Garden of the Month: August 2023

Posted on August 1, 2023 by CS Lucas

Alicia and Jeffrey Welder had their welcoming house at 98 Westwood Street built in 2015. The lovely garden that surrounds it was initiated in stages on the bare earth after that, and is now the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for August 2023. Working with Regenesis Ecological Design and designer Jane Alexanderr, the Welders created a space ideal for their two children and animals including two dogs, two cats and four rabbits, as well themselves and visitors.

The entry garden was designed to include a water feature that is audible from inside the house on days when the windows are left open, a graceful curved bench, and one of Alicia’s favorite plants, a weeping dwarf dawn redwood. The front garden space is meant to resemble a small meadow teeming with life as pollinators enjoy the catmint and salvia while the children are able to spend time playing and observing nature with the many life forms in and around the water. The front grass areas are seeded with Pro Time’s Fleur de Lawn, which is an eco-lawn designed with OSU for low water requirements.

The backyard is a child’s delight with a large grass area for play planted with JB kevlar tall fescue, grown in Oregon, which tolerates the high traffic of children and pets and is drought tolerant with lower water requirements than traditional lawns. A small orchard is planted with a variety of apple, pear and peach fruit trees and seeded with the same Fleur de Lawn as the front meadow. The eco lawn offers additional pollinator support with pink English daisies, Baby Blue Eyes, and sweet alyssum sprouting in the spring. Alicia and the children love picking the wild flowers from the meadow for May Day crowns and small bouquets. Tall grasses and wildflowers surround the childrens’ play structure for nature based play with a slackline for added fun. A gazebo for shade rounds out the backyard space for use year round by the family. A very large rabbit hutch gives shelter to the children’s rabbits who enjoy the cut grasses and trimmings from the garden and in turn, support the garden growth with plenty of bunny manure. A large deck graces the back of the house.

There are many flowers throughout the year, including peonies, euphorbias, daisies, iris, germanders, hydrangeas, and hellebores. The Welders love to watch pollinators hard at work in their garden. Among the many trees are Seiryu and sugar maples that add vibrant colors in the Fall.

For fire prevention, the Garden Club urges homeowners to check lists of firewise plants to make sure that, like the Welders, they have chosen ornamental grasses that are not especially fire-prone and maintained so that there is not a lot of dry grass at any time.

Taproot Landscaping provides routine maintenance for the Welders and Alicia averages one to two hours per week doing the fine-tuning of the garden.

Garden of the Month: July 2023

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

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

Garden of the Month: May 2023

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

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.

April 2023- AGC Garden of the Month

Posted on April 6, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

344 Helman Street

While all the rain and snow we’ve enjoyed this winter bring hope of a fabulous spring and along with it fabulous gardens, it does mean that the season of renewal is running a little late this year. Last year at this time, the garden at 344 Helman Street—home to Suzan and Marshall Malden—was blooming gloriously and lush with plants ready to burst forth. It’s obviously poised to do that again, but perhaps a little later than usual. This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for April 2023

When the Maldens purchased the property in 2001 the cottage was smaller, and both front and back yards were little more than lawns with a few trees, including the wonderful mulberry. After completing a beautiful sunny addition to the house in 2006, Suzan set about establishing lovely gardens with help and advice from family friend Dave Mizerak. The bones of that design remain much the same, but Suzan has fun adding and subtracting plants as conditions change over the years or as enthusiasm strikes her.

Lilacs and grapevines at the perimeter contribute to a feeling of privacy in back. A delightful water fountain is visible from most spots around the yard as well as from rooms at the back of the house. Among Suzan’s favorite plants are peonies, rhododendrons, daphne, and azaleas. Fig trees in back not only produce delicious fruit but are gorgeous sculptural plants. The Japanese maple in front is stunning all year.

A tall flag pole in back features an ever-changing display of flags, some to honor countries where the Maldens have lived (such as Sweden and Norway), some to honor countries of origin for visitors, and some to honor events

Suzan does almost all of the gardening herself, averaging a half-hour to an hour a day in the busiest seasons, with occasional help from Nathanael Brees on the biggest projects. She sees the garden as her sanctuary and gardening brings her great joy. As she says, “life is beautiful in the garden.”

September 2022: Garden of the Month

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Ashland Garden Club

This time of year, many Ashland gardens are starting to look little tired, victims of prolonged excessive heat and thirst. Ornamental grasses do particularly well in these conditions and those gardens that feature them continue to thrive. Elizabeth and Gerard Boulanger’s gorgeous front yard at 453 Tucker Street is a great example and is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for September 2022. It requires only a modest amount of water to put on a beautiful show year-round.

The Boulangers moved here in June of 2021. They tidied the front yard, particularly giving room to the Japanese blood grass, the leaves of which are currently a stunning dark purple, so it wouldn’t get lost in the thicket. Their display of ornamental grasses highlights the varieties of colors (some of which change seasonally), blooms, shape, and blade structure. The large green grasses directly in front of the house turn a bronze color in Autumn.

They have done a lot of work on the side yards during their short tenure here, including a massive restructuring on the western side, terracing the space to make it more usable by creating a bocce ball/horseshoes court and pleasant patio on different levels. The handsome block retaining walls were created by Jorge Regalado and his crew from Firststone Masonry. Elizabeth credits Gerard for the design of this area, but admits to making some suggestions. Dwarf gingko trees border the wooden stairs on one side and buddleia shrubs border the other side. They have started a hedge along the fence in back, along the north side of the property, to soften the near part of the nice view toward the hills. Trees include juniper, maple, and ash.

Elizabeth and Gerard personally work in the yard when they can and clearly enjoy the plants. Particular favorites are Pacific northwest myrtle, hydrangea, sweet peas, dogwood, and lavender. Christie Mackison of Shooting Star Nursery has advised the Boulangers on plant choices.

Photos by Larry Rosengren