Happy Friday GPODers!
It has been a minute since we’ve heard from frequent GPOD contributor Cherry Ong. Last time we checked in with her was shortly after she gave us an incredible tour of Nancy Heckler’s inspiring garden in Indianola, Washington (If you missed that series, be sure to check it out here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4). She followed that series with a look at the always-immaculate wreaths and holiday swags she makes for her garden and to give as gifts (Cherry’s Fresh Winter Wreaths and Swags).
Today she’s back with a little twist. Rather than showcasing another stunning garden she has traveled to or giving us a look at what’s happening in her beautiful garden in Richmond, British Columbia right now, she’s telling us the full story of the evolution her small garden went through when they added a greenhouse to the space. This is obviously no small endeavor, and Cherry has graciously provided us with lots of details and step-by-step photos that will be released in a series over the coming weeks. This post will cover the planning and decision making process, as well as discusses that garden transformation that occurred long before the greenhouse was even an idea.
Deep down most of us avid gardeners wish and dream for a greenhouse. I have swooned over the many stunning greenhouses of the gardening celebrities – I love pretty but budget and space are major considerations for me. Today, over several posts, I’ll sharing our experience of adding a small prefabricated greenhouse to our backyard.
Planning, Considerations and Decisions
We researched and shopped lots prior to taking the plunge. Personally, aside from Russell Nursery’s (@russellnursery) website: hallsgreenhousesbc.com, I found the BC Greenhouse Builders (@bc_greenhouses) website an excellent online resource: bcgreenhouses.com. Moreover, they make some of the most beautiful and durable greenhouses that I have seen locally!
Plans and decisions were made. Given our backyard is a small 500 square feet/45 square meters, the site I chose was the east bed of our backyard since it receives 6 hours or more of sunlight, was easy to access without sitting in the middle of the backyard, and added an interesting feature that could be viewed from inside our home. The garden bed section measures 16 feet/4.9 meters long and 6.3 feet/1.9 meters wide.
Blank Space to Perennial Garden
It looked like this is 2008 before we planted the perennial garden.
In 2008 we DIY planted with design help from Phoenix Perennials. The photo shows the year old perennial garden in July 2009.
Celebrating the fragrant soft lavender blooms of the dwarf Korean lilacs (Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’, Zones 3–7) which perfumed the air for 3 weeks every May.
I remember even the neighbours commented how wonderful their scent was.
Hubby objected to this site for the greenhouse as it would mean we would lose them.
The matured perennial garden in August 2020.
Our garden is in the coastal western Canada, Zone 8a with an average snowfall of 4.4 inches/11.3 centimeters per year. Wind is stronger from October to April with average speeds of more than 5.03 miles/8.1 kilometers per hour. Winters are generally wet and long, average rainfall received is 31.89 inches/810 millimeters of rain per year.
More to come!
Thank you so much for sharing these incredible insights, Cherry! A lot of garden enhancements requiring sacrificing plantings or structures that no longer work, and I can only imagine how hard it was to say goodbye to those incredible lilacs. But I know the end result was worth it!
Have a great weekend everyone, and remember to tune into GPOD next week to see Part 2 in this series!
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