Tag Archives: Gardens

August 2022 Garden of the Month

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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

July 2022: Garden of the Month

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128 E. Nevada

The garden of Kim Larson and David Minter at 128 E. Nevada is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2022.  When they purchased the property in 2002, the front yard was almost entirely huge juniper bushes and the back was dominated by a large concrete pad with a laundry line plus a photinia hedge.  David tore out the junipers by tying a line to the roots and dragging them out with a truck.

Initially, Kim, who loves to work in the yard, created gardens in both front and back without an overall plan but discovered they were very high maintenance.  Bonnie (Criswell) Engelhardt of Shooting Star nursery advised the couple, who have two children, on plant selections that would prove much easier for maintenance and require less water.  Sage Hill Landscape installed much of the hardscape from a plan developed with Jane Hardgrove. Kim and David average less than two hours per week now, doing all the maintenance themselves.

Among favorite plants are older hellebores that line the walkway beside the house on the eastern edge of the property, autumn ferns, coral bells, and hardy euphorbias.  Kim has transplanted shoots from a passionflower vine that they thought had died, and was pleased to discover them doing well in their new location.

They keep chickens in a charming coop and use their droppings in the compost they regularly manage.

Kim, especially, finds joy in gardening.  She says that it is therapeutic even to weed and prune, but planting too to make things beautiful.

Article by : Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Coordinator

Photos by Larry Rosengren.

Pruning Roses   

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Roses are pruned to encourage new growth and healthy flowers during the growing season.  The time to prune roses depends on the type of rose your pruning. Roses that flower once a season are pruned right after they flower.  Roses that flower throughout the season are pruned when buds start to swell and become green. In Southern Oregon, Zone 8, this is typically mid- February to early March .

By-pass pruner

Tools Needed:
1)   Good pair of leather gloves,
2)   Sharp By-pass garden pruner, (recommended)
3)   Possibly: a medium to larger tree pruner and a handheld pruning saw.
Having sharp tools is imperative for making good clean cuts on branches.  Also, it’s important to disinfect every tool between each rose, because tools can transfer disease and viruses to other plants if not disinfected properly.

Disinfecting Tools:
1)   Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is ideal for sanitizing pruning tools because the blades can be wiped, or dipped into it. Most rubbing alcohols contain 70% isopropyl alcohol, which can be used straight from the bottle.  Rubbing alcohol has a strong fumes, so avoid inhaling.

2)   A solution made of chlorine bleach can also be used as a disinfectant, but unlike alcohol, bleach must be diluted before using and blades must be soaked for 30 minutes for disinfection to really work.  To make a 10% bleach solution: mix one part bleach to nine parts of water. Remember to: avoid inhalation of fumes, wear rubber gloves to prevent contact with skin, and protect your clothing from the bleach and  bleach water. This bleach solution must be used within two hours of mixing, because it losses 50% of its effectiveness after two hours.  After soaking tools in bleach solution, rinse them with clean water to prevent corrosion, and wipe dry. Be aware that chlorine bleach it is not as effective against viruses as rubbing alcohol.

Steps to Pruning: 
1)  Start by removing dead and diseased canes; brown is dead, green is alive.
2)  Tip back brown stems until you see green in the cane.
3)  Remove all thin weak canes; if it’s thinner than a pencil remove it.
4)  Open up the center by taking out crossing branches. Branches that rub cause damage and encourage disease.
5)  Removing center canes allows air-flow which helps control diseases.

 Making the Cut:
Common practice is to make a slight 45-degree angle cut ¼-inch above an outward facing bud. Cutting to an outward facing bud encourages growth away from the center of the rose to provide better air-flow. An angled cut is said to allow moisture to run off the cut. While some rose growers say angled cuts are unnecessary, everyone agrees if the cut is too steep it weakens and/or damages the new bud, so cut at a “slight” angle.

Rose Structure:
The goal is to have an open structure with upward reaching branches in the shape of a vase.
How much  top pruning is done depends on the type of rose.  Typically, only 1/3 of the total height of a rose should be removed, unless an extremely neglected rose shrub needs hard pruning to reshape and repair. ( See examples of Hard, Moderate, Light Pruning in the drawing below)

Seal Cane Cuts:
Seal cut ends of all canes 3/16-inch diameter and larger with white Elmer’s multi-purpose glue, not school glue, or white water-base Tacky Glue, found in craft stores. This forms a barrier to deter cane boring insects from drilling into the pithy middle of rose canes, where they lay their eggs. In some cases, a boring insect can bore deep enough to kill the entire cane, and sometimes the whole rose bush.

Article By: Carlotta Lucas, Ashland Garden Club Member

Resource Article:
Barbara McMullen
Master Gardener OSU Extension

Drawings from Oregon State University webpage on Pruning Roses.  Rose Pruning: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/flowers-shrubs-trees/pruning-roses

Read more on Rose Borers: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/controlling-rose-cane-borers.htm

Garden of the Month: June 2020

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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

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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