  Allan went off to water the Ilwaco planters with the first 2017 excursion of the water trailer.

This is the second time this street tree pocket has looked like this. I think someone is helping themselves to golden marjoram starts.  Or lady’s mantle.  Speaking of invasive free plants, the trees were pretty much planted up with what we could find for free, back before there was a plant budget.

Allan lent a hose to the local window washing crew, who had come up short from the nearest faucet.

His loaner hose was not the best.

the one shady planter….with some free hardy begonia transplants struggling a bit.

last task: watering the post office garden

I had taken about the same out of time to sort and water all my new plants, then schlepping them to the ladies in waiting area.  My back hurt like the dickens.  Tomorrow: Planting Time continues.

 

 

 

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19 May: a very doggy day

Friday, 19 May 2017

Ilwaco

I had had a bright idea several days ago of some shrub rearrangement at the J’s across the street.  Of three dwarf hydrangeas, one looked fairly good, one quite sad but with a few leaves, and one looks dead but has green underneath the bark when I scrape a stem.  Putting the good one in the middle would at least make the picture balanced.  And if the good one turns up its toes, we can replace it with three matching ones.  If not, we can maybe replace the outer ones with a matched set of two, so it won’t be off balance.

before (Allan’s photos); the good hydrangea is off to the left.

Underneath the soil, Allan found landscape fabric.  That explains why so many of the shrubs were planted on mounds (by the previous owner, not the J’s).

landscape fabric underneath! No wonder the shrubs could not get their roots down; no wonder they were tipped over sideway.

replanted with the best one in the middle and with all three given some Dr Earth evergreen fertilizer.

a tidy garden at the J’s

I got to pet a sweet dog at the post office.

Allan’s photo

Further down the street, we saw our friend Ed Strange (Strange Landscaping) and his buddy, Jackson.

Jackson! (Allan’s photo)

On the way out of our town, we had one plant to put in at the main intersection and four at the Ilwaco city hall planters.

PPR means Peninsula Poverty Response.  I should probably replace this leggy Erysimum, right?

Long Beach

City Hall: The Basket Case baskets are hung up all over town now.

While Allan weeded and groomed Fifth Street Park, I checked on a couple of blocks worth of planters.

Sparaxis in a planter. I need to plant this in every planter. It seems not that common in bulb catalogs.

Sparaxis and Cerinthe major purpurascens

a gorgeous tail wagger in a parked vehicle (taken from a distance so as not to get him too excited).

NOOOOOO.  One of my special new orange bidens pulled right out of the soil in a planter.

I had planted a matched pair to tone with this building.

The abused plant still looked alive at the base.  Remembering a live faucet on the outer wall of the Hungry Harbor across the street,  I filled my bucket partway, dunked the plant, lugged plant and water bucket back across, and trimmed and replanted the bidens with water in the hole, then clipped its partner plant to match in size.

dogs big and little outside the Hungry Harbor

Last fall, I had had a big mystery while bulb planting.  A set of three special Camassia ‘Sacajawea’ bulbs had gone astray while I was planting Fifth Street Park.  I looked for them so hard.  Today, I saw the three of them about to bloom under one of the street trees (along with a noxious weed Iris pseudocorus that I had tried to get rid of).  How could this be?

The camassia has variegated leaves.

I figured it out.  I was sorting bulbs and handing Allan sets of narcissi to plant under each street tree, and must have handed him the camassia by mistake.  I thought it would do well in the park where the soil is damp; I will try to transplant it later.  That tree, with its mess of vigorous hesperantha (formerly schizostylis) is not the best place to show off something special.

Fifth Street Park, NW quadrant

You might agree with me that a trio of something tall and columnar would look great in that park.  I’m not supposed to plant anything taller than the fence!

that big dog again

I transplanted some red monarda, divided out from Vet Field garden last night, into this damp bed in the SW quadrant.

Darmera peltata and gunnera in Fifth Street Park (SE quadrant)

Some of that red monarda would do well in the damp bed behind the gunnera, etc.  But will I remember for long enough to get some moved from Vet Field?

We took time to go to Abbraccio Coffee Bar.

crossed dogs outside of Abbracci (I got to pet one). (Allan’s photo)

A delightful Abbraccio break (with no checkers played)….I used to love to play checkers but honestly do not remember how.  Allan challenges his computer to chess on most nights.

I rushed out of the coffee car to meet a tiny Boston terrier…Lily, age 4 months…who was causing quite a sensation.

Before leaving Long Beach, we dumped a small load of debris, mainly so I could ask the city crew to get the water turned on for the welcome sign garden (where we had pulled dead tulips at the beginning of our Long Beach time today).

When we went to city works to dump debris, Allan found this marble in the pile.

The Planter Box

We picked up some cosmos for Long Beach and elsewhere.

The big front greenhouse showed signs of a rush on annuals. (Allan’s photo)

healthy Seashells mix cosmos (Allan’s photo)

with Teresa, some desk-leaning rest

The Basket Case

The gardening grapevine (AKA Melissa) had told me that a Blooming Nursery truck had been seen on its way to Basket Case this morning.  We had to see what was new.

plants overflowing in abundance

Hot Toddy: cute name for a daylily. (I don’t collect daylilies, though.)

I could not resist a new to me red salvia named ‘Free Speech’.

per Blooming Nursery

couldn’t resist some agastaches and echinaceas…

Another new feature: Penny, the grandparents’ dog, who is being dogsat this week.

Allan’s photo

my sweet, soft, adorable, and quietly talkative new friend Penny

Darrell

 

got me some penstemons and agastaches and lemon grass and more

Klipsan Beach Cottages

We drove north to KBC to plant some cosmos and to weed and tidy the garden.

our good friend Bella (Allan’s photo)

Clematis montana in evergreen huckleberry (Allan’s photo)

horrifying bindweed pretending to belong (Allan’s photo), in the debris area behind the garage

creeping buttercup removal featuring the ho mi tool (Allan’s photo)

Mary, garden owner, edged outside the fenced garden. (Allan’s photo)

Mary’s edging tools

nicely edged

belly rub time

Bella will put her foot on your foot or arm to ask for more belly rubbing.

fenced garden weeded and with cosmos planted

bird bath view

sit spot

Rhododendron ‘Cynthia’

the pond (Allan’s photo)

Long Beach

Although I was tired, we found the energy to plant some agastaches in the big Lewis and Clark Square planter.  While I delegated the planting (which I so do not enjoy), I checked on the intersection of planters.

This planter has the weedy, running, short season of bloom blue geranium (‘Johnson’s Blue’?), not nice, long blooming, well behaved Rozanne. I thought about re-doing it this spring. Did not get to it. Maybe in fall.  Originally planted by a volunteer.

We also found the energy to finish planting the two planters at Ilwaco City Hall.  We had meant to plant cosmos in the Kite Museum pocket garden and completely forgot to stop there.

at home

Allan amazed me by finding even MORE energy to mow (while I sat in my chair and read the scintillating news of the day).  Way out in the bogsy woods, he found that our bridge railing had just rotted away and fallen over.  The water in the swale had been up to the base of the railing for most of the winter.

??!!??

Later: Skooter wants to come in Allan’s window!

Skooter

We now have two days off, except for maybe having to water all the newly planted Ilwaco planters on Sunday.  (Edited to add: Some drizzle on Friday night saved us from watering Sunday.  I hope we don’t regret waiting till Monday.)

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16 May: preparation, celebration

Tuesday, 16 May 2017

After a morning of rain and wind, as predicted, we had a brief break in the weather.  Allan decided to mow the thin, tall lawn over at Mary N’s house.  Even though we aren’t really a mowing business, we have taken on a couple of such jobs on our own block.

Meanwhile, the light on our garden suddenly became gorgeous.

Allan’s garden, from the front porch

My hardy begonia (from Windcliff) has spread thoroughly in this box.

the back garden

I love the splash of white Miscanthus.

We’d had this much rain since yesterday.

Suddenly, the sky darkened and hail pelted down.

Skooter was taken aback.

I felt bad for Allan, mowing two doors down.

Allan’s photos at his mowing job nearby:

We had just taken this on.  It won’t be allowed to get this long again.

before

It took two passes, at a high and then medium setting.

the storm! from undercover

after

Those barberries are for the chop sooner than you might think.

Meanwhile, I had decided to be practical and propose that we pick up some plants today instead of immersing myself in a good book from the library…

Allan agreed with my productive plan, so off we went to

The Planter Box.

a hardy begonia which I think I must acquire

ferns

You may recall that a couple of days ago, I was touting the great gardening tool called the Zen Digger, Ho Mi, Korean Hand Plow, and E-Z Digger.  Planter Box has it.

Allan’s photo

Teresa totals up (Allan’s photo)

On the way home, after buying a pin for his boat rudder at Dennis Company, Allan took a photo of a beautiful scene in Coulter Park.  The loss of that pin on our recent Black Lake rally day had turned his sailing afternoon into a rowing afternoon.

the old Clamshell Railroad depot at Coulter Park

Ilwaco

We drove by the Ilwaco boatyard garden.  I was thrilled to see that the horsetail had not made a big comeback, so weeding was not urgent.

boatyard visual check up (without getting out of the van)

At home, I sorted plants in the garage.

Allan was inspired to go back to Mary’s garden to begin the removal of three mean barberries.

Barberries make weeding the quackgrass in this bed just miserable.

welding gloves

Now just the stumps remain to be dealt with.  Hydrangeas are the goal.

One of the main inspirations for this big chop is that this week, we had room in our wheelie bin for the debris.

wheelbie bin full of mean stuff

[pickled fish] restaurant

In the evening, we joined Dave and Melissa (Sea Star Gardening) for a special weekly garden meeting to celebrate Melissa’s birthday.

I was impressed and kind of jealous of the planters as we entered the Adrift Hotel.  They are stuffed full of cool plants, some of which are hard to find for purchase around here.

Adrift Hotel (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

This one made me especially jealous; I think that is Ribes brocklebankii.

good use of a Phormium.  Phormiums don’t make me jealous, though.

more common, still interesting

They have the budget to switch out their planters frequently.  Our local nurseries are good, and yet there is not the audience for cool collectors’ plants to support that sort of plant availability here.  I’ve noticed when ultra cool plants appear at our local shops, they often just sit until I buy them.

drinks menu at the [pickled fish]; I had the starvation alley ginger cosmo.

Melissa and Dave arrive (Allan’s photo)

birthday girl (Allan’s photo)

cranberry lemonade (Allan’s photo)

ginger cosmo (Allan’s photo)

The memory of this scrumptuous Moroccan chick pea stew makes my mouth water.

Allan’s clam chowder

Melissa’s starter salad

a place for tasty pizzas: margherita

fennel sausage pizza

the view

skillet cookie dessert

For Melissa’s birthday:

a birthday card by Don Nisbett

And a t shirt made from Don’s Crabby Gardener design:

The Crabby Gardener by Don Nisbett (T shirt was personalized with an M on the seed packet)

And this excellent gardening book:

I think we may be the only gardeners on the peninsula who actually do genuine hellstrip, curbside gardens (at the Port, and the beach approach).  However, the book is excellent in suggesting ideas and plants for droughty areas, and the photos are a treat.

We are now due for several days of dry weather.  Let the planting begin, while the soil is still damp!

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