By JIM LARSEN
News-Times editor
What a morning for a gardener. The 8 a.m. sunshine is pouring through the trees and awakening the flowers, two quail families chatter and bob about, songbirds warble, a baby bird chirps from its nest next to the house, and still sleeping is the irascible chipmunk that has commandeered a birdhouse as its own.
Clara Mortenson puttered about her little Garden of Eden, getting things ready for another day of growing and blooming, while hoping that the weather will be similar on Saturday, June 22, when her garden is one of the stops on the Oak Harbor Garden Club Tour & Tea.
The tour will offer six interesting stops, but it it will be hard to top the home and garden created by Clara and her husband George off Troxell Road. He was at work Thursday, overseeing the installation of a sprinkler system at the college.
Their 10-year-old home built of logs and decorated with Indian artifacts and art reflecting Clara’s heritage is a story in itself, and a good idea for some future home tour. But it’s the garden we’re interested in this day.
George is described as an obsessive builder and tinkerer, who spends much of his free time turning Clara’s ideas into reality. She saw a small wooden fan-shaped lawn ornament on a trip to Anacortes, drew a picture of it and showed it to George. But he didn’t replicate it. Instead, he built a giant, 20-foot-tall version, which services as an interesting backdrop to their vast garden.
Clara works with nature, rather than against it. “Except for the moles,” notes Helene Valdez, garden tour co-chair who stopped by to talk about plans for June 22.
Clara doesn’t like moles, but even these pesky critters are handled as gently as possible. She pours a concoction of chili pepper, dish soap and slug bait around the holes, and she might be winning. “It’s worked so far,” she said dubiously.
But only a practiced eye could find a mole hill or any other flaw in Clara’s garden. The one small bare spot is bare because the quail like to beat their wings in the dirt. She tolerates it. The rest of the garden is an eclectic assortment of interesting and unusual plants, all growing profusely. Many are in pots and will be returned to their protective greenhouse next fall.
The garden is punctuated with things Clara has found and that somehow fit in the garden. A wringer washer and wood stove sprout flowers, an old shovel shoved into the soil features a bird house on the top of its handle, and various pieces of wooden and metal art pop out of nowhere to surprise the visitor. Her husband also gets into the act. A slab of wood looks comfortable enough to sit on. “George found this the other day and we made a bench out of it,” Clara explains.
In one corner is a pile of gnarly willow branches that will some day be turned into something, Clara is certain. “My husband likes to make things,” she said.
Surrounding everything, of course, are flowers, more varieties than most could count. Not even Clara can tell you all of them. “If you ask me their names I wouldn’t have a clue,” she said. “I just get’em and plant’em.”
Moments later, Valdez finds a plant she hasn’t seen before.
“This is interesting Clara. Do you know what this is?” Valdez asks.
“No,” replies Clara.
Whatever, it had a profusion of tiny white blossoms and was perfectly located.
From the high deck outside their bedroom, Clara enjoys a sweeping view of the garden she and George created. “I mediate a lot up here,” she said. “I wonder and look.”
That’s exactly what people who take the tour will do when they see George and Clara Mortensen’s garden.
