Gig Harbor Garden Tour

At long last, the details for the Gig Harbor Garden Tour, where I'll be selling my wares this weekend. It's organized by Tacoma Community College, located at 3993 Hunt Street in Gig Harbor. This is where the tour starts, and where you can buy tickets, get maps and directions. There are a couple of raffles going on too, so tickets are available at the desk.

I will be at house #3, Jeff and Judy Wilbert's place at 1818 Sullivan Dr in the Point Fosdick area near the water. There will be 3 of us artists at this location, set up on the driveway as you head down to the house. And there are other artists at other locations, but I'm not sure they are set up at every house. There are a total of 7 houses on this year's tour. I think. I'm just going by my written information. I've never done this before. It's a very cool idea.

Hours are 10-5 Sat and 10-4 Sun, June 26 and 27. Weather forecast is looking a little better than it was earlier in the week, which talked about rain both days. Now we've got more sunshine. Finally this week it's warmed up and given us at least 2 days in a row of sun. A real treat! The tomato plants have decided to grow again. I think they've been in hibernation the whole last month.

Oh, one more thing - you can buy tickets to the show online HERE. They are $20 if you buy them before midnight tonight. Otherwise, you need to buy them at TCC Gig Harbor when you arrive.

A little more info about the show HERE - including a downloadable guide.

Another cold gray day in summer

See that hammock? the beach? I really wish I was there. Our summer weather has been crap. Way too cold. Way too many drizzly, gray days. We can't get above 70 degrees here. Totally not summer weather.

It's already the 17th today. My last post was just before Sorticulture - which turned out great by the way and we actually had a day and a half of nice sunshine. I sort of missed it in my tent under the trees in the shade, but I did notice it. Super show this year with lots of great vendors and awesome plants.

Next weekend I'll be at a smaller garden tour show in Gig Harbor. I'm not supposed to reveal which garden I'll be in just yet - I guess it's supposed to be a secret. But I'll give you more details next week, in case you are in that area and planning to go. There are a number of houses on the tour and it's always fun to tour other people's little outdoor spaces, plus there will be artists in each of the locations, which makes it even more special.

This coming weekend there are more house project plans. Always something to work on here. And my last chance to do anything outside of soap this summer - because the next two months will be non-stop festivals and street fairs every weekend. To be honest, it looks pretty daunting from here. But it's the same schedule I give myself every years and I've managed to survive it each time, so it can't be that bad.

I'm working on production all the time now - hoping to get enough inventory made to last the summer. There are a few too many types of soap on my list I think. It's harder to keep up with all of them. I'm re-thinking that. But once it's on the list, it's almost impossible to take it off. Each and every one is somebody's favorite that they can't live withou. Same with the sprays and salts and lip balm flavors too. So I'm doing it all for the time being. Each time I think I've figured it all out, I realize heh, no, I have no idea what I'm doing. Just running in place.

Sorticulture

It's show time! The time of the year when it's all shows, shows, shows. This weekend is Sorticulture, Everett's Garden Arts Festival. This is such a fun weekend - so many plant and garden art vendors with great stuff. Plus there are display gardens, kids activities, demonstrations and lectures, music performances and food too. Free admission. Parking is a little tight sometimes, but there are shuttles from other lots (see here for more info).

June 11 - 13
Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 10-5
Legion Memorial Park
145 Alverson Blvd. at West Marine View Dr.
Everett, Washington 98201

Link to the schedule of speakers and music

"Sorticulture unites art and the garden in a celebration of creative outdoor living. Our featured artists create distinctive hand-crafted garden art and our nurseries produce a wide variety of plants to transform your backyard. Learn tips and tricks from top regional gardening experts including Ciscoe Morris."

Another poem about peonies

My peonies are in full bloom. The huge blossoms are always a bit too heavy for their elegant stems, but right now, weighted down by raindrops, they lay flounced all over place. It's one of my very favorite flowers - white ones, double pinks, I love them all. So today is another poem which captures the very essence of their gorgeousness.

Peonies by Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open ---
pools of lace,
white and pink ---
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities ---
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again ---
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

Peonies

This is from the Writer's Almanac the other day, and so beautiful:

Peonies by Jeanne Lohmann

Grandma called them pineys, and I didn't know why.
They smelled so good, the full lush petals
crowded thick, the whole flower heavy on its stem,
the leaves dark and rich and green as shade in Chatauqua Woods
where each spring I hunted for violets. What could there be
to pine for on this earth? Now I think maybe it was Missouri
she missed, and maybe that was what somebody she knew
called peonies there, before she traveled to Ohio,
a sixteen-year-old bride whose children came on as fast
as field crops and housework. Her flowers saved her,
the way they came up year after year and with only a bit of care
lived tender and pretty, each kind surprising,
keeping its own sweet secret: lily-of-the-valley, iris,
the feathery-leaved cosmos, lilacs in their white and purple curls,
flamboyant sweet peas and zinnias, the bright four o'clocks
and delphinium, blue as her eyes, and the soft peony flowers
edged deep pink. In her next life I want my grandmother
to walk slowly through the gardens in England and Kyoto.
I want to be there when she recognizes the flowers
and smiles, when she kneels and takes the pineys in her hands.

"Peonies" by Jeanne Lohmann, from Calls from a Lighted House. © Fithian Press, 2007.