Good morning everyone and welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging, the Goodbye to Gardening Edition. After thirty-five years of living and gardening in Big Sky Country, through flood and drought, freezing and roasting, and only missing one Summer season of gardening, we are done planting. Like the Okies of the 1930s, we are packing up the old vehicle, abandoning the homestead and headed west to the promised land, Oregon! Fully adopting our new retired lifestyle as migrant campground hosts, we are relocating our RVs to a state park on Oregon’s Central Coast. We call this our “Grapes of Oregon” Trip, even though I’m not a big fan of the state’s signature wine, Pinot Noir.
Oregon is the gold standard for volunteers in parks, beating the neighboring states and even the National Park Service for wisely utilizing volunteer labor and maintaining an exceptional state park system. California defunded their state park system many years ago resulting in the closing of many parks and the reliance of private donations to keep other parks operating. Washington increased park fees to ridiculous levels and has even moved on to featuring expensive “glamping” to fill in budget deficits. We are excited to see how Oregon maintains their high standard of park service without pricing out visitors.
You can find us patrolling the beach north of Heceta Head Lighthouse, checking in campers at Carl Washburne State Park, or dining at the Luna Sea Café in nearby Yachats.
The beach at Carl Washburne Memorial State Park, looking north from Heceta Head.
Mrs. Ed and the official Campground Greeter practice camp hosting.
Salmon Hash for breakfast at the Luna Sea Cafe. Wowsa!
But with us gone for much of late Summer including harvest season, there’s no reason to turn over those raised beds a put our regular complement of three dozen tomato plants in the ground. But I am already feeling a little guilty, especially after last Saturday's Farmer's Market, where one of the master gardeners asked why I hadn't bought any tomato plants yet. My failure to purchase dozens of tomatoes may have caused a sharp downturn the local economy.
I have had to stifle the urge to plant something by visiting my friend's gardens, and realizing how much work I am truly missing. I am still amazed at our friend Terry, who puts in nearly one thousand bulbs each Fall and additional flowers in the Spring.
Don't ask me what all these flowers are!
With the early warmer Spring weather here the Northern Rockies, we missed the really big bloom of Terry's garden, and only caught the remnants. Hopefully we won't miss the start of the spectacular Summer bloom in her garden before we leave for Oregon.
Another gardening friend, Lainey, specializes in raised beds full of herbs and vegetables, surrounded by flowers.
Lainey's backyard is quite small, but the masonry-lined raised beds grow a lot of herbs and veggies.
Stone walkways surround the plantings
Japanese Anemones
Moving on to another blooming subject, an acquaintance of mine has opened the first floral shop in town specializing in local grown flowers. A veteran local gardener and CSA founder, Cindy decided that if we could have local grown veggies that there was no reason that we could not have local grown flowers. I wish her the best of luck in her new downtown flower shop.
Local grown Iris.
Spring in the Northern Rockies has been beautiful, with fields of blooming Balsamroot gracing the surrounding hills.
Balsamroot in Mt. Helena City Park last week.
But travel time is fast approaching, and the Pacific Ocean is calling us!
An April sunset with seagulls over the Pacific from Yachats.
What's happening in your gardens?
