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Email Story to a Friend June 1, 2006 Dianne Oceana holds a picture of what her Ashland mobile home looked like eight years ago, before she and her housemate made over the house and garden. The home's garden is part of a tour on Sunday. (Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli) Vegetables, flowers and south-of-the-border touches turn an Ashland mobile home's yard into ... A secret garden Companions discover that even a small space can be crafted into a backyard paradise By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune Can you make a paradise out of a humble trailer? And can you shape an Eden from the modest space where it's parked? Penny Fullmer and Dianne Oceana did. Starting eight years ago with a 30-year-old single-wide trailer parked in Ashland's Wingspread mobile-home park, the pair have remodeled and added on, installing wood floors and a claw-foot tub and creating enough room for offices, a shaded porch and a deck with a hot tub. But it's the yard that makes the home a bit of heaven — and won it a spot on Ashland's annual American Association of University Women garden tour set Sunday. The lot, sloping down to Clay Creek and backed up to view-rich farmland, is large enough for multiple zones of interest — a vegetable garden, beds of flowers, a fire pit ringed with lava rocks and lawn chairs, a bird sanctuary cut out of thick blackberry bushes, a flagstone patio, a potting corner, an elegant dining area on the lawn and a Mexican-tiled fountain featuring a statue of Mary. "It's our secret garden. People who come here for the first time say, 'Oh my God,' " says Fullmer, chief operating officer of Carol's Colors in Phoenix. "We've approached it feeling we were only limited by our vision." Advertisement Oceana, a spiritual healer, adds, "We love that the whole space has become a place for creativity, a sacred space where you can sit serenely — or where you can have boisterous parties." The two have evolved an efficient working relationship, with Oceana "having the eye and seeing things" and Fullmer doing the carpentry, electric, plumbing and, she joked, "being the grunt, supporting her in a complementary dance." From the front of the lot, it's hard to tell you're looking at a mobile home. It's bowered over by flowering dogwood, plum tree, Japanese maple, towering cedar and a bed of flowers flanked by a wooden fence and a shady porch "like I grew up with in Texas," says Oceana. Both come from humble domestic settings, are used to small spaces and, above all, wanted to create that much talked-about but little achieved reality in Ashland — affordable housing. They bought their house for $21,000, did remodeling and building on the cheap with recycled materials, did all the work themselves and pay only $370 a month for the space. The "secret garden" is the back and side yard, its privacy made possible by a long row of cypress trees on the north and ample shrubs on the other side — all tilting westward for a view of colorful sunsets behind Griffin Peak. Flower beds show dahlia, black-eyed Susan, sunflower, hollyhock, delphinium and eight kinds of roses. The blooms are cut daily for bouquets, says Oceana. The vegetable garden feeds owners with broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, beets, squash and artichokes. A fountain and pool are adorned with ferns, ribbon grass, bamboo, hostas, frog lily and Japanese iris. The tile-bordered herb garden grows oregano, summer savory, chives, tarragon and others, with the Mary statue, arms outstretched, in the center. Planted along fences and the house are weeping cherry, columbine and hellebore accented with a blue gazing ball, wrought-iron fence and outdoor buffet table with recycled bedposts for legs. The back fence is a whimsical pastiche of split logs and antique iron bedsteads woven with cardinal climbers, morning glory, wild sweet peas and nasturtiums. Vibrantly hued mosaic stepping stones and garden borders — an influence from vacations in Mexico — dot the landscape. Flagstones underlay several peaceful islands with inviting Adirondack chairs, while an overhead misting system helps guests linger with a glass of wine. As visitors complete the backyard circle and exit by the porch, greeted by dahlias and ivy climbing an alder tree, Oceana scarcely contains her glee: "We really love our space. We learned that you don't have to tear down walls and spend a lot of money. It shows that whatever you can envision, you can have, whether it's a Victorian, townhouse or this — and no matter how humble the beginnings." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. 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