This month’s merit garden awards feature two quite different landscapes united by a shared focus: each cultivates many varieties of single plants and calls the garden a place of serenity.
Betty and Tim Ross, 4681 Stanton Blvd in Montague, nurture over fifty varieties of lilies. Their island bed and border gardens unfold in staggered blooms and fragrance, offering quiet moments of surprise. For Betty, the garden is a restful refuge: “It’s where I learned to decompress from the day at work.” After 40 years of tending to the garden, her lilies, peonies, hostas, Japanese anemones, and other beloved perennials have settled into a lush, self-sustaining vignette that blooms with ease and calm.
Just a few miles away in Scenic Woods in Whitehall, David Ritter has built a diverse evergreen collection—hemlock, boxwoods, golden cedars, and many niche cultivars. Layered with texture, color, and graceful structure, this woodland-inspired garden offers a peaceful retreat where every turn reveals something new. Vibrant hydrangeas anchor the landscape with clouds of white, lime, and soft pink blooms, while flowering shrubs, ornamental trees, and lush perennials create a tapestry of green in countless shapes and textures. David is always assessing his garden. In fact, a friend teases him, “Your plants should have wheels rather than roots as often as you move them.”
What sets these gardeners apart is their willingness to continually assess their work, acknowledge when something is not thriving, and make thoughtful improvements. Both gardeners are awarded the Dirt Dauber Garden Club Merit Garden Award for creating a tranquil landscape that celebrates both the beauty of nature and the dedication of its gardener.
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