Skip to main content

Featured

Fort Vancouver Garden

I was not interested in watching the debate last week, so I decided to get out of the house. I've been wanting to visit the Fort Vancouver Garden for years and decided to go on the spur of the moment.  Once I got there, it occurred to me that this was not the peak time to see a vegetable garden but what I did see was interesting and there were quite a number for visitors milling about.  This garden once comprised eight acres and the food grown there fed the Hudson's Bay Company Fort's  residents. Today's garden is a smaller version and the vegetables and flowers grown there are some of the same varieties found in the fort's records. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Windstorm

 


For once, the weather forecasters were correct yesterday when they said to expect a strong windstorm. It all started around 5pm when the skies became very hazy and then the wind hit. Gusts up to 50mph were mentioned. I'm not sure how strong they actually were but we were on pins and needles watching our trees and plants whip around in circles.

Fortunately, we fared well and had no damage. Just up the street, however, our neighbors lost a big honeylocust tree -


We always worry about our eucalyptus tree. This was a tiny slip of a plant when I brought it home from the nursery a few years ago. It is now reaching for the sky and continues to grow. Talk about a fast grower! Although I have an 8-ft. rebar stake next to it, it is woefully inadequate. I'm not sure how you go about staking a tree this size.


The morning, the smoke and haze had cleared and it is a beautiful day although it is still windy. 

 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. I have sure seen lots of photos of downed trees up your way.My brothers-in-law live in Lake Oswego and their next door neighbor had a very large Mimosa go over. Scary . I love Eucs, but they are controversial here in California. I think if you go to the U of Wa extension website and search for info on tree staking you will find that it is not longer recommended. If I remember correctly, the science is that trees develop better resistance to wind if they are allowed to be subject to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am happy for you that you didn't have any damage. Wind is a terrible thing to happen. It seems like there is more and more wind now days. Scary seeing your neighbors tree down.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts