DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703080087

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST 

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

SHADE GARDEN A LIVING TRIBUTE TO NURSERYMAN

ELAINE GORDON had one of those back yards where grass just wouldn't grow. The water oaks wouldn't let it.

Finally she gave up the battle, dug out the grass and planted ajuga, eventually creating an impressive shade garden in her 30-by-40-foot yard in Norfolk's Colonial Place.

``Today I call it my M.A. Matson Memorial Garden, because Pat Matson was my inspiration for its creation,'' Gordon said.

The late Pat Matson was well-known and admired by hundreds of local gardeners for the many unusual plants he grew and loved. Matson ran a nursery on Old Ocean View Road in Norfolk until he died in the early '90s.

``Every time I would visit him for shade perennials, I'd say, `Oh dear, I don't have room for that,' '' Gordon recalled. ``But four winters ago, we ripped up the grass and put in tiny walkways with a few rocks dragged down from Rhode Island. Then we added a bench.

``Sadly, when I went back to Mr. Matson to get more of his wonderful shade plants, there was no sign saying, `Come in. I'm in the back.' He had passed away.''

Gordon said she had to make do with what she already had from his nursery, but that was no small number of plants. Ligularia, variegated Soloman's Seal, wild blue phlox, Japanese toad lily and Seiboldiana and Francee Williams hosta are among the many plants that fill her small shade garden and provide a restful look.

When Gordon moved into her home a decade ago, there was a pond filled with dirt and azaleas. ``I dug it out, and the pond now has fish in it,'' she said. The pond is surrounded by masses of maidenhair fern.

``My marsh marigold was a freebie from Mr. Matson,'' Gordon said. `` `You'll hate me in the morning,' he said, because he considered marsh marigold a weed. But I love it.'' Marsh marigold is a native ground cover that people either love or hate. Its buttercup-like blooms come very early in the spring, but it spreads so much that some gardeners don't like it.

Ajuga is used as the primary ground cover. ``Although it can be invasive, I pull it out whenever I want to plant something else,'' Gordon said. ``When the ajuga is in bloom, the garden is a blanket of blue.''

As she has pulled out patches of ajuga, she has replaced it with such shade plants as hostas, liriope, forget-me-not, sweet woodruff, azaleas, ferns, Bletilia (native wild) orchid, lilies, old bleeding heart and primroses from England.

``I'm an organic person and admire wild or native woodland flowers, so I added mayapple, blood root, bluebells and trout lilies, but they're slow to start,'' she said.

Gordon has too much shade for roses, but she still tries to grow them. Camellias and azaleas do better for her.

Her peaceful, quiet shade garden is a living tribute to Pat Matson, who is remembered by so many for his faithfulness to plants. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ROBERT STIFFLER

Elaine Gordon says the late Pat Matson was the inspiration for her

Norfolk garden's creation. KEYWORDS: WEEDER'S DIGEST

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