By Mary Owen
Santiam Heritage Foundation benefit
June 26, Noon to 5 p.m. Tickets: $10
Proceeds will go toward the restoration
of the Charles and Martha Brown
House and Garden.
Tickets can be purchased at
The Bird & Hat, 717 N. Third Ave.
the day of the event.
Prior to June 26 tickets will
be available at The Bird & Hat or
Jensen-Kreitzer Family Clothing on
Third Avenue in downtown Stayton.
Information: 503-769-5863 or
503-769-8860
Monica and Baxter Weber are working feverishly to put the last-minute spit and polish on their Zen-inspired garden.
“If people want to come and see a work in progress, here it is,” Monica Weber said of her Sublimity garden, featured in this year’s Santiam Heritage Foundation Garden Tour, Garden Idylls.
The 11th annual garden tour will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, featuring seven gardens in Stayton and Sublimity.
Visitors will enjoy both emerging and established gardens with many features including a pond and wildlife, masses of annuals and perennials, vegetables and herb, herbaceous borders and a 1920s sunken garden, according to event sponsors.
The Webers’ garden grew out of a drainage issue that emerged after rain flooded the crawl space in their new home. After looking at what Monica called “basically a mud pit” for a year, the couple rolled up their sleeves and tackled the backyard.
“We borrowed a friend’s tractor and regraded,” she said. “We built a natural rock retaining wall to keep dirt and water back away from the house, and put in drainage pipe all around the wall.”
Today, the garden sports an oriental rock garden, Tiki bar, fire pit, and even a “little hen house for our chickens,” she added.
“We also have some vegetable planters,” Weber said. “The yard is beautiful, but it’s also a producer. We have an apple tree, peach tree, pear tree, Marionberry vine, strawberries, horseradish and an herb garden.”
The couple also makes use of an eco-friendly compost bin and outdoor clothesline.
“I’ll be taking that down for the show, because I can’t figure out how to make it look good,” Weber said.
One year into creating the now “peaceful, serene” garden, she is satisfied.
“All this came about just because we had problems,” said Weber, the self-professed brain behind her husband’s brawn. “It was an act of desperation. I was absolutely determined to make something of this yard!”
Also on the tour are the gardens of Clair and Kendall Horn in Sublimity and Steve and Susan Dalrymple, Amy and Brad Baxter, Tambi and Ben Gifford, and Dick Jungwirth in Stayton.
Tickets are $10 and are available at The Bird & Hat Inn and Jensen-Kreitzer Family Clothing in downtown Stayton. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Charles and Martha Brown House and garden.
“People can also call me for tickets,” said Kay Pendleton, who can be reached at 503-769-5863.
Tickets may also be purchased from noon until 4 p.m. on the day of the event at The Bird & Hat, 717 N. Third Ave., where refreshments will be served.
