Travels with George and Marta – Page 4 – Journeys in the Botanical World

Catherine Creek – Columbia Gorge

Posted on March 29, 2015 by martaJune 28, 2015

Rowland Lake and Columbia River from Catherine Creek trail

March 21, 2015

The Columbia Gorge is a mecca for wildflower lovers – especially the Eastern end. Many years ago, we hiked Dog Mountain mid-May and we were astounded at meadows thick with golden balsamroot and purple lupine. Combine this with beautiful vistas up and down the Columbia Gorge and it is always a winner.

The bloom season is running about two weeks early this year. We decided to drive down on a Friday night and stay the weekend. It is about a 4 hour drive to Hood River in good traffic. Well, it was not good traffic and it ended up taking us 5 1/2 hours to drive. It was just 2 1/2 hours to get out of the Puget Sound.

The sun peaked out of the clouds on Saturday morning and it looked like a great day. We took advantage of the included breakfast at the Best Western and made it to the trailhead by 9am. The meadow was already in bloom with lots of death camas and purple shooting starts.

The trail meanders up through oaks. Many vernal pools and small streams created small mossy gardens. We were right on the edge of the rain and the day was misty. It made it very difficult to take photographs especially with a bit of west wind. But it did give us lots of rainbows.

You reach a ridge overlooking Rowland Lake. The rocky basalt is filled with small little gems and also lots of poison oak so it kept G on the trail. The trail continues to climb along the rim and then crosses a grassy hilltop underneath power lines before coming to the ridge crest. At this point, we headed right and into the forest. The trail steadily descends before turning east and dropping into the Catherine Creek Basin. Views of the rocky basalt cliffs on the eastern side of Catherine Creek and the rocky arch. The hike took about 2-3 hours with a lot of stops for photos and wildflowers.

We drove back over the river and headed east on the Oregon side to the Rowena Vista. We had our sandwiches and decided to walk a short ways out on the Rowena Plateau. The flowers were very similar and the weather was cloudy so we only hiked a short while before deciding to return to Hood River.

We stopped at Pfriem for an excellent pint – IPA for G and a Belgium sour for me. We went back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to Double Mountain Brewery for Pizza – it took us a while to be seated and even long for the pizza – it was very good but it did seem a long time.

Sun was just setting so we took a walk around the main part of Hood River looking in the windows before returning back to our hotel.

Sunrise over Columbia River

Meadows at Catherine Creek Trailhead

View west – Columbia River and Rowland Lake

View east – Columbia River

Stairclimb – Blaine and Howe

Posted on March 28, 2015 by martaMarch 28, 2015

Streissguth Gardens

We went to REI today to buy new sleeping bags for our Madagascar Expedition. Today was the 20% off members so we used our coupon to save some money on our new bags. These will be nice since we both have old down bags. I bought my bag in high school which makes it over 40 years old – hey! – it still keeps me warm and we bough G’s probably in the late 70’s which makes it over 30 years old.

We bought two lighter synthetic bags. This will do well great in the summer also. They are both mummy style which will be different. We’re also looking at boots and packs so we are watching the sales.

I suggested doing the stairs at Blaine and Howe Streets. I used these stairs for conditioning when I worked at WRQ. I realized that was over 20 years ago (circa early 1990’s). Very easy drive up from REI Seattle,

We started by climbing up the Blaine street stairs. At the Broadway, we took a moment to walk through the Streissguth Gardens. Absolutely lovely! Tulips, bluebells, azaleas, primroses, red currents, maples, magnolias – and other spring beauties in bloom. And the views! Several excellent views over Lake Union to Space Needle, Queen Anne and north. At the top, we walked a block over to Howe Street and down and up the stairs on Howe Street before returning back down Blaine Stairs.
Fun 30 minutes. I’m a little sore but it was worth it!

Bottom of Blaine Street Stairs

Streissguth Gardens

Lake Union and Queen Anne Hill from Streissguth Gardens

View of Space Needle and South Lake Union from Streissguth Gardens

Looking north from Streissguth Gardens

Going down.. Howe Street Stairs

Spring Nursery Hopping – Flower World

Posted on March 3, 2015 by martaMarch 8, 2015

The last nursery that we visited was Flower World. This has become a mecca for many gardeners. They grow a lot of one type of plant and the prices are low. If they have what you want and you are knowledgeable, you can find some tremendous bargains. Their selection of house plants is excellent. I am not as enthusiastic since it seems to always be the same and don’t expect to find the latest hot variety.

We had a couple of items – in particular a Spiraea for the front bed so we definitely found several items for our car hatch.

Bunnies for Easter!

Brugmansias by the table and good priced. But we didn’t need any.

Colorful tropical house plants

Flower World

Heather

Forsythia

Someday we’ll explore the park-like grounds and exotic birds but not today

Early Spring in Bellevue Botanical Garden

Posted on March 2, 2015 by martaMarch 8, 2015

We usually make our first visit to the Bellevue Botanical Garden in April but this year has been so mild and warm so we did an early March Spring visit.

The day was sunny but still quite chilly. Daffodils were starting to bloom. Lots of hellebores. I wish they hadn’t planted as many of the dark maroon colored varieties. I found them to blend in with the dark soil. It is a good time to see the structure and bones of the garden. We still haven’t been to the ravine bridge – another trip.

Perennial beds

Vegetable garden – cages to protect from the rabbits

Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ – we picked up one of these later at Flower World

Edgeworthia chrysantha – this plant is doing so well this year with the milder winter. Every nursery had a plant and several garden cultivars were stunning.

Daphniphyllum teijsmanni – I love the tropical look. This is also hardy potentially to -10! It would be perfect for here in PNW but seems to be very rare in the nursery trade.

Daphniphyllum teijsmannii

Spring Nursery Hopping – Wells Medina Nursery

Posted on March 1, 2015 by martaMarch 8, 2015

Sunday we decided to go to the Eastside. On tap for the day was Wells Medina Nursery, a visit to Bellevue Botanical Garden and Flower World.

First up was Wells Medina Nursery. I was a little disappointed in it after Sky and Swanson’s. It is definitely lighter on displays but if you take the time to explore the different beds you can find a lot of unique plants. There were a lot of similar items – bulbs, hellebores, roses, flowering bushes. But nothing did catch our fancy and end up in the car hatch.

Palm / Tropical house – protection for the tender plants

Tetrapanax

Rhododendron lath house

Edgeworthia chrysantha

Helleborus ‘Winter Moonbeam’

Specimen quality Yucca rigida

Spring Nursery Hopping – Swanson Nursery

Posted on February 28, 2015 by martaMarch 8, 2015

Next up was Swanson’s Nursery. We wanted to time this to have lunch in their great Seasons Cafe. What a riot of color as we walked in – Primroses – Tulips – Daffodils – Hellebores. They also had a great sale on hellebores – 25% off so I picked up the Hellebore. I thought I wanted Cinnamon Snow that I had seen at the Seattle Arboretum but I didn’t like how it looked later in the season. G mentioned it might be nice if the hellebore also had some interesting foliage. Hmmm… I looked further and decide that I really liked Winter Moonbeam . I liked the silver veins on the leaves, the compact growth and the bright blooms. It will go great in a shady bed we have with a Magnolia sieboldii and primroses.

We had a great lunch of sandwiches and soup in the Seasons Cafe. It was a good place to warm up. The cold wind started to blow. But we still had time to quickly cruise the nursery. We really loved the Edgeworthia chrysantha. We had one several years ago but it never thrived and finally died. We are tempted every spring.

Swansons also has a great bare root select of shrubs. G was excited to find Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’ which he was looking for to provide some winter color to the front bed. Our friend also recommended a Amber Jubilee Ninebark for some gold color to the bed. The bareroot shrubs were 40% off which made it even better!

Colorful Primroses	Iris reticulata
Anemone	Anemone
Seasons Cafe	Koi
Clematis armandii	Magnolia
Edgeworthia chrysantha	Edgeworthia chrysantha
Bareroot stock	Our purchases

Spring Nursery Hopping – Sky Nursery

Posted on February 27, 2015 by martaSeptember 19, 2021

Coffee shop at Sky Nursery

The first nursery we visited was my local nursery – Sky Nursery. G worked at Sky for over 10 years before retiring. We have loved seeing how it has changed over the years. The biggest recent change was building the new greenhouse. This is a great space and it has given them so much more room. They now have a great indoor plant room, a coffeeshop, lots of great seasonal plants and they host several interesting plant shows (Odd Plant, Puget Sound Dahlia). The displays are really inspiring and well done.

The nursery stock is also one of the best in the region. Right now, there is a full stock of roses. They were receiving an interesting shipment of species Rhodies including several big leaf and species varieties (Sino-grande, fictolacteum, Rex, spinuliferum). G was interested more in shrubs so we bought a Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and Fothergilla × intermedia ‘Blue Shadow’ for the front bed.



	Everyone needs more Muscari

Hellebores
Extensive selection of Roses	Species Rhodies including Sino-Grande

Nursery Hopping

Posted on February 26, 2015 by martaMarch 1, 2015

Our gardening friend from Spokane is visiting this weekend. He used to work with my husband at the old Seattle Garden Center in the Pike Place Market. He typically visits during the flower show but he was unable to make it earlier in February. It is such fun to visit nurseries with him since he is an excellent plantsman and very knowledgeable about plants and shrubs and how they grow in the PNW. He will really enjoy a break from the Inland Empire cold and will love our early spring.

Tentative plans are to visit Northern Seattle nurseries on Friday and then Eastside on Saturday. My husband has been working on the large bed in the front yard facing the street. He wants to add some structure with some shrubs so we have a list. I also want a hellebore – potentially Cinnamon Snow or another one from the ‘Gold’ Collection of hybrids.

Previous posts – Nursery Hopping February 2011

Driving on the beach

Posted on February 18, 2015 by martaFebruary 25, 2015

Roosevelt Beach near Pacific Beach Washington

The forecast for the weekend was excellent. We are having an early spring and the prediction was for sun and temperatures around 60 degrees.

The drive to Ocean Shores takes about 2 1/2 hours from Seattle. As you head west from Olympia, the road narrows and the houses become sparser and the moss thicker. This area is one of the wetest areas of Washington. We were so happy it was not raining.

We made a brief stop in Montesano. I wanted to pick up some cracked corn for Mr and Mrs Duck who is back again this year. It would also be an opportunity to check out Lake Sylvia State Park. The feed store was fun – they had a bunch of chicks under lights. Lake Sylvia was okay. It looked like it had a couple of good trails but it is too far of a drive for a winter hike.

We got to Ocean Shores just about at 1pm and decided to stop at Brenners for fish and chips. It was really a bad idea. They were super crowded and it took almost an hour for our food. We even had to sit on their outdoor patio which was freezing even with the propane heaters. After all the wait, it wasn’t that good.

Next we headed to Elk Head Brewery for a beer and to fill the growler. It was a funky little brewery with about 6 taps and some crazy locals. The beer is brewed mostly in Buckley and is not too bad.

Grays Harbor Country Courthouse Montesano

Elk Head Taproom

Elk Head Taproom Ocean Shores

We headed on up to Pacific getting to the rental just a bit after 4pm. We turned on the heat, unloaded the car and then headed to find the beach which was actually very close. We drove out onto the hard packed sand to watch the sundown.

The rental is very well equipped and nicely remodeled. We settled to stream some TV on Netflix. I suggested “The Fall” which was very good. We binged the 1st season over the weekend.

First Sunset at Pacific Beach

Sunday morning was a little foggy and I headed to the beach for a run. I love running on the beach and I was able to run to Moclips which was about 1.5 miles/3.0 RT.

We discussed our options over breakfast and decided to go inland to Lake Quinault and see a little rainforest. It took about 30-45 minutes to drive to Lake Quinault. We stopped at the nature trail near the lodge which has an awesome mossy fern lined gorge. We took our sandwiches and walked to the picnic area next to the lake. We were lucky to find a place in the sun because otherwise it was pretty cold.

Lake Quinault

Rain Forest Gorge

Rain Forest

We headed back to the coast which by now was in brilliant winter sunshine. We did a short drive through Seabrook which is very much as Sunset Magazine Idea village. It is a perfect place to stay with a family with lots of bike trails and stairs down to the beach. Next we drove to Roosevelt Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches. Orange tree topped bluffs line the beach which is perfect for driving. We parked about half way down to Copalis Rock and pulled over to nap in the warm sunlight. We were not alone. Several other parties had the same idea.

Roosevelt Beach

We headed back to the cottage for an early dinner before heading back to Pacific beach to watch an absolutely gorgeous sunset.

Monday it was time to leave. We cleaned up the cottage and then headed back to Ocean Shores after another stop at Roosevelt beach to say goodbye. The beach was now almost empty but for a couple of walkers. Ocean Shores meanwhile was still busy. We drove to the North Jetty before heading back. We were in Tacoma by 1pm and time for lunch and beer at Park Way Tavern before driving home to our kitties.

Park Way Tavern – Tacoma

Our Final Sunset at the Pacific Beach on Sunday Feb 15th

Pacific Beach

Posted on February 17, 2015 by martaFebruary 25, 2015

Washington State has a very different coast than Oregon or California. The northern section of our coastline is the Olympic National Park; good areas for tide pools and headland trails to view sea stacks along isolated beaches. The southern area is the Long Beach Peninsula; a long stretch of sandy beaches bordered by thick forests of wind battered trees on the ocean side and a quiet shoreline of Willapa Bay on the east side.

The closest ocean shoreline to Seattle is middle beach area around the working twin harbor cities of Aberdeen and Westport. This is split into two areas; South Beach around Westport and North Beach from Ocean Shores to Moclips.

Previously we visited Ocean Shores in early Feb 2013. Ocean Shores is the main hub of tourist activity which can be quite busy in the summer. It can be described as having a carnival atmosphere with the go-carts, petal boats, colorful kites but we found it very quiet and sleepy on our last visit. It has a feel of being both rundown and soon to be gentrified. You can still find old small beach cottages next to large new mega-houses on the far end of the spit. The weather in the winter can be crisp and cold but often with sunny days. We were there to see the snowy owls and we were not disappointed.

We decided we needed a getaway over the long President’s Day weekend. Pacific Beach which is about 30 miles north of Ocean Shores. We found this great cottage on VRBO and it was priced right. It was not right on the beach but about 1/2 mile away is great beach access which you can walk or drive as we did. There is also a new vacation destination town of Seabrook also right before Pacific Beach but it is pretty self contained and Pacific Beach is still a small sleepy town. The other two big items are the state park along the river mouth, a convention center and a small naval station.