May 2022: Garden of the Month

Posted on May 7, 2022 by Ashland Garden Club

The beautiful and colorful landscape at 595 Great Oaks Drive is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for May. It’s the home of Gerry and Sherwood Goozee, located at the southwest corner of Great Oaks Drive and Mountain Meadows Drive.

Sherwood has been gardening here for nine years, moving from a 42-acre ranch near Ukiah, California where he planted 100 trees. At 94 years old, Sherwood has slowed down a little but he still mows the lawn! Sherwood now has help from their friend Denise Moffatt who weeds and plants as directed by Sherwood. He says he still loves “playing in the dirt.”

Sherwood is an artist (check out his gorgeous paintings of flowers and other things at https://goozeepaintings.weebly.com) and it shows in his love of color in the garden. Azaleas, rhododendrons, Irish roses, and—right now—dogwood flourish. Two eastern oak trees anchor the yard. Early in their residence, Sherwood removed many large bushes that he felt had not added much to the overall display. He certainly got it all right.

Article by: Ruth Sloan, AGC Garden of the Month Chairperson

Photos by Larry Rosengren. Some photos were taken in May 2021.

With thanks to Marilyn Love, AGC Member, for the suggestion. And thanks to Viki Ashford, AGC Member, who installed the GotM sign.

Indoor Gardening

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Ashland Garden Club

Signs of Spring

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Ashland Garden Club

Pruning Roses

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Ashland Garden Club

Roses are pruned to encourage new growth and healthy flowers during the growing season. The time to prune roses depends on the type of rose your pruning. Roses that flower once a season are pruned right after they flower. Roses that flower throughout the season are pruned when buds start to swell and become green. In Southern Oregon, Zone 8, this is typically mid- February to early March .

By-pass pruner

Tools Needed:
1)   Good pair of leather gloves,
2)   Sharp By-pass garden pruner, (recommended)
3)   Possibly: a medium to larger tree pruner and a handheld pruning saw.
Having sharp tools is imperative for making good clean cuts on branches. Also, it’s important to disinfect every tool between each rose, because tools can transfer disease and viruses to other plants if not disinfected properly.

Disinfecting Tools:
1) Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is ideal for sanitizing pruning tools because the blades can be wiped, or dipped into it. Most rubbing alcohols contain 70% isopropyl alcohol, which can be used straight from the bottle. Rubbing alcohol has a strong fumes, so avoid inhaling.

2) A solution made of chlorine bleach can also be used as a disinfectant, but unlike alcohol, bleach must be diluted before using and blades must be soaked for 30 minutes for disinfection to really work. To make a 10% bleach solution: mix one part bleach to nine parts of water. Remember to: avoid inhalation of fumes, wear rubber gloves to prevent contact with skin, and protect your clothing from the bleach and bleach water. This bleach solution must be used within two hours of mixing, because it losses 50% of its effectiveness after two hours. After soaking tools in bleach solution, rinse them with clean water to prevent corrosion, and wipe dry. Be aware that chlorine bleach it is not as effective against viruses as rubbing alcohol.

Steps to Pruning:
1) Start by removing dead and diseased canes; brown is dead, green is alive.
2) Tip back brown stems until you see green in the cane.
3) Remove all thin weak canes; if it’s thinner than a pencil remove it.
4) Open up the center by taking out crossing branches. Branches that rub cause damage and encourage disease.
5) Removing center canes allows air-flow which helps control diseases.

Making the Cut:
Common practice is to make a slight 45-degree angle cut ¼-inch above an outward facing bud. Cutting to an outward facing bud encourages growth away from the center of the rose to provide better air-flow. An angled cut is said to allow moisture to run off the cut. While some rose growers say angled cuts are unnecessary, everyone agrees if the cut is too steep it weakens and/or damages the new bud, so cut at a “slight” angle.

Rose Structure:
The goal is to have an open structure with upward reaching branches in the shape of a vase.
How much top pruning is done depends on the type of rose. Typically, only 1/3 of the total height of a rose should be removed, unless an extremely neglected rose shrub needs hard pruning to reshape and repair. ( See examples of Hard, Moderate, Light Pruning in the drawing below)

Seal Cane Cuts:
Seal cut ends of all canes 3/16-inch diameter and larger with white Elmer’s multi-purpose glue, not school glue, or white water-base Tacky Glue, found in craft stores. This forms a barrier to deter cane boring insects from drilling into the pithy middle of rose canes, where they lay their eggs. In some cases, a boring insect can bore deep enough to kill the entire cane, and sometimes the whole rose bush.

Article By: Carlotta Lucas, Ashland Garden Club Member

Resource Article:
Barbara McMullen
Master Gardener OSU Extension

Drawings from Oregon State University webpage on Pruning Roses. Rose Pruning: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/flowers-shrubs-trees/pruning-roses

Garden of the Month: September 2021

Posted on September 12, 2021 by Ashland Garden Club

85 Winburn Way

Stephanie and Bryan DeBoer have an unusual degree of interest in the spectacular garden of their home at 85 Winburn Way, as well they should. This is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for September.

The DeBoers see their property as a visual extension of Lithia Park which sits across the street. Bryan has a special affinity for the park: His maternal grandfather was a gardener there and, as a boy, Bryan would help him and be rewarded with ice cream from the shop that once sat where the DeBoer home sits now.

Meant to look long-established and thus better to complement the park, the garden was actually installed in stages over 2018-19. The initial planting took 11 days and required a large crane. One tree weighed 7000 lbs. Using mature plants was the key to making the garden look as if it had been there a long time.

Bryan & Stephanie were very much involved in carefully planning the garden and selecting plants. Bryan and Stephanie went from room to room inside the house while plants were being placed outside, to assure spectacular views from every vantage point. Laurie Sager & Associates of Jacksonville were the landscape architects and steered the DeBoers through a fun and creative process. One of Laurie’s many ideas was creating a beautifully landscaped light well to brighten a lower level bedroom, and created an amazing overall result. The building’s architect, Carlos Delgado, took an active interest. Dieter Trost, of Southern Oregon Nursery in Medford—and a family friend, aided in procuring the specimen trees, all grown right here in Oregon.

Mostly the garden is in the Japanese tradition and has many conifers and maples. Bryan has a special fondness for the Chief Joseph pines, “Lovers” Japanese maple, and the ice breaker firs. It’s a good thing Japanese maples are among Stephanie’s favorite plants because there are 29 Japanese maples on the property comprised of 25 varieties including red filigree lace, green cascade, and contorta weeping. A full list of plants, with pictures, is available on PlantsMap (www.plantsmap.com – search on Winburn). Bryan has installed PlantsMap tags at the foot of many of the plants.

Unique sources were found for many of the treasures in the landscape. The Iseli Nursery in Boring, Oregon provided many of the special trees and is world renown for mature specimens found in their Gallery. The gorgeous rocks placed strategically throughout the garden were imported from the Netherlands where a Japanese garden was being dismantled. The giant mid-century modern urn on a pedestal near the front door came from a Frank Lloyd Wright building.

Both Bryan and Stephanie work in the garden and Bryan, especially, has been mistaken as a professional gardener by passersby while he was working outside. He can identify every plant from memory.

Article by: Ruth Sloan

Photos by Bryan DeBoer