Some people are bor n with
natural talent and the desire
to
create
beauty.
Dorothy
Lind s e y
was
one
of
those
people. Combining those traits
w ith an eye for the use of the
u n u s u a l , a no-nonsense attitude
and practicality, and a g e n e r ­
ous spirit, she encou r a g e d and
led man y of us gardeners to try
to follow her example of the
ga r d e n she created that su r ­
rounded
her
home
on
Laurel
Street in Cannon Beach.
Harvey and Dorothy Lindsey
and their two sons, Peter and
Tim, moved from C alifornia to
Cannon
Beach
in
the
late
1 950's.
Harvey had retired
after
selling
his
business,
Lind s e y Can Company. He devoted
his r etirement years to build
their new two-story home on
Laurel Street. At the age of
72, Harvey, a talented w o o d ­
worker,
built
their
entire
house, work shop and garage by
himself,
only
hiring
Paul
Bartel to build the fireplace
and a friend to help w i t h the
shingling.
Dorothy and Harvey were a
talen t e d team. She d e s i g n e d and
plan t e d
the
garden.
Harvey
built all the structures that
surr o u n d e d her garden. On his
d aily w alks on the beach, he
found and collected cedar logs
to build fences;
for posts,
stickers and cribbing w a s h e d up
from passing freighters; pieces
of
h a r dwood
were
made
into
tables. He c o llected sticks of
dri f t w o o d or cut lumber to make
t r e llises or stakes for Dorothy
to use for holding up her tall
plants. Others who he l p e d him
collect these sticks labeled
the m "Harvey S t i c k s ."
G a t hered beach rocks were
used
to
line
ga r d e n
paths.
Washed
and
chopped-up
kelp,
Doro t h y use d for fertilize r to
enrich the clay soil. Some of
the
windows
used
for
some
structures came from torn- down
buildings. Pieces of d r iftwood
and
9"
dee p
tria n g l e - s h a p e d
wo o d e n
containers
left
for
scrap by the telephone company
were made into planters. N o t h ­
ing
wasted,
nothing
wanted,
b oth Dorothy and Har v e y made
use of all they found.
Harvey e n c losed the front
garden w ith a split rail fence.
In front of their house Dorothy
plan t e d pine trees, escallonia,
hydrangeas, skimmia and a pink
b l o oming camellia. Entering the
front garden through a gated
han d s p l i t shaked roof pergola
c o v e r e d with honeysuckle, the
p ath leading to the front door
was bordered by tiger lilies.
"Watch out,
the pollen will
stain your clothing," Dorothy
would
say
whe n
g r e eting
visitors. The o r a n g e - flowered
tiger lilies, "Lillium lanci-
folium
splendens,"
produce
numerous bulblets which form in
the crevice between leaf and
stem. The bulblets, whe n fully
mature,
are released by the
plant and, if left to grow, in
a few years create a large bed
of lilies.
These lilies can
g r o w to 4' or m o r e , as man y as
six or more blooms to a plant.
Her lily bed had grown quite
large.
On the south side of the
front garden the small garage
topped
with
a
cupola
and
w e a t h e r vane was later use d for
Dorothy
to
store
her
prize
g e raniums and fuchsias through
the winter. Later a bay was
added and during the summer the
bay was filled w ith bright red
b l o oming
geraniums.
Late
spring, south of the garage, a
bed of y ellow/white b u t t e r c u p ­
like
flowers
she
called
Meadowfoam
(Limnanthes
doug-
lasii) bloomed. She would leave
them
to
re-seed
each
year.
Eventually these plants formed
a
large
carpet
of
flowers.
Dorothy was also known as a
c r e ative
chef
and
on
the
sunnier
south
side
of
the
garage
she
planted
a
small
v e getable and her b garden.
Her backyard garden, not
seen from the street, was made
m ore private by grape stake
fences,
Harvey's
workshop,
trees of M o u n t a i n ash, spruce
and alder and shrubs of hardy
fuchsias,
heather,
rhododen­
drons, azaleas, hydr a n g e a s and
a stand of bamboo. She planted
drifts of color and textures of
man y perennials, shasta d a i s ­
ies, o r a n g e - f l o w e r e d alstroe-
meria, lupins, calla lilies and
rudbeckia. Seeds of calendula,
pansies
and
columbine
were
either sown or left to reseed.
Every year a surpr i s e plant
w ould g row in paths or d i f f e r ­
ent areas of the garden and
left to grow. The path leading
to Harvey's w o r k s h e d was lined
wit h beach rock, and g r o w i n g in
the
crevices
were
perennial
sw e e t - s m e l l i n g
old
fashioned
violets.
Two
clema t i s
vines
"Henry I" (white) and purple-
flowered
"Jackmanii,"
and
a
special red c u t - l e a f e d maple,
"Acer
palmatum,"
all
three
g iven places of honor. In the
spring blue scilla, daffodils
and primroses bloomed, tucked
u nder shrubs of rhododendrons
and azaleas followed by Lily of
the Valley.
All colors of geraniums
and hang i n g baskets of fuchsias
were
placed
throughout
the
garden. T hese plants were held
over each year and mult i p l i e d
by
Doro t h y
pott i n g
cuttings
from the mo t h e r plant. Some of
these plants she had brought
w ith her from her California
garden.
Dorothy's ga r d e n was not
large. O t h e r than a few plants,
neither did she p lant rare or
unusual
flowers.
The
most
signif i c a n t
expre s s i o n
of
Dorothy's ga r d e n was her a t t e n ­
tion to detail. A small cement
statue of a peas a n t girl set
off
among
flo w e r i n g
shrubs.
D r i ftwood
or
unusual
shaped
wo o d e n
planters
filled
with
varieties
of
sedum
spilling
over
the
sides
or
colorful
arrangements of flowers. On the
front gate she hung a basket
that she k ept filled w i t h fresh
cut flowers or plants in the
summer. For w i n t e r color, cut
boughs of red berr i e d skimmia.
She d e s i g n e d the garden to have
con t i n u e d interest t h roughou t
all seasons.
Being g e n erous in giving
plants, seeds or cuttings and
helpful hints of g a r d e n i n g to
anyone interested, she did fail
to say good soil also makes
h e a l t h y weeds. Since she was
known to get u p at the crack of
dawn to search and attack the
army of slugs pre v a l e n t in our
area, she p r o b a b l y attac k e d the
few weeds that found t heir way
into her garden. T here never
seemed to be laced leaves from
slugs
nor
evidence
of
any
weeds.
Some
ga r d e n
quotes
of
Dorothy's g a t h e r e d from family
and friends:
also circular. The two b u i l d ­
ings
s u ggested
the
flower
shop's name, "Mulberry Bush."
The
new
building
was
divi d e d into three shops. One
sold baskets, another antiques,
and Lindsey and Mason's flower
shop. They sold bedding plants,
but mostly d i v iding and potting
plants from their own garden.
Lindsey became known for her
arrangements c o m bining plants
in unusual containers such as
hollo w e d
driftwood,
small
wooden boxes or decorated p o t s .
W hen asked, she gave instruc­
tions
of
care
for
the
containers,
or
how
to
take
cuttings
from
geraniums
and
fuchsias, and what grows best
here on the coast. Lindsey was
always w i l l i n g to share her
expertise.
Many years later when Beth
Holland opened her garden shop
in back of Pat's Coffee, H o l l ­
and c o m mented that some of her
customers
still
remembered
Dorothy L i ndsey's shop.
Dorothy
was
raised
in
Portland.
Her niece,
Barbara
(Bobbie) Bosse, told the story
that one d a y when Dorothy and
Bosse's mother, Mabel, played
tennis
in
W ashington
Park,
Dorothy snapped a branch off
one of the park's special trees
and jammed it into the ground
in front of their home. The
next spring it sprouted. The
tree gre w so large, in time it
had to be cut down. This may
have started Dorothy's interest
in gardening. Dorothy finished
her s c hooling at Portland's Art
M u s e u m School of Fine Arts and
later taught wit h the director
Rachel Griffian. She continued
u sing
her
talent
painting,
sculpting and, later in life,
crea t e d
in
man y
different
mediums.
After
their
beach
home was completed, she made
ho o k e d
rugs
for
the
stair
treads. Each step had original
designs of pictorial scenes of
events that had happened in her
family's life. Her table s e t ­
tings, always a bowl of fresh
flowers. You never saw a paper
ca r t o n of m i l k on her table,
always a special pitcher. Her
flower arrangements were works
of a r t .
Each corner of the
house was created like a still
life composition.
Dorothy die d in February,
1981,
but
her
garden
and
generous spirit of both garden
wisdom
and
sharing
inspired
man y of us. G e n e r a t i o n s of her
original Tiger Lilies, alstro-
emeria,
c u t tings
from
her
hydrangeas,
seeds of meadow-
foam, calendulas and columbines
g r o w in many gardens throughout
Ca n n o n Beach, and a friend has
p r o mised me a plant of sweet
smelling
violets
that
have
m u l t i p l i e d from violets Dorothy
gave her years ago.
II From
beach
Io boulevard,
a natural choice for
wom en's clothing.
Portland (503)239-4605
Cannon Beach (503)436-1572
B IS T R
reservations :
436-2661
263 N IIEMLOCK • CANNON BEACH
° VSTER f
* / Io n ic o f th e W ild O y s te r “
on W illa p a Bay
N a lic o tta , W ashington 98637
Foi Rpsfivalions or Information
(360) 665 4543 - F a i (360) 665-6687
TABARD
I N N
1739 N SI., N .W .
W ashington, D .C . 20036
(202) 785-1277 lax: (202)785 6173
Next
month,
the
story
about
Jubi l a t i o n
Park,
the
small park Judy and Will Osburn
crea t e d after they bought the
grocery
store
now
called
Osburn's Grocery.
§teve's
aaf E
Don't bother with petunias,
they need too much deadheading
and
the rain
spoils
their
petals.
S p e c i a l i z i n g in :
Environmentally .friendly
Window Cleaning
-Sirw J C g M o n ta g m
Huge lawns are a waste of time.
r.o. n»x afín
Arcadia
Cannon Deacli, ()$ , R7f ¡0
A machete is the best garden
tool to cut down all the heavy
growth.
(30 3 ) 4 3 0 - 0 9 4 2
1
A n d her favorite:
H.MWJE
FESTiCOEUSE
If something doesn't grow well,
pull it out.
In the 1 9 7 0 's Dorothy and
friend Betty M ason opened a
flower sho p in the b u i l d i n g now
k nown
as
Pat's
Coffee
and
Basket Shop.
Mason owned the
property. A groc e r y store that
had been there for years burned
dow n
and
Mason
hired
Joe
H o l l i n g s w o r t h to c o n struct a
c i r c u l a r build i n g like ones he
had built in other parts of the
town.
Peter,
Dorothy's
son,
b uilt them a green h o u s e from a
kit. The green h o u s e style was
TOREDUCEOfi
ATTENTION BUSKSSES
I WE CREATE 1MAINWN
ROWER BOXES RANTERS
»
MMOCBASffTS
F
43M73flfcS
i
UCEhSEC-SOWa
WSÄEO
M2
Come join us for
dinner near the
pounding surf at
Laneda A Carmel
In Manzanita
G ourmet pizz A
A
selection of
OREGON WINES A
fine BEERS
always on hand.
503/368-5593_
UPPER LEfT Eb&E. MARCH 1WZ
I
3