Tag Archives: Ashland Garden Club

Garden of the Month: April 2019

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500 Parkside Drive

Since 2000, the Ashland Garden Club has been selecting Ashland gardens as Garden of the Month, from April through September.  From late fall through early spring, no gardens are chosen because most gardens don’t look very good at that time of year.  The garden at 500 Parkside Drive is the exception.  It looked good all winter, looks great right now, and is being honored as Garden of the Month for April 2019.


 This property is owned by Terry and Barbara Oldfield.  This year they spent the coldest months of the year near grandchildren in Arizona, while the Ashland house and garden were looked after by family and neighbors.  Terry usually does the garden maintenance.  The side and back yards were designed by Banyan Tree Landscape about three years ago and the front was designed by Solid Ground Landscape five years ago.

 
Mostly this garden is attractive because the plants were chosen to look good all year and/or because of their early- or late-season beauty.  Among them are hellebore, nandina, pieris, and heathers.  The colors are especially nice right now.  The plants are also situated nicely, with larger plants framing smaller plants.  In the back yard, a magnolia is blooming now, the daffodils are just finishing up, and strong shoots herald a lovely display of peonies in the coming months.  There are many comfortable spots to sit and enjoy the view.

There are surprising features in this yard which are small lawns of artificial turf both on the side and in back.  While some Garden Club members applaud its water-wise qualities, artificial turf is not without its detractors, and a garden with fake grass has never been selected as Garden of the Month before.  While air pollution caused by power tools to mow, blow, and trim real turf counter the oxygen-providing benefits of real grass, fake grass contains known allergens, potentially harmful substances that leach into the earth beneath it and into waterways from runoff, and is not, at the end of its approximately 25-year life, biodegradable.  It’s difficult to remember drought after the wet winter and early spring we have had, but it must be anticipated, and this is certainly one way to maintain an attractive green space.

Article submitted by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chairperson

Birds in the Garden

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The following is a summary of Wild Birds Unlimited owner, Laura Fleming’s, talk on “Birds in the Garden”

There are 4 key elements to attracting birds to your yard.

    1. Water   2. Shelter   3. Nesting Spaces   4. Food

      Photo from Wild Birds Unlimited – Nature shop

Water: it’s VERY crucial to birds, so providing a birdbath with fresh water, or a saucer of water on the ground is very beneficial in attracting birds to your yard.

Shelter & Nesting Spaces: Different types of birds need different types of habitat, so planting a variety of plans in your gardens encourages birds of all kinds to visit your garden. By planting a mixture of deciduous and conifer large trees, small trees and shrubs in your yard provides natural shelters and nest building areas. Birds are attracted to edges where they can escape, so a plant hedgerow and/or a variety of small & large shrubs & trees on the perimeter of your yard.

Read here: Plants for Birds

Food: Many kinds of flowers and grasses provide food and also nesting building materials.  Some natural food sources in your yard should be: Seed-producing flowers, berry-laden shrubs, a healthy insect population living in leaf litter and fruit trees.  Be a messy gardener; leave leaf litter and dead trees (snags) in your yard to enhance your bird habitat.  Supplement food sources with bird feeders. Different birds like different foods so supply a variety of foods in many feeders throughout your yard; hanging at a different heights.

* Read here: Seed Preference Guide

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

Red-Flowering Currant

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Plant Name:  Ribes sanguineum
Common name:  Red Flowering Currant
Plant type: Deciduous Shrub
Height: 3-9 feet
Spread:   21/2  feet
Bloom Time: February – April
Flower Color: Deep Pink to Red
Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Soil Requirements: Fertile, Well-drained
Water Needs: Moderate
Attributes:   Elegant showy fuchsia-like flowers, Drought tolerant, Deer-proof, Plant for pollinators, Foliage eaten by Zephyr and other butterfly larvae, Small black berries are eaten by songbirds and small mammals  
Uses: Dry Open Woodlands, Native Plant, Cottage Gardens, Perennial Garden,
Mixed Shrub Boarders
Native to: Pacific Coast
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6-10

Today in an Ashland Garden

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Even though the temperature was below freezing this morning, but these plants are blooming!

Hellebore, Bergenia cordifolia, Daphne, Witch Hazel, Crocuses 190301090957190301091733

 

Photos were taken this morning, March 1, 2019, in AGC member Carlotta Lucas’ garden.