AGC member Janie Burcart’s garden in bloom.
Today in the Garden
Tag Archives: Ashland Gardens
Garden on the Month: June 2023
59 Sixth Street
The front yard at 59 Sixth Street delights all who see it. The home of Sarah and Dennis Jeske is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May 2023. The cheerful paint on the buildings, the art in the garden, the charming fence and gate, and the prolific flowers mix all together to create an enchanting display.
The garden design and installation were done by previous owners, Zelpha and Harry Hudson, who owned the property until 2017. Zelpha, especially, is credited with much of the creativity now on view. The Jeskes have made their mark, however, with the addition of the glass flowers as well as the fence and gate designed and built by Dennis.
Daisies of three kinds dominate the garden in May; shasta, marguerite, and erigeron. Also on view now and through much of the summer are nepeta, lavender, and wooly lambs ear. Pomegranate, pieris, rhododendron, and a gorgeous camellia surround the welcoming front porch.
Sarah calls herself the chief weeder in the back yard and veggie garden, Moises and his crew from Reyes Property Management provide routine maintenance.
This is a garden meant to be enjoyed by all who pass by.
Article by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Coordinator
All Photos by Larry Rosengren
May flowers in a rock garden
Photos & flowers by Lynn McDonald, AGC Member
Today in the Garden
AGC member, Carol Walker, provided photos of her front yard where red poppies (Papaver) and Bachelor buttons (Centaurea cyanus) are in full bloom.
Garden of the Month: May 2023
784 Park Street
A riot of color greets passersby at 784 Park Street in April and May as many bulbs burst into bloom. The garden was developed by Lois Breedlove, owner of the condo at that address. It is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May.
The landscape was previously entirely water-thirsty grass until Breedlove arrived eight years ago. A financial windfall allowed her to redesign the space and hire Gustavo Rodriguez and his crew from Alpine Landscaping to install and maintain plantings of Lois’ choice. Daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinths dominate now, but peonies are on their way. Daphne, euphorbia, barberry, and spirea provide contrast of size and color. Lois especially loves older varieties of hellebore. She has a beautiful “cameo” flowering quince near the sidewalk.
The bulbs thrive because their bloom time coincides with leaves off the maple tree in the side yard that, once leafed-out, provides needed shade in the summer. She spaces allium plants among other bulbs to discourage deer.
Bulbs are a drought-tolerant way to add color to a garden, Breedlove says. They’re punctuated with other drought tolerant perennials and shrubs. As the garden matures the shrubs will eventually play a larger role. “But there will always be the bulbs for color.”
Breedlove says the garden isn’t a garden retreat, but a ‘garden advance’ — something to be enjoyed by others in the complex, and by passersby as well.
Lois relies on Alpine Landscaping for much of the work, but she tries to walk through the garden daily. “The best garden advice I ever heard is that a garden profits most from the daily touch of the gardener’s hand,” she says.
Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chair
Photos by: Lois Breedlove, Larry Rosengren, and Ruth Sloan.
Exceptional Daffodil Spots in Ashland
Photo essay published in 2023 by Peter Finkle