Garden of the Month June 2026: 640 Morton Street

Along with graduation the month of June brings with it the excitement of summer vacations with trips to the Coast or hikes in Redwood forests. Young families may enjoy collecting sea shells or pine cones to bring home along with the sand or duff that their shoes inevitably pick up along the way. As we become older the trips may become longer and we may travel further, perhaps out of state or even to another country. The mementos we bring home with us hold
the same fascination but represent a new focus as our interests follow a particular inclination discovered on our journey through life. Sometimes, in addition to the memories and photographs that we bring back with us, we are inspired to recreate something tangible that will in a very real way remind us of the places that we experienced so profoundly on our journey.

Diane de Ryss and her husband Bruce Macon have been fortunate to spend time on other continents and their garden located at 640 Morton Street reflects just that. It might be called a sculpture garden, but it is much more than that because the plant material serves not just as a luxurious foil highlighting each piece but is entirely in keeping with the topography of the gently
sloped site located high above the town. The planting beds are laid out in sweeping arcs with terraces and pathways providing ease of access for both maintenance and viewing. Bruce brought memories of their travels abroad to their home in the design and execution of each piece of art thoughtfully placed throughout the property.

Diane and Bruce purchased their two adjacent quarter acre lots in 2015 and their new home was completed in 2017. Bruce was the architect and the construction materials are appropriate for the forested neighborhood: fire retardant metal roofing, fiber-cement siding, and fire- resilient gravel paths and terraces surround their home. Approximately two-thirds of the
property has been planted, the initial heavy labor of adding many yards of compost, installing drip irrigation, and setting the initial plants and trees was completed by the hard-working crew from Sage Hill Landscape. Diane has continued to select and plant cultivars and native plants to enhance the viewing experience.

The front entry garden features a rusted iron sculpture named ‘Serenity’ and if one looks carefully one can see the Japanese kanji “wa,” which is usually translated to mean harmony or balance. Bruce spent several years as a young man in Japan and that cultural ideal influences his design aesthetic. In the spring a stand of bearded iris accent the sculpture followed by the
flamboyant orange-red tubular flowers of the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum). A perennial native, the low-growing, spreading plant with gray-green leaves blooms from summer through fall, attracting hummingbirds for pollination. English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) graces the site with its tall, slender stems.

Two faces of the residence are framed by Crape Myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica): the front yard and upper terrace garden showcase five pure white ‘Nachez.’ The lower terrace garden is planted with two ‘Enduring Summer White’ and two ‘Petite Red Imp’ flowering cultivars. Crape Myrtles are renowned not just for their bountiful blooms in the summer but also their vibrant orange-red foliage in the fall and smooth, peeling, cinnamon colored bark. They, like the herbs
at their feet, are highly heat tolerant and well suited for this south-facing garden. Mexican Orange Blossom (Choisya ternata), Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Oat Grass(Arrhenatherum) and a deciduous Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos ‘Sunburst’) with its glowing chartreuse new foliage in the spring fill out the front planting beds. Diane was careful to ensure that all these plants were deer resistant and drought tolerant. The side yard was leveled prior to construction of the residence and niched into the hillside to create the lower terrace garden and a pétanque court. (Pétanque is similar to bocce but played with metal balls.) An attractive concrete retaining wall is accented with hanging baskets of geraniums, but the truly stunning feature is the mosaic mural, called ‘Long-Tailed Sylph,’ the name of the beautiful hummingbird that Bruce and Diane saw during their travels in Peru. This piece, Bruce’s first addition to the garden, is made with over 10,000 half-inch mosaic tiles. Their iridescence in the sunshine captures the hummingbird’s beauty perfectly! As an artistic call and
response, Diane later added to the terrace a mosaic table top, a burst of color in a geometric
pattern taken from Peruvian tapestries.

Stepping down the wide, curved concrete steps and looking right, one can see Diane’s self- described indulgent rose garden, containing several specimens, like ‘Electron,’ ‘Tropicana,’ and ‘Peace’ transplanted from their home in Seattle. Following the path to the left, one is met by another riot of color: ruby red shrub roses and a tall stand of yellow native Columbine, which have self-seeded, contrast dramatically with blue Delphiniums.

The foundation of the house and the adjacent five-foot, fire-resilient gravel path is screened by a row of ‘Limelight Prime’ Hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata, a more compact version of the original ‘Limelight’ featuring stronger, stiffer stems that hold the massive, cone-shaped blooms upright without flopping. Their vibrant green pops against the brick-red colored siding of their home.

Further down that same path are the original ‘Limelight’ cultivar, their massive football- shaped blooms open in a vibrant celadon-green, mature to a creamy white in midsummer, and age to deep pink, red, or burgundy by fall. Diane interspersed ‘Black and Blue’ Salvia (Salvia guaranitica), as a perfect complement to the chartreuse hydrangea. Thriving in full sun it is a
stunning, tender perennial known for its vibrant cobalt-blue, tubular flowers set against contrasting black stems and calyces. It blooms from mid-summer through fall and is a magnet for hummingbirds and pollinators.

Turning back along the same path, to the curved concrete stairs, the hot tub is screened by several tall ‘Karl Foerster’ (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) grasses. The path also provides a viewing advantage for a single Redleaf Rose (Rosa glauca) with sparsely bristled and thorny cinnamon-colored arching canes. The leaves are distinctive, a glaucous blue-green to coppery or purplish, and covered with a waxy bloom. The deciduous rose bush grows from five to nine feet tall but
blooms only once for a too brief, two-week interval with stunning clear pink flowers produced in clusters of two to five. In fall, the fruit is a dark red globose hip nearly half an inch in diameter. If you have the space in a larger garden, this shrub rose is well worth it!

Returning to the curved stairs beneath the spreading limbs of a truly stunning example of their native white oak (quercus garryana), now is the chance to take the path to the back gardens. At the intersection is a pomegranate tree (Punica granatum ‘Wonderful’), with its distinctive vermillion blossoms attracting pollinators to the garden, and another garden folly, ‘Le Pigeonnier,’ reminiscent of the old dovecotes Bruce and Diane saw on a self-guided walking tour through the Dordogne in France.

To the left are a number of raised vegetable beds equipped with 30% shade cloth to shield the plants from the intense heat generated by the summer sun. When blooming, a stunning ‘Triple Crown Thornless’ blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) on a large trellis obscures the potting shed and work area.
Look to the right and one can spot Bruce’s most recent sculpture, “Arpeggio.” Copper-colored pipes are arrayed in a fan shape evoking both a cathedral organ and the rolling notes of a broken chord. A cluster of colored glass stamens allow this piece to sit companionably among the surrounding lavender. At the back of their property stand two enormous Ponderosa Pines. Under one of these striking native conifers, Bruce has fabricated a giant orb inspired by the pre-Columbian petrospheres found in Costa Rica. Bruce and Diane visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 and were fascinated by the stone spheres commonly attributed to the extinct Diquis culture. The one in this garden is constructed with a slurry of crushed granite with the added distinction of a ribbon of colorful mosaic encircling the ball. Weighing more than three hundred pounds, it required thirteen willing friends to transport the ball from the garage where it was constructed, up the steep street, down a shared drive and then through the gardens to its final resting spot. Other stone spheres are located in this garden; can you spot them?

In this area, Diane has also planted the native Narrow-Leaf (‘Asclepias fascicularis’) and Showy (‘Asclepias speciosa’) Milkweeds, and is attempting to start ‘Heartleaf’ (Asclepias cordifolia), one of the prettiest violet milkweeds during its July bloom. During the pandemic Bruce built a terrace at the back of the property to accommodate a reading nook graced with a pretty mosaic of birds and fishes which Diane created. He also laid out the wildflower beds assisted by his favorite laborer, Diane.

She is especially fond of the ‘Blue Eyed Mary’ (Collinsia verna). Grown from seed from Klamath Siskiyou Native Seeds, it attracts a tiny bee she has only seen on this plant. A very showy spring annual, ‘Blue Eyed Mary’ forms carpets of gorgeous blue and white flowers. This native garden also includes Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), Tarweed (Madia elegans), Diamond
Clarkia (Clarkia rhomboidei) and some recently acquired Hillside Penstemon (Penstemon triflorus), recommended by their good friends and native plant enthusiast Vicky Sturtevant and Alan Armstrong, whose neighboring garden was featured as an earlier Garden of the Month. Diane is not shy about calling herself “a color junkie.” Roses, Asiatic lilies, peonies, dahlias,
coneflowers, hyssop, perennial phlox and more, put on a continuous display of color. The entire garden is a kaleidoscope of color from early spring through fall; no one season predominates in
its glory.

Fernando Caruncho, Spanish landscape designer, wrote “The garden is the emotional, spiritual and intellectual laboratory of the mind.” Truer words could not express the vision that the curators of this exhibition have created on Morton Street. These two individuals have collaborated to create a ‘Mouseion for the Muses.’ In Greek mythology, the Muses were the nine goddesses who presided over the arts, literature and sciences. They were considered the ultimate source of inspiration. Bruce and Diane have returned from their travels abroad and set about creating just such a landscape to inspire not only themselves but anyone privileged to visit. To best view the entire length of the property it is advisable to walk down the level driveway above Diane and Bruce’s property and leading to the neighbor’s flag lot. Permission was graciously granted. A deer fence and multiple Firethorn (Pyracantha spp) and Dwarf Strawberry (Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’) shrubs partially screen the view but it is well worth the effort. Parking is permitted on only the downslope side of Morton. Remember to set your parking brake and turn wheels toward the curb.

Submitted by Elizabeth Essex, AGC Garden of the Month Chairperson, with appreciation to Diane de Ryss for her judicious editing and for sharing numerous photographs of their remarkable garden. And to Amy Lepon, AGC member, for nominating this garden.

The Ashland Garden Club has been selecting Gardens of the Month from spring through fall for more than twenty-five years. Nominations are gratefully received at gardenofthemonth@ashlandorgardenclub.org.

Readers are invited to check out the club’s website at ashlandorgardenclub.org for information on meeting times and places.