Hardy Fuchsia
Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas
Tag Archives: Ashland Garden Club
Garden of the Month: August 2018
622 Drager Street:
Earlier this year, Alison Lerch, the Fire Adapted Communities Coordinator with the Ashland Fire Department, gave a presentation to the Ashland Garden Club about firewise landscaping. She mentioned a garden that was not only firewise but waterwise, calling it the perfect Ashland Garden. Since then we have discovered that the garden at 622 Drager Street, is also pollinator-friendly and deer resistant. The perfect Ashland garden indeed!
Nancy Garriott is responsible for this wonderful garden. She and her husband Ted had the craftsman house built on the corner lot five years ago and took on the landscaping project themselves, relying on knowledge accumulated over the years.
Nancy has been creating gardens all of her adult life. Each of the eight gardens in her past taught her something about the secrets to gardening success. Early on she immersed herself in gardening publications and classes. Later, she found each plant was teaching her what it liked and what it needed. She says, “It turns out that getting your hands dirty does have a ‘grounding’ affect and is a great way to learn how to care for your plants.”
Nancy and Ted started with the hardscape of small rock retaining walls and garden borders, flagstone and gravel paths, and drip lines. They found a stone mulch that looks like wood but is obviously not fire-prone. Nancy propagated many of the perennials, including favorites that are drought tolerant, deer resistant, and non-invasive with colorful, long-lasting blooms. Among them are echinacea, gaillardia, helenium, coreopsis, rudbeckia, crocosmia Emily McKenzie, sedum autumn joy, and yarrow. She discovered that a bonus is that these plants are great pollinator plants too. She also propagated several varieties of sedum which she likes because they are evergreen, drought tolerant, come in many colors which adds interest to the winter garden, and spread easily without being invasive. Then Nancy developed a list of shrubbery that would enhance the small space but would add an evergreen element to the winter garden when the perennials die back. She focused on dwarf varieties of native, drought tolerant, deer resistant plants, looking for a variety of textures and colors which she thinks helps the plants contrast with each other and stand out visually. The plants she settled on were low growing manzanita, arbutus, nandina, evergreen candytuft, myrtle, hebe, and choisya (Mexican orange). She also found that some evergreen herbs such as sage and basil make good aromatic border plants.
In designing the new garden, she applied the knowledge that she needed to leave enough room around each plant to accommodate its growth, put taller plants in the back, and create a color and texture balance. She also leaves room for her favorite annuals which are gazanias and many varieties of zinnias. These also happen to be drought tolerant and deer resistant and add joyful color to the garden.
Nancy says that “The favorite thing about my garden is that we live in an accessible part of Ashland where I can share my garden with the many people that walk by.”
Submitted by: Ruth Sloan
Photos by Nancy and Ted Garriott.
Today in the Garden
DAHLIAS
Submitted by Carlotta Lucas
Beware of Giant Hogweed!
If Only it Were Science Fiction!
By Josie Goodenow, Bee Chairman
Taken from the WACONIAH Newsletter- August 2018
CBS has confirmed there is a new threat to America. But, it doesn’t come in the form of criminal aliens, terrorists, or warfare. The latest danger can be found growing in backyards and neighborhoods.
The name of the botanical menace is Giant Hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum, and it is creating a giant headache for some of the people in Clark County, Virginia. The plant can cause “third-degree burns and even blindness.” Residents should contact authorities if they think they spot one… the danger is very real. Researchers at the Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech have found no less than 30 of the ominous plants. The weed is related, oddly enough, to the carrot, one of the best foods for humankind’s healthy eyesight. Yet, unlike a carrot, these monstrosities can grow to a towering 14 feet in height. The leaves alone can be two feet in diameter and are often crowned with large, inviting white flowers on top. The crowns make a rather eye-pleasing umbrella shape, and they “look similar to Queen Anne’s Lace” but are far “chunkier.
For obvious reasons, those at Virginia Tech are asking anyone who sees one to report it and to NOT touch it. The worrisome weed has been known to sprout up in “New
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Oregon, Washington,Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine,” so it is not isolated this year. The reason for the astute caution?
Experts warn that the “sap contains toxic chemicals known as photosensitizing furanocoumarins.” This chemical compound makes anyone who comes in contact with the plant very, very vulnerable to light. “Black, painful blisters” can develop, and they leave scars on the body in many cases.
In the worst cases, a person who touches the plant can develop light sensitivity for the rest of their lives. If the sap gets into a person’s eyes, perhaps by the rubbing of the eyes, blindness results. All of this has led The New York State Department of Health to issue some guidelines. Those who do, by curiosity or error, touch the plant, are to use cold water to remove the threat and avoid sunlight. Also, seeking medical help is STRONGLY suggested since a “toxic reaction can begin as soon as 15 minutes after contact.”
For those “stuck outside,” sunscreen is advised when dealing with the effects of this unsettling plant. Compresses “soaked in an aluminum acetate mixture” can offer some help to people dealing with skin irritation, an almost certainty when coming in contact with Giant Hogweed. As for saving one’s sight if the sap gets in, a person’s eyes need to be rinsed with water, sunglasses should be worn, and a health professional contacted ASAP.
Birds and waterways spread the dreadful plant, and New York health officials have said, “to not mow, cut or weed whack the plant, as it will just send up new growth and put you at risk for being exposed to sap — the same kind of thing that would happen with poison ivy or sumac. Seek advice from professional plant control specialists about management options.” They added, “If you must touch giant hogweed, wear disposable rubber gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, and pants. If you get sap on your clothes, carefully remove the clothing to avoid skin and eye contact and wash separately from other clothing with warm water and detergent.”
So, as rats and bedbugs make an epic comeback, as the Black Death and Ebola loom in the wings, Giant Hogweed is reaching up from the ground to blind everyone.
If ONLY it were science fiction!
Oregon Giant Hogweed Alert: https://www.oregon.gov/ODA/shared/Documents/Publications/Weeds/GiantHogweedBrochure.pdf
Seattle, WA – Noxious Weed Alert!
Giant hogweed, a Class A noxious weed, is a toxic perennial that reaches 15 feet tall and often grows in urban areas, such as yards and empty lots. In sun, sap that contacts skin can cause severe blisters and even scars. Stems have reddish-purple bumps and stiff white hairs. Leaves are deeply incised and 3-5 feet wide, with hairy leaf ribs but hairless leaf undersides. Mid-May to July, produces 2-foot-wide umbrella-shaped clusters of small white flowers that go to seed in July. Reproduces by seed. Because of the risk of injury when handling this plant and the difficulty of distinguishing it from the native plant cow parsnip, we recommend contacting the noxious weed program for a positive identification and advice on control methods before removing.
Garden of the Month: July 2018
995 Park Street-
The selection committee for the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month program has had its eye on D’Anne and Steve Shaw’s charming garden at 955 Park Street for a very long time. The first time we approached them, they said that the back yard was not ready for prime time. The next year, the giant incense cedar in the front yard was felled. The year after that, they were remodeling the house. Every year something happened because these homeowners are never idle. Finally, the time has come: This is the July 2018 Garden of the Month.
The wedge-shaped garden is gorgeous, both front and back. D’Anne and Steve both love color and work hard, each averaging ten hours per week despite their busy careers. They share responsibility for design and maintenance. They consider it a work in progress, continually making changes. The garden is entirely organic and is a designated pollinator garden. Don’t miss the Pollinator Garden tour on July 15 (https://www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=17460). The Shaws were part of the tour last year but have made way for new gardens this year.
Steve reports that he was introduced to gardening as a child by his father who taught him the value of hard work from an early age and gave him a deep appreciation for gardens. Three pretty Gingko trees were given to D’Anne in one-gallon pots a long time ago and she cared for them in the pots for years until settling on this property. 
You will see how much they have grown and thrived in the 18 years since being planted in the ground. The unusual round metal arbor in the corner of the front yard was made for them for their wedding.
Among the many beautiful flowering plants are roses, hydrangea, peonies, lilies, foxglove, columbine, ground orchids and dahlias. Walk or drive by to see how prettily these things and many others look together.
Article by: Ruth Sloan
Photos by Larry Rosengren
Horticulture Report: Helichrysum petiolare
Plant Name: Helichrysum petiolare
Common name: Licorice plant
Plant type: Annual
(Tender Perennial Zones 9-11)
Height: 6-9 inches
Spread: 1-3 ft
Bloom: White, but Insignificant
Exposure: Full Sun – Part Shade
Soil Requirements: Average
Water Needs: Dry to medium
Attributes: Dense trailing silvery leaves, Tolerates poor soil & drought
Notes: Good drainage is a must!
Uses: Annual, Hanging Baskets, Containers, Rock walls, Annual ground-cover
Native to: Southern Africa
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11