Tangly Cottage Gardening

Black Lake

at home

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Fortunately, Ilwaco has a fireworks ban which, with just one scofflaw who set off some loud late night booms (even into the following week), gave us a peaceful, quiet time.

I started to roughly sift compost bin one, which turned out to be very productive.

1:30 P.M.:

3:02 P.M.:

5:05 P.M.:

Reached the bottom at 5:55 P.M.:

Bin two heaped high:

Sunday, 5 July 2026

Allan went boating nearby, which will be tomorrow’s post.

I put cardboard on the bottom of bin one to keep weeds at bay.

I had planned some weeding but the lure of sifting compost bin three was too strong.

I had to trim my Acacis pravissima a bit to get at it.

2:01 P.M;

It gave me only one load.

3:30 P.M.:

Bin three is going to be a storage area for big pots for awhile.

I had way too many angelica seedlings from ‘Vicar’s Mead’ along one path and cleared it to find small special plants that were hidden underneath….small because they had not seen the light since spring.

While weeding that area, a tiny thorn from the Eryngium pandanifolium to the right imbedded itself invisibly into my right little finger.

A female California scrub jay screamed at me the whole time. I wonder if she has a nest nearby.

Obstacle course while doing my practice walking indoors in the evening:

Monday, 6 July 2026

Obstacle course while doing morning practice walk:

Bin one was starting to refill with new material, including yesterday’s angelica.

Bin two was heaped even higher with the debris from bin three. I want to leave it alone for a bit to see how long it takes to sink down.

Tuesday, 7 July 2026

While weeding the front driveway bed, I was suddenly inspired to move one more vault, with Allan’s help. I had been waiting to move the vault when the Stipa barbata is waning…

…but I may leave that one there permanently. We moved another one to the back patio instead.

The project when it began (June 20th), in order to make it less horrendously difficult to weed:

And now:

This had involved sifting the last half can of composted kitchen scraps to spread there (didn’t get much)…

All the ready compost is now sifted and moved. Now I will have to wait till bin two has something ready for me.

I enjoyed the view of Callistemon ‘Woodlander’s Hardy Red’…

…and a baby swallow (telephoto so as not to bother it):

I squeezed a good extra blue echinops into the back garden…

…where I have very little room for new plants. I managed to get jammed with another invisible thorn, this time in my right index finger.

Meanwhile, Allan had been installing some pipes, given to me by our now retired, wonderful plumber Don Andersen. I found room for two plants in there but need some big funnels (I ordered some) for the tops of the lower pipes. I probably stole this idea from Danger Garden.

Before:

I had thoroughly crushed my little, low rollator hauling buckets of compost. Allan fixed it.

We had skipped today’s rally in Ocean Park, as had our rally buddy, and I felt a little guilty. Tomorrow, we will get back to our rallying job.

Thursday, 2 July 2026

at home

Obstacle course while doing an indoor walk…

Thinking about the daunting (for me) prospect of walking “in the wild”, I searched and found this, AI generated though (sorry). But I only found, in my brief search, one clinic back east that actually talked on their website about doing outdoor walking with physical therapy patients. In all my visits to the Astoria hospital, I have never seen any sign of physiotherapists taking their patients for walkies.

I read some of my current memoir by Cecil Beaton today. My photographic record (usually the only way I remember what happened on a not very memorable day) shows nothing else other than a catnap.

Friday, 3 July 2026

We attended two rallies in Ilwaco, each with heavy traffic because it was the first day of a three day July 4th weekend. I was surprised at the number of positive responses, since that holiday draws a crowd heavily weighted toward blowing things up. While true we had an unusual number of hostile shouts, we also had many and many honks, whoops, and waves of appreciation.

Ilwaco stoplight rally

I must admit that my rally buddy and I found a spot in the shade and thus were back aways from the sidewalk. It was kind of hot out.

Ilwaco hospital rally

We then went straightaway to the health care themed rally.

Allan took a movie, I posted it on TikTok.

@tanglycottagegardens

#healthcareforall #savemedicaid #universalhealthcare #wholewashington #smalltownprotest @Whole Washington We have still been attending six rallies a week but it was peak gardening season so haven’t made videos for awhile. Back at it!

♬ We Didn’t Start The Fire – Fall Out Boy

It is sad that many of the lyrics of the original version of that song are also still so relevant.

Now for three, and maybe even for days off from our rallying “job”. No rally in downtown Long Beach on Saturday the fourth, as there would be no parking available. I am pleased to report that the Saturday rally has been changed to noon for future weeks, and not by us, which means we can enjoy an earlier time that won’t cut our afternoon in half while not being responsible to be there early to set up and welcome people.

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

I made an eight minute walk around the garden video this morning at ten AM. It shows many paths. Do turn the sound ON to get the full ambience of the foggy morning.

Here it is, claiming to be available whether or not you are a Facebook user.

Chinook

It was a two rally day. I worried that only Allan and I would show up at the Chinook rally because our two rally friends from the “core four” were out of town. We are trying to make this rally happen every week instead of every other week. The group that started it has an every other week rally in Warrenton. The Chinook one being every other week makes it confusing for locals who aren’t in “group chats”.

One of our rally friends drove by on her way to an appointment. Indeed, the rally started with just two of us…

…which did not feel as scary and sad as I thought it would. . I rejoiced when I saw a vehicle turning into the parking lot and hoped it was one of ours.

It had two!

The darling dog is aptly named Joy.

We saw our rally buddy heading by for an appointment and knew she’d be glad we were not alone.

We got honks and waves from other enthusiastic passersby…

…including a good friend of ours…

Then a woman who drove by joined us…

…and toward the end, another woman who had just got off work, so we stayed an extra fifteen minutes to rally with her.

After a couple of hours at home to get the watering and other tasks done (including getting one plant from Cistus Nursery with wonderful foliage scent planted…..

…we were off again to an evening rally.

Long Beach

I missed my rally buddy who was still out of town. I was finding it hard to look to the left without dizziness, which meant it took me awhile to get situated so that I could look toward oncoming traffic. We had enthusiastic passersby and a family group from out of town who and travel with appropriate signage and joined us during the rally.

As always, the way the faces of many drivers by and passengers light up with joy when they see us, far more than the few who give thumbs down or worse, keeps us going. It’s good to share hope for a better world.

Photos taken the few days before for Six on Saturday, hosted by the Garden Ruminations blog. Plants I enjoyed in the garden this week.

one:

Sysyrinchium ‘Quaint and Queer’. It is cute and I love the name.

two:

Oriental and Orientpet lilies. I had lily virus last year and had to tear out quite a few. A big wheelie bin full. Broke my heart. I still have some resistant ones…

…and some I bought and grew in large pots, where they are not getting anything like as tall as they would in the ground. I liked tall plants. I (unfairly) find tall people especially attractive, too, for some reason. It’s just a quirk and never influenced who I actually like. My love for tall plants doesn’t leave me as much room as I need for short plants, though. I mostly grow them in containers.

3. A dahlia which I grew from seed last year, with surprise at how easy it was. They all wintered over successfully in big pots left outside.

4. An abutilon that a friend gave me.

5. Callistemon ‘Woodlander’s Hardy Red’ looking more spectacular every week.

The flowers are soft to touch.

6. A daylily. I’m don’t have many (two, in fact) but I do like this one.

(Two days worth because this blog has fallen a little too far behind real time.)

Monday, 29 June 2026

at home

Today was a significant day. We officially closed our gardening business which I started in 1994. Allan wanted me to click the finalise button on the licensing website, and I just did not want to, so he did. I felt too weepy and emotional. The overhead is just too high for the small amount we made last year: business insurance, $500, city of Ilwaco license, $125.00, nursery license $90.00, etc etc.

Before I could get mopey, a tomato-growing local gardener texted me to see if she could visit the garden with a friend. Of course! So in the afternoon, Jenn and Devon enthusiastically toured every path in the garden….

…and were the first to try out the sit spot that was completed yesterday.

They also posed under the gunnera…

..and explored the deep holloway paths.

Before they arrived, I had worked on the front driveway garden, planting some more plants where the vaults used to be….

…and potted some shade plants, but oddly photographed only two tags and no plants.

Oh, I know why, because I was hurrying to get the plants properly displayed before the friends arrived.

I had made a five minute garden tour video an hour before Jenn and Devon arrived. You can watch it whether or not you are a member of Facebook, here. Sound up for full ambience! By the time they visited an hour later, the neighbors had moved to the open air field rather than the roofed, partly open sound-amplifying room behind our garden. Even then, our guests noticed the carrying voice of the one we call the Screamer. I am not joking or trying to be mean when I say that little girl could have a future as a stage actor. She knows how to project.

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

We attended the weekly rally at the main Ocean Park intersection.

(For folks across the pond: When Trump declared himself to be a king, and posted memes of himself as such, the slogan that the movement has adopted was relevant. I wish the overall slogan was more timely. But it is one that has stuck. While I am not a royalist, and I think Scotland should have independence if the majority desires it, I do think King Charles is a pretty good fellow, an environmentalist and a gardener.)

We stopped by for some peace and quiet at Galaxy’s garden where Allan is clearing a path through a woodsy spot. I did my evening practice walk on Galaxy’s road,

As long as I am walking by a hedge or big shrub, I am not too scared, but I am finding it very hard to cross open areas (using a cane). If I do a kind of two step, somewhat related to dancing, I can do it (as I found today in the Galaxy garden) but not just by ordinary walking. Dance stepping down a sidewalk or across a town street would get me on youtube and not in a flattering way. In a secret garden, it works.

Saturday, 27 June 2026

Astoria, Oregon

We had walked several blocks from our parking space to the Pride march, photos of which were yesterday’s post. The church garden shown below is pretty. This church carried a banner declaring All are Welcome in the parade.

Many shops and the lamp posts had Pride banners.

I didn’t look at the scenery because I found it surprisingly and discouragingly difficult and scary to walk with a cane on sidewalks and to cross streets.

That’s my Minnesota loon banner:

When we got to the river walk, I had found a place where I could stand next to a post, feeling pretty secure.

Allan walked off to take photos, as planned.

I then saw a much better place to stand a block west and slowly worked my way along a building and around cars to get there. I got hung up with fear at the last street crossing and asked some nice women to just walk me kitty corner to the fence (the Wine Kraft patio). I had known that if I waited I would find some nice women heading for the march. With that fence to lean on, I felt more secure and relaxed.

After the parade went by, getting back to our parking place was even worse because what confidence I had was waning by the block. Allan isn’t trained to keep pace with a frightened person like a physical therapist would, so although he did his best, my fear kept giving me a hitch in my walking where I hesitated because it was difficult to make myself take the next step, the right foot always being the one that hesitated or shuffled. I had my music on open-ear headphones and kept saying “Faster!” Faster is better, less time to worry over every step. But he could not hear the beat. There was much pausing and touching of buildings both going to and returning from the parade. (I didn’t know Allan was taking these pictures.)

Instead of going straight to our vehicle, we walked out of the way as far as the block party at Fort George Brewery. When we reached it, all I could see was tables outside with some beer on offer. Although I think more was going on inside, I was at the end of my energy, so we left there to return to our vehicle, with an obstacle course as we went around the building.

We had detoured around the building to see the wonderful garden above the brewery, cared for by our friend Jessica Schleif.

I couldn’t let go of the gatepost to walk around the level paths of the small garden. Or rather, I could not make myself let go.

Allan took some photos farther in.

We then managed to go grocery shopping and got some H blocks for a project.

at home

As soon as I was in my own garden, I could walk around with a cane with no hitch in my step, as proven by my having gotten to the bogsy wood for this photo by our giant gunnera.

Since I do not have a physical hitch in my walking giddyup when walking indoors or in the garden, I do not see how physical therapy can help me with this fear. Not unless there is a physical therapist who could walk around the town with me, and I have never in all my visits to the hospital over the years seen anything like that going on! And maybe I need mental therapy rather than physical therapy.

I do know the fear came from a regression to feeling vertiginous. A couple of days later, I did the modified “deep head hang” and it did help somewhat. You tilt your head back but don’t hang it off the end of a bed, then, when the flying into space feeling stops, sit up fast and tuck your chin to try to get your ear crystal back into place. The modified version doesn’t trigger extreme flying into space feelings like the full deep head hang, and even though I know I should try the real deal, I hate that feeling so much I keep putting it off. It felt safer during physical therapy in the clinical environment than at home. And in the therapy setting, it is what pretty much cured me for several months.

I sometimes reflect about how much easier life was when I was reconciled to using the rollator for the rest of my life. Yet I enjoy what walking I can do and appreciate every small improvement.

Cats in the evening:

Saturday, 27 June 2026

Riverwalk, Astoria, Oregon

There are two groups in Astoria that each put on a parade (I can’t explain why because I don’t live there, although I wish I did live there!). This was the second of the two parades; the first one was earlier this month and we didn’t make it to that one.

I would like to give a shout out to the nice manager or bartender from WineKraft who told me I could sit at any of the chairs without buying anything and then brought out a basket so I could pick out a Pride stickers or a paper lei!

Allan’s photos:

The tugboat was honking in support of the rally.

Allan said the two folks below have been to one of our open garden days! I hope they visit again.

When the parade reached my standing spot, I took some photos as it passed by. Here comes the Riverfront Trolley!

The woman holding the “Fight Back” sign was someone familiar from our rallies on the Washington side of the river. Because of my face blindness, I didn’t realise that while I was there!

I was so glad for everyone that we had good weather after all!

Thursday, 25 June 2026

at home

Going to rallies is like work. I loved my work as a gardener but not as much as I loved being home. I find the rallies comforting but would rather be home, so our three non-rally days each week feel like days off.

Yesterday, I got two wall planters by the garage door planted with some annuals I’d bought at Fred Meyer.

Next to it, a blue clematis…

Next to it, in the back garden, Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ looks a little dry climbing over the arbor that my late former spouse, Robert, welded.

I did my evening walk in the house because of a rainy day. The usual obstacle course….

Skooter stayed out of the way. He is going on 13 and 1/2 years old.

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Friday, 26 June 2026

Ilwaco stoplight

We approached the two rally day in pretty much dry weather, just a light intermittent mist. I almost always take my rollator to hold my water bottles, two speakers, headphones, and a jacket that may need to be doffed or put on. I would say whether I need it for not except that I still feel a need of it for security even if I don’t touch it during the rally.

The mist seemed to get almost indiscernibly heavier.

Then the rain earnestly increased and the wind whipped up, making it hard for me to hold my sign while being pushed from behind.

By the time it was over, I felt drenched to the bone.

I checked my messages and was relieved to learn that the Save Rural Hospitals rally that comes right after the stoplight rally had been canceled for today. We went straight home to dry clothes and for me, a hot cup of Builders’. Britain wasn’t built on chamomile!

Skooter and Faerie had stayed cozy sleeping together, surely not his choice.

Tomorrow, photos of the Pride rally in Astoria. My own story of walking in Astoria will wait for another day because I don’t want my balance problems to distract from the event photos. (Don’t worry, there was no falling down, no twisted ankles, or anything like that.)