Flowers & Photo by Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member
Today in the Garden: August 4, 2021
Tag Archives: Oregon Gardens
Garden(s) of the Month: June 2021
The Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June 2021 is unusual. It’s unusual because it is three gardens and unusual because they are back gardens. Gardens selected for GotM honors must be substantially visible from the public right-of-way (street or sidewalk ordinarily) so that usually means front gardens. These three back gardens qualify because they are visible from Ashland Creek Park (on Hersey near Oak) and these three are all in a row.
Directions: From Hersey Street, walk along the right (east) side of the park about half way from front to back and watch for signs. Please stay in the park. You will see some gorgeous gardens.
The first (geographically) of the selected gardens is the furthest south of the three; the back garden of Deborah and Jeff Wihtol of 589 Oak Street. They started their garden with a rounded patio and gently winding path that Jeff designed. Then in 2017 the Wihtols had Solid Ground Landscaping plan and install most of the plants. Since then, they’ve made changes on their own. The recent loss of a large box elder tree brought more sun to the south side of the garden than it had in the past, to which they are adjusting. And most recently they arranged for Jane Hardgrove to refresh the landscape and accommodate the new sun situation. Among Deb’s favorite plants are hydrangeas, daphne odora, cape fuchsia, and orange sedge. Routine maintenance is by Juan Guerrero.
The second selected garden belongs to Ursula and Marvin Webster of 603 Oak Street whose historic 1897 home influenced plant selections. Sage Hill Landscape installed the hardscape and initial plantings in back following guidance from the Websters. As Ursula put it, “What would grandma do?” was her guiding principle. A massive trumpet vine, stone walls, ivy, and treasured perennials survive from the house’s earliest days. Among her favorites are plants that she considers “romantically old fashioned” such as hydrangea, peonies, erigeron, and catmint. The hillside setting dictated stairs, and aspen trees thrive in the lowest parts of the garden, nearest the park. Their quaking leaves add movement to the garden. Ursula handles routine maintenance with assistance from Juan Guerrero. The small building at the back of the garden is a straw-bale office built by EcoNest.
The third selected garden belongs to Susan McKennon of 615 Oak Street. The yard is dominated by a huge old oak that some believe is the tree for which Oak Street was named. That mighty tree is a picture of health thanks to Susan’s care and Canopy’s regular maintenance. Her dazzling stand of iris stems from an early gift from Schreiners, friends of the family—well known for iris cultivation. Susan brought the iris starts from a previous home. Solid Ground designed the landscape in 2013, bringing in tons of boulders to stabilize the steep terrain and installing stairs to help people negotiate the hill between the house and the park. Solid Ground brought in many trees except the old oak, including Japanese maples and a dwarf gingko. A friend’s gift of an elderberry bush draws attention at this time of year with its dark purple foliage and pale pink flowers. Rudolpho Ramirez and his crew maintain this garden.
Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Director
All photos by Larry Rosengren
Today in the Garden
Photos submitted by Carlotta Lucas, AGCMember
Garden of the Month: April 2021
198 N. Wightman Street
As most Garden Club members know, their gardens are not eligible to be AGC Garden of the Month. This is an exception. Carolyn Gale was invited to be April Garden of the month in 2020, before she had even considered joining. She declined for 2020, but said she would be willing for April of 2021. In the interim, she joined the Club!
When Carolyn Gale bought the house at 198 N. Wightman Street in the summer of 2014, the yard had been neglected. After spending the first year remodeling the interior, she has turned the property into a colorful and interesting site. Now her garden is the April Garden of the Month for the Ashland Garden Club.
Such is Carolyn’s attention to detail that she painted the exterior of the house to match the branches of a stunning magnolia that stars in the garden in April. She planned very carefully to assure that plants are in bloom twelve months of the year, using the book The Ever-Blooming Flower Garden: A Blueprint for Continuous Color as her guide. She spent nearly a year developing a comprehensive plan that features meandering pathways connecting the side and front gardens
Augustin Herrera and his crew installed the initial plants, irrigation system, and hardscape according to Carolyn’s thoughtful plan, and continue to do the heavy-lifting and some routine maintenance. But Carolyn spends a lot of time maintaining and improving her garden and it shows.
Plants that are not deer-resistant are confined to the fenced back yard. The back was also designed to accommodate her dog who likes to dig and eat green things. She devised clever ways of protecting her plants, such as elevating potted plants on shelves. She has had to resort to pots in some places in the front yard where tree roots interfered with the development of smaller plants.
Among Carolyn’s favorite plants are rhododendrons, heathers, camellias, hellebores, and irises. She planted 500 bulbs just last year. If you look carefully, you will see rainbow patterns and themed planting beds in the landscape, such as a recently added succulent garden with a seaside theme. This is a garden to revisit throughout the year to see the ever-changing display.
Photos by Carolyn Gale, except the photo of the new succulent garden which is by Larry Rosengren. Some of the pictures here are from previous years and months other than April.
Report by Ruth Sloan, AGC Member/GOM Chairperson
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
April 2020: Garden of the Month:
467 Scenic Drive
The lovely garden at 467 Scenic Drive is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for April. It is a work-in-progress by homeowners Elaine Yates and Michael Costello who have had this property for 3.5 years. Although the yard had good bones, with handsome hardscape and fruit trees, the garden had been greatly neglected in recent years. They removed several diseased or dead trees which has opened things up for new additions with an emphasis on blooming plants.
Elaine is the primary gardener and designer, but Michael contributes. He rebuilt an impressive set of raised beds for edibles in the side yard as well as choosing and placing a new wisteria. Having moved to Ashland from the Bay area, Elaine has had a steep learning curve with new weather patterns to understand and more aggressive deer than she was accustomed to. On the plus side, she has been happy to discover the multitude of bees and other pollinators and the wonderful profusion of blooming plants that thrive here. She spends anywhere from three to five hours per week in the slow season (Winter) to ten to twelve hours per week the rest of the year.
Heathers, grape hyacinths, forsythia, azaleas (in the deer-proof back yard), and rosemary are the stars right now but soon the rhododendrons will burst forth so Elaine encourages readers to delay until late in the month or early next month visiting to admire the garden from the street.
