Late Fall in the Garden: Not Much Left

Last year's winter lasted until summer rolled around in late July. Then we had a week here & there of summer & now we're getting ready for another El Niño winter. Bottom line: storms & generally bad weather ahead. I try to keep from complaining when I see the real hardships caused by the weather in other parts of the country, but it's hard. These hard winters wreak havoc on my garden, & then there's always downed trees & the loss of power, sometimes lasting for days.

The yellows, whites & pinks of my spring & summer garden have faded & I'm left with the hardiest of fall blooms. Still, here & there struggling Cecile Brunner pink rosebuds catch the low, slanted late afternoon sun & my spurges--a Mediterranean plant I saw all over Croatia--seem prettier at this time of year.

I love my Cecile Bruner ever-blooming antique rose climbers that, for me have required very little care. I let them have their head, pruning back heavily every few years just to keep them within the space provided, which never seems to be enough. It is one of those roses that surprised me with its growth. Many people complain that it's a house eater. I guess I didn't read the description carefully enough. Somewhere, in some garden column, I read there are 2 Cecile Bruner roses, one of which is a climber, & I unknowingly bought the climber. Don't know if this is true. Now that I have them, however, I'd never give them up.

Another of Our Public Beaches

I think this beach on the north side of the island has a particularly interesting history. In the late 19th & early 20th Centuries the island was heavily logged. In fact, even though today the island is covered predominantly with Douglas Fir trees it's extremely difficult to find any over the age of 50-75 years old. The magnificent tall & straight trunks were logged primarily for ship masts of the day & sent all over the world.

Until the logs were ready to be shipped to various places, including Europe & Asia, they were "stored" in a bay that overlooks the mainland & one of the snow covered mountains of the Cascade Range. One could walk from log to log clear across the bay, but such an exercise was dangerous. The lumber company eventually decided to build a bridge clear across the bay.

In the mid-1940s the lumber company closed the business and today all that's left are a few poles that supported the bridge across the bay, which can be seen in the top two photos. The bottom photo is part of a walkway installed by the county, making a portion of the beach wheelchair accessible. Across the bay one of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains can be seen in the bottom photo.

I Loathe "Island Time"

I love almost everything about living on this island, so I can complain about my pet peeve, which I attribute to the prevalent attitude called "island time".

I've mentioned this before, but I can't help mentioning it again. You need some kind of service--cleaning roof moss, mending something that broke, garden help, etc. You call the person you need, leave a voicemail giving your name, phone number & what it is you want done. Then you sit & wait. If you're lucky you get a return call in 3-4 days, but usually it's more.

If I were in the business of providing services I would return the call the same day I received it, regardless of how busy I was. Even if it meant I couldn't possibly get to the job for several weeks I'd tell the person that. But here the attitude is "Well, I'm too busy to get to it so I won't call until I have the time." It's far more polite, if you will, to at least let the caller know you got the message & to give an estimate of how long it will be before you can show up.

Is that asking too much???

Small Cove Traps Driftwood

Our island is a haven for driftwood collectors, but the driftwood is mainly tree trunks. Even if you have the equipment to deal with what amounts to full sized trees, however, you're out of luck since it's against the law to remove anything from public or private land. This particular collection is not within a park so it must be privately owned. I've never checked it out. I just come & look at it every once in awhile.

As you can see all the driftwood has collected in one spot here & not the sides, although only one side is visible in the photo. This body of water is a small, oval shaped cove with a small opening at the bottom, or south end. As the winter winds, which come from the south, blow these driftwood logs through the small opening at the bottom of the cove, they collect at the north end since there is nowhere else to go.

Invaded by Bald Faced Hornets

Before my husband got stung twice neither of us had ever heard of bald-faced hornets, but after his research there could be no doubt. Then we discovered 3 hives under the eaves outside & one under the deck. (Bottom photo. I neglected to take a photo before one of the eave hives was obliterated, but it was right in the corner in the middle photo.) Getting rid of the deck hive was a problem because there was fencing around it & it would be quite a job removing it just to get at a hive.

All this time I thought it was bees buzzing around my lambs ears flowers (second photo), but apparently each species is

drawn to different flowers. I was a little more careful, when, on closer inspec-

tion I saw the lambs ears buzzing was caused by hornets.

There was no alternative but to call the exterminator. He confirmed my husband's identification & went about his business. They no longer use poison spray directly on the hive. A less lethal spray is now used on the area surrounding the hive. It attracts the hornets, they eat it & die. What else can you do when wildlife like this becomes a real pest.

And speaking of wildlife our robins did not return this year to raise their 2 or 3 broods. It seems to me I read that robins have about a 3 year life expectancy, so it could be they'd reached theirs. Despite the hassle of their trying to build a next on our window ledges & the resulting mess under the windows, we missed them.

We haven't seen a coyote yet this summer, either!

One of Our Few Public Beaches

There aren't many areas on the island that are open to the public because most of the land is owned by private individuals. Almost all that are public are owned by either the state or the county, but they're all a delight to visit, because none of them are ever very crowded & have remained almost pristine. And, to be truthful, they aren't always easy to find since they're not well signed.

Some of these public areas belonged to private individuals who donated them, others were bought & donated by friends of the park system, & still others were bought directly by the county or state. The one on the right is on a spit on the east side of the island that used to be privately owned. It's quite popular since it has a lengthy sandy beach, & residents regularly bring their children to play. However, popular doesn't mean crowded.

The shoreline on the northeast side of the island consists of a number of bays & coves & the people who live on this side enjoy watching the sun rise, while those of us on the west side swear by our glorious sunsets. A lot of driftwood collects in the east side bays because they have nowhere else to go but to collect along the sides or dead end of the large bay on the north end, blown there by our winter winds which come from the south. Across the bay the Cascade Mountains frame this bucolic scene, although they are difficult to see in my photos because of the clouds.

This is a fabulous birdwatching area. Over 125 species of birds have been spotted, including eagles, hawks, shorebirds, great blue herons, chickadees, hummingbirds, & thrushes. In the fall snow geese & trumpeter swans use the area as a stopping off place on their migration route.

Our Island is Part Funky/Artsy

We have a lot of highly regarded artists on the island, and every Mother's Day weekend they organize an art crawl at which art lovers drive from studio to studio to view artists' work. One artist serves up a double treat, of not only his art, but an absolutely fabulous garden he & his wife have constructed over the years. It looks like it's professionally installed & cared for, but they do it all themselves.

Two photos on the upper right illustrate another of our artists, whose lair on his woodsy lot can be identified by this delightfully designed gate & metal sculpture.

The bottom photo is the funkiest of 3 small grocery stores we have. In addition to those stores we have a strip mall style shopping center, close to the center of the island, with a "supermarket" which most people use.

Developer Leaves the State

Several weeks ago I learned the most egregious developer on the island--in my opinion anyway-- apparently became disheartened by all the flak he was getting from our island watchdog group & moved to sunnier climes (out of the state) to wreak havoc there. He & his partner have consistently thrown temper tantrums at hearings because of all the money they said they were losing due to delays/objections that were thrown in their way, so I guess he got fed up enough to get the clue and leave. The property is now up for sale in 4 parcels.

While his plans were still under review he took the liberty of installing light poles for the parking lot of what was to be a strip mall, so now the property has been nicknamed Light Pole Park. Our island is mostly hilly & woodsy, so this flat, dry piece of property is an anomaly.

2010-11 The Longest Winter

The entire Seattle area is still complaining about the terrible winter, & the weatherman confirmed it by declaring it the worst winter in fifty years. Unlike the rest of the country we weren't snowed in or rained out, although we did get more than our share of rain. It was just plain bone-chilling cold. In cold weather my garden usually loses some of my favorites & gains more weeds, so my pale attempt to grow lavender in front of the garden house has proved futile. Most of it has died. It will give me a chance to try out a new species I've seen in several gardens.

My roses have suffered too, although a few bushes seem to have thrived on the cold. The new growth at this time of year always draws the neighborhood deer. They love the tender new rose growth, but I've learned that underplanting the bushes with garlic will generally keep them away. We have two pair of young deer who make the rounds at least once a day & one of the four is so pale as to be almost white. I'm hoping to get a photo of her sometime. We did have an albino deer on the other side of the island. The newspaper would print a yearly photo of it in someone's garden, but then it was killed by a car. Deer don't last many years around here.

Here it is the end of June & I think we've had a total of half a dozen really nice sunny & warm days when we could be outside. Both my husband & I were quite ill this winter so the weather didn't contribute anything to our sense of well-being. We were desperately longing for a wonderfully warm spring after the horrible winter. But our house is still in tact so we are grateful we weren't wiped out like so many were.

Photos

Top: This winter killed the lavender

Bottom: The lavender in a better year

Rose Tree a Year Later

My "Rose Tree" changes a little bit every year, so I make sure to take photos in order to track the changes. This year there is less growth outward, facing our house, & more growth on the opposite side. Branches have grabbed nearby trees & grown in that direction, giving the impression that our Sequoia & Douglas Firs have pink blooms at the top.

This rose is Paul's Himalayan Musk & needs plenty of space to stretch out. It's a perfect rose to grow on dead trees, which is where I originally planted it. For last year's photo go to:

http://lifeonislandtime.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-rose-tree.html