Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Julian, 3, helps his parents, Jonathan and Melissa Martinez, with their flowers and other plants. Their yard, which features a pond and waterfall, was honored by the McMinnville Garden Club this month.
Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Julian, 3, helps his parents, Jonathan and Melissa Martinez, with their flowers and other plants. Their yard, which features a pond and waterfall, was honored by the McMinnville Garden Club this month.
Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Marigolds add color at the base of some of Jonathan Martinez’s rose bushes. He started out with roses that had numerous small blooms, then replaced them with bushes that bear larger, showier blossoms.
Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Marigolds add color at the base of some of Jonathan Martinez’s rose bushes. He started out with roses that had numerous small blooms, then replaced them with bushes that bear larger, showier blossoms.
Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Colorful koi swirl in the pond. Martinez built the pond himself, learning as he went.
Rusty Rae/News-Register ## Colorful koi swirl in the pond. Martinez built the pond himself, learning as he went.
By Starla Pointer • Staff Writer • 

Yard of the Month: A garden crafted with care

Bees, fish and flowers thrive in Martinez family’s lush yard

Bees love visiting the yard of Jonathan and Melissa Martinez, 480 S.W. Russ Court, McMinnville.

They can buzz through the roses, marigolds, daisies and other flowers, gathering nectar, or soar up to the blossoms on the dogwood and tulip tree. In hot weather, they can count on a cool drink from the koi pond.

The couple and their son, Julian, who’ll be 4 in October, like to sit on their patio and watch the bees and the fish. And listen to them, along with the musical sounds of a waterfall.

“I’ve always liked the sound of the river and the ocean. It’s so relaxing,” Jonathan said.

His love of the sound of flowing water led him to build the pond himself soon after he moved into the house more than five years ago.

He was 20 and had no experience creating ponds, he said, but he worked diligently, digging the hole and putting in the liner, placing rocks to make the waterfall and, finally, adding two heron sculptures and foliage around the edges.

It’s now Jonathan’s favorite part of his yard.

The water is home to about 15 small koi and two bigger black ones, a gift from a neighbor whom Jonathan helped with her pond.

“They’re fun to watch,” he said. “When we get close, they swim over. They know it’s lunchtime.”

The pond, the flowers and the flowering trees all contributed to the Martinez residence being named Yard of the Month for August by the McMinnville Garden Club. 

The club chooses one especially beautiful site each month, May through September, for the honor. A sign in the couple’s yard informs passersby they’re looking at the Yard of the Month.

Sharing the honor with Jonathan are his little boy and his wife. Melissa works for B.C.T. Dental Equipment Company, and helps in the garden. Jonathan does most of the gardening when he comes home from his job with Memo yard maintenance company.

He joined the company right after graduating from high school. He spends his days mowing, fertilizing, getting rid of weeds and pruning for customers, mostly in McMinnville with a few in Dayton, Dundee, Newberg, Amity and Carlton.

“We make people’s lawns look good,” he said.

This summer has been challenging for yard maintenance workers, he said, because of the heat and lack of water. Yards in Dayton and Dundee, which have water restrictions, have suffered.

The Martinezes' home garden, in contrast, has weathered the heat well, Jonathan said.

In addition to building his pond, Jonathan put in the concrete patio and porch.

He planted roses, choosing varieties with multiple smaller flowers. Unsatisfied, he took them out and replaced them with bushes that produce fewer, but much bigger and showier, blooms in five different colors. The flowers smell nice, too, he said.

Along the street edge of the front yard, he planted plenty of petunias along with a variety of other annuals and perennials. More flourish around the side of the house.

The petunias have passed their prime now, he said, so he’s replacing them with marigolds. The orange and yellow blooms will last well into fall.

“Good for Halloween,” he said. 

His dogwood puts on a showy display in the spring. He planted it two or three years ago and is pleased by its “really big white flowers.”

He enjoys his tulip tree, as well. The tree, near the pond, is the first thing to bloom in his yard. Before leaves emerge, it’s covered in flowers, he said, and “looks really nice.”

Jonathan said he’s always liked flowers. He’s always enjoyed being outside, as well, making gardening an ideal hobby.

He started helping his family grow things after they moved to McMinnville from Mexico when he was 14. 

“It’s in my blood to work outside,” he said.

What he doesn’t like is the “same old, same old.” He’s constantly moving things in the garden, taking out plants and putting in others.

“It’s boring if it stays the same,” he said.

He called himself “a pretty picky guy,” too. “I like to do things my way,” he said, and he likes making things look just right.

Last year, he grew vegetables as well as flowers. This year, he decided not to plant a vegetable garden, but Mother Nature had other plans. 

“We have some volunteer melon plants, about 10. They just came up,” he said. “The vines messed with some of my marigolds.”

He’s not sure what the melons will look like when he cuts into them after they ripen. They have rough exteriors.

“Volunteer pumpkins would have been better,” he said.

Jonathan has plenty of help these days in his efforts to make changes in the garden. Julian, who may have inherited a love of working outside, enjoys digging and planting.

“Sometimes he pulls up the wrong plant,” his dad said. “That’s OK.”

Starla Pointer has been writing the weekly “Stopping By” column since 1996. She’s always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-687-1263 or spointer@newsregister.com.

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