Today, frequent GPOD contributor Cherry Ong is taking us along on a garden tour she was able to go on in June. The tour was part of a four-day plant-study weekend organized by the Vancouver Hardy Plant Group, and the tour visited some beautiful gardens near Vancouver, Canada.

Other than the hardscaping, all of the work was done by the owner, who spent countless hours creating this incredible garden.

A torrent of color explodes from this beautifully diverse foliage, but the bright gold foliage from Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’ (Zones 3–9) steals the scene.

A narrow path winds through lush, perfectly healthy plants.

The wonderful peeling bark of a paperbark maple (Acer griseum, Zones 4–8)

Areas of perfectly manicured grass provide contrast to the lush borders.

The little strip of ground between the sidewalk and street is often forgotten, but in this garden it is also planted up beautifully. What a great way to spread the joy of gardening!

Another view of the garden space between the sidewalk and street

The dark foliage of this incredible Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) looks all the more dramatic for the light-colored plants dotted around it.

No space is too small to make a garden! Narrow, shaded beds are perfect for ferns, hostas, and Astilbe.

Silvery Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’, Zones 3–8), with silver-spotted lungwort (Pulmonaria, Zones 3–8)

Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra, Zones 5–9) tumbles beautifully over the edge of a garden path.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

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To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] 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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