The Dalles Beautification & Tree Committee Announces Beautification Award Winner Aug. 2025

Aug 6

Written By Columbia Community Connection

The Dalles, Ore., Aug. 6, 2025 — The Beautification & Tree Committee proudly honors Lynn & Marlene Long with the August Beautification Award for their outstanding garden at 2401 Mt. Hood Street.

According to the Long’s, when they first moved into their home in the summer of 1988, their garden was much like any other in The Dalles. Juniper bushes lined the front of the house, and roses defined the front border while the lawn made up the bulk of the remaining landscape.

Over the years, the junipers and various patches of lawn were removed, and new gardens were established and grew up in their wake. An English border garden with phlox, native goatsbeard, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, and other plants that bloom sequentially throughout the season was planted in place of the junipers.

Hostas, ferns, and astilbes became favorites in shade gardens planted under established conifers. After a visit to Scotland, Marlene decided to plant heather in the front corner of the yard. Although the climate in The Dalles is a far cry from the cool, rainy seasons of their native land, the heather plants have established well and provide color with their bloom in late summer and through the winter months.

A small orchard borders 23rd street and consists of a fig bush that provided hundreds of figs in the first of two crops this year, a persimmon, a nectarine, and a multi-variety plum tree.

At the other side of the property, a 50-foot stream cascades down the hill to two waterfalls that plummet into a pond. The stream and pond are lined with azaleas, ornamental grasses, and hostas, while the pond is filled with water lilies and other aquatic plants.

Besides the orchard, the only sun garden is in the front of the house, near Mount Hood Street. This garden is comprised of drought-tolerant plants, such as lavender, coreopsis, and echinacea, and while there are always some plants that are blooming throughout the season, this garden is in its glory starting in mid-June when the purple lavender blooms next to the yellow coreopsis. In the fall, the purple lavender is followed by purple asters.

Both Lynn and Marlene enjoy working in the garden and experiencing the numerous transformations throughout the seasons.