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Fungi Fun
Tag Archives: nature
Garden of the Month: September 2023
623 Prim Street
Elysian Graham and Lou Martinez bought the handsome house at 623 Prim Street in 2020 and promptly set about re-imagining the front landscape. This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the month for September 2023.
They hired Banyan Tree Landscaping and landscape architect Lucretia Weems to do the job. Among their primary goals were to achieve easy maintenance for their steep yard, conserve water, and be deer resistant. They also wanted a subtle color palette, but color and interest all year, and to be pollinator-friendly. They have achieved all this and more.
Only the large sweet gum tree on the left side of the garden and the thicket on the far right side, which is seasonally favored by deer, remain from the original yard. Overhead sprinklers were replaced by a drip irrigation system. The rock retaining walls and graceful stairs were added.
Ornamental grasses are highlights at this time of year and on through the winter. As the homeowners and designers of this garden have done, the Ashland Garden Club urges gardeners to take care in choosing ornamental grasses that are not fire-prone, and to remove dead and dry growth.
The couple handle all the maintenance themselves and, as busy professionals, they are grateful that their yard is so easy-care. Elysian particularly likes the guara and Lou likes the Japanese maple.
Photos by Lou Martinez
Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC GOM Committee Chair
Native Shrubs for Southern Oregon
RED-FLOWERING CURRANT, (BLOOD CURRANT)
Ribes sanguineum Purch
Mid-height deciduous shrub, 3–9-feet with many upright stems from the base. Gray-green leaves. Blooms emerge before foliage with pendant red/pink flower clusters bloom in late winter. Shrub produces blue/black berries with waxy bloom in the summer.
This plant is a rapid grower and is drought tolerant. There is a selection of varieties flowering currants available in shades of red, pink, and white.
Habitat: Dry open woods, Forest edge, Slopes
Flowers attract hummingbirds, Berries attract birds.
PACIFIC, OR WESTERN, NINEBARK
Physocarpus capitatus (Pursh) Kuntze
Mid-height, multi-stemmed deciduous shrub to 8′-10’. Leaves resemble a maple tree leaves. Produces small white flowers in dense 2–3″ clusters in late spring. Plant turns a rose-brown color in the fall. Older stems have shredding bark.
Habitat: Best used in moist locations, along creeks & streams.
Ninebark Varieties:
Summer Wine – Bright red leaves when emerging, turning dark purple. Upright arching branches. Height 5.5 feet, same width. Exposure: Sun, part shade. USDA Hardiness Zone 2
Little Devil – Red stems with green and Red glossy leaves – Height 3.5 feet, same width. Exposure: Sun, part shade. USDA Hardiness Zone 2
Diablo : Dusky dark purple leaves turn red in autumn. Upright and arching shape. Height 8-10 ft, same width. Exposure: sun, part shade. USDA Hardiness Zone 2
Dart Gold: Bright gold new leaves, sometimes tinged with red. Chartreuse color in the shadowed center of the plant. Grows in an upright fountain shape. Grows to 5-ft , same width. Exposure: part shade. USDA Hardiness Zone 2
Amer Jubilee: New leaves are a glowing orange and gold, with touches of purple. Growth is upright rounded shape. Height 5.5ft, Width 4 to 5 feet. Exposure: Sun, part shade. USDA Hardiness Zone 2
by Carlotta Lucas, AGC Member
Today in the Garden
AGC member Janie Burcart’s garden in bloom.
Today in the Garden
Yellow and red blooms in Lynn McDonald’s garden:
Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatilis), Potentilla (Cinquefoil), California poppy (Papaver), and a Peony (Paeonia)
May flowers in a rock garden
Photos & flowers by Lynn McDonald, AGC Member