Specialty Gardening: Favorite Plants in the Cottage Garden, 0 by critterologist

critterologist wrote:
I've sown coleus from seed, and they did fine with at least an 8 week indoor start under the lights. However, the trailing coleus that I have came from a couple of pots that I bought several years ago. Coleus roots readily in water, so it's easy to overwinter a couple of plants (I tuck them around into other containers)... Pinch it so it will branch, especially if you want a lot of cuttings. I take cuttings maybe 4 weeks before planting out time... root them in a glass of water, then pop them into cell packs so they can get nice root balls. Pinch the tops of the cuttings to promote branching. Easy!

I think the smaller leaves on the trailing coleus make it easy to incorporate into a mixed planting or to use as a border.

Hmmm, we chatted about Penstemon, but we haven't mentioned other plants with lovely flower spikes.... How about:

Salvia (especially the perennial ones)

Lavender (somehow, I associate fragrance with cottage gardens, and this is one of my favorites)

Veronica (I wintersowed some V. longifolia from Gerris2, and it's still blooming!)

Here's Salvia 'Caradonna' and Geranium 'Biokovo' in the little bed with the Penstemon smallii and 'Eye of the Tiger' dutch iris (no longer blooming, but you can see the foliage in the photo). Oh, and you might be able to spot a Muscari plumosa at the front edge of the bed... I didn't think they looked like much when they first started blooming, but they got taller and fluffier over a period of several weeks. The big clump of leaves is Bergenia 'Winterglow', aka Pigsqueak, and the foliage is turning a deep red color now.