Garden Photo of the Day

Cherry’s August Garden

A friend of the blog shares her late summer garden and enchanting succulent displays

By GPOD Contributor
succulent planter with blue-grey plants

Happy Friday GPODers!

We’re ending the week with an update from frequent GPOD contributor, Cherry Ong. Cherry sends us so many fabulous photos of her travels to gardens across Canada and the Pacific Northwest (GPOD on the Road: Old Montreal, Bellevue Botanical Garden, Hatley Castle, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Tofino Botanical Gardens to name a few). But she does occasionally share photos from her own beautiful garden in Richmond, British Columbia (October in Cherry’s Garden, Late Winter and Early Spring in Cherry’s Garden, Wreath Making with Cherry). Today we get to see how her space has evolved over the past year (Cherry’s Summer That Was) and what it looked like as it closed out summer.

Hope you’re having a wonderful week! Thought I would share some photos of my own garden. This set reflects August. I hope you and your readers enjoy them.

Wishing you all a happy Halloween!

Cherry Ong
Perennially Crazy
Richmond, BC Canada

back yard garden in AugustMy little perennial backyard garden. All DIY in 2008. Hard to believe this was all grass back then. The east portion of the walkway was removed 2 years ago to make way for a small greenhouse.

summer container with yellow petunia and Albus abutilon
Love abutilons and I’m always up to try a new one. This white one is smaller than the others I’ve tried and is called ‘Albus’ abutilon (Abutilon x Hybridum ‘Albus’, Zones 8–11).

Albus abutilon close upA closeup of the blooms of ‘Albus’ abutilon.

backyard garden at dusk
Another view of the backyard from the gate. Many original plantings from 2008 remain.

glass greenhouse with potted plants in front
Our little glass greenhouse on the east side of the garden. It measures 6 feet x 8 feet with single pane glass on aluminum frame (Halls Supreme). We picked up this beauty from Russell Nursery in Vancouver Island after being on the waitlist for 2 years.

succulent planter with blue-grey plants
I have much fun planting succulent hanging planters every spring.

colorful succulent hanging planter
They’re taken apart at the end of the season and I save as many plants as I can.

Acer Palmatum Beniotake and Acer Palmatum Ukigumo
There are three Japanese maples in our backyard – the two here are ‘Beni Otake’ and ‘Ukigumo’ (Acer Palmatum ‘Beni Otake’ and ‘Ukigumo’, Zones 5–9). ‘Ukigumo’ is the one to the right and behind the vintage birdhouse.

summer container at end of season hiding bare spot in the garden
Don’t you love old containers that are falling apart! I use them to fill the gaps of perennials that have gone into early dormancy.

Thank you so much for this beautiful update on your garden, Cherry! Your incredible succulent combinations never cease to amaze and inspire me.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! As the year, and many of our gardens, begins to wind down, it’s a great time to reflect on the growing season and go over photos we’ve taken through the seasons. If you’re looking back on summer, consider sharing your photos with GPOD! Follow the directions below to submit, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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Comments

  1. User avater
    musabasjoosue 11/01/2024

    Thanks for a another glimpse of your garden, Cherry. I'm in awe of your creativity!

    1. perenniallycrazy 11/01/2024

      Thank you for your kind words. Hope you had as much fun in the garden this year as well.

  2. gardendevas 11/01/2024

    Thanks for sharing, Cherry - gloriously lush and beautiful!
    Might you have any tips for overwintering succulents? They have struggled when coming inside for the winter. I’ve added extra grow lights this year, and am hoping that helps…

    1. perenniallycrazy 11/04/2024

      Thank you for your kind words.

      For overwintering succulents, here's what I've been doing over the years
      1. Succulent migration end of October (it may be earlier or later depending on where you live). Mine are usually placed in the greenhouse.
      2. I spray and water with End all prior to or right at the time of migration for some bug control.
      3. I hardly water them during winter. Some varieties like jungle cactus and aeoniums will require more moisture so check the plants regularly. If you tend to overwater like me, perhaps pot them up with more pumice or perlite. You can always use your finger or a meter to check.
      4. My greenhouse temp is set to a minimum of 13C and if there is an arctic outflow in the forecast, we set another heater in the greenhouse and start it a day before the subzero temps hit. We found that this prevents the temps from dropping below zero.
      5. You can put a fan in the vicinity of your plants to promote air circulation.

      Apart from these, I can't think of anything else at the moment.

      Wishing you lots of luck in overwintering your succulents.

  3. User avater
    cynthia2020 11/01/2024

    Cherry - I enjoyed looking at all the photos and reading the text. You are such a talented gardener. Thank you for sharing!

    1. perenniallycrazy 11/04/2024

      Thank you for your kind words.

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