160 Scenic Drive
On a hot July day, what could be as cooling as the sight and sound of running water in the garden? The garden of Cheryl Briggs’ home at 160 Scenic Drive is the Ashland Garden Club’s July 2016 Garden of the Month, and it has water features in two places among a small forest of shady trees. Previous owners installed the recirculating waterfalls, stream, and ponds on a steep lot.
Briggs has owned the home for five years, and she added the steps, walkways, and driveway with design help from Jeanine Strum of The Seasons Color. Briggs has weekly maintenance help from Carol’s Colors. A major project in the recent past removed ivy from the slope leading from the street. There is a stunning view of the valley and hills to the East, from a deck that has huge pots with masterful combinations of small plants.
Rhododendrons and azaleas abound in the shady areas. Also featured are Japanese maples and camellias. The major trees are Douglas fir and cedar. A photinia hedge lines the street. Elsewhere in the garden are a Cecile Bruner and Lady Banks roses, dogwood, wisteria, magnolia, and madrone.
Ashland Garden Club members mulching the Heirloom Garden at North Mountain Park
~The following tools are used & recommended by Ashland Garden Club Members~
Japanese Hori Hori Knife –Used for weeding, digging, cutting roots, dividing perennials, removing plants from pots. Unbelievably versatile!
Nejiri Gama Garden Hoe (Japanese garden hand tool) Narrow end pushes deep into the soil helps with weeding, planting seedlings, aerating the soil, making seed trenches, and breaking up clods & soil.
Hand Plow Ho-Mi Digger (short-handled) A Korean tool that’s an all-around hand-digging tool, useful for planting, weeding, rock-removal and finding irrigation lines.
Sheep Shears – Large long blades are useful for clipping & trimming small shrubs .
Long Handle Gardening Fork Dividing perennials, digging out trees, shrubs & perennials, Easier on the back when using long handle as leverage.
Garden Bucket Caddy Slips into a plastic bucket and holds garden tools.
Flexible Buckets – Great for hauling weeds, plants, hand tools around the garden.
Felco Pruners – Pruning, quality pruner, replaceable blades & parts, easy to sharpen. Right or Left handed offered. Felco 7: Is a ergonomic heavy duty pruner with a spinning handle, great for people with a arthritic thumb.
Florian Ratchet Pruner Ratchet-cut mechanism increases hand strength, prunes branches up to ¾ Inches in diameter, has a Lifetime Warranty. Right or Left handed offered.
Kneelon Knee Pads – Flexible, Waterproof, durable, machine washable.
CircleHoe– For weeding & cultivating close to plants.
Hoop Hoe, Stirrup Hoe, Action Hoe – All Similar hoes for weeding around plants.
Winged Weeders – For weeding, cultivating, edging, aerating and making furrows.
Balling Spade – Ideal for cutting deep and slicing through roots.
Potlifter – Lifts 250 lb – Saves your back when lifting pots or rocks. Also sold: Pro Potlifter for lifting 350 lbs.
Yard Butler Rotary Cultivator or Garden Weasel Cultivator (collapsible handle available) – Weeds, aerates, detachable center tines work between plants & rows.
Leaf Luster Digital Soil Thermometer – For measuring soil temperature for germination and transplanting
Leaf Luster Soil Tester – Contains tests for ph, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels.
Rapitest PH Meter – easily checks the pH level of your garden soil and potted plants.
Mico-tip Pruners – aka Floral Pruners- For deadheading & pruning smaller plants & flowers.
Fiskars Softough Mico-Tip Pruners- Awarded the Arthritis Foundation Ease-of-Use Commendation for a design that is easy-to-use for people with arthritis or limited hand strength.
Roto Digger Auger- Uses: Planting bulbs, bedding plants, seedlings, deep water aeration, fertilizing trees & shrubs.
Corona AC 8300 Sharpening Tool – 5-Inch super carbide file for sharpening straight edge tools.
Fiskars Softouch Weeder (7060) – Ergonomic weeder with forked tip cuts deep to remove weeds by the root.
Corona Clipper Razor Tooth – 10″ Folding Pruning Saw – Sturdy, easy to use, easy to store. Lifetime warranty.
Tru Temper Miniature Shovel – For planting bulbs and weeding.
Tru Temper Narrow Garden Fork – D-handle – For digging and mulching.
Yard Butler RKT-1000 Rocket Weeder – Pull weeds from the roots, organic weed control, ergonomic handle, ejector button pops off the weed-keeping your hands clean.
Gardex or Garden Home Leaf Scoops- Multi-purpose hand-held leaf scoops.
The home of Barbara and Len Eaton at 841 Beswick Way was purchased in 2011. The house was remodeled extensively, and a year later they had their daughter-in-law Kelly Eaton design the landscape plans.
Barbara requested that Kelly use native plants and grasses to provide habitat for bees, butterflies and birds. They had two oaks and a small madrone in front, and the few tall pines in the back that were the backbone of the garden. Some grading was done, the paths and structures put in and the drip irrigation and dry cree
k bed Installed.
The front was done first with many native tall and short grasses, manzanita, echinacea and an orange witch hazel next to the dry creek bed. In addition, a royal purple smoke tree and a crepe myrtle grow on the right side of the walkway. The wood arbor at the entrance has an Akebia vine which will shade the lovely swing from which you can sit and view Grizzly Peak. Star Jasmine climb the screens on the right. The large pots, overflowing with bright orange lantana and red geraniums, give a happy welcome to visitors.
Walking down the driveway you can look up and see the bee hive in the oak. Kelly put in a few plants that have drip only to preserve the oaks. When you enter the back gate you will be met with a lovely cascade of hardy geraniums, alyssum, yellow lantana, a family fuchsia and a pink crepe myrtle. Lizzy the family dog sits on the stairs to greet you and lead you into a path that takes you to the center three-tiered fountain.
When you look to the back garden there is a very large wood-beamed arbor with a wisteria that will shade the right side. In the center is a fireplace. Again Barbara has filled some large pots with blue black salvia and more lantana which the bees are feasting on. To the right and down behind the garage are raised vegetable beds that produce a variety of tomatoes, string beans and pumpkins.
The garage wall has a large espaliered Star Magnolia and two pot stands filled with cascading Creeping Charlie and Creeping Jenny. Under the towering pines is a Cherokee Chief dogwood and a flagstone pathway which has Blue Star Creeper and flowering thyme covered with many happy bees. Another lime- leaf smoke tree and a yellow witch hazel complete the path. The city of Ashland did audits for water use and fire safety which passed, with the City even putting photos of the garden on their website. This garden was on the garden to
ur of the AAUW in 2014.
Len has a shop where he will be building the gate to their own piece of paradise. He also mows the lawns and helps with the fall cleanup while Barbara maintains the gardens. They have achieved their desire for a habitat that keeps the bees, birds and butterflies happy and “at the end of the day” they both enjoy sitting in the swing and looking up at Grizzly Peak.
Every June members of the Ashland Garden Club create 150-180 beautiful Feast of Will table arrangements with flowers cut from their personal gardens. This Lion’s Club’s sponsored event celebrates the seasonal opening of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Elizabethan Theater.
2015 Feast of Will
