The Senior Scene

(Pictured: Looking through a magnifying glass at one of the early-1900s photographs from the family of Gertrude Harvey Wright. They’re part of the Black Heritage Society archives. Photo credit: Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

By Jas Keimig

Cascade PBS

In a photograph dated 1916, a young woman and pianist named Gertrude Harvey Wright reads in her Seattle bedroom. She sits to the left of center in the photograph, her hair in a bun, her gaze cast downward onto the book in her lap. Various items — a phonograph, a dresser, a mirror, a sports banner and shelves — inhabit the rest of the picture. The walls are decorated with photo portraits of herself, loved ones, and her husband, George Wright. It’s a quiet, pensive glimpse into early Black society in the Emerald City, as seen through the personal space of a young woman.

Born in 1888 in Washington Territory (pre-statehood), Gertrude was among the first Black settlers in Seattle. The 1890 Census taken just two years after her birth reported a total of 286 Black people living in the city at the time, less than 1 percent of the total population.

Her parents, the Harveys, were prominent in the community — her father Charles was one of the charter members of the First AME Church (he helped construct the Capitol Hill building, and his name is still on its cornerstone) and ran an all-Black drama club, the DuBois Dramatic Club (of which Gertrude was a member).

After narrowly escaping the Great Seattle Fire in their downtown home in 1889, Charles built the family a residence on 29th Avenue in Madison Valley, where the Harvey family grew to 10.

A trained pianist and church organist, Gertrude made a name for herself in Seattle history as one of four women in the city’s first Black musicians’ union, the American Federation of Musicians’ Local 458, which at the time helped Black musicians find work.

Though the union’s tenure was brief — 1918 to 1924 — records show Gertrude was heavily involved in union negotiations and helped keep the organization alive as it splintered due to financial difficulties. Later, she taught piano at The Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts) in the mid-’30s.

Miss Gertrude sounded like one interesting cookie. And the Black Arts Legacies team at Cascade PBS was excited to profile her during Black History Month. We were tantalized by the prospect of tracing the early history of the Black community in Seattle, further back than we’ve gone in Black Arts Legacies stories so far.

I dove into the special archives at the University of Washington, mined deep into local newspaper archives, reached out to surviving families and loved ones, and called a few experts in the area. I found scattered evidence of Gertrude’s life up to 1942, when an announcement in the now-defunct newspaper The Enterprise said she and her husband would be moving to San Francisco, Calif. After that, her connections to Seattle seemed to vanish into thin air.

For the first time in my stint writing for Black Arts Legacies, I had a really hard time finding anything outside of photos and secondary sources about Gertrude’s life. Rather than regurgitating the scant information in other articles, my editors and I decided a meaningful profile of Gertrude was not to be, at least not this year.

All of this underscores the critical importance of the historians and descendants who have taken it upon themselves to record the lives of early Black pioneers and settlers in this region. The dead-ends themselves are a story about how Black history is both remembered and forgotten.

Truly, this deep research effort (would not be possible without the help of Stephanie Johnson-Toliver, president of the Black Heritage Society in Seattle. Since the late 1970s, the BHS has uplifted and shared the history of Black people in Washington through the acquisition, preservation, research and exhibition of photos, objects, documents, ephemera and oral histories. According to Blackpast.org, which is also Seattle-based, BHS has the largest public collection of Pacific Northwest historical memorabilia — a big deal.

In trying to follow the breadcrumbs of Gertrude’s story, I took a trip to BHS’ office (which shares space with the Museum of History and Industry’s repository) to sift through boxes upon boxes of the Wright family’s archive. Funnily enough, Gertrude’s niece, the late Jackie E.A. Lawson, co-founded BHS and kept records of her aunt’s family through the years.

Stephanie and I took turns going through six or seven boxes. I chanced upon beautiful photos of Gertrude’s family, pictures of her and her husband (also named George, like her father), her birth certificate and obituary, as well as diaries and photos of her other family members. In one blurry photo, Gertrude and George stand holding one another in front of a house — their own or someone else’s? The sun illuminates half of their smiling faces.

As I methodically made my way through these items, I felt connected to these tangible memories of a Black family who lived, loved, and made their home in this city when people who looked like them were relatively scant. I was moved by their persistence in making a community that reflected their own values and experiences, and their records were a testament to that effort.

While I wasn’t able to find much beyond fragments of Gertrude’s life (and nothing written from her own point of view), I did find myself more deeply connected to the early Black history of this city.

Source: Cascade PBS (cascadepbs.org), a non-profit newsroom covering the Pacific Northwest.

(Pictured: Planted in spring, Canna Short Rosita bulbs bloom spectacularly in summer. Photo credit: Longfield-Gardens.com)

By Melinda Myers

Add unexpected beauty to your patio, deck, or balcony with summer-blooming bulbs. You may have grown elephant ears, lilies, dahlias, gladiolus, and caladiums in your garden, but did you know they also thrive in containers? Some summer bulbs grow even better in pots than they do in the garden. These include the exotic-looking flowers of Abyssinian gladiolus, calla lilies, pineapple lilies, and spider lilies.

One of the reasons these bulbs perform so well in containers is that you can be sure they get warm soil, consistent water, and plenty of nutrients. Taller plants like gladiolus, lilies, dahlias, cannas, and elephant ears are the perfect thrillers for large containers. Their bold foliage and extravagant blooms are sure to steal the show. Just plant the bulbs in spring along with your other annuals. As temperatures rise, these heat-loving bulbs will begin to fill in and soon burst into bloom providing added texture and color from late summer through fall.

You may find that summer-blooming bulbs like the pineapple lily (Eucomis), calla lily, and fragrant Hymenocallis perform better in their own containers because there is no competition with other plants for space, nutrients, and moisture. Before the bulbs begin flowering, their foliage provides an attractive backdrop for other container plants that bloom earlier in the season. Once flowering begins, you can move the pots front and center to fully enjoy the show. In cold climates, growing in containers also makes it easier to overwinter the bulbs. Just move the pots indoors to a cool, dark location until it’s time to replant the next spring.

Combine plants of different sizes and shapes to create visual excitement. Containers filled with tall plants such as gladiolus, cannas, tall varieties of dahlias, and large elephant ears provide striking vertical accents. Shorter plants like caladiums, pineapple lily, and triplet lily (Brodiaea) can be positioned in front of the larger pots. Add a few planters filled with your favorite annuals to keep the color going all season long.

Many summer blooming-bulbs are wonderfully fragrant. Growing these plants on a patio, deck, or balcony, ensures you won’t miss out on their delightful perfume. Late summer evenings are even sweeter when you are surrounded by containers filled with Oriental lilies, spider lilies, and acidanthera. 

Small bulbs can grow into enormous plants, so choosing the right size container is important if you want your summer bulbs to reach their full potential. Longfield Gardens provides helpful tips in its Best Summer Bulbs for Containers article.

Most mid-sized dahlias will grow well in a five-gallon container. Dahlias that get to be more than 3 feet tall need a larger pot as well as sturdy stakes for extra support. Cannas and elephant ears are thirsty plants and can develop a very large root system in just a few short months. For these tropical beauties, the bigger the pot, the better!

Extend the bloom time for gladiolus and its cousin, Abyssinian gladiolus, by planting the bulbs in batches about two weeks apart. Both of these summer bulbs have sword-like foliage that provides vertical interest while you wait for the beautiful blooms. If you like cut flowers, grow a few extra pots of gladiolus so you can include them in summer arrangements.

Calla lilies are easy to grow in pots, even for gardeners in cool climates. Choose from a rainbow of beautiful flower colors, from white and yellow, to peach, red, and nearly black. The blossoms last for a month or more, and the lush foliage stays attractive all season long.

Extend the season into early fall with the exotic-looking flowers of Nerine bowdenii. Plant three or more bulbs per container and look forward to fragrant, candy-pink blossoms in September.

Let the unique flowers of pineapple lily (Eucomis) shine by growing them in their own container. The long-lasting flowers feature a green topknot that makes them resemble a pineapple. As with nerines, callas, and other non-hardy summer bulbs, Eucomis can be overwintered indoors and replanted in spring.

The possibilities are many. No matter which summer bulbs you choose, growing them in containers is a sure way to add pizzazz to your patio, deck, balcony, or entryway.
 

Melinda Myers (melindamyerrs.com) has written 20 gardening books, hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD instant video series and the n Melinda’s Garden Moment TV and radio programs, and is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds and Blooms magazine.

By Carl Dombek

After returning from a brief trip to Calgary in October and with no other international travel planned for the immediate future, I decided to submit my U.S. Passport for renewal. With a little less than a year of validity remaining, the time was right.
After trying – unsuccessfully – to renew my passport online, which the State Department now allows , I had a traditional passport photo taken, filled out and submitted the required passport renewal application (Form DS-82), wrote an old-school paper check, and sent everything in. Two days short of four weeks, I received my new passport, which is good until November 2034. My “house arrest” is over!

When we last renewed my wife’s passport in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, it took almost exactly two months. Today, the State Department says the average processing time for a passport renewal is four to six weeks, so State beat even its quickest estimate. Great news, but certainly not a record.

I obtained my first U.S. passport in May 1986. Coming up on three years as a reporter at KING-1090, a news-talk radio station in Seattle, it was my fondest hope that I would be sent somewhere – anywhere – as long as it required a passport to cover a story.
At that time, U.S. citizens could travel to Canada and Mexico without a passport, so I had farther-flung destinations in mind. My workday started at 5 a.m. and finished at 1 p.m., so one afternoon, armed with my birth certificate and Washington driver’s license, I went to the local Kinko’s, got a passport photo taken, then went to the Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle where I filled out my application for a passport.
While reviewing my application, the woman at the counter asked me where I was planning to travel. I responded (rather proudly, in fact) that, “I’m a reporter at KING-1090. I don’t have anywhere planned at this time but I want to be ready in case a big story breaks.” That satisfied her, she stamped it, and said it would be submitted for processing.
I don’t know what I expected, but what happened next definitely was not it.
When I went to our mailbox the next day, there was my passport! One. Day. A feat never to be equaled! I viewed my new passport as a ticket to whatever came along; hoping that adventure would be involved. 

When Operation Desert Shield commenced in August 1990 and military units from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base were deployed to the Middle East, many noncombatants were being staged in nearby Jordan. I applied for a visa from the Hashemite Kingdom so that I could travel to the region and provide coverage.

Jordanian officials granted my request and issued a visa good for four years and “multiple” entries. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I never traveled to the war zone and didn’t actually use the visa. What coverage I engaged in was stateside and focused on the connections to Puget Sound.

I renewed passports in 1996, 2006, and 2015, so this is my fifth passport. For the last two, I have requested the “large” passport book with extra visa pages for “frequent international travelers.” Acts of purest optimism, I know, but hope springs eternal.
FYI, the large passport book has a generous 52 pages, while the standard contains only 28 pages for visa stamps and travel endorsements. And there is no additional cost for the larger book.
The new iteration of the passport carries a proviso: “If your passport expires within six months of your date of departure, you may be denied entry into some countries.” Many countries require a passport to be valid for six months after date of entry while others require only three months’ validity.
Bottom line: If you’re within a year of your expiration date, find a window of up to two months that works for you, and get the renewal process started. If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy the feeling of freedom once you have your newly renewed travel documents in hand and you’re ready to make your escape.

Carl Dombek, who lives in Seattle, is a retired journalist and a travel blogger. His website, thetravelpro.com, has news, reviews, and personal observations on upmarket travel.

(Pictured: If gardening space is limited, grow tomatoes in hanging baskets or containers.)

By Melinda Myers

Nothing beats the flavor of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Keep them close at hand by growing one or more in containers on your patio, balcony, or front steps.

Any tomato can be grown in a pot, but determinate varieties are shorter and more compact, making them a bit easier to manage in a container. They produce fruit in a relatively short time, making them great or preserving as well as using fresh. Look for a D or determinate on the plant tag, seed packet, or in the catalog description. 

Indeterminate tomatoes, often designated with an I, are usually much taller and continue to grow, flower, and produce fruit until frost kills the plant or you pinch out the growing tip. These are usually staked or grown in wire cages to save space, reduce pest problems, and make harvesting easier. Many new containers have built-in trellises, or creative gardeners craft their own, making it easier and more attractive to grow these bigger plants in pots. 

Semi-determinate varieties are in between these two. They are compact like determinates, often trailing, but produce fruit throughout the growing season like indeterminate varieties. 

You can find compact varieties often sold as miniature and dwarf plants that grow well in 4-inch to 8-inch pots. They are a great option for those with limited space, gardening on balconies, indoors in a sunny window or just about anywhere. Kitchen Mini tomatoes, Heartbreakers, Red Velvet, and Micro Tom Thumb are just a few.

The growing process

Grow one tomato per container for maximum productivity. Use a 5-gallon or bigger container for large varieties and at least a two to three gallon or similar size pot for smaller varieties.  Some research suggests a pot that is at least 14 inches but preferably 20 inches wide will yield greater results. Adding flowers and herbs to the container boosts the beauty and diversity of your container garden but will reduce the number of tomatoes produced.

Growing tomatoes in containers also allows you to start the season earlier. Just move the planter inside when the weather is harsh and back outside when the weather is warm and sunny. As the weather turns cold at the end of the growing season, cover the planter or move it into a frost-free location as needed. Some gardeners even move a pot or two inside to finish off the tomato season.

Plant tomatoes in a container with drainage holes and fill it with a quality potting mix. Reduce the time spent watering with a self-watering pot that has a reservoir to hold water and extend the time between watering. Further reduce the need to water by adding an organic, sustainable soil amendment like certified organic Wild Valley Farms’ wool pellets (wildvalleyfarms.com) to the potting mix. Made from wool waste, this product reduces watering by up to 25 percent.

Water thoroughly when the top few inches begin to dry. Mulch the soil with evergreen needles, shredded leaves, or other organic mulch to keep the soil consistently moist and suppress weeds.  Consistent soil moisture encourages more flowering and fruiting, while reducing the risk of blossom end rot, cracking, and misshapen fruit. 

Harvest tomatoes when fully colored or leave them on the plant a few more days for an even sweeter flavor. You’ll enjoy their use in salads, sauces, and other favorite recipes.

Melinda Myers (melindmyers.com) is the author of more than 20 gardening books, host of the “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series. and a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine.