Garden of the Month: May 2024

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Ashland Garden Club

The Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May 2024 is John Schroeder and Debbie Beck’s colorful yard at 719 N. Laurel Street.

While the camellia has put on a beautiful show from late winter through early spring, it is fading out now and the gorgeous bright salvias, phlox, lupine, euphorbia, and candytuft are just coming into their own. The Japanese maple tree and barberry bush provide contrast with their deeper spring colors.

John and Debbie have been gardening here since they purchased the property in the spring of 1983. When they arrived, the front yard had only the camellia and a deodar cedar tree that eventually got so large it overpowered the entire yard. Now that they have had that tree removed, the Japanese maple that they planted is thriving. The back yard was steeply sloped toward the back fence. You can see how much they have accomplished in the intervening years, all while working outside the home and raising two children.

John is responsible for the overall landscape design and all the heavy work, including terracing the back yard and planning, and often building, walkways, and Debbie says she handles the details, including small cleanup chores such as dead-heading and weeding. John originally constructed the backyard terraces with railroad ties but when those wore out, he had pros install block retaining walls following his design. He built the stone stairs between levels.

View from the akebia vine. Photo by John Schroeder

Among John’s favorites plants are the Japanese maple, akebia vine, and camellia. Debbie favors daphne and rhododendron. They also have vegetable beds and blueberries in the back. The garden design features lovely vistas throughout with Asian touches of stone lanterns and a sculpture. The newish tree on the left side in front is an autumn blaze maple.

John Schroeder and Debbie Beck in a rare moment of relaxation.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, Garden of the Month Chairperson

Garden on the Month: April 2024

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Ashland Garden Club

The condo complex called Ridgeview Place is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for April 2024. The 12-unit development faces Mountain Avenue just southwest of the corner with East Main Street. The five homes that are numbers 51 through 59 face the street and the other seven homes are behind. The complex was built in 2015 by KDA Homes. KDA’s owner, Laz Ayala, hired landscape architect Laurie Sager (now Thornton) for the initial design.

Since then, owners have taken opportunities to express their individuality, occasionally with professional help. Note, for example, the wonderful use of magnolias to heighten the screening from the street at numbers 51 and 59.

The use of yuccas along Mountain Avenue, part of the original design by Sager, provide a unifying theme and present a stunning sight when in full bloom each summer. Boxwoods, choisya, day lilies, and daphne were also liberally specified. Common areas are maintained by Miguel Cabrera and his crew from Promack Landscaping.

Each unit has a private patio where owners can plant whatever they want. Other changes must be approved by the homeowners Board. A fountain was added later for the soothing sound and lovely sight.

Article by Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chairperson

October: N. Mt. Park’s Heirloom Garden

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

Heirloom Gardeners: October in North Mountain Park’s Heirloom Garden

Pictures by Lynn McDonald, AGC Member

The Oregon Gardens

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

After years of hearing about the Oregon Gardens from garden club members, my husband and I finally visited this garden located in the charming town of Silverton, 12 miles NE of Salem, Oregon. The Oregon Gardens is a lovely 80-acre botanical garden featuring twenty themed gardens, many with water features and sculptures and it has a historic Frank Lloyd Wright house, called The Gordon House. When we arrived we first took the narrated tram tour. The driver told us the garden’s history and pointed out each featured garden and interesting facts. She explained that the wetland area in the gardens is used to cool the City of Silverton’s effluent water. The water moves through a series of pools and is used to irrigate the gardens before it’s returned to the local river. We were impressed! After the tram tour, we purchased iced chai-tea from the Little Leaf Café in the visitor’s center, and then walked through the gardens using a brochure map to guide us. The Conifer Garden was grand and we could have stayed here for hours, but we still had to visit: the Bosque Grove, the Sensory Garden, the Rose Garden, the Children’s Garden, the Medicinal Garden, the Garden Market Garden, the Tropical Greenhouse, and the water features. Picnicking is encouraged at the gardens, so we ate our lunch at a picnic table surrounded by trees and flowers. The garden is pet-friendly, too, there’s even a pet-friendly demonstration garden. I couldn’t leave without purchasing a plant from the retail nursery, so I bought a Dicliptera suberecta also

known as a firecracker plant or hummingbird plant. This plant is a deer-resistant drought-tolerant herbaceous perennial with felty blueish-grey leaves that blooms early summer into fall. It has clusters of tubular orange flowers that are a hummingbird’s delight! It’s winter hardy in USDA Zone 8-10, and needs full sun. Visit the Oregon Gardens, you’ll love it. ~Carlotta Lucas Read more about the Oregon Gardens https://www.oregongarden.org/about/

Photo above was provided by the Oregon Gardens Website Photos below were taken by Carlotta Lucas, AGC Member

Garden on the Month: June 2023

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Ashland Garden Club

59 Sixth Street

The front yard at 59 Sixth Street delights all who see it. The home of Sarah and Dennis Jeske is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May 2023. The cheerful paint on the buildings, the art in the garden, the charming fence and gate, and the prolific flowers mix all together to create an enchanting display.

The garden design and installation were done by previous owners, Zelpha and Harry Hudson, who owned the property until 2017. Zelpha, especially, is credited with much of the creativity now on view. The Jeskes have made their mark, however, with the addition of the glass flowers as well as the fence and gate designed and built by Dennis.

Daisies of three kinds dominate the garden in May; shasta, marguerite, and erigeron. Also on view now and through much of the summer are nepeta, lavender, and wooly lambs ear. Pomegranate, pieris, rhododendron, and a gorgeous camellia surround the welcoming front porch.

Sarah calls herself the chief weeder in the back yard and veggie garden, Moises and his crew from Reyes Property Management provide routine maintenance.

This is a garden meant to be enjoyed by all who pass by.