623 Prim Street

Elysian Graham and Lou Martinez bought the handsome house at 623 Prim Street in 2020 and promptly set about re-imagining the front landscape.  This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the month for September 2023.

They hired Banyan Tree Landscaping and landscape architect Lucretia Weems to do the job.  Among their primary goals were to achieve easy maintenance for their steep yard, conserve water, and be deer resistant.  They also wanted a subtle color palette, but color and interest all year, and to be pollinator-friendly.  They have achieved all this and more.

Only the large sweet gum tree on the left side of the garden and the thicket on the far right side, which is seasonally favored by deer, remain from the original yard.  Overhead sprinklers were replaced by a drip irrigation system.  The rock retaining walls and graceful stairs were added.

Ornamental grasses are highlights at this time of year and on through the winter.  As the homeowners and designers of this garden have done, the Ashland Garden Club urges gardeners to take care in choosing ornamental grasses that are not fire-prone, and to remove dead and dry growth.

The couple handle all the maintenance themselves and, as busy professionals, they are grateful that their yard is so easy-care.  Elysian particularly likes the guara and Lou likes the Japanese maple.

Photos by Lou Martinez

Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC GOM Committee Chair