Turkey Tail and Tommies for February

 "No winter lasts forever;

no spring skips its turn."

Hal Borlan (1900-1978)

Nature writer

American author.

Turkey Tail fungus and "Tommie" Crocus
15 February 2022
Shaw Island Gatehouse garden

February Fourteen 2022

Best wishes from the garden.

 

WE CLOSE THE DOOR––ON THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR

...on historical high and historical low temperatures for USDA zones of 8 and 8b in the Pacific Northwest. 
      Soon we can peek under the insulating blanket of snow to see who is with us to journey into gardens of 2022. Thank you for the fun year along the roadside--come back again.

Old Western Red Cedar garden gate
Shaw Island, WA.
Mexican Bell Vine
Just before frost.

Ahhh, an open garden gate let us into 
 the "secret garden" world of Josephine Harford,
at the edge of Picnic Cove, Shaw Island, WA.
On any visit, guests learned to know
the scientific names.
Photograph 1974.

Rosa "Eddie's Jewel", hybridized in B.C. in 1962.
It is protected from the deer--
 a fragrant, colorful entry to the garden of
Angela Bryant. 
Ciscoe has been here to stay,
 and we know, he was exclaiming
"Oh, La La!!"

The entry gate in spring, under 
the big Willow welcoming us to the  
fine garden of Gwen Yansen, 
 Shaw Island, WA.

Inside the stone terrace
springs a new handcrafted iron trellis
reaching above the garden gate
laden with Clematis montana and a 
regal Tree Peony.
Photograph in 2016,
in the garden of Angel Bryant.

No gate was needed at this intimate deck garden,
on the north shore, looking out toward the Gulf Islands.
Do Oliver and Mattie kept the deer back with a set of stairs. 
A set of stairs with one very important sentry,
 the Margaret Cameron sculpted clay Grasshopper
with one little hitchhiker. (Tap to enlarge.)
Newly dyed wool fleece is drying along the bench,
 always a place of color, indoors and out.
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Anno 1992.

21 DECEMBER '21, the WINTER SOLSTICE

 

This finely crafted Jule Nisse
in the dark of winter is 
cozy in her waxed canvas cape 
and sheep fleece after her passage on the 
mailboat today from Pt. Townsend, WA.
Click to enlarge the image  
and view the fine stitching from 
Bestcoast Canvas Co.
12-12-21
Thank you for this winter delight, Leah.
Happy sails.

TO KNOW THE DARK

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark. Go with sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, 

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

Wendell Berry

IT'S THE HUMMINGBIRDS YELLING...

 

It's true,
they are yelling, more, more!
The Hummingbird pantry is open for dining.
with Mahonia x "Charity."
In the foreground is a young plant serving
 organic nectar, no refined sugar this day.
 Shaw Island in the mist of 
ONE DECEMBER TWENTY-ONE. 

Thanksgiving on Shaw Island 2021

Bushels of thanks to all the support crew
who took time to visit the Gatehouse stand
this past year. The plant talk is always inspiring 
 while seed sales fund new plants for the 
 woodland garden to sustain 
 the birds, bees, pollinators, and their people.

 

NOVEMBER ONE

Summer is leaving town with
Persicaria (Fleeceflower) 
holding on.
 Photograph on Shaw Island
 One November 2021.
One day following our first frost of the year.
Gatehouse Garden,
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

"As one fine gardener of England put it, his was a garden made by doing unnecessary things that he could not afford at the wrong time of the year."

Courtesy of, Henry Mitchell on Gardening. Boston/ New York. Houghton Mifflin. 1998
From the Gatehouse Garden library.

SEEDS COMING IN for Autumn 2021

 

Malcolm Cameron (1902-1975)
"Winter Storage"

Cameron's Shaw Island reefnet boats  
escort the last crop of seeds harvested; 
Rosa glauca heps,
Yansen farm fat Cardoon pods,
pods of perennial Sweet Peas,
as they also hunker down for winter storage.
A healthy supply for the Gatehouse seed rack,
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Fourteen October 2021.
Thanks, Diana.

"Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable––the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown across the street by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese."
       American writer Hal Borland.

A "V" of migrating geese were seen flying east over the Yansen farm yesterday headed for their safe "winter storage" in the Skagit River valley.