Thanks for all the pics. Except for the dogwood and lilac, my garden is in the bud stage. Dame's rocket starting to open. Fortunately, only half inch of rain from the past 3 days, but still more on the way. Guess I'll go out and feed the skeeters.
Herman
Need alist of cottage garden plants
Pfeather, I am in love.
I've had this house for four years now, and every year I am amazed at how many plants I have. Each year, I have added a new bed. I start all my annuals from seed, and usually start a couple of hundred.
I realized this year that my perennials have multipled so much that I hardly have room for the annuals.
Penne, my last house, by the time I had been there the end of the 2nd year I had every blade of grass GONE and nothing but flowers and paths. I'd rather weed than mow anyday!!
pfeather,
Your gardens are beautiful. I want to come just to see them...of course I wouldn't mind bringing home some goodies. I may have some plants to trade as well. I have some rooted mophead hydrangea cuttings. What are the tall purple flowers?
Crystal,
That picture has purple liatris and coneflowers in front and a salvia in the back. This picture is the same border, but it gives you a better idea of the size of the salvia. I moved it last fall, and it didn't make it through the winter. Of course, every year is a new adventure as I try to increase what I like and decrease those items that didn't work.
This year, I made some pretty big changes because I found that I had too may plants last year. I removed a lot of coneflowers, but still have plenty. I also ripped out half of the bee balm because it had spread so much, but I must still have at least 50 plants, and even more coneflowers. I have tried to remove more of the seedlings because the garden quickly get crowded.
Most of my flowers are in my front borders and beds because I get full sunlight. My backyard gets the shortshift. I am trying to add more flowers in the back this year.
Send me a d-mail if you are ever interested.
My little start of Bee Balm was one the starts that successfully made the move to Othello
This picture is old. I've changed my garden much during these last years, but have never thought it looked as nice as the year the pic was taken.
I like the cottage look, but love to have my garden edged in white alyssum ... gives it a look of order. The year this picture was taken, I did a double border ... white alyssum, they dark purple petunia and dusty miller.
Here is the spring picture.
Here is the fall picture ... lots of other plants bloomed in the summer which you don't see here.
What a difference, toofew! I love the alyssum too - just really looks so pretty edging the entire bed - really nice.
The garden got a lot more cottagy the next year ... a lot more chaotic. lol
The secret to not having things look too chaotic is supposed to be repeating the flowers. Ringing your garden with the same flower does the trick as well. I'm really trying to repeat some of my flowers, but there are some plants that aren't repeated.
I am adding bursts of white flowers this year to try to tie things together. They are all type of white flowers - coneflowers, daisies, cleome, zinnias, petunias, marigolds, and lantana. We'll see how this ends up.
Wow! I am impressed by all. I will write you pfeather.
pennefeather, I would love to see pictures of your garden with the 'whites' tieing it all together. Made sure you post later!!!!
Speaking of whites, pennefeather, what are those gorgeous spiky white flowers in your gardens?
MGcrystal,
I could list about a hundred different plants that I love in a cottage garden. But one that always stands out for me is foxglove. I think that it can make any garden look cottagy. I'm not sure why, maybe because it's an English native, but I think it can give any garden a cottagy feel.
Lady's mantle and hardy geraniums are also a must for me to get that cottage garden look. Throw some roses in there, and fill in with what ever grows well in your area and I think you've got an instant "cottage garden".
If you can grow them, delphiniums also feel very cottage garden to me.
But, grow what works for you. The best thing about cottage gardens is that every single one is beautiful and unique in its own special way.
Everyones pics are just beautiful and so wonderful to look over.
thanks everyone for sharing your incredible gardens.
Jan
Here's a picture that I took this morning of the entire garden that I call my "cottage garden". I have lots of cottag-y plants in here, but try to use some simple design principles to try to make it look just a little bit organized. One of the things I try to do is to repeat colors. So as an example, starting with the silvery blue tree on the left, I echoed that color in the artemisia in the front of the middle of the garden, and then again with the brunnera "jack frost" on the far right. The blue/purple of the catmint on the far left is echoed with peach leaf bellflowers in the middle, and then the johnson's blue geraniums on the right. This year I added some chartreuse short sedums to echo the chartreuse of the lady's mantle. I also try to have some spaces where the eye can "rest". Because the center roses are so vividly bright, I try to have the other colors of the garden be more muted and soft so that your eye isn't bouncing all over the place. I placed the tall green sedums on either side of the roses to also give your eye a place to rest.
Now, the trick is to have stuff that will be blooming all season. So, there are also lots of things in there that aren't blooming yet, but will later in the summer. I have a lot of phlox in there. I like both the early blooming phlox like morris berd and miss linguard and the later blooming phlox like david. There are also daisies in there, hydrangeas, astilbe, daylillies, and other stuff that I can't remember right now that will also be blooming later ;)
And, of course there are also lots of plants in there that have already bloomed, and have finished - like alliums, columbine, dicentra, siberian irises.
I think that what I've learned about cottage gardens since I started building this one 4 years ago, is to be flexible - plants are pretty resilient, so if you don't like where something is, just move it. And lots of self seeders pop up where you originally didn't want them, and often look best where they decide they want to be. Try not to stress out too much about things - gardening is so much fun. Enjoy it!
Good luck with your cottage garden, and please post lots of pics for us!!!
For fun, I thought I'd add some closeups of different areas of this garden. This is the far left. There's a clematis and "New Dawn" rose on the trellis. Catmint "Walker's Low" is on the left. You can see some "morris berd" phlox blooming in there, some yellow "moonlight" yarrow, some johnson's blue geraniums, rose campion, and some white annual begonias. Also in this area is phlox "miss linguard", which will be blooming next, phlox "David" which will bloom later in the summer, and some daylillies.
Earlier, there was allium and lupine blooming here.
Here's the middle area today.
You can see some johnson's blue geraniums blooming on the left, a veronica, some pink penstemon. You can see blaze climbing rose on the trellis, then a red knockout rose, some morris berd phlox blooming to the front left of the rose, some scabiosa, artemesia "silver mound", some dianthus, and then some hens and chicks (that I keep pulling babies off of to try to fill in that whole front center section). To the right of the rose is peach leaved bellflowers, and I think you can see one siberian iris finishing up its blooming.
On the right you can see some yellow foxglove, johnson's blue geraniums, lady's mantle, and geranium "rozanne".
Blooming later in this section are phlox, sedums, daisies, white swamp milkweed, a hydrangea that you can't see.
Blooming earlier were columbines, alliums and dicentra.
This message was edited Jun 1, 2011 8:38 AM
and finally the far right. Here I have astilbe, hostas and brunnera "jack frost" with some white annual impatiens mingled in there.
and here's my "raised bed cottage garden" which is right outside my family window. Today it has some foxglove blooming, some salvia blooming, some roses blooming. Poppies, lupines and guem are finishing up. Next to bloom will be daisies and delphiniums, followed by phlox and monarda.
VERY nice!
pgt well done.
Jan
Pgt,
I think that was the liatris you were asking about. I have white and purple.
Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to get me some of that liatris!
Wow, so gorgeous.
pennefeather, my liatris died out after a couple of years. How long has yours lasted?
Died? I thought it was industructible!
And if you don't dead head them soon enough their offspring will live longer.. I did have a Wooly Liatris that died intestate, though.
Herman
I've had mine about five years. They spread and form large colonies. None of them seem to die out. Maybe yours were attacked by some bugs.
Beautiful gardens girls..am working on a mix of english/country garden...now that I'm close to being there wondering if it was such a good idea as I'm seeing my neighbors with their manucured gardens ..hmmm
Oh Betty.... you KNOW you'd be bored to death with "manicured gardens!" They have their own beauty but....
LOL how well you know me...you know my theory, plant it, if it survives it stays, if not..oh well..
Just bought another astilbe at lunch, the most beautiful of colors..have about 25 of them but none red/maroon and I sure need more reds in the gardens...
Of course you NEEDED more reds in the garden Dear! I recommend at least 3 more plants!
Things beginning to bloom, tho many are late this year as we had a late snow after our avg. last frost and a very dry winter. A bunch of my plants are blooming a month late, daisies are just beginning to bloom, (should have started in early June. Scabiosa, perenn. geraniums, dianthus, pennstemons, babies breath, a few clems, a few lilies(d--r have been munching again, waited 2 years for them, had blooms beginning to open and next morning all gone along with fat buds, can I ship anyone some four legged critters?) Veronicas are in full bloom, salvias need cutting back for rebloom and coreopsis giving some nice color. Pix is centranthus ruber, geranium (perenn.) rozanne and hops vine ( is used in making beer). Hope you were able to get your garden going this year MGCrystal, I will be digging out some babies and potting up for trades, in fact if intrested in sending postage could ship your direction, send me a d-mail if wanted. Later all, happy gardening. Kathy.
This year I am happy with my Gomphrena fireworks and the strawberry Gomphrena. I have them in pots, this way I was able to pur them in the back. I did not know they will be so tall about 36". Thay are kind of wild, but I like it wild.
