The Gardens & Great House of the Crane Estate, in Ipswich,MA
~Nan Quick
Author Archives: Ashland Garden Club
To bee, or not to bee?
Bee City USA – Ashland?!? To bee or not to bee?
This question is being asked Monday, 10/20.
You can show your support for Ashland to become the 4th Bee City USA by gathering outside the Ashland Community Development Building ( 51 Winburn Way) at 5:30 pm to greet Ashland City Council members as they go into a review session at 5:30 PM.
Talent Oregon has just become the 2nd Bee City USA, and supporters are hoping to make Ashland the 4th! They are encouraging people to wear pollinator costumes (bees, butterflies, ladybugs, bats, your favorite pollinator)!
Garden of the Month: September 2014
Garden of the Month
: 913 Mary Jane
by Kaaren Anderson
by Kaaren Anderson
Richard Lee moved into the house at 913 Mary Jane and began the first steps to grow plants and landscape the yard, beginning with the foundation plants of nandina, green spirel euonymus, and Oregon grape.
Paige joined him in 2005 and together the couple created the garden you see today. In that year, the front landscape changed dramatically when the house was remodeled. This process created a mound of excess soil which they creatively decided to leave, adding plants that began with dwarf nandina and mugo pines.
Richard installed a 1400 square foot greenhouse in the backyard where he began raising plants from seed, including perennial geraniums which are planted inside the yard as well as on the street side of the photenia hedge. For color they have annual geraniums, hibiscus, dahlias and zinnias, with the zinnias currently reaching a height of 64”. On the street side, also grown from seed, are echinacea and coreopsis. On the mound was added a cercis tree and a bakers Cyprus which is a native tree to the Siskiyou mountains. In front of the picture window is a coral bark maple. Access to TID water for part of the summer helped keep the plants happy and healthy.
In the springtime you will also see columbine, lilies, gladiolus, daisies, crocosmia and camilias, which I know would make the garden even more spectacular than it is now. But though Paige worried that her garden wasn’t at its best, I assured her that even at this time of year, and in one of the the hottest summers on record, it stood out as a jewel.
Thank you Paige and Richard for sharing your garden with us!
AGC Book Club Reading List for 2012 – 2014
BOOK GROUP AUTHOR & TITLES 2012
DIFFENBAUGH, VANESSA : THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS
STEWART, AMY: FROM THE GROUND UP
SEARLE, EVELYN: TO THE WOODS
SHIELD, CAROLE: LARRY’S PARTY
KIMBELL, KRISTEN: THE DIRTY LIFE
THAXTER, CELIA: AN ISLAND GARDEN
HANDELSMAN, JUDITH: GROWING MYSELF
PRESTON, RICHARD: THE WILD TREES
BOOK GROUP AUTHOR & TITLES 2013
MONTEFIORE, SANTA: THE MERMAID GARDEN
COOPER, THOMAS: THE ROOTS OF MY OBSESSION
HEAVEY, TARA: WINTER BLOOM
MITCHELL, HENRY: ONE MAN’S GARDEN
TSUKIYAMA, GAIL: THE SAMAURI’S GARDEN
GOODMAN, RICHARD: FRENCH DIRT
WULF, ANDREA: FOUNDING GARDENERS
SEALE, WILLIAM: THE WHITE HOUSE GARDEN
THE GARDEN OF READING; AN ANTHOLOGY OF 20TH CENTURY SHORT FICTION ABOUT GARDENS AND GARDENERS
BOOK GROUP TITLES 2014
STEWART, AMY: WICKED PLANTS
ABBEY, EDWARD: DESERT SOLITAIRE
AMIRREZVANI, ANITA: BLOOD OF FLOWERS
MITCHELL, HENRY: ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN
ENG, TAN TWAN: GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS
BARILLA, JAMES: MY BACKYARD JUNGLE
GILBERT, ELIZABETH: THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS
LINK, MARDI JO: BOOTSTRAPPER: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm
Two books/two Authors : ROBBINS, JIM: THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
GIONO, JEAN: THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
Chojuro Asian Pear
Plant Type: Fruit Tree
Bloom Time: Early
Fruit Ripens: Late August, Early September
Plant Height: Upright 16-18 feet
Exposure: Full Sun
Soil: Medium Fertile
USDA: Zone: 5-8
Attributes: Very productive, Golden fruit with butterscotch-like flavor when tree-ripened. Medium to large fruit. Fruit Keeps.
Other Info: Thin fruit to increase fruit size. Best pollinators: Other variety of Asian pear or Bartlett pear.
Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glory
Ipomoea purpurea (Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glory)
Plant Type: Annual (twinning vine)
Sowing Method: Direct sow seeds in spring (first soak seed in warm water for 24 hrs, then nick the seed)
Bloom Time: Summer until frost – 12 weeks
Flower: Royal purple trumpet with deep pink “star”.
Plant Height: 13-15 feet
Exposure: Full Sun
Soil: Average well drained soil
Attributes: Attracts Humming Birds, Hardy, Easy to Grow, Re-seeds freely, Covers fence or trellis in a profusion of lovely flowers.
USDA Zones: 3-10
