r M JUNES By September, my garden has rewarded me with all the color, aroma, and taste I dreamed about when planning it last January. Large bouquets of lilies, roses, glads, dahlias, godetia, and many other flowers have filled the house with color and fragrance. The salad bowl has been continuously filled with mixed lettuce greens, fennel, parsley leaves, cherry tomatoes, and lemon cucumbers. Hanging in my garden shed are strings ol garlic and shallots to save for winter soups and stews. Some of the clusters, I saved for next year's crop. Herbs like basil, oregano, rosemary, and marjoram, I've prepared in small packages for the freezer. Before the first frost, I'll also gather parsley and chives. The leaves of these plants also freeze well. My two cherry tomato plants have produced a huge crop of tomatoes. If there are still green tomatoes on the plants when the weather turns cold, I'll pick what's left to place in a basket to slowly npen. For best results, pick the remaining tomatoes on a dry day, or dry them off before storing them. Excess moisture can cause rot. Line a basket with paper towels. A large, flat-bottomed basket is best to use so that you can spread them out. Check daily, give them a turn as they ripen. In past years, I've had all my green tomatoes ripen eventually, lasting until the middle of December. As I mentioned last month. I've gathered hydrangeas to dry for winter bouquets. I also dried godetia, lady's mantle, and larkspur. To keep the colors more true, these all need to be dried in a room that doesn't have too much light. Sun rays will bleach the colors. My fall catalog of lilies has arrived. B & D Lilies, P.O. Box 2007, Port Townsend, WA 98368. These lilies are available to select until December 31, 1996. Shipping starts after bulbs are harvested and processed, beginning mid-October. Lily bulbs are never completely dormant, and need to be planted in the ground as soon as you receive your order. All the lilies I ve ever bought through this catalog have bloomed the first year. In my garden, 1 have successfully grown many varieties of lilies in the clay soil of my raised beds by adding an abundance of compost and peat moss. Lily bulbs need good drainage. They will rot if planted in areas that have standing water during the winter. Lilies appear fragile, but really are easy to grow and worth planting for their'fragrance and elegance in both the garden and bouquets. This year, Cannon Beach should be called the "flower town." I spent a day driving through all the streets just to see gardens, decks lined with planters, and all the different styles of window boxes and varieties of flowers people ha\ e planted. My "garden hat" goes off to all of you that have caught the "fever" of gardening. You have made this town even more beautiful with your endeavors. I received a letter from a recent \ isitor to Cannon Beach, who lives in Port Townsend, Washington, suggesting the City of Cannon Beach should plant Shasta daisies and calla lilies, and scatter nasturtium seeds along the roadsides, parks and beach accesses. Port Townsend citizens, some years ago, scattered bachelor's button and a red poppy commonly called Corn Poppy, and other wild flower seeds along their roadsides. Now those seeds have multiplied and how delightful in the spring and early summer to see all the bright colored flowers. She mentioned an overkill of using so much Lavatera. It seemed to her that since Shasta daisies calla lilies and nasturtiums grow almost wild here, they would be more appropriate to use, along with Montbretia, that grows so prolifically. I’m a kind of paranoiac in reverse, I suspect people of plotting to make me happy. J.D. Salinger m Ik PACDTC NOKlHMST ■ ____ Gardener TH E new sletter fo r people who garden in the N orthw est • Stories by and about garden experts: Ann Lovejoy, Barbara Ashmun, Ted Swensen, Connie Hansen • Stories on what Northwest gardeners are doing and growing — tips that will work for YOU • Big calendar of garden events throughout the region • Book reviews, humor, new garden ideas & products Available free al ¡tarden centers and bookstores from Seattle to Ashland, Warrenton to Florence. Or by subscription at the incredible value o f $12 a year. Tu subscribe: Send check for $12 (for 12 issues a year), with name and address, to; §tev>e's Pacific Northwest Gardener PO Box 19638 Portland. OR 97280 S p e c i a l i z i n g in . Environmentally friendly Window Cleaning Steve JfaMontagne