Coming up Roses: Ashland Terrace Retirement Home’s public cutting garden provides an oasis of fresh blooms in the middle of Chevy Chase

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Steps away from the bustling flow of traffic and commerce of Euclid Avenue blooms Ric’s Garden – a peaceful oasis lush with herbs, vegetables and over 25 different types of flowers. A waterfall rushes into a Koi fish pond, bees hum past a small fairy garden, and brightly colored roses accent the pathways. Ric’s Garden – located at Ashland Terrace Retirement Home, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization with a rich history – is unique in that it is Lexington’s only cutting garden, organizers say.

Ashland Terrace Retirement Home was founded in 1849 as the “Home of the Friendless.” Originally located on Short Street, The Home of the Friendless offered assistance during Lexington’s second cholera outbreak. Once the epidemic passed, only older women remained. The organization moved to High Street and incorporated as “The Old Ladies’ Home”, moving to its current location on Ashland in 1960. In 1973, at the request of its residents, the name “The Old Ladies’ Home” was updated to “Ashland Terrace Retirement Home.”

Ashland Terrace Retirement Home offers independent living for 35 women with an average age of 86. The non-profit community relies on grants, private donations and an endowment, and offers subsidized rent based on income to its tenants. Over the years, Ashland Terrace has received grants from various foundations that have assisted with the purchase of windows, building equipment, and a car to transport the women to their many activities.

“The ladies call us a senior sorority,” said Kelly R. Weber, the executive director of Ashland Terrace. “We offer a lot of activities.”

Residents stay busy with the option of exercise four times a week, daily devotion, local and out-of-town outings, weekly movie screenings, music nights and a daily happy hour. In general, the residents have what they need at their fingertips, including an on-site beauty parlor. The garden provides an additional form of community involvement, as residents are encouraged to work in the garden or simply enjoy it.

Gardening has been a rich part of Ashland Terrace’s history. Newspaper articles about the gardens date as far back as the early 1950s, but the current concept was developed at the recent turn of the century. Former director Ric McGee envisioned a public cutting garden, and when the building was renovated in 1999–2000, she included those plans. Today, the garden is named after Ric and she continues to serve as the head gardener.

Residents have exclusive access to the roses and vegetables, but the garden provides ample cutting options for guests. Scissors, water bottles, and the donation box are located near the entrance. The price for large blooms is fifty cents, while small blooms and herbs each cost a quarter.

The money earned from cuttings go toward maintaining the garden, but do not cover the cost of running it, which is roughly $2,000 a year, sometimes more, based on necessary repairs. Instead, Ashland Terrace works to raise the money to pay for the garden, as well as other unexpected building maintenance needs, during two annual fundraising events: A holiday appeal letter and a Mother’s Day raffle. One year, the group raffled off a Chevy Chase “escape package,” with thirty-some businesses donating an item or gift certificate to the basket.

“We had so many items that we split it into three packages, so that was great,” Weber said. Information about upcoming fundraisers and what’s blooming in the garden can be found on the Ashland Terrace website (www.ashlandterrace.org) and Facebook page (search for “Ashland Terrace Retirement Home”).

Weber is incredibly grateful for the generous assistance offered by the community to help maintain the garden, as well as what it has brought to Ashland Terrace. “The garden is such a wonderful place in the middle of the city, kind of an oasis,” she said. “Anyone can come at any time. It’s especially beautiful for our residents, because they feel part of our community.”

Author Cynthia Ellingsen caught up with three local Ashland Terrace residents who are particularly active in keeping up with the garden on a weekly basis – read on to get to know them!

Marilyn Murphey, Fish feeder

Marilyn Murphey serves as the Ashland Terrace Garden fish feeder, watching over two small ponds of goldfish and a large pond housing eight Koi fish who are well over 20 years old. Marilyn has had a fascination with fish ever since she was little, because her mother was a schoolteacher and had an aquarium in her classroom. When the opportunity to care for the fish at Ashland Terrace became available, she was quick to volunteer, and enjoys every minute of the experience.

“You just don’t expect fish to have a personality, and they do,” she said. “I go out to the pond and when I get near to them, I call, ‘Kids, kids, kids, where are all my kids?’ And they come rushing up, waiting for their food.”

The fish only respond to her voice, as Murphey has experimented using different voices to fool them. During the winter, the fish hibernate. Murphy misses them and looks forward to their reemergence in the spring. She does not have names for the fish, with the exception of one: a Koi fish with a little knot on his head, aptly named “knot head.”

“I taught school [sixth grade] and I always said, in every classroom there’s at least one knot head,” she said. “He’s my knot head.” With a smile, she admits he might be her favorite.

Jean Owens, “Herb lady”

Jean Owens is originally from Louisiana, where she owned an Herb Farm and Tea Room with her mother.

“When I started learning about herbs back in the fifties, I had to go to the library and look it up in the encyclopedia,” she said. “There was just not much written about herbs... I realized it was a dying art.”

Owens appeared several times on Chef John Folse’s television show, shot at a studio in Baton Rouge, and became known in central Louisiana as “the Herb Lady.” Today, she plants and tends to the herbs at Ashland Terrace.

“I’m blind, so this is a great job for me – I don’t have to see but I can smell,” said Owens, who primarily works with culinary based herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, chives, and oregano.

When asked if she coaches the cooks in Ashland Terrace’s kitchen, Owens laughed. “You don’t coach a chef,” she said. “I learned that a long time ago.”

“If you catch me in the garden, I will tell you everything I know about herbs,” she said.

Eileen Will, Rosarian

Eileen Will is the “resident rosarian” of Ashland Terrace. There are nearly 50 rose bushes and she manages them all, clipping them back for maximum growth and cleaning up lost blooms. The job is a big one, as the blooms are bountiful in the spring, especially under her watchful hand.

“The roses fall and I pick them up all the time and trim them in the proper place, which is at five leaves,” she said. “I go down to five leaves, clip and they’ll grow again.”

Will has lived in Lexington for nearly 40 years but is originally from northern Illinois, where she spent 30 years working as a teacher, pianist, and organist. Will learned how to tend roses with her mother when she was just “a wee one”; today, she volunteers her expertise at both Ric’s Garden and the garden at her church. She enjoys the community she has discovered at Ashland Terrace.

“I love the area,” she said. “It’s a good place to live and I walk a lot.” She’s quick to share her knowledge about roses with those who pass through the garden, as well as eager to learn from those passing through. “We each try and learn a little bit more.” cc

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