Day 26, Wednesday, June 24, 2026: Plants are (with) Us!
The crew was up and about early on this hot day. P2 went about pruning all the pokey and prickly greens by the big, old ash tree. P continued to work on adjusting the height of the path by the North end of the garden. While he put Y to work on digging up the East side of the path. P, P2 and D also decided to move yet more large rocks to the edge of the newly created terrace – a venture was riskier than suits the author’s taste given the number of knees in danger of popping over this endeavor. P2 and P moved about five large rocks using a combination of hand cart, planks and some shaky backs and legs balanced over not too stable rocks from our viewpoint. Everyone involved came out almost unscathed.
Following the little rock excursion, the crew was back to the tasks they were working on. P started laying down the tumbled slate rocks we had bought weeks ago from just Rocks. After he had laid down a sample patch, D helped him settle the dirt down around the rocks, prior to the patch being watered down and left for further settlement.
The group paused for breakfast. Following that, half the crew dispersed, while E and Y left for some long overdue plant shopping at Dogwood. It was a very hot day and walking around the baking garden centers turned out to be quite a task, especially with delicate large plants stacked in our multiple unwieldy carts. E and Y managed to find some marginal plants as well as a couple large shade loving shrubs at the local Dogwood nursery. Although, most of the water plants were covered in some Azolla, aka fairy fern that the two realized only the next day would be a huge pain to deal with. More on that tomorrow. After plonking down a carload full of plants at home and a quick lunch, E and Y left for Bylands, where they bought plenty of blue grasses, some bamboo plants, a fascinating but prickly barberry and a couple cotoneasters. After securing all the plants under the planting roof to save them from the wind that seemed like a gale, E and Y retired early around 5:30 pm. P and D continued to toil on the path and around the garden for another half an hour, before the crew called in an early evening for another celebration. We saved up our energy for the next day – which would be the big day before rains are supposed to start!
Late in the evening, we got another few sneak previews of the bridge from K and T. It keeps getting better!
