•JUNE'S GARDEM-I
Bug's Ear, Big North, Big
South,
Little North,
Little
South, Grandmere, Lookout, Sou-
West, Nor-West, Ship, Captain,
Crew were the names of some of
the seventeen cottages Mrs. Hak
owned and called the whole com
plex "Arden Villa." Each one
was completely furnished, in
cluding bedding, pots and pans,
silverware, sets of blue/white
dishes in the pattern called
Blue Willow. She hired a family
to live there to manage and
rent each cottage to summer
visitors.
Some of the wood-framed
structures were shingled, some
painted siding, all had double-
hung or casement windows with
many small panes. A few had
rock
fireplaces,
most
were
decorated with window boxes. It
became a tradition to plant
nasturtium seeds in all the
window boxes and fill two large
wooden tubs in front of the
office with Martha Washington
geraniums. Summer and spring
blooming
bulbs,
shrubs
of
escallonia and hardy fuchsias,
vines of rambling roses and
honeysuckle
climbing
a
few
trellised walls completed the
landscaping.
Before the large, modern
motels were built, there were
also many other similar com
plexes of cottages for rent
throughout Cannon Beach and
Tolovana. The Waves, Rosie's
Cottages, Doll House Cottages
and
Schmitz
Ocean-Front
Cottages, to name just a few.
Each group had one thing in
common; each cottage was an
individual structure. None had
common walls as motels are now
built.
Gathered rocks from the
beach to build fireplaces ...
lumber scrounged from abandoned
buildings or lumber washed up
on the beach ... some of these
cabins were hand-crafted from
bits and pieces. They all had a
charm of their own, as also did
the gardens surrounding them.
Seeds and plants were brought
or
exchanged
from
other
gardens. Because these cabins
were tended to only during the
summer, just the most hardy of
plants survived.
Bulbs of daffodils, Scilla
(Blue Bells), galanthus (Snow
drops),
Calla lilies, Mont-
bretia,
hardy
fuchsias
and
roses still grow and bloom
around some of the original
cottages.
Beth Holland of
Holland's Flowers has taken
slips of some of the roses. If
you are a rose lover and have
had a difficult time growing
roses here on the coast, con
tact Holland's Flowers, P. 0.
Box 132, Cannon Beach, OR 97110
or call for an appointment, 1-
503-436-2574,
as the plants
grown from these hardy, ramb
ling roses are easier to grow.
Some of the original plants
have survived through 40 years
or more.
The style of those early
Cannon Beach cottages remains
in some parts of Cannon Beach
and Tolovana. Some newly built
homes also reflect this charm
with added window boxes, ar
bors, picket fences, plantings
of perennials and annual flow
ers.
Arden
Villa,
Rosie's
Cottages and Doll House Cot
tages were all sold for private
homes.
The cottages of The
Waves are no longer there; that
complex is now a modern motel.
Some of the original buildings
were sold and moved to other
properties. Schmitz Ocean Front
Cottages
have
remained
the
same. In the spring of 1987 the
coordinator
for
National
Register nomination, Elizabeth
Walton Potter, visited Cannon
Beach
to
review
potential
buildings for local landmark
designation and/ or listing in
the
National
Register
of
Historic Places. In her report
she stated the resort cottages
dating from the period 1910-
1930 could be appropriately
’ • assified as bungalows. All of
them have common origins in the
English Arts and Crafts style.
For further information on
this style, the characteristics
are illustrated in Architecture
Oregon
Style
(Portland?
Professional Book Center Inc.,
for the City of Albany, 1983).
Dahlias, Sandy Larson told
me, were her grandfather's fav
orite flowers to raise. In the
early 1940's when her grand
parents
bought
property
in
front of Hcystack Rock, her
grandfather
(Lee Dave
Fire-
bough, Sr.) built a glass fence
on the east side of their home
to raise dahlias and vegeta
bles. Laughingly, Sandy told
me, "He tried to raise the
largest vegetables, though at
times he left them on the vine
to grow so large they were too
old to be edible." Mr. Fire-
bough was awarded many ribbons
for his dahlias and vegetables
at the Garden Club Show.
Sandy also told me she
transplanted Calla lilies to
grow in her own home from her
mother's garden where Sandy was
raised, which is now the White
Bird
Gallery.
These
lilies
still grow around Sandy's home
in Cannon Beach.
The largest vegetables,
the most perfect flowers, a
flower arrangement, the bouquet
coming from one's own garden,
were brought by the many gar
deners throughout Cannon Beach,
Tolovana and Arch Cape to be
judged at the annual flower
show held by the Cannon Beach
Garden Club. In 1951 the Garden
Club's show moved from the
church to the new gym at the
grade school. In the 1950*s the
Ericson brothers built the gym.
During that time the Garden
Club planted flowering cherry
trees along the east side of
the school. These trees have
remained
growing
and
each
spring send out branches of
pink flowering blossoms.
By the late 1950's and
early 6 0 's, more people moved
here. Changes occurred. Scat
tered throughout Cannon Beach
some of the early cabins were
rebuilt for permanent resi
dences.
Some of the people
added greenhouses for year-
around gardening. Seaside and
Astoria
had
several
plant
nurseries that introduced other
types of trees,
shrubs and
annuals that would grow suc
cessfully in coastal weather.
People moving here from other
states
brought
plants
from
their former homes, such as
Pacific
Wax
Myrtle
(Myrica
californica) and Red Hot Poker
(Kniphofia uvaria).
I have always wondered who
planted
the
first
corm
of
Montbretia and rhizome of Calla
lilies. Crocosmia (Montbretia),
Zantedeschia (Calla) are both
native to South Africa. Joth o*
these plants have multiplied
and grow so profusely here that
they're
almost
considered
native, which they are not.
Neither
plant
needs
much
attention other than cutting
back the spent foliage each
year. Be aware, however, both
soon multiply,
crowding out
other plants.
Florence Haydon, who died
this November at 89 years old,
was known for her beautiful
flower garden that surrounded
her home in Haystack Heights,
and her many years of con
tributing flower arrangements
for the Presbyterian Church. In
October I talked to her about
her garden. She said she had
loved gardening all her life
and did continue to garden past
her 80th birthday.
Florence
gave me seeds from her violas
twenty years ago and they have
continued to re-seed all these
years.
When Florence's long
time friend Donna Wallace and
I
her husband first built a new
home
in
Haystack
Heights,
Florence gave them slips of
fuchsia, also cotoneaster. Now,
years later, these plants still
thrive in their garden.
•
•
•
•
’H o m e o ! I h e W ild O y s ttu *
on W illapa Bay
Nn tun tia. Washington MR(>17
•
fo t R o m i valions oi liiformalion
( M»0, 665-454.1 - T.ix (.1601 <*65-6667
A few names from the past.
Leigh
and
Audrey
Spenser.
Audrey was very active in the
Garden Club and for many years
was president of that club.
Leigh
became
known
as
a
dependable caretaker of summer
cabins and was also a knowl
edgeable gardener. Mae McCoy's
Matilija
Poppy,
Latin
name
Romneya coulteri. A bouquet of
these
tall,
sweet
smelling
flowers will last a week if cut
in bud.
Shelby McGinnis, who
lived in one of the railroad
cars close to where the Tolo
vana Wayside is now, was known
for
raising
vegetables
and
nasturtiums, also kept a couple
of raccoons as pets. Elsie and
Percy Harris. Mrs. Harris was
president of the Garden Club
through the 1940's. Mr. Harris
was one of the men who helped
build the Tolovana Clubhouse
during the 1960's. Henry Tell
er's name was also mentioned as
helping to create the garden
around
the
Clubhouse.
Next
month more about the Tolovana
Clubhouse and their beautiful
garden.
to boulevard,
a natural choice for
women's clothing.
Please write to June's
Garden, P. O. Box 74, Cannon
Beach, OR
97110, if you have
any garden memories of past
years in Cannon Beach to share
with readers of this column.
l (iffi/U'tt i/ftw/i
Portland (5 03)239-4605
Cannon Beach (503)436-1572
1 1 0 ,0 0 0 c o p ie s
•
1 2 th E d itio n .
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Men have become the tools o f their tools.
Thoreau
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