Tag Archives: Ashland Gardens

Garden of the Month: August 2024

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600 Liberty St

Cleome, peonies, and Japanese maples line the walkway to the front door.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy

Tim MacCurdy started gardening at 600 Liberty St in 2018 and this is now the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for August 2024. He lives here with his wife, Tricia, and son, Luca. When they first purchased the house there was little in the yard except a few trees. Now it is dense with food and ornamentals.

Cleome and echinacea, with yuzu in the background.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy.


Tim has had an interest in gardening since he was a child, growing up in Atascadero California where his father inspired hard work on the family acreage. A kindergarten teacher, whose husband was on the botany faculty at Cal Poly, also encouraged Tim’s interest in plants to the point where Tim was known as the “flower boy” to other students and their families. Later Tim earned a degree at UC Berkeley in environmental sciences. When he was newly graduated, he started his own business tending other people’s gardens.

Lavender and bee balm by the mailboxes.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy.


After world-wide travels he settled in Japan where, once again, his interest in plants and gardens was piqued although his primary concentration at that time was photography. He has plants now that are generations later of seeds he collected in Japan. Since his professional gardening days, he has gone on to pursue a career in medicine and now practices dermatology.

Peonies and ceanothus bloom along the walkway in May.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy.


Tim does all the work himself in this garden. He estimates he averages two hours per day—more from May through September—in the garden and considers his plants (soil and structure) as part of his extended family.


The back yard is steeply sloped. Fruit trees, including persimmon, Asian pears, plums, olives, figs, and yuzu are dotted throughout the property. Among his favorite plants are cleome, nicotiana, echinacea, ginkgo, persimmons, and Japanese maples (some from seeds collected in Japan).  Trees of all kinds have traveled with Tim and his family to homes in different parts of the western states.

Hachiya persimmons hang from the house rafters to dry when the MacCurdys first bought the house.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy.

Given current climate conditions, Tim encourages gardeners to lean toward drought-tolerant plants. You should find “clues from your environment” and love your plants. He also suggests that you don’t always have to follow the rules of gardening and garden design, but instead you “should make your own rules.” He says, “engage with your garden, truly engage. Dedicate yourself to knowledge and spirit, and become an expert.”

Cleome and purple Shiso.  Photo by Tim MacCurdy.

Article by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chair

Garden of the Month: July 2023

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500 Holly Street.

Notice the welcoming stone entrance to the garden at 500 Holly Street.  This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2023, home to Kathy and Stephen French.  

July 2023 photo by Larry Rosengren

A massive redesign of the entire yard in 2009 was conducted by Kerry KenCairn of KenCairn Landscape Architecture, with graceful curved stairs featured in both front and back gardens.

Spring 2023 photo by Kathy French

The Frenches purchased the property in 2021 from Nina and Paul Winans who had masterminded the earlier redesign.  Kathy French especially appreciates the sequential blooming times for different components of the garden which include iris, rhododendron, tulip, and hydrangea.  And both Frenches enjoy the bounty of the many fruit trees that the Winans had specified in working with KenCairn, only two of which were already on the property and now include two apples, pear, sour cherry, and fig.  

Spring 2023 photo by Kathy French

Before the 2009 overhaul, Paul Winans personally dug up many rocks on the steeply sloped lot, which were later incorporated into the retaining walls in back.  Raised beds in the side yard allow for a fine kitchen garden, currently filled with tomato plants and an essential assortment of fresh herbs—including thyme, basil, rosemary, and chives—to season any meal.

Spring 2023 photo by Kathy French

Currently, Rudolfo Ramirez and his crew mow the lawns and do the more routine maintenance.  Kathy French averages about an hour a day more closely grooming the garden.  And Stephen French does the occasional big jobs, including pruning the many trees.

With thanks to Marilyn Love for suggesting this garden.

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

Garden on the Month: June 2023

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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.

The little house to the north on the Jeske property

Article by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Coordinator

All Photos by Larry Rosengren