Friday, September 7, 2007
Here are a few more photos of gardens I admire at the Port of Ilwaco.
The Azure Salon garden, simple but very attractive. It was a knockout earlier in the season when pink balls of sea thrift were in full bloom.
Just west of there, these old...things...
used to be planted with good sedums and
such. Buy this old cannery and
revive these containers! We need a
pure espresso cafe here...espresso and
pastries. The Port has wi fi so it
would be a good place for tourists
to check their email. Right now,
Ilwaco has a charming tea house
an espresso/fish ‘n’ chips place, but no
true espresso bar.
The columnar pear trees we (a group of volunteers) planted last spring are doing well in streetside plantings along with ornamental grasses and lavender, and here’s another shot (above right) of that boat we planted at Time Enough Books.
Almost to the west end of the Port, Nautical Brass has a good display of hostas (below left) in pots, to lure folks to go up to owners Dirk and Jane’s other wonderful business, Seaview’s English Nursery. Their parking lot garden is anchored by a show-offy huge Arundo donax (below right). I must admit when we weeded that garden for them five seasons ago I snicked a piece of Arundo for myself! I still want to acquire the variegated one.
Further west along the chainlink fence of the drydock boatyard are the remnants of my once fabulous boatyard garden. Ah, in the glory days about ten years ago it was truly an amazing explosion of colour and interest and collectible plants, if I do say so myself. Because I had begun it as a self-inspired volunteer project, and then had gotten terribly busy with work, it had become sort of an albatross, so I wasn’t too sorry when it had to be dug up to lay new power lines. The Port replaced it, kind of, but mostly by adding pampas grass. Some of the perennials have fought back through holes in the landscape fabric and round rock they laid down, but bindweed and horsetail has found it even easier to sneak through and cover the plants. All the good topsoil was scraped away, and the weeding of the garden (which the Port hired me to do a few times since) has become a horrible proposition of rolling rocks around. So here are some photos from the days of yore when it was a happy sight (top right is during Rod Run back when that event actually had a parade of cars around the whole Peninsula):
The Port is humming with the Rod Run slow drag tonight. Allan is there; I’m not. My usual habit of holing up at home (with good snacks) till Rod Run is over is complicated by the fact that this year the annual Cannon Beach Cottage tour falls on Rod Run Saturday: tomorrow.
