Author Archives: Ashland Garden Club

Horticulture Report: Fig Trees

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Fig Trees: Pruning & Fertilizing

Prune fig trees between late February and early March, before new growth appears.

Prune young trees for shape and good scaffold branching.  A scaffold branch forms the main framework of the tree. Prune mature trees to maintain tree structure, health and easy harvest.

Pruning:

Do not remove more than 30 percent of the tree’s canopy in a given year.  Figs bear fruit on new wood, so over pruning will not only reduce fruit yields it also causes the tree to focus on foliage production. Over pruning can also cause a hormonal imbalance, which regulates its growth and fruit production.

Prune out dead, diseased, and crossing branches, cut back excessively long branches, and shape to retain scaffold branches.  Monitor pruning cuts for bacterial or fungal problems until they heal.

Fertilize:

Fertilize fig trees with an all-purpose fertilizer; a 10 -10 -10 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Spread fertilizer evenly around the tree, keeping it at least 18 inches away from the trunk. Water the tree well after applying fertilizer.

Young fig trees: For the first two years in early spring apply 1 ounce of fertilizer once a month through August. Do not apply after August.   

Mature fig trees:  Apply in the spring when new growth appears, fertilize with 1/3 pound of fertilizer per foot of height.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Italian Honey Fig: A dessert Fig with a pale slightly tart chartreuse skin and sweet amber flesh. Dries well.

Article by: Carlotta Lucas, Ashland Garden Club board member

Art in the Garden

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Ashland Garden Club member, Tsutae Novick’s art in the garden. 

Tsutae enjoys making art and doing whatever brings love and joy into her life;
she enjoys meeting with people & making friends, traveling, singing, cooking, gardening; she likes animals, tea ceremonies, healing, spirituality, and sculpting with clay. She especially likes making little buddhas, which the Japanese call “Jizou”.

Tsutae’s Gallery: https://sairam414.weebly.com/gallery.html

Photos by: Lynn McDonald

Post by: Carlotta Lucas

Happy Autumn Equinox!

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Today, Sun, Sep 22, 2024 is the first day of Autumn.

Monarch butterflies are migrating now and today I saw a one visiting my garden. This is the fourth monarch I have seen this summer. It spent several hours getting nectar and resting in the garden. It preferred the zinnia flowers more than all others. This monarch sampled other flowers, but kept coming back to the zinnias. I noticed it liked newer flowers more than the older ones. This suggests it’s a good habit to deadhead your flowers, since cutting back older flowers encourages new buds.  If interested, you can report your monarch sightings to journeynorth.org Include the number of monarchs you observed and the length of time they spent in your area.    

~Goly Ostovar, AGC Member  

Garden of the Month: September 2024

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2025 Green Meadows Way, Ashland Oregon

Miriam Weissberg’s creativity and love of color shows throughout her garden at 2025 Green Meadows Way.  This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for September 2024.

Photo by Miriam Weissberg, August 2023

When Miriam and her late husband Rob first moved to the property in 2018, the front yard was mostly grass and the back yard was dominated by blank space for an above-ground pool that the previous owner removed.  Miriam and Rob planned and gardened together until he passed away in 2023.  Now Miriam does all the designing and fine-tuning in the garden.

Photo by Miriam Weissberg, August 2023 

Carlos and Pam Maya do much of the routine maintenance and larger projects.  Miriam estimates that among herself, Carlos and Pam, they spend an average of about 18 hours per month on the garden.

Photo by Ruth Sloan, August 2024 

Although she has access to TID water, she doesn’t use it very much because she didn’t want to design a landscape that would be reliant on water that is available such a small fraction of the year.  She figures that, with added hardscape and drought tolerant plants, she uses less water than was the case when they moved in.  The zoned irrigation system employs about two-thirds drip lines.

Flower beds and walkways in the back yard replacing pool site.  Photo by Ruth Sloan, August 2024
Deck stairs with edging for safety, painted and photo by Miriam Weissberg. June 2019

Miriam’s advice to other gardeners is to try different things and see what works best given the many factors in your garden.  Also, to encourage maximum blooming, keep your plants well pruned.

Photo by Miriam Weissberg, October 2023

Among her favorite plants are verbena and roses.  In the recent past, she has planted many annuals, including beloved zinnias, to add color with the knowledge that her choices don’t require much water.  This year, she didn’t have time to plant her usual annuals but the garden is still lovely.

Photo by Ruth Sloan, August 2024


Article by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month
With thanks to Marilyn Love for bringing this garden to my attention.

Observing Fall Migratory Birds and Garden Delights

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Fall migratory birds are starting to show up in my garden. I saw this Black headed grosbeaks at the feeder today. Rufous hummingbirds are competing with Anna’s in the garden. Rufous Hummingbirds travel from breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada to wintering sites in Mexico. All critters seems to be enjoying a bit of cool air, And finally the vegetable garden seems to be relaxing from the intense heat and starting to produce. I had a lot of male flowers on the cucumber plants, and finally I am getting some female flowers and some cucumbers.
Goly Ostovar, AGC Member