Nevada Street retreat has evolved into a lovely landscape
By Ruth Sloan
The garden of Kim Larson and David Minter at 128 E Nevada St. is the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month for July 2022. When they purchased the property in 2002, the front yard was almost entirely huge juniper bushes and the back was dominated by a large concrete pad with a laundry line plus a photinia hedge. David tore out the junipers by tying a line to the roots and dragging them out with a truck.
Initially, Kim, who loves to work in the yard, created gardens in both front and back without an overall plan, but discovered they were very high maintenance. Bonnie (Criswell) Engelhardt of Shooting Star nursery advised the couple, who have two children, on plant selections that would prove much easier for maintenance and require less water. Sage Hill Landscape installed much of the hardscape from a plan developed with Jane Hardgrove. Kim and David average less than two hours per week now, doing all the maintenance themselves.
Among favorite plants are older hellebores that line the walkway beside the house on the eastern edge of the property, autumn ferns, coral bells and hardy euphorbias. Kim has transplanted shoots from a passionflower vine that they thought had died and was pleased to discover them doing well in their new location.
They keep chickens in a charming coop and use their droppings in the compost they regularly manage.
Kim, especially, finds joy in gardening. She says that it is therapeutic even to weed and prune, but planting, too, to make things beautiful.
Ruth Sloan is a member of the Ashland Garden Club’s Garden of the Month Committee. The Ashland Garden Club has been selecting Gardens of the Month, from spring through early fall, since 2000. Nominations are gratefully received at aogardenclub@gmail.com. Check out the club’s website at ashlandorgardenclub.org for information about meetings.
