519 Liberty Street-
The front garden at 519 Liberty Street is always eye-catching. In April, there was a stunning show of daffodils. In May and June, it was irises and peonies. Now it’s daisies and coreopsis with foxglove just ending its reign. Garden Club members, friends, and families will have an opportunity to see inside the intriguing gate to the equally breath-taking and very private courtyard, side, and back gardens at 1:00 on Monday, July 11. This is a small garden, jam-packed with beautiful plants.

Sue Harmon has gardened on this property since 2003. Some years earlier, she took a two-year series of horticulture courses at UCLA that is the equivalent of Master Gardener training here. And when she first moved to Ashland, she took a garden-planning workshop at SOU. A Master Gardener from that program helped her plan the courtyard garden. Sue does all of the gardening herself. She spends approximately eight hours a week during the busiest seasons of Spring and Fall, and about four hours a week the rest of the year. It shows.

In addition to the ever-changing show of blooms in front is a large mimosa tree with lacy foliage that will have fringed pink blossoms later this summer. The front also is home to a holly tree, two dogwoods, and numerous evergreen shrubs. A clematis vine tops the arbor over the unique gate.Through the gate, you arrive in the private bower that is the courtyard, with a bistro table and chairs, as well as a well-established wisteria framing the left side.A bubbling urn fountain provides soothing sound.
Two Japanese maples anchor either side of the space that is filled with azaleas, ferns, heuchera, daphne, camellias, hellebores, nandina, toadwart, and teucrium germander.The side yard, featuring roses, lilacs, tulips, more irises, and fragrant geraniums, are visible through a wall of windows in the family room. A Cecile Bruner rose–now just past its peak—separates the side from the back and screens the compost bin. It’s sharing its arbor with a different kind of clematis.

In back, a tall hedge of Leland cypress screens the neighbors and continues the feel of absolute privacy. A small lawn is bordered by a riot of color. A tiered fountain, dining patio, bench swing, and romantic garden bench furnish the back yard. Among the many varieties of plants in back are hostas, bear’s breech, sedum, columbine, bleeding heart, tulips, fuchsias, Japanese anemones, ajuga, and creeping jenny. There is also a kitchen garden in half-barrels and large pots with lettuce, tomatoes, and herbs.

Garden of the Month Committee /Ruth Sloan

550 Fordyce Street-
Up until eight years ago, June’s Garden of the Month at 550 Fordyce Street was pastureland hosting llamas and pigs.Alla and John Farrell and their three sons moved into the new house in 2004.The garden was professionally installed, but since then, Alla (with some help from her sons, now 19, 15, and 11) has developed the garden into a showplace.

An attractive redwood fence (alas, not high enough to keep out deer) separates the front garden from a carefully planted verge along the street, giving pleasure to all who pass by.(The verge includes deer-resistant Oregon grape, pampas grass, flowering plum trees, rock rose, burning bush, rhododendron, and various evergreen shrubs.)

Approaching the front door, a birch tree, drought-tolerant evergreen ground covers, and a bed of annuals greet the visitor.Alla tries different annuals every year.This year, it’s geraniums with a verbena border.Bright blue ceramic balls from Legends Pottery Outlet in Central Point add a whimsical touch.Tea lights in glass holders and year-round Christmas lights add a festive touch at night.

Three separate patio gardens give welcome shade and entertainment spaces in the summer.A small one in the corner of the front yard is covered by an arbor with climbing rose coming from one side and wisteria from the other.Walking through an archway of clematis, a side patio attached to the house is framed by a wandering Chardonnay grape.(Unfortunately, raccoons love this grape.)Large pots are planted with mixtures of shade-lovers, especially begonia, for a splash of color.In 2007, Alla built a terraced back patio garden, planting a fruitless mulberry for shade, as well as dogwood, oak leaf hydrangea, and smoke bush. A variety of honeysuckles and trumpet vine adorn side and rear fences, attracting hummingbirds and giving privacy.

The south side of the property – a narrow strip outside the kitchen window along a driveway to a rear flag lot – is devoted to a delightful kitchen garden, with blueberry, black currant, red currant, and gooseberry bushes (Alla uses them for jam and jelly, as she did in her native Russia); cherry and pear trees; a white, seedless grape framing the kitchen window; and two small raised beds with a variety of vegetables and herbs. Bright blue ceramic pots along this side of the house on a stream of small river rock continue the whimsical theme from the front yard, softening the driveway further.

The front south side is bordered with a thornless climbing rose along a low fence. Japanese maples, burning bush, and fall mums dot the property for a blaze of autumn color.Alla has mixed various shades of evergreen shrubs for added interest.

Other attractive plantings in the Farrells’ garden include a silver dollar eucalyptus by the front patio; iris, azalea and rock rose; mimosa, veronica, camellia, Blaney’s blue rhododendron, baby lilac, and star magnolia; chocolate mimosa and chocolate maple (Alla loves chocolate); black lace elderberry, a columnar blue spruce, and even a fan palm. A small garden with a longleaf pine tree and a border of boxwood and annuals softens driveway concrete.Weeds are kept at bay with a thick layer of bark mulch (and the help of sons).

The Farrells’ garden will be open for viewing on Saturday, June 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

— Julia Sommer