Tag Archives: Landscapes

Garden of the Month: April 2018

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842 Faith Avenue –  There are always colorful displays in both front and back gardens of Faye Garland’s home at 842 Faith Avenue. Often plants are flowering, but even on those rare occasions when nothing is in bloom, cheerful objects dot the landscape. The garden was designed and installed three-and-a-half years ago by landscape designer Kelly Eaton of Ashland.  Kelly started with a blank slate to create this intriguing garden.IMG_3435

The front is primarily a xeriscape, requiring very little irrigation. The entire property is watered by a drip irrigation system. Faye has proclaimed a narrow side yard, protected by a fence and the south side of the house, a “micro-climate” where moisture- and heat-loving plants such as coral bells and hellebores thrive. A delightful lawn-like area near the gazebo in back is primarily comprised of English daisies, yarrow, and white clover. It requires little mowing and very little water and looks perfectly charming. It’s easy for people and pets to walk on too.IMG_3402

After a few initial plantings failed to thrive in the back, revealing an underground stream running through, they were replaced by arctic blue willows that flourish with the extra moisture. A star magnolia dominates the landscape at this time of year. Also in back are red Twigg dogwoods and a shore pine that grows very fast.IMG_3406

A witch hazel anchors the right side of the front yard. Other favorite plants include manzanita that is blooming this month, gaura and a non-invasive butterfly bush to bloom in the coming months. Bees love this garden.IMG_3417

Faye spends about three hours a week maintaining her garden and enjoys every minute of it. She says she likes to “putter,” moving the colorful objets around to constantly change the view. Her late husband, after observing the stress relief gardening brings her, declared that working in the yard was the “cheapest therapy ever!”IMG_3417

Submitted by:
Ruth Sloan
AGC Garden-of-the-Month Chairperson

Garden of the Month: June 2017

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946 B Street

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Lisa and Marc Blackburn purchased the charming house at 946 B Street almost three years ago.  Two years ago, they started re-landscaping with help from Jane Hardgrove and Juan Meraz of Bearclaw Landscape Services.  Now their garden is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June 2017.

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Lisa Blackburn’s instructions to designer Hardgrove were that she wanted a whimsical, fairy-tale garden that did not feature the usual deer-resistant plants such as rosemary, heather, and lavender.  The result is a charming, inviting space with lots of texture and color.  A water feature provides pleasant sound.  Marc does almost all the maintenance, averaging ten hours a week in the garden and has started getting creative on his own, adding or replacing plants as necessary.  He uses a deer-repellant on some plants.

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This is a relatively small space shaded in front by ash trees and on the side by a giant cedar.  Hardgrove added Japanese maples for color and texture.  Among the many plants are hellebore, Japanese anemone, brunnera, choisya, bleeding heart, digiplexis, columbine, hostas, peonies, pieris, black-eyed Susan, salvia, Japanese fuchsia, and goldmound spirea.   Golden creeping jenny and stands of ornamental grass (called orange sedge but bronze in color) fill in and provide balance.  Private spaces on the side and in back feature azaleas as well as daphne for fragrance, among many other choices.

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Stroll by 946 B Street for a treat for sight, sound, and aroma. If you come in the morning, you may find Marc at work in the garden.

Article by: Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: April 2017

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Garden on the Month:  310 Kent Street

April may not be the very best month for the garden at 310 Kent St., but it’s still remarkably good and, more importantly, it is the last full month in the care of homeowner/gardener Cyd Smith who has sold the property and plans to relocate to Seattle. Realtor Pattie Millen attributes the very quick sale of the home (four days) to the beautiful yard.Pic 1

Smith has been gardening here since 2009 and, with the initial help of garden designer Jane Hardgrove, has transformed the landscape from bare to luscious. At the height of the growing season, Cyd has spent eight hours per week working in the yard, on average.
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The pretty front yard is anchored by a picket fence and arbor. The latter features a trumpet vine in season. Two redbud trees flank the path leading to the front door. Four varieties of euphorbia, along with several sedum and thyme, weave throughout the yard. Barberry, spirea, privet, honeysuckle, daphne, irises, and gaura are among the many plants that create such an inviting entrance.Pic 3

There are 25 to 30 roses in both the front and back. Fair Bianca is one of Smith’s favorites. Peonies also abound.
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The back of the irregularly-shaped nearly quarter-acre property has a large section, or “room,” defined by a lush photinia hedge, with raised beds for vegetables. Also in back, there are apple, cherry, fig, and pear trees. The largest tree on the property is a golden locust. A Japanese maple frames the view to the back through the study window. Favorite plants include oakleaf hydrangea, black-lace elderberry, and gold-thread cypress.

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Smith, a professional musician, thoroughly enjoys the many benefits of gardening and hopes to create an equally relaxing retreat at her new home.

Article By: Ruth Sloan
~Photos throughout the year by Larry Rosengren and Cyd Smith

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

Garden of the Month: September 2013

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The home at 340 Morton is currently owned by Betsy Wessler and the garden is at its peak in late summer.  Kaaren Anderson talked with Betsy last spring to gather a little history on the home and the lovely garden that surrounds it.
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The home was originally built in 1948 and was formerly owned by Dick and Evelyn Strellman.  Betsy purchased the home in 2007 with a move-in date of 2008.  Soon after, the house, as well as the entire yard, were renovated and redesigned.  Betsy’s former husband, Ian Wessler of Wessler Design Associates, worked with her to create the beautiful garden you see today.
 

IMG_0091The first major change was to move the driveway to the far right of the front yard from its former location closer to the house and entry way.  This gave a much broader area to reconstruct the garden.  The entrance to the garage, which originally faced the street, was reoriented to create a turnaround at the end of the new driveway.  Broken concrete pieces from the driveway were used to form walkways leading to the entry and around the house to the garage.IMG_0089

One challenge with the design involved mitigating a seepage problem located at the right rear of the front yard.  This was done by lowering the grade to create a gravel and rock lined dry creekbed, directing water through the front yard to a gated front vegetable garden.  As you will see, it is this creekbed that is beautifully lined with boulders and various tall grasses.  Winding back through these grasses one can find a Triflora maple, Zelkova and palm along with lilaIMG_0088c and wild currant.

Original rhubarb, quince and raspberries were kept and moved to various locations throughout the property.  Blueberries, Asian pear, persimmon and other fruit trees share the backyard with many of the original camellias.  

— Kaaren Anderson