Music in the Gardens 2015: Mimosa Garden

Saturday, 18 July 2015

Music in the Gardens Tour, Long Beach Peninsula

a benefit for the Water Music Festival and music programs in local schools

ticket tour map

Garden 3: Mimosa Garden (Holtermann Garden

Waving tropical fish flags greet you as you begin your tour of an art-filled patio garden with colorful pots, choice and well-grown plants, and a wall pocket of textured succulents. Stroll through the full-sun gardens wrapping around the this dune-facing home, which well meets all the challenges of the wind, fog and salt air.  Enjoy the many spots to sit, a working potting bench, and a small kitchen garden.

This aerial photo taken by local photographer Bob Duke with the aid of his drone show how close the garden is to the dunes:

photo by Bob Duke, showing the triangular shaped lot

garden tour day

on a pre-tour visit June 1st (when we just looked at the garden from here, as we were making a spontaneous drive-by)

photo by Kathleen Shaw

photo by Bob Duke

south side of house

Mimosas and lemony ice water were on offer at the welcome table.

treats (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Gardener Pat’s t shirt (Allan’s photo)

west side, photo by Kathleen Shaw

cheerful entry garden

photo by Kathleen Shaw

The garden had looked just as perfect when Nancy and I visited on July 3rd to get some “sneak peek” photo for the tour’s Facebook page as it did on tour day.  I noticed how well-grown the plants are.  Just two days before the tour, Pat’s husband sent us this photo captioned “Working through the pain to get ready for the garden tour.”  Pat had hurt her leg and was continuing the preparation on crutches.  Because the garden already looked so fine, it was not the disaster it would have been for someone like me whose garden is not perfected till about one day before a tour.

photo by John Holtermann

pre-tour visit, July 3rd

tour day

front door

pre-tour visit, July 3rd, digiplexis

Digiplexis ‘Illumination Flame’

pre-tour visit, July 3rd: This little heart bench belonged to Pat’s mother.

tour day

photo by Kathleen Shaw

stepping stones to patio on west side of house

pre-tour visit, July 3rd, Scophularia vareigata (variegated figwort)

west side patio

lower windows tip out

Our Kathleen toured the garden in the late afternoon and found Barbara Bate playing piano on the west patio.

Barbara Bate

north wall of patio

On a pre-tour visit on June 1st

succulent pocket garden on pre-tour visit, July 3rd (lower right corner: Petunia ‘Pretty Much Picasso’

July 3rd

and on tour day

hydrangea by the entry to the next area of the garden

window reflection with more plants inside

looking back on the west side patio

to our left as we step through into the next area

photo by Kathleen Shaw

The little watering can is a clever reference to the flowing shape of Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’.

Or is it ‘All Gold’?

Allan’s photo

When we were there in the morning, Barbara Bate was playing in the north side garden.  For her second set, she moved into the sun where Kathleen found her later on.

Barbara Bate

Allan’s photo “They were talking Beethoven while Barbara Bate was playing him some samples by memory.”

Barbara Bate

Barbara Bate

As in all the gardens, I wished for more time to sit and enjoy the music.  I have a soft spot for Barbara, who played at my mother’s memorial at Golden Sands and who knew her favourite song, Because (you come to me with naught save love, and hold my hand, and lift mine eyes above…).

Gunnera in the triangle corner of the garden

Every now and then, I run across a garden blogger who lists all sorts of garden descriptive phrases we are not supposed to use anymore because they’ve become passé (“architectural foliage” is one, and “garden rooms” is another).  Well, too bad, because here is a great example of architectural foliage in a garden room.  Each section of this garden is enclosed by a fence, a dense planting, or the wall of the house or a shed and it is like a series of outdoor rooms.

Allan’s photo

Barbara and the reflected garden

garden room with chairs and a carpet

photo by Kathleen Shaw

photo by Kathleen Shaw

photo by Kathleen Shaw

Here’s that aerial photo again; you can pick out the white daisies and the gunnera in the corner.

photo by Bob Duke

photo by Kathleen Shaw

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’

garden room with chairs and tub

photo by Kathleen Shaw

on the north fence

Allan’s photo

gate to the kitchen garden

kitchen garden

pre-tour visit, July 3

garden shed

hosta detail

diascias

looking back

east wall of house

another sit spot

Another aerial photo shows the garden shed and another enclosed nook near the front driveway.

drone photo by Bob Duke

photo by Kathleen Shaw in the afternoon

The weather was so scorching hot that some plants were wilting, so garden owner John began to water.

John chats with Allan while watering in the nook off the driveway.

by the driveway

Waterlogue

The Mimosa Garden was a close contender for my favourite 2015 tour garden because of the garden rooms, the whimsical decorations, and the selection of interesting and well grown plants.  To be a contender, a garden must have art that tells me something about the owner, must have more garden than lawn, and must not be a barkscape; the plants must touch and intermingle.

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Music in the Gardens 2015: Lynda’s Garden

Saturday, 18 July 2015

Music in the Gardens Tour, Long Beach Peninsula

a benefit for the Water Music Festival and music programs in local schools

ticket tour map

Garden 2: Lynda’s Garden

In this one-year old garden, all of the decks, fences, gates, and a unique water feature were designed and built by the owner.  Beside the lawn, a stage holds inset planters with aromatherapy plants such as jasmine, gardenias, and pinks, and is shaded by sails that dance in the wind.  A view of Loomis Lake is framed across the street through well-placed fences and a multi-grafted espaliered apple tree.

from the street

Our friend (and pro mower) Ed Strange had recommended that this garden be on the tour, and the day before he came over and mowed and trimmed the grass, saying “I got you into this!”  It’s just around the corner from our friend J9’s house, and when Allan and I went to scout it out for the tour, I wondered why I had not noticed it when I walked from J9’s to the lakeshore park.  Then I realized that was because my walk to the lakeshore park was over a year ago, and Lynda has done all this gardening and carpentry since then.  When Garden Tour Nancy and I went back to see the garden together, Nancy was thrilled at Lynda’s can-do attitude.  “The tour is July 18th?  Great, I have a month to get everything done!”

from our June 18th visit: one of Lynda’s two adorable dogs. The other is a big one.

Allan’s photo

front garden from the deck

Lynda’s water feature and privacy screen

photo by Kathleen Shaw

July 3rd

on the deck: coffee and cookies

from a pre-tour visit on July 3rd

Lynda, Kathleen, and Allan

deck is on east side of house

Allan’s photo

Here’s the photo I was taking.

more refreshments

privacy screen, all planted and built in the past year

view of Loomis Lake over the privacy fence

espaliered tree

stone path

the fence from outside, photo by Kathleen Shaw

view of park, positioned diagonally across the street

peekaboo lake view

After getting a big pile of rip rap dumped on site, Lynda sat by the pile and threw the rocks into place one by one.

from the south side of house

south facing deck

the fire bowl garden on June 18th, with lumber for a project

Waterlogued

tour day

tour day: photo by Kathleen Shaw

the stage on June 18th

Waterlogued

stage on tour day

music in the garden

Inset planters hold fragrant plants.

Jennifer Goodenberger

Jennifer Goodenberger

Just remember this was all built in the past year.

the dog run door on June 18th

tour day

As we departed for the next garden, we took some last photos driving past the house.

front

south side

south side

south side of stage

Ed Strange told Lynda that her garden was a “Neverland garden”.  She thought, “How nice, he means it’s a garden for children or fairies to enjoy” and he said that what he meant was that she will always have a new project and therefore never be done.

I so admire Lynda’s carpentry and design skills and the stage in particular.  Her garden is one that would intrigue me to take a closer look if I glimpsed its intricacies as I walked by.

interlude

Lynda’s garden is on the east side of the Tides West neighborhood, and the next tour garden is on the west side.  We like when tour gardens are close to each other.  After crossing the highway, on the way to the next garden, we passed this garden which is one that I would like to explore:

looks interesting!

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26 Nov: Loomis and Lights

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

While I’ve had my nose in one book after another, Allan saved the blogging day by a boating excursion on….

Loomis Lake

Loomis Lake

The state park access was closed for the season.  Fortunately, having our friend J9 residing in Tides West just a block from a little lakeside park made it possible to launch from there as a guest.

Tides West community park, lower right

Allan:  I felt it was a better day for the birds and the bird-watching residents before I intruded. There were over a dozen swans when I first arrived. I quietly walked to the waters edge with my camera but they had moved to the other side of the lake and were gone before I dragged the boat through the shoreside weeds.

elusive swans

He came prepared with his ‘wellies’ to drag the boat out through the weeds.

a weedy shoreline

The Tides West community plans to continue clean up of this lake, as evidenced by meetings listed on their website.

a flock of geese leaving as I drifted downwind toward them.

In typical staycation fashion, Allan did not get out of the house till mid afternoon, so it was a short boating excursion.   Afterward, he stopped by J9’s house to help her put up her storm windows and got to see her rambuctius new kittens, Jake and Louie, in action.

Kitten Intermission

On the way home in the dark, he got us all some photos of the Christmas lights in…

Long Beach

Long Beach City Hall

lights along Pacific, north of Bolstadt

Bolstadt beach approach

window of our favourite shop, NIVA green

window of our favourite shop, NIVA green

window of our favourite shop, NIVA green

Have a look: the yellow chrysanthemum is STILL blooming.

another lovely shop

Fifth Street Park

Fifth Street Park

Fifth Street Park

Pacific Avenue (Highway 103)

Fifth Street Park

and Ilwaco…

Ilwaco community building and Ilwaco Timberland library

Ilwaco City Hall

crab pot decorations on street lights

Thanks, Allan, for keeping the blog going for one more day!

On Thanksgiving we will be attending an interesting potluck at the Sou’wester Lodge (thanks to the suggestion of Kathleen)…and on Friday an art studio tour all over the Peninsula.  Saturday is the first day of the Saturday Christmas Market at the Port, which I need to photograph for the Discover Ilwaco FB page..  Even though I am mentally in hibernation mode, all of these may provide enough blog fodder to keep the blog going daily through the end November even though staycation arrived early this year.

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22 March: charity and friendship

Saturday, 22 March 2014

This event benefits local soup kitchens.

We just made it to the line for Empty Bowls 2014 in time to hear the end of the drumming performance.

the line at 11 AM

I must remember to go see this garden in summer sometime.

 

inside: the room of bowls

Local potter Karen Brownlee spearheads this event, organizing the creation, firing and glazing. Professional and amateur adult potters and students from local schools make the bowls.

Allan picked the duck bowl.

star bowls

picking a bowl

raffle table. We tried to win the set of three but no luck!

Soup donated by local restaurants. Egg flower was our favourite.

 

volunteer servers

Our bowls (I bought two). I like the grown up bowls because they fit well in the cupboard.

second from left: Pam, activities director from Golden Sands Assisted Living

comparing bowls

our gardening client Cheri of Discovery Coast Real Estate

friend and local artist Joe Chasse

Jamie arrives!

Jamie picking a bowl

We would like to have sat with Jamie for awhile, but we had to go help J9 move into her new rental. She’s an old friend who left the beach for two years, could not bear to be away and recently returned. We met her at the storage unit next door to Larry’s antique store in Ilwaco, and I nipped into the shop for a moment to get some photos for the Antique Gallery Facebook page.

Antique Gallery Too! on Spruce; Larry and Robert’s other shop is on Lake.

in the antique shop

I then joined Allan and J9 in loading. Here, we were almost ready for our first trip, and I’m happy to report that we made it halfway up the Peninsula to J9’s new digs without incident.

 

Between the first and second, smaller load, we stopped at home to pick up a large planter that J9 had left behind when she moved away. It struck me how perfectly springlike our front garden looked at that moment.

looking in from Lake Street

Disporum catoniense ‘Night Heron’ in our garden today

I tore myself away so we could finish with the moving project. J9’s new place is a single wide manufactured home less than half a block from Loomis Lake, in a neighbourhood called Tides West.

Tides West, ocean on one side, Loomis Lake on the other

The long body of Loomis Lake runs up the mid-center of the Peninsula, as do smaller lakes and sloughs.

the wetland center of the ‘Ninsula

Except for the wealthier houses right on the lake and on the ocean side, Tides West is an affordable neighbourhood including many single and double wide manufactured (modular) homes. I remember a local story in which someone asked a city person why in the world she had bought a manufactured home here. Then the questioner visited and said “I understand now,” seeing that in all but the historic districts of the local towns, manufactured homes are common here.

J9’s new abode

J9’s place has a charming yard, not a garden, a simple green landscape with decks and one of my favourite yard accoutrements, rustic outbuildings.

view from east side porch with large evergreen huckleberry

covered west side deck

view from west side porch

garden shack

“Welcome to our nook of the woods.”

Someone loved, enjoyed, and decorated this place and I find it terribly poignant that they’ve had to leave it.

There’s a fireplace and a fire circle.

wood for campfires

porch, chairs, bottle tree, fire circle

Inside, the landlords won’t allow J9 to paint the panelling…

the hallway

The kitchen is painted white and it makes such a huge difference. Painting the panelling was the first thing we did when we moved into our dark old manufactured house. J9 came up with a good solution: She gently affixed white trellises to the walls.

how to brighten up paneling if you can’t paint it.

While Allan installed the cat door he’d made and helped adjust some of the trellis pieces, I took a walk to the lake, less than a minute away. Just at the end of J9’s street sit some modern, boxy lakeside homes that didn’t thrill me as much as her humble single wide did.

Overwhelmingly garage-y

a house much more to my liking

This house has a prime position next to the community park.

J9 can walk here in about one minute.

boats at the ready in the park

community park

community park dock

Loomis Lake looking south

and north to private docks

Magnolia tree on the way back to J9’s

When I got back to our friend’s house, I found Allan very pleased as the cat door he had built fit perfectly. (It’s a purchased cat door fitted into a clear wood framed panel to go into a sliding window space.)

success!

 

cat door

With the move done, we stopped by the home where J9 has been staying. It happens to be right across the street from our friend Ed Strange’s garden. We took ourselves on a tour (with his permission; he was out working.)

Ed’s abode

Ed’s front garden

The progress of Ed’s Gunnera made me suddenly very worried about mine.

Buddy, J9’s cat, walked with us and explored Ed’s front porch.

between house and garage

an excellent company

And then we went home, where I walked straight out to the edge of the bogsy wood to look at my own Gunnera.

Oh dear, I think I need a new one.

I managed to prune the dead tips off of the Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’ and then I felt quite done with gardening for the evening. As usual, Allan had more energy than I and he mowed the lawn.

a bed of gold

Indoors, I examined an intriguing belated birthday present from Lisa and Buzz; Lisa (former client of Crank’s Roost garden, now of the bayside house of 300 hydrangeas) had dropped it off earlier in the day as we were on our way out. (It’s not her fault the present was belated; I was secretive about my birthday this year.)

a package

beautifully wrapped

with a delightful card. The inscription inside was so sweet and flattering that I would seem to be boasting if I shared it 😉

From the shape of the present (which was wrapped in lovely calendar pages), I thought it might be a nice bottle of wine, but LOOK! My very favourite tipple!

happy, and soon to be happier, me!

Tomorrow: back to the planting of sweet peas here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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