Tag Archives: Ashland Garden Club Community Service

Garden on the Month: August 2019

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333 Harrison Street

Check out the eye-catching garden at the corner of Harrison and Holly.  Becky and Will Sherman’s beautiful property at 333 Harrison Street is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for August.  Becky is the primary gardener and stone-wrangler.  Will built the handsome fences and deck, and manages the irrigation system.  When they purchased the home in 2010, the yard was a blank slate.  It is anything but that now.

The dahlias and zinnias are sensational.  Golden bamboo, controlled by constant monitoring and a deep barrier, provides privacy and a graceful background to smaller plants.  Nandina is a favorite “filler” for its year-round interest.  Vegetables are interspersed with flowers.  The southwest edge of the property is dominated by a small pine and cedar forest.

Becky says the one piece of advice she likes to give to novice gardeners is that it’s OK to cut plants back radically.  Her love of blooming plants is a way to fondly remember her late mother who also loved flowers.  She averages eight hours a week in the garden, but enjoys the work which she says is better for her than a gym membership.  She is constantly adding and changing the plantings.

Becky credits neighbor Jennifer Loizeaux for giving early garden advice, and friend Tom Bradley for building wood deck furniture and planter box projects.

Garden of the Month: June 2019

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265 Ohio Street

There are several nice garden surprises at the unpaved end of Ohio Street, northwest of Laurel.  One is the fabulous garden and fence at 265 Ohio Street.  This garden, designed and maintained by Gene Leyden, is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June.  This is a naturally wet parcel (note the giant pond next door) where dampness- and shade-loving plants thrive and carefully placed sun-loving plants also flourish.  Gene planted the willow tree, now enormous (14 feet in circumference!), when she moved in with her family in 1987, transporting it to the site from the nursery in the back of the Volkswagon bus.  Garden observers can walk or drive down the alley to the right of the house to get more views.

In addition to the prospering plant life, there are remarkably beautiful constructions by Gene’s friend, the artist and carpenter Nathan Sharples.  Look carefully at the gorgeous fence, installed only three years ago.  Note the unusual wooden screen door.  Now catch a glimpse of the fabulous gazebo in what appears to be the back yard but is actually the front of the house which was moved to this location shortly before Gene moved in.   Sharples built the gazebo of many species of wood, rarely using straight planks, but fitting curved pieces together with exquisite workmanship.  Multicolor glass in clerestory windows adds light to the interior.

Also salted throughout the garden are sculptures by Gene’s friend Cheryl Garcia, as well as other items of interest.

Gene has the advantage of access to Helman ditch water.  She has had to amend the soil over the years because the site was ill-used before she (and the house) arrived.  She refers to it as a “wild garden” that reseeds itself each year and “does its own thing.”.  She insists that she doesn’t spend as much time working on it as its beauty suggests, and she does have help now with weeding and mowing.  Gene says she has a special fondness for fragrance in the garden and chooses many plants on that basis, including roses, jasmine and nicotiana.

Among the many highlights in the garden are a selection of huge hostas loving their location under the willow, Lady Banks and Cecile Brunner roses climbing through the vegetation, and a smoke tree and smoke bush lending their rich dark foliage as contrast to the riot of greens plus colorful blossoms.  There’s a little bit of everything here. This is clearly the work of people of great imagination, especially the primary gardener.

Article by: Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: October 2016

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The gardens at 170 Logan Drive are the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for October. Chris Eberhardt and Gene Miller bought the property in 2008, and the gardens then were nice enough. But in 2013, they decided to re-landscape to update and unify the property, and to make it deer resistant. They refer to certain sections of the garden, and the adjacent v-shaped plot at the corner of Logan and Scenic, held by the property owners’ association, as the “deer highway.”  They hired Solid Ground Landscape Inc. to develop a comprehensive plan and provide regular maintenance. Solid Ground included a pathway for the deer to encourage a certain route.

The back is on a steep grade, dotted with tall oaks, from a lovely balustrade terrace, with rhododendrons and daisies providing seasonal color. A charming and private outdoor “room” featuring Japanese maples, was created just outside the hexagonal dining room that was previously exposed to the street. A yew hedge provides much of the privacy. This room has a more formal look than the rest of the garden, with its manicured boxwood border. In addition to specimen plants, the front features drought-tolerant grasses and large boulders, some of which are indigenous to the property. Enormous pots, filled with gorgeous plants, flank the front door.

Photos by Larry Rosengren

The Lonely Bouquet

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The Ashland Garden Club celebrated its first Fall meeting on Sept. 12 with a floral design img_0239project designed to bring happiness to the members as well as lucky people in the community.
Members, under the direction of club member Molly Caruthers, created 40 floral arrangements  that were then taken into the community and “abandoned” for others to find and take home.
The program is called The Lonely Bouquet.  Each arrangement had a tag which explained that the bouquet needed a new home and the finder was encouraged to take it home or give to someone of their choice.  Each arrangement also had an attached postcard addressed to the Ashland Garden Club which finders could use to write back to the club to tell us where their bouquet found its new home.  Flowers were from members’ gardens as well as Fry Family Farms, LeMera Gardens, Albertsons and the Enchanted Florist.
The Lonely Bouquet program was begun by Emily Avenson, a young California woman who moved to Belgium and began a floral farm and florist business.  When traveling she would make a small bouquet and put it in a glass jelly jar and abandon it with a tag explaining the Lonely Bouquet concept.  In just a few years the movement has spread all over the world.  The mission is to bring happiness…..one flower at a time.  We hope it will spread much joy in Ashland and the surrounding area!

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Garden of the Month: September 2016

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Garden of the Month: 448 Clinton Street

Carolyn and Donald Hunsaker purchased their house at 448 Clinton Strelr-6-16-1et five years ago and immediately set about reworking the small garden spaces. Two years ago, they were among the first to take advantage of the City of Ashland’s lawn replacement program. Throughout the process of developing the wonderful garden that they have today, they have had assistance from Regenesis Ecological Design of Ashland.

dh Most recently theirs was designated an official Pollinator Garden by Bee City USA of Ashland, and they have a pretty, new sign to prove it. The Hunsakers commissioned Nick David of Jefferson Woodwright to make a very nice frame for the sign, to coordinate with the craftsman architecture of their home.  They have colorful Monarch caterpillars in residence, happily munching on various kinds of milkweed that they introduced to a side yard. Carolyn and Don, together, spend about five hours a week maintaining this beautiful garden.

lr-8_16-12This is a modest-size garden, with a front of 800 square feet, side yards of about 250 square feet each, and natural areas off the alley adding about 200 square feet more, but they have capitalized on the efficient use of space, with plants on trellises for height that also provide privacy. On one side, the garden opens out to reveal an inviting patio, just off the kitchen, complete with a refreshing water feature. On the other side, outdoor rooms were created with arbors and a variety of vines, including star jasmine and honeysuckle. On this side, a garden shed has a living roof, comprised of sedum, small primroses, bitterroot, and other small plants. A tiny solar panel provides power for the light inside the shed.

In front, the sword ferns, azaleas, and rhododendrons close to the front porch plus a pink dogwood on the left are pretty much all that remains of the landscape as it existed when they bought the place. They have added a paperbark maple as well as heathers, yarrow, blue fescue, and other low-growing plants to replace the front lawn. Creeping thyme fills in the between the stepping-stones. Kinnikinnick fills the parking strip, since parking is not permitted on their side of the street. All the low plants in front are deer resistant.

lr-8-16-9Near the patio in back, there is a concrete raised bed that has primarily edible plants such as cucumber, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, with mint, basil, rosemary, and marigolds to discourage unwelcome creatures. Larger, non-edible plants in this area include a Japanese maple, buddleja, anemone, Sochi Tea camellia, and euphorbia.

Throughout the garden, there are many roses, mostly climbers, including Portlandia, Westerland, Polka, Gold Badge, Night Light, Golden Gate, Abraham Darby, Joseph’s Coat, and Royal Pageant (Carolyn’s favorite).fullsizerender-2

This is a delightful garden full of pleasant surprises.

Submitted by:
Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: August 2016

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1156 Oak Street

When Ben Gault purchased the cottage at 1156 Oak Street in 1971, the gorgeous willow tree that now graces the front of the property was a volunteer sapling. But it wasn’t until 1979, when wife Leslie joined the household, that the garden began to take shape. She took Master Gardener training in 1981 and that’s when things really took off. Landscape Designer John Stadelman advised in the earliest stage of the garden’s development. Gardening the property is a labor of love for Leslie, and she spends a lot of time working on it.Oak Street 1

The Gaults use only organic products. Ben mows the grass, and waters — very deeply — only once a week. Leslie does almost all of the rest of the work, with occasional help from Ricardo Sabino. The property, of slightly more than an acre, stretches to Bear Creek. There is a barn, small pool, and tiny lily pond in back. Much of the back is open field.

Oak Street 2

Right now, asters and rudbeckia dominate the landscape. In the Spring, it was daffodils. Leslie has planted 82 roses throughout the property over the years, including Cecile Bruner and Sally Holmes — two among many favorites. Other than the willow, the largest trees are a wonderful spreading fruitless mulberry, and a couple of firs. Leslie more recently added a white Kousa dogwood to the center of the rose circle. In addition to rose circle she has named other planting areas throughout the yard, including fence border and long border.Oak Street 5

St. Johns Wort lines the street side of the property. A fabulous stand of purple poppies is just past the bloom stage near the house. Other plants in abundance include gaura, buddleja, clematis, daylilies, iris, verbena, daisies, and forsythia.

Oak Street 3With seating and shade, there are several places to relax and enjoy the garden. The Adirondack chairs remind Leslie of her youth on the East coast. The overall ambience is of a slower, quieter time.Oak Street 4

 

Submitted by: Ruth Sloan