Photos by AGC Members: Lisa Force, Amy Lepon, & Carlotta Lucas
2020 Fall Series: Colorful Ashland
Tag Archives: Gardens of the World
Lithia Park- Japanese Garden
Ashland’s Japanese Garden in Lithia Park is closing soon to be resigned. This project has been in the works since 2018, but the physical work starts this month (Nov 2020) and will take 2 years to complete. Ashland Parks & Recreation is working with landscape designer Toru Tanaka to create an authentic Japanese Garden. Mr. Tanaka was trained in Japan and has more than 35 years of experience creating Japanese Gardens. He is the founder and president of Portland Landscape Design and Japanese Garden Specialty. Ashland’s new garden was made possible by a generous grant from Jeff Mangin, and the Marechal family of Normandy, France, who donated all the funds for this new Japanese Garden in remembrance of Jeff’s wife, Beatrice Marechal.
Article by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Member
Photos by: Lucretia Weems, AGC member
2020 Fall Colors
Japanese Maple 
@Mill Pond 
Japanese Maple 
Flowering Cherry 
Raywood Ash & Maple 
Sunset Maple 
@Lithia Park – Japanese Garden
Photos by AGC Members :
Barbara Bauer, Carlotta Lucas, Linda Thomas, Viki Ashford, Donna Rhee,
July 2020: Garden of the Month
139 N. 2nd Street, Ashland, OR
Local artist and educator Judith Ginsburg developed and maintains the lovely garden at 139 N. 2nd Street which has been selected as the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2020. The property was purchased as a rental in 1988 and completely remodeled in 1996. The existing garage was converted to Ginsburg’s artist studio in 2001. Although living elsewhere in Ashland, she comes to the studio most days and has done the regular maintenance in the garden since then. She is currently planning a move into the front cottage.
In the 1990s, Judith had Landscape Architect Steve Potter create a plan for the garden. Much of the hardscape remains from that plan, but only a few plants. In 2016, Solid Ground Landscape redesigned the front yard, and in 2018, they did the back, always accommodating Judith’s preferences for plants and color. Since then, she has personally added to and subtracted from the plan. Solid Ground workers come twice a month to do standard maintenance. Ginsburg averages about an hour a day on garden care. It is truly an artist’s garden.
There is a gorgeous fountain, the sound of which does its’ best to mask the noise from the Post Office, the back of which is across the alley from the studio. To encourage birds, there are many bird baths and bird feeders. There are a lot of places to sit and relax throughout the back and a raised bed for veggies in the side yard.
On the back fence, there is a thriving climbing hydrangea, which is notoriously difficult to establish. There is a large and healthy wisteria shading the back porch and an old but still glorious lilac in the parking strip. Several Hypercium inodorum are stellar additions to the front garden. Ginsburg often has passersby ask or leave notes asking for identification of those plants. They are a shrub (a relative of St. John’s Wort—a common groundcover with yellow flowers) that has berries that range from white through pink and orange to red. Among Judith’s favorite plants are peonies, hellebores, and tulips.
There is a little bit of everything here and well worth strolling by.
Article by: Ruth Sloan, Ashland Garden Club
Photos by Larry Rosengren
Garden of the Month: June 2020
Near Hunter Park
There is a spectacular garden near Hunter Park that is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June. The residents have lived there for 40 years, and had done smaller renovations in the past.
The owners re-landscaped about three years ago after they incorporated the back of another property nearby. The property boundary was legally redrawn at that time. The result is a very large garden, especially for the neighborhood.
Laurie Sager, Solid Ground Landscaping, and Tim Ferguson did the work in 2017. The workmanship throughout the property is exquisite: The metal and wood work of fencing and gates, the concrete retaining walls, and the gorgeous stone walkways and patios are impeccable. The deep red color of the metal is unexpected and just right.
An unusual feature is a geometric pattern of concrete pavers beneath a Japanese maple tree surrounded by “Brass Buttons” ground cover. A charming blue star creeper surrounds stone pavers in the front. 
A large Liriodendron (tulip tree) dominates the front yard and a Douglas fir shades portions of the back. Most of the mature rhododendrons are holdovers from earlier gardens here. Ornamental grasses are placed judiciously, particularly in front. Peonies are featured in front and back. A wonderfully diverse selection of plants are perfectly placed throughout the yard. 
Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Member
Photos by: Larry Rosengren.
May 2020: Garden of the Month
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