Tag Archives: Garden Styles

May 2020: Garden of the Month

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720 Forest Street

The wonderful garden at 720 Forest St. is a labor of love for homeowners Vicky Sturtevant and Alan Armstrong and is The Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May. They have deftly combined edibles with ornamentals in this space they have gardened since 1983.

It is a heavily shaded lot, particularly the upper, forested quarter-acre parcel that they purchased separately. In all, they have a half-acre that they manage beautifully. The hardscape was designed by Covey-Pardee Landscape Architects in 2009. Eric Cislo welded the gates and Ted Loftus constructed the stone walls. The deer are kept out.

The couple enjoys being outside and are inveterate hikers, so they also love gardening. They devote a lot of time to it and it shows. Nothing is neglected. They follow the sun throughout the yard and throughout the year.

Grandparents of both instilled in them a love of plants and a tradition of gardening. Alan’s grandparents were farmers. Vicky’s had a large lot and grew all kinds of things, especially roses. There is a vigorous peony in the yard that came from Vicky’s grandparents. She speaks fondly of how much certain plants remind us of certain people. Happily, their adult son loves gardening, too.

Both Alan and Vicky are very knowledgeable about plants and have noticed that plants native to the Pacific Northwest, in which they have specialized, are beginning to struggle to survive and that now plants native to Northern California are more likely to thrive in Ashland. So it is to them they are turning their attention.

Visitors who walk or drive by will notice the great diversity of plant life in this garden. Among favorites of the couple are species rhododendrons (includes azaleas), Penstemons, Salvia, Agastache, and Marionberry. In May, dogwood, lilac, and rhododendrons make a stunning display.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Committee Chair

Photos by: Larry Rosengren

Garden of the Month: September 2019

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110 8th Street – Ashland, Oregon

The selection committee for the Ashland Garden Club’s garden of the month program first noticed the beautiful garden at the corner of C and 8th streets over a year ago.   When we went by again in September 2018 we knew we had our September 2019 Garden of the Month.  By September, most gardens are starting to fade, at least, and some are downright shabby, but not Kelly and Jeff Straub’s gorgeous place at 110 8th Street.  Kelly’s diligent work shows to good advantage all year.  She keeps the planting areas well groomed, and always a delight to see with blooming plants.

The Straubs purchased the property only two-and-a-half years ago.  In the short time since then, she has transformed the neglected yard into a showplace.  In the interim, she broke first one wrist and then the other, making the work doubly difficult.  But she has had help.  Neighbor Jack Crawford has been instrumental with assistance, as a source of seeds for many of the plants that grace the garden, and for design consultation with Kelly.  Jane Hardgrove of Bearclaw Services designed the back garden which is also gorgeous if somewhat more utilitarian with patios and raised beds for produce.  Until recently when City of Ashland crews finally solved the problem, the Straubs also had to cope with flooding following serious rain storms.

A special quality of this property is that the “parking strip” (the area between the sidewalk and the street) is especially wide, making the sidewalk appear to go right through the heart of the front and side yards.  This does two things:  It makes the parking strip more versatile as a desirable planting space and it also makes pedestrians feel a part of the garden.  Being a block from a popular coffee shop also increases foot traffic, and Kelly enjoys interacting with passersby as she works in the garden.  Understandably, she gets a lot of positive feedback.

The stunning display of coreopsis is just coming to an end this year, but the rudbeckia, echinacea, and gaillardia are still going strong and their similar flower form makes an interesting combination.  Earlier in the year, foxglove put on a fabulous show, and hellebores star in the winter.  Zinnias are a standout in the back yard, where they are protected from deer.

Other favorites include daphne, euphorbia, catmint, erysium, and bee balm.  A vibrant purple, walkable verbena stands out in and around the walkway from C Street.  Even the small area around the fire hydrant on the corner is lush with low succulents.

The street tree on the C side is mimosa which is blooming now.  Other especially large trees on the property include cedar and ponderosa pine.  A dogwood is one of the few smaller holdovers from previous owners, and the Straubs recently added a crepe myrtle.

Article by: AGC Member Ruth Sloan Photos by: Larry Rosengren

Pollinator Garden

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870 Cambridge Street:  If you read the letters to the editor carefully, or are involved with Climate Energy Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee or Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, you know that Ashland resident Louise Shawkat is very concerned with environmental matters and very careful about how she lives on the earth to minimize impact. Her garden, at 870 Cambridge St. in the Quiet Village neighborhood, reflects her concerns. With a wonderful mixture of food crops and ornamentals, it is a practical yet pleasing setting. She is a Master Recycler as well as a Master Gardener. Louise’s garden has also been designated an official Pollinator Garden by Bee City USA of Ashland.p1_870-cambridge-street

Ken Cairn Landscape Architecture developed the original plans six years ago, and the hardscape and many of the front plantings are still the same, but Louise has taken pleasure in adding or replacing plants as she wishes in the intervening years. She averages about an hour a day maintaining and improving the garden. The airy wood and metal screens in the front yard are based on the design of stained glass windows in her previous home.p2_870-cambridge-street

The quarter-acre property, which Louise purchased in 2010, backs up to a bioswale that serves the Billings Ranch subdivision, with agricultural land beyond that. So her view out the back is pastoral. The front is a rain garden. The back yard has a mixture of curving planting areas and geometric raised beds.p3_870-cambridge-street

There are no lawns that require excessive water here. The tall grasses (Shenandoah switch grass and tufted hair grass) in the front turn a beautiful golden color in the Fall. Creeping bramble adds an interesting low texture. Trees on the property include a large cedar in front and a long-established liquidambar in back. Red-twig and yellow-twig dogwoods were added more recently. Among the vegetables are tomatoes and cucumbers, with asparagus finally flourishing this year, as well as hyacinth beans, with their pretty purple blossoms. Among the many flowers are hellebore, asters, iris, and giant allium. A passionflower vine is thriving. Sunflowers abound.p4_870-cambridge-street

This garden cannot be Garden of the Month because Louise is an active member of the Ashland Garden Club, which sponsors that honor. The Club selects Gardens of the Month, usually from April through September. Nominations are gratefully received at aogardenclub@gmail.com. p5_870-cambridge-street

By: Ruth Sloan

Enticing Pollinators

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Below are a few plants that can entice pollinators to your garden. This plant list can go on and on, but remember your not just planting for honey bees, pollinators include other kinds of bees, birds, butterflies, moths, beetles, and even ants.

Your garden should have a succession of flowering plants to provide blooms throughout the entire growing season. There should be several different species blooming all the time, so to accomplish this goal plant a combination of annuals and perennials. And Finally,  your garden MUST BE pesticide free
Annuals:
Zinnias, Sunflowers, Marigolds, Calendula (pot marigold)
Shrubs:
Red-flowering Current, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus (Blueblossom), Ocean Spray, Serviceberry, Rhododendrons, Kolkwitzia amabilis (Beauty Bush).
Perennials/Herbs:
Catmints, Lavenders, Asters, Phlox, Bee Balm, Thyme, Borage, Oregano, Garlic Chives, Evening Primrose, Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed), Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, Goldenrod, Podophyllum (Mayapple)
Salvias (to name a few): Russian Sage, ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Desert Blaze’, Blue Sage, Raspberry Delight, ‘Lady in Red’, Pineapple Sage, Clary Sage, Salvia pachyphylla Note: Deer do not like salvias!

Garden of the Month: October 2016

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The gardens at 170 Logan Drive are the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for October. Chris Eberhardt and Gene Miller bought the property in 2008, and the gardens then were nice enough. But in 2013, they decided to re-landscape to update and unify the property, and to make it deer resistant. They refer to certain sections of the garden, and the adjacent v-shaped plot at the corner of Logan and Scenic, held by the property owners’ association, as the “deer highway.”  They hired Solid Ground Landscape Inc. to develop a comprehensive plan and provide regular maintenance. Solid Ground included a pathway for the deer to encourage a certain route.

The back is on a steep grade, dotted with tall oaks, from a lovely balustrade terrace, with rhododendrons and daisies providing seasonal color. A charming and private outdoor “room” featuring Japanese maples, was created just outside the hexagonal dining room that was previously exposed to the street. A yew hedge provides much of the privacy. This room has a more formal look than the rest of the garden, with its manicured boxwood border. In addition to specimen plants, the front features drought-tolerant grasses and large boulders, some of which are indigenous to the property. Enormous pots, filled with gorgeous plants, flank the front door.

Photos by Larry Rosengren