Cherry Ong is a frequent GPOD contributor, sharing both her own beautiful garden and those she visits on her travels. But she also helps out in her friend Sylvia’s garden in Richmond, British Columbia. Here’s a previous post about helping in Sylvia’s garden: Cherry Helps a Friend Plant a Fabulous Garden.

Today we’re looking at some shots Cherry took while visiting Sylvia in early October.

All the foliage looks good in this bed. The Rodgersia ‘Chocolate Wings’ (Zones 5–7) and Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata, Zones 5–8) originally were growing in pots in Cherry’s garden but were moved here as they got bigger. They look great and are thriving in their new homes.

A beautiful terra-cotta urn—also a loaner from Cherry’s garden—makes a great accent to a carpet of diverse foliage.

You can see why the Japanese umbrella pine had to move from a pot to this garden! Growing special trees and shrubs in pots for a few years and then moving them into the ground can be a great way to highlight them when small and allow let them to reach their full potential when they outgrow their pots.

Fall foliage isn’t always about bright colors, but there is still a lot of beauty if you stop to look at it.

Cornus sanguinea ‘Compressa’ (Zones 4–9) is a compact, upright-growing selection, with the most incredible thick-textured leaves.

I love the interaction between this Acaena inermis ‘Purpurea’ ground cover and the bright variegated Acorus garmineus (Zones 5–9). They work perfectly together and leave no room for weeds to grow.

The use of a lot of shrubs and evergreen perennials as well as annuals ensures this planting just keeps looking good.

A red-hot poker (Kniphofia, Zones 6–9) is still putting out cheery yellow flower spikes.

Here’s another planter that still looks great. I love the way the color of the pot matches the rich foliage of the purple grass.

This last photo was taken during the summer. The container was my birthday gift to Sylvia, and I just wanted to show everyone what a terrific job she did to nurture it. The petunia is Petunia ‘Black Velvet’ (Zones 10–11 or as an annual), and the Tradescantia is ‘Pistachio White’ (Zones 10–11 or as an annual). They’re combined with dark sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas, Zones 10–11 or as an annual), which looks incredible against silvery dusty miller (Jacobaea maritima, Zones 7–10 or as an annual) and long trailing silver dichondra (Dichondra argentea, Zones 8–10 or as an annual).

Have a garden you’d like to share?

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