Tuesday, 17 June 2014
I am pleased to report that after a worrisome half hour at 6:30 Am when my knee hurt like the dickens, I managed to fall back asleep till 9:30 and dream that Xena Warrior Princess was serenading me. Seven hours of sleep was a treat and a blessing (although I would love a good solid nine.)
I don’t even know why I went into Olde Towne Café…not to change the compost bucket as it was their first day of the week to be open. However, due to lots of lovely, lovely rain, mostly conveniently timed at night, I did not feel hugely pressured at the start of the day and sat and visited with Luanne for at least fifteen minutes while Allan schmoozed with a new acquaintance, Kyle, a local gardener.
Olde Towne Café
I meant to get a photo of the outside of the building with all the lovely plant containers..and forgot.
Then, off to work; I had not meant to get such a late start.
Red Barn Arena
Driving home the other day we had noticed some daisies needed deadheading in the roadside garden next door to the Red Barn. We rarely do one without the other, so we deadheaded and weeded at the barn first
Red Barn garden
One of our barrels at the Red Barn
In the field to the north, young equestrians practiced.
Amy watches her daughter.
Riding bareback in pajamas!
and jumping bareback
It’s all old hat for the dogs.
One of the two perennial barrels by the entrance to the barn property
The Evils of Round Up
I wll not name and shame the garden next door! However, when Allan was checking the garden along the road, where he had recently weeded just to prevent anyone from feeling the urge to use weedkiller, he found a small garden catastrophe.
roadside garden
This is what Round Up did to the painted sage that I had planted along the edge:
And there are no more for sale with which to replace these.
I called the garden owner who admitted it had been she who had sprayed, she thought so carefully. She rushed right home from work and we took the walk of shame down the edge of the garden. Her spouse joined us; he, too, had sprayed and said he will always spray as that is just what he does. His was the outside edge with the dead painted sage. Her inside edge of the garden was not as bad although some annual candytuft seedlings were blighted. I jocularly told him he had now gotten the title of Nozzlehead and could put N.H. after his name. And I told her that only because I do care enough to mope about the little dead plants am I good at my job; she agreed.
One thing I learned in Master Gardener class (even though I have to mention my dislike of the term Master Gardener) is that Round Up, when sprayed on a still day, can drift in a toxic cloud around your garden and kill plants even with no wind to blow it into the garden. I personally will not buy or use the stuff because I do not wish to give money to Monsanto.
The effect of Round Up on me: As we drove on, I started a new list of Questions for Potential New Clients, and here are the two questions to which the correct answer must be given:
The rules being: Clients MUST water and MUST NOT use Round Up, Crossbow, or any of those sorts of weedkillers.
We also learned that the roadside garden is going to go away. The trees that you can see on the left of the photo of that garden are going to be cut this fall, and tree fellers’ trucks will be driving on the garden area. The trees used to provide privacy with their lower limbs till the county right-of-way pruners whacked those limbs all off, so after the trees are cut, a fence will be built and the roadside garden will be no more…at least not as it is now. The plants will be saved by heeling them into a pile of mulch for the winter.
Basket Case Greenhouse
We had completely forgotten till she showed us that our client has asked us to plant something in a strawberry jar. A stop at The Basket Case for some sedums could be accomplished on our way north.
In the Basket Case perennial house
The pickings are getting slim at the Basket Case; it is a seasonal nursery and will be sold out of plants and closed by the end of July, and will not reopen till next spring. I would advise visiting soon while there are still cool perennials to be had…and there are!
These mixed dianthus are pretty and often come back although they are sold as annuals.
Wiegardt Gallery
Due to our upcoming trip, we have a three day work week and wanted to hit all but two of the north end jobs today. (We skipped Marilyn’s and Golden Sands this week.)
Wiegardt Gallery in Ocean Park
a lavender that I planted years ago, still going strong
Three Ilex ‘Sky Pencil’ on the south side; frustratingly, three different shades of green. Probably due to soaker hose location.
This Eryngium ‘Jade Frost’ (with chartreuse bells of Nicotiana langsdorfii) still has not coloured up. The small thistle flowers will turn from white to cobalt blue.
and on comes the macro for Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’
with a Knautia macedonica entwined
and a tall white Allium nigrum (multibulbosum)
Oman Builders Supply, Ocean Park
More deadheading of the Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’
in our fine looking and quite low maintenance garden
One little task was to remove the dead bulb foliage from the Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’. Like allium foliage, it always looks worst just when the flower looks best, and removing it always results in pulling a flower, or a few of them, by mistake.
my my my my my my my mistake
Queen Fabiola is so lovely I have to grow her anyway.
another shade of blue with California poppies
Papaver rhoeas (corn poppy, Flanders Field poppy)
I was distributing garden tour posters for Garden Tour Nancy today; one had gone to Basket Case, and now one got posted in the OBS window.
the store manager posts the poster
in a prime place
Klipsan Beach Cottages
three o clock in the garden
A robin bobbed along the fence when I entered the garden at KBC.
and gave me a suspicious look. (Kudos to the Tootlepedal blog for teaching me the many expressions of birds.)
Now if this rose were in my garden…out it would go.
Any amount of rain makes the petals brown off in an unsightly way.
Mary acquired the rose and defends it for its prolific flowers which do look good in a dry spell.
lily bloom and bud
Lily: ‘Landini’
iris ensata (Japanese iris)
Even though we worked at KBC six days before, we still got a wheelbarrow load of debris out of the garden.
Andersen’s RV Park
Andersen’s poppy field
Allan fertilized the west side container gardens and then set to weeding around the poppy field. I weeded here and there, everywhere but the garden shed garden.
While I pulled some weeds in the west side garden, a gust of wind billowed the Stipa tenuissima like a cloud and I thought it was a big furry dog running up to me.
The Payson Hall planters are more wildflowery this year as California poppies and red poppies reseeded.
Last week a guest said “Your wildflowers are so charming!”
The picket fence garden
Lily…’Landini’ again or ‘Black Out’
the eye popping orange lily and blue Baptisia combo almost at its peak
Orange lilies and Agastache ‘Summer Glow’
The sweet peas are coming up along the picket fence, still too short to climb; I encouraged some with bits of twine.
the two roses on the cottage, west and south sides
And of course….
Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’
with bees and bees and bees
a pollen-laden bee on a Cosmos
Helianthemum ‘Ben Nevis’ (I think)
KBC had gotten a garden tour poster, and so did Andersen’s.
office door
We could have used more time weeding the west bed (and I would dearly love to have had a look at the Golden Sands garden) but at six o clock, we went on to our last job of the day. I was mighty tired by then and when I suddenly remembered that it was Deadliest Catch night on telly, I felt revitalized with anticipation of seeing crabbers work much, much harder than we ever do.
The Anchorage Cottages
Anchorage center courtyard
Calla lily (top), lily (middle), Melianthus major (bottom)
office courtyard in evening light
By the time of our arrival, the office was closed, so I just slipped the garden tour poster under the door and hope to see it in the window next time we come.
At home, greenhouse tomato watering was followed by chores such as laundry as we try to prepare to leave. I walked through the garden and imagined that our houseguest will enjoy it while we are gone, and I put some alder wood in the fire circle in case she decides to have friends over for a campfire.
Tangly Cottage Gardening 