Congratulations to Donald and Mary Martinage, whose gardens, aburst with late summer exuberance, have earned the Atkinson Garden Club’s (AGC) Garden of the Month award!
Previously residing in Peabody, MA, the Martinages’ have happily hung their hats in Atkinson for the past eleven years, with the gardens at their 27 Rock Ridge Road home reflecting both recent and mature plantings. With a view from the front walkway, the gardens bordering their neatly manicured home are a quintessential summer celebration of green and variegated hosta, a cool counterpoint to the warm and colorfully saturated beds of orange, red and white impatiens, nestled in with yellow daisies and purple and golden lilies. A lamppost providing light to the front entrance is virtually ensconced in the foliage and blooms of purple clematis, with nearby young trees under planted with hosta and bright summer annuals, as well.
Rhododendrons and various evergreens anchor this riot of color and lead the eye to the side and rear of the property, where, on a tropical, August day, visitors are greeted by the welcoming, refreshing breezes issuing from the pond situated a short climb down the embankment. Community gardeners are noted for their graciousness, and so several Garden Club members were invited to share Mrs. Martinage’s hospitality. The shaded, rear patio, with its white wicker table and chairs, is a perfect vantage point to view not only the pond, where Mr. Martinage makes use of his paddle boat on occasion, but also the wide swathes of evergreens, bushes, annuals and perennials that compliment the aquatic vista.
Lush blossoms of white to lilac and deep purple hydrangea bobble in the wind – their color being a function of soil Ph, as Mrs. Martinage shared. Amid the birdhouses and wind chimes, tall grasses wave at the parade of ducks that feel perfectly at ease waddling across the lawn. More purple, yellow and tangerine shaded lilies abound amidst the impatiens and hosta, with butterflies and dragonflies flitting about the orange gaillardia, coral bells, and salvia offset by white, Montauk daisies.
As is often found, this love for and the ability to create a charming and elegant garden palette is passed from one generation to another. In fact, the garden of Mr. and Mrs. Martinage’s daughter was recently featured in an area publication, as one of the community’s outstanding gardens!
If you have a garden that you would like to feature, or one of your Atkinson neighbor’s gardens is worthy of note, please contact AGC Garden of the Month Chairs Janet Snowdon 603-362-4779 or Sheri Turell 603-362-5683.
Photo: Mrs. Mary Martinage, 27 Rock Ridge Road, having just been presented with August’s Garden of the Month.
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