Today in the Garden
Tag Archives: Ashland Oregon Community Pride
August 2022 Garden of the Month
994 Kestral Parkway
Jill Weston’s lovely garden at 994 Kestral Parkway is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for August 2022. She has been gardening here for about three years, starting from the nearly blank slate of bare dirt and dead trees of a previously neglected property.
In late July and early August, black-eyed Susans dominate the front yard, putting on a dazzling display. Climbing roses, transplanted from a stunning five-acre spread east of Ashland that Jill and her late husband shared before downsizing, thrive against fences surrounding a small patio in back. The north side of the property, on the Stoneridge Avenue side of this corner lot, holds rhododendrons, clematis vines, and small fig trees.
Daffodils enliven the front yard before the black-eyed Susans pop up from the ground each year. Jill refers to the latter as “hardy, determined girls.” They share the space at this time of year—somewhat unwillingly—with echinacea, rose campion and many other plants.
Jill spends a lot of time in the garden, loving every minute. And she thinks about the garden much of the time even when she’s not in it. She has an eye for design that enhances the overall display. Of plants not already mentioned, Jill loves cosmos, coreopsis, tithonia, and zinnias among many others.
Jill has had guidance over the years from Tom Scales of the garden department of the Grange Co-op in Ashland. And her friend Silvino has been helping her in this garden and the previous one for 15 years.
Jill has only recently learned the benefits of feeding her plants. She says she’s been slow to adapt to new gardening conditions, and terrible at being practical. But none those flaws show in the current result.
Jill recommends that, if you want to see the black-eyed Susans in their full glory, you visit very soon because the extreme heat is taking its toll. This is a neighborhood of many fine gardens. Nearby, check out 305 Stoneridge, across the street from Jill on Kestral and 336 Stoneridge, across the alley from Jill.
Photos by Larry Rosengren
With thanks to Marilyn Love for the suggestion,
Ruth Sloan, Garden of the Month, Chair
Spring Flowers at N. Mt. Park
A dedicated group of AGC members have been planting and gardening North Mountain Park’s Heirloom Garden for years, The Club calls them ‘The Heirloom Gardeners’. The community of Ashland enjoys the Heirloom Garden in all seasons, but spring is especially delightful.
Today in the Garden
Today in the garden flowers are in AGC member Lynn McDonald’s October garden.
Nasturtiums, Hydrangeas, Salvia and chrysanthemums, Petunias blooming since March, Geraniums, Origanum, Asters, Tithonia, Sweet peas in October (planted in spring), Gaura, Poppies and Bachelor Buttons, Verbena and Autumn Leadwort, Orange Cosmos, Dahlias
Garden of the Month: September 2021
85 Winburn Way
Stephanie and Bryan DeBoer have an unusual degree of interest in the spectacular garden of their home at 85 Winburn Way, as well they should. This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for September.
The DeBoers see their property as a visual extension of Lithia Park which sits across the street. Bryan has a special affinity for the park: His maternal grandfather was a gardener there and, as a boy, Bryan would help him and be rewarded with ice cream from the shop that once sat where the DeBoer home sits now.
Meant to look long-established and thus better to complement the park, the garden was actually installed in stages over 2018-19. The initial planting took 11 days and required a large crane. One tree weighed 7000 lbs. Using mature plants was the key to making the garden look as if it had been there a long time.
Bryan & Stephanie were very much involved in carefully planning the garden and selecting plants. Bryan and Stephanie went from room to room inside the house while plants were being placed outside, to assure spectacular views from every vantage point. Laurie Sager & Associates of Jacksonville were the landscape architects and steered the DeBoers through a fun and creative process. One of Laurie’s many ideas was creating a beautifully landscaped light well to brighten a lower level bedroom, and created an amazing overall result. The building’s architect, Carlos Delgado, took an active interest. Dieter Trost, of Southern Oregon Nursery in Medford—and a family friend, aided in procuring the specimen trees, all grown right here in Oregon.
Mostly the garden is in the Japanese tradition and has many conifers and maples. Bryan has a special fondness for the Chief Joseph pines, “Lovers” Japanese maple, and the ice breaker firs. It’s a good thing Japanese maples are among Stephanie’s favorite plants because there are 29 Japanese maples on the property comprised of 25 varieties including red filigree lace, green cascade, and contorta weeping. A full list of plants, with pictures, is available on PlantsMap (www.plantsmap.com – search on Winburn). Bryan has installed PlantsMap tags at the foot of many of the plants.
Unique sources were found for many of the treasures in the landscape. The Iseli Nursery in Boring, Oregon provided many of the special trees and is world renown for mature specimens found in their Gallery. The gorgeous rocks placed strategically throughout the garden were imported from the Netherlands where a Japanese garden was being dismantled. The giant mid-century modern urn on a pedestal near the front door came from a Frank Lloyd Wright building.
Both Bryan and Stephanie work in the garden and Bryan, especially, has been mistaken as a professional gardener by passersby while he was working outside. He can identify every plant from memory.
Article by: Ruth Sloan
Photos by Bryan DeBoer
Today in the Garden
Madia elegans: Elegant tar weed. This is blooming right now. It is a sun-loving native annual that self-sows widely. Drought and deer tolerant. Blooms morning and evening, but closes up during the middle of the day. See the bumble bee getting pollen off the flowers. The plant is about 3′ high and 1 1/2′ high.
Epilobium canum, or California Fuchsia. It used to be called Zauschneria californica. It is a later blooming perennial. It is drought and deer resistant. This one is right near an alley and a driveway, and is fine with hot, dry soil. Hummingbirds love it. I plant it with dark blue Bachelors’ Buttons, annuals which seed around.
Gaillardia , or Blanket Flower. It is a long-blooming perennial with interesting round seed heads. If some of the seed heads are left on, it will self-sow. This particular plant is probably a hybrid, called Gaillardia x grandlora ‘Goblin’, which is a more compact cultivar. The native is Gaillardia aristata. It is drought tolerant and deer resistant.
Praying Mantis on Verbena, previously seen eating a bee from the head down. After crawling up on this bloom, she crawled down on the stem and basically disappeared, lurking until another insect came along.
Photos and article by Sherri Morgan, AGC Vice President