Tag Archives: Community Pride

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

AGC Garden of the Month: July 2024

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1160 Bellview Ave, Ashland Oregon

Mary Kyman’s beautiful garden at 1160 Bellview Ave. is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2024. She started gardening here in 2009. Her garden was on the AUUW Garden Tour in 2014 and it was gorgeous at the time, but she has made many changes and improvements since then. 

Mary does all the planning and design work. For many years, she did much of the physical labor as well, but has now turned over the day-to-day maintenance to Molly McConnell and her crew from Bee Kind Gardening. Nevertheless Mary estimates she spends about five hours a week on the garden and continues to be fully involved. 

She has to be fully conscious of deer preferences in her plant selections and placement. The back yard is not accessible to those pesky intruders.

The prolific hydrangeas that line the front of the house on the west side are at the height of their glory this month. But many other plants, including rudbeckia, calla lilies, and hotlips salvia are also in their prime right now and these are among her favorite plants.

Both the house and the garden are art-filled. There is a stepping stone and gravel spiral in the front yard.

The garden in back has many fruit trees and berry plants. Raised beds harbor vegetables and herbs. An enormous elm, with fabulous bark, shades a good portion of the patio and back garden.

Mary has kindly suggested that those pedestrians who wish to see the front yard in its entirety, since a hedge blocks much of the view, can walk up the driveway but are asked to stay on the driveway itself.

Article and Photos by Ruth Sloan, AGC GoM Coordinator

Join Ashland Garden Club for Lifelong Plant-Lover Friendships

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You make long lasting friends with fellow plant lovers when you are a member of the Ashland Garden Club ~

Ashland Garden Club Annual Dues: $25 a year for an Individual / $35 for Household. Membership applications are found under the ” Membership” tab on this website.

Blue Heron Park, Phoenix Oregon

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On September 8, 2020 the Almeda Fire swept through the towns of Phoenix and Talent. More than 3,000 acres, and over 2,500 homes and 600 businesses were destroyed, including the Blue Heron Park in Phoenix.

In 2021, a grassroots-group of citizens in partnership with local businesses and organizations took on the task of rebuilding this park, and on Monday members of the Ashland Garden Club gathered to see how Blue Heron Park has truly risen from the ashes. AGC members donated pollinator plants to add to the park’s community garden.

Photos by Goly Ostovar, Lynn McDonald, and Carlotta Lucas

Garden of the Month: June 2024

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891 Beswick Way, Ashland Oregon

There is an extraordinary garden at 891 Beswick Way, home of Scott Allison.  Scott is a naturalist, forester, orchardist, and apiarist.  This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June 2024.  At nearly a half acre, the property is unusually large in this part of town.  It is unusual for other qualities too, such as the variety of plant specimens and the seriousness of the gardener.  Scott has lived and gardened here for 24 years.

In addition to his large garden in Ashland, Scott is developing 13 acres in rural Talent, two acres of which he has already planted as an orchard.  A retired contractor, Scott devotes a lot of time to tending his land.  He estimates that he averages 15 hours per week on just the Beswick Way property.

The grand Sequoia tree in the front draws a lot of attention.  Recently, Scott’s dog Levi alerted him to the presence of a large bear high in this tree in the middle of the night.  In fact large trees, including two coastal redwoods, ring the property although he finds plenty of sunny places to grow plants that are sun-loving.

Scott does almost all the work himself as well as all the design aspects of the landscape.  The enclosure for a vegetable garden was sited, designed, and primarily built by him.  The decorative top of the fence is made of short eucalyptus branches that mimic the bamboo on the gate and as edging in the front yard.  Asian-inspired solar light fixtures top the fencepost.  A fabulous birdbath/fountain was made by his friend, the artist Joanne Chase.

In addition to the vegetable enclosure, Scott built raised beds for more veggies out of Faswall on recommendation from his friends at EcoNest.  Christie Mackinson of Shooting Star Nursery has provided advice on plant choices.

Scott especially loves peonies, and has become more interested in recent years in medicinal plants and herbs.  Because he tends bees, Scott specializes in bee-friendly plants.

With thanks to Marilyn Love ( AGC Member) for helping me really appreciate this garden.

Article & Photos by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chairperson