Winter at the Fern Fairway

Cherry Ong has been sharing with us the little side-yard garden in her Richmond, British Columbia, garden. She calls the space the Fern Fairway, and she’s shown us how it looks during the warmer months of the year (The Fern Fairway in Summer). Today she’s sharing how it looks in winter.

Last month I wanted to spend some time gardening, so the side yard was tidied up and some winter cheer added.

For the first trough, I set aside all deciduous ferns for their well-earned winter rest and grouped together some evergreen ones, then tucked in metal fronds and stems from nearby Leucothoe plus a couple of stems of rose hips for color and the birds.

I loved how it turned out. It’ll help keep my spirits up in the winter.

For the other trough, I used foraged greenery and a few colored and textured elements for some color and height. I deconstructed and loosened an inexpensive grapevine wreath and hung it on the fence for added interest.

I moved fuchsias to a more sheltered location for the hummingbirds and put up pots with Gaultheria (Zones 3–8) and licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza, Zones 5–8) with sprigs of Skimmia (Zones 6–8) from the garden to fill the gaps.

The sprigs will last a long time in the cool winter weather and look like they are growing out of the pot.

The gardener’s wreath that hangs this season holds a special memory for me!

It’s always good to be out in the garden. Cheers!

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 [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,