Tag Archives: Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: May 2021

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The Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May is Sue and Tim Cate’s at 471 Parkside Drive.  As the neighbor who nominated the garden wrote, “It shows nicely from the street, but when looked at more closely the artistry of ground cover is evident, as is the balance.  Without symmetry yet with plant forms and different species, there is a very graceful balance to the whole place. “

The Cates had their home built in 1995.  They developed the garden themselves, beginning shortly after the house was completed.  While Sue contributes ideas, Tim does all the work, spending four to five hours a week on average.  He suggests that every gardener should maintain a garden diary for at least one year, to remind themselves what chores need to be done and when it is best to add new plantings.  From his garden diary, Tim was able to create a comprehensive list of when each plant is at its peak.  They have constructed arbors to create outdoor rooms and provide shade as well as trellises for trumpet vine, akebia, and honeysuckle.

Among Sue’s favorite plants is the crabapple tree, which she especially likes when the blooms are at the bud stage as they are now.    Both Cates love the mature redbud that dominates the front yard and was recently pruned.

With thanks to Myrl Bishop for the suggestion.

Article by: Ruth Sloan

Photos by Larry Rosengren

Garden of the Month: April 2021

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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

July 2020: Garden of the Month

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139 N. 2nd Street, Ashland, OR

Local artist and educator Judith Ginsburg developed and maintains the lovely garden at 139 N. 2nd Street which has been selected as the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2020.  The property was purchased as a rental in 1988 and completely remodeled in 1996.   The existing garage was converted to Ginsburg’s artist studio in 2001.  Although living elsewhere in Ashland, she comes to the studio most days and has done the regular maintenance in the garden since then.  She is currently planning a move into the front cottage.

In the 1990s, Judith had Landscape Architect Steve Potter create a plan for the garden.  Much of the hardscape remains from that plan, but only a few plants.  In 2016, Solid Ground Landscape redesigned the front yard, and in 2018, they did the back, always accommodating Judith’s preferences for plants and color.  Since then, she has personally added to and subtracted from the plan.  Solid Ground workers come twice a month to do standard maintenance.  Ginsburg averages about an hour a day on garden care.  It is truly an artist’s garden.

There is a gorgeous fountain, the sound of which does its’ best to mask the noise from the Post Office, the back of which is across the alley from the studio.  To encourage birds, there are many bird baths and bird feeders.  There are a lot of places to sit and relax throughout the back and a raised bed for veggies in the side yard.

On the back fence, there is a thriving climbing hydrangea, which is notoriously difficult to establish.  There is a large and healthy wisteria shading the back porch and an old but still glorious lilac in the parking strip.  Several Hypercium inodorum are stellar additions to the front garden.  Ginsburg often has passersby ask or leave notes asking for identification of those plants.  They are a shrub (a relative of St. John’s Wort—a common groundcover with yellow flowers) that has berries that range from white through pink and orange to red.  Among Judith’s favorite plants are peonies, hellebores, and tulips.

There is a little bit of everything here and well worth strolling by.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, Ashland Garden Club

Photos by Larry Rosengren

Garden of the Month: June 2019

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265 Ohio Street

There are several nice garden surprises at the unpaved end of Ohio Street, northwest of Laurel.  One is the fabulous garden and fence at 265 Ohio Street.  This garden, designed and maintained by Gene Leyden, is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for June.  This is a naturally wet parcel (note the giant pond next door) where dampness- and shade-loving plants thrive and carefully placed sun-loving plants also flourish.  Gene planted the willow tree, now enormous (14 feet in circumference!), when she moved in with her family in 1987, transporting it to the site from the nursery in the back of the Volkswagon bus.  Garden observers can walk or drive down the alley to the right of the house to get more views.

In addition to the prospering plant life, there are remarkably beautiful constructions by Gene’s friend, the artist and carpenter Nathan Sharples.  Look carefully at the gorgeous fence, installed only three years ago.  Note the unusual wooden screen door.  Now catch a glimpse of the fabulous gazebo in what appears to be the back yard but is actually the front of the house which was moved to this location shortly before Gene moved in.   Sharples built the gazebo of many species of wood, rarely using straight planks, but fitting curved pieces together with exquisite workmanship.  Multicolor glass in clerestory windows adds light to the interior.

Also salted throughout the garden are sculptures by Gene’s friend Cheryl Garcia, as well as other items of interest.

Gene has the advantage of access to Helman ditch water.  She has had to amend the soil over the years because the site was ill-used before she (and the house) arrived.  She refers to it as a “wild garden” that reseeds itself each year and “does its own thing.”.  She insists that she doesn’t spend as much time working on it as its beauty suggests, and she does have help now with weeding and mowing.  Gene says she has a special fondness for fragrance in the garden and chooses many plants on that basis, including roses, jasmine and nicotiana.

Among the many highlights in the garden are a selection of huge hostas loving their location under the willow, Lady Banks and Cecile Brunner roses climbing through the vegetation, and a smoke tree and smoke bush lending their rich dark foliage as contrast to the riot of greens plus colorful blossoms.  There’s a little bit of everything here. This is clearly the work of people of great imagination, especially the primary gardener.

Article by: Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: July 2017

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59 N. Wightman
Looking at the garden at 59 N. Wightman, you would think a person who loves color and possibly an artist lives there. You would be correct on both fronts. Patti Browning has been living and gardening here since July of 2008. Hers is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2017. She has changed more than 75% of the garden in those nine years. The biggest trees, obviously, and the wisteria are in their original locations. Browning removed lawns front and back to achieve more planting area for blooming plants. Patti loves to design gardens or “co-create with nature” as she puts it. She likes to be intuitive, with paths and borders that meander. She says that “magic happens when you look beneath the way things appear to be.”IMG_2754

Browning has taken no horticulture classes but has been gardening since her early 20s. Color is most important to her, and very specific shades of color are critical to her aesthetic. She likes the garden to be harmonious, but with bright accents. She gets regular help with maintenance from Mariano Chavez who, by chance, left his business card for her to discover on the day she moved in. She calls him her “garden angel.” She adheres to principals of feng shui, plus does all she can to encourage birds.IMG_1702

Violas and pansies, along with lobelia, dominate the front garden for much of the year. Azaleas and rhododendrons provide bright seasonal color. Japanese maples, cherry and plum trees in the back, roses, nandina, rock roses, chrysanthemum, ferns camellias, lilac, gaura, peonies, shasta daisies, daylillies, and euphorbia are among the many blooming plants. Climbers, in addition to the wisteria, include clematis and a Cecile Bruner roseLR 4-17

A pond graces the side yard. In addition to the gorgeous plants, there are many sculptures, including Buddha, Quan Yin, a Madonna, a cherub, and a fabulous lizard. Colorful pennants add to the beauty.IMG_5992

Article by Ruth Sloan

Garden of the Month: September 2016

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Garden of the Month: 448 Clinton Street

Carolyn and Donald Hunsaker purchased their house at 448 Clinton Strelr-6-16-1et five years ago and immediately set about reworking the small garden spaces. Two years ago, they were among the first to take advantage of the City of Ashland’s lawn replacement program. Throughout the process of developing the wonderful garden that they have today, they have had assistance from Regenesis Ecological Design of Ashland.

dh Most recently theirs was designated an official Pollinator Garden by Bee City USA of Ashland, and they have a pretty, new sign to prove it. The Hunsakers commissioned Nick David of Jefferson Woodwright to make a very nice frame for the sign, to coordinate with the craftsman architecture of their home.  They have colorful Monarch caterpillars in residence, happily munching on various kinds of milkweed that they introduced to a side yard. Carolyn and Don, together, spend about five hours a week maintaining this beautiful garden.

lr-8_16-12This is a modest-size garden, with a front of 800 square feet, side yards of about 250 square feet each, and natural areas off the alley adding about 200 square feet more, but they have capitalized on the efficient use of space, with plants on trellises for height that also provide privacy. On one side, the garden opens out to reveal an inviting patio, just off the kitchen, complete with a refreshing water feature. On the other side, outdoor rooms were created with arbors and a variety of vines, including star jasmine and honeysuckle. On this side, a garden shed has a living roof, comprised of sedum, small primroses, bitterroot, and other small plants. A tiny solar panel provides power for the light inside the shed.

In front, the sword ferns, azaleas, and rhododendrons close to the front porch plus a pink dogwood on the left are pretty much all that remains of the landscape as it existed when they bought the place. They have added a paperbark maple as well as heathers, yarrow, blue fescue, and other low-growing plants to replace the front lawn. Creeping thyme fills in the between the stepping-stones. Kinnikinnick fills the parking strip, since parking is not permitted on their side of the street. All the low plants in front are deer resistant.

lr-8-16-9Near the patio in back, there is a concrete raised bed that has primarily edible plants such as cucumber, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, with mint, basil, rosemary, and marigolds to discourage unwelcome creatures. Larger, non-edible plants in this area include a Japanese maple, buddleja, anemone, Sochi Tea camellia, and euphorbia.

Throughout the garden, there are many roses, mostly climbers, including Portlandia, Westerland, Polka, Gold Badge, Night Light, Golden Gate, Abraham Darby, Joseph’s Coat, and Royal Pageant (Carolyn’s favorite).fullsizerender-2

This is a delightful garden full of pleasant surprises.

Submitted by:
Ruth Sloan