Do you have a cottage garden?

I have always liked the cottage garden look and have decided to dig up one of the beds between the house and the goats so that I can amend it and replant. I am wanting to give it the cottage look but have no idea where to start. I was thinking about trying some lupines and delphiniums along with a bunch of other things I can start from seed but not sure how they grow here. I have a lot of roses that I've rooted so some of them will go in there but I need some ideas for perennials. What do you grow and do you have pictures to share?

thanks a bunch

Venessa....you MUST speak with fly_girl. She will be very happy to hear from you.

Fly, you there?????

Hey Vanessa, I love the cottage garden look too!!!! I was thinking of starting a thread about it. The DG admin, Terry, told me if there was ALOT of interest a Forum could be started. We'll see, I'll probably start it under Classic or Garden Talk. Any ideas? I love to see others' gardens because they are so inspirational. It would be nice if this area had alot of pictures.

There are several of us in Texas that have cottage gardens, I tend to plant them here myself. I use a lot of natives, Iris, and DLs for the back bone with some roses and other prenns thrown in.

I love the cottage garden look. When I started planting I had no idea what to do. Started planting willy nilly and sure enough that looks great.I'm learning that the haphazard look is simple to do and eyecatching.

Just be very careful about what you plant here in TX - the heat zaps a lot of the Northern cottage garden plants.

konkreteblonde has a great picture of her butterfly garden that certainly looks like what I always hope for, for a cottage-y look. Hopefully she'll post it here (I can't remember which thread it was on.)

As Mitch said, lots of the "classic" perennials of an English cottage garden will absolutely fry here, but you can still accomplish the cottage look be simply using plants with similar growth habits/similar looks, that do well in TX, most notably TX natives. Some of those classic perennials can be grown here during the winter, as annuals. I've seen sweet peas, delphiniums, foxglove, hollyhocks, and poppies that were started in the fall for early Spring blooms. About the time they start to fade or fry, along come the TX natives and other adapted plants.

Mitch, what's a DL?

I think he means daylillies.

Thanks Maggiemoo:)

I'd be interested in a cottage garden forum.

I want to start one in my back yard. But not without all of ya'lls advice.

DL - sorry this is Daylily... I am over there so much in the Daylily Forum that I forget the rest of the world does not call them Hems or DLs.

I totally agree with Maggiemoo. If you use plants that do well here you can get a spectacular cottage look. But if you try just using plants that are adapted for northern Europe you may just find heartache.

Venessa, here's a link to some recent pics I took in my yard. It's just a hodge podge of things I like but some people have used the "cottage garden" term when looking at it. An "official" cottage garden probably has different things in it but I'm next door to you so you can see what does grow.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/618224/

Yeah!! That's the one! Thanks, kk!

Konkrete, stunning! This is what I'd like to accomplish in my back yard (next year).

I would really enjoy a cottage garden forum. After losing my grass to either drought or grubs last year, I decided to replace the area with a "cottage garden". I love natives so want it to be a "Texas Cottage Garden". Because I love roses too and natives and roses don't share some of the same needs, I have incorporated most of my roses in large pots. I've surrounded those pots with natives. This is just a beginning and I've got a long way to go, but it sure has been fun working on it.

It's such a help to see pictures and hear of all the great ideas.

Ohsus, I love that....the white fence is so cottagey! Very nice!

Yes, I love that fence. It gives it extra charm.

Just googled cottage garden texas and the most promising site looked like the following:

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/southerngarden/Cottage.html

There are a few british gardeners in Fortworth with English style gardens. I've been to their web sites before, will try to find their sites and post back

This is from the San Antonio botanical garden web site.

Plants for San Antonio Cottage Gardens
Trees – ornamental trees such as Redbud, Mountain Laurel, Mexican Plum, Desert Willow, Wild Olive

Shrubs – Wax myrtle, Bay Laurel, Sweet Olive, Loquat, Antique Roses, Plumbego, Fig, Flowering Almond, Pomegranate

Spire and Tall Perennials – Sunflowers, *Larkspur, *Poppies, Indigo Spires Salvia, Bee Balm, Cleome, Iris, *Cosmos, Phlox

Mounding Perennials – Dianthus, Lavender, Daisies, Pink Skull Cap, Texas Zinnia, *Columbine, Jerusalem Sage, Shrimp Plant




Creeping and Filler Plants – French Thyme, *Johnny Jump- Ups, Lamb’s Ear, Wild Strawberry, Herbs of all kinds

Vining and Weaving Plants – Old Fashion Roses, Star Jasmine, Hyacinth Bean, Wisteria, Queens Wreath, Sky vine, *Morning Glories, Trumpet Vine, Pole Beans, Sponge Gourd

Found the website I was thinking of: maggiesgarden.com. Good site for English style cottage garden plants that grow well in Texas.

I'd vote for a cottage garden forum! It's what I eventually hope to accomplish, especially in the back yard. I've begun beginning to start one in the front (just moved in a month ago) and now I'm totally inspired by konkreteblond and ohsusanna's pictures. I'm trying to just do the prep work and wait to get in and plant when it's better for the plants, but it's too tempting to just plant the living daylights out of it right this minute. Is it safe to plant daylilies now, or should I wait? Or should we start an instant gratification forum?

I'd 'watch' a cottage garden forum.

The Fort Worth Site is here:
http://www.maggiesgarden.com/index.html

Debbie

Hi everyone, just wanted to jump in a minute and say thanks for all the help. I've been on the run all day so will come back and check out the links and reread the thread to make sure I didn't miss anything :O) Got to get in there and start supper and clean up a little before I can relax.

Venessa

I started the 'Cottage Garden' thread, it's under Garden Talk, so please visit ALOT!.

Collin...that's a great list to get started with!


Maggies Garden is gorgeous, thanks for the link dmj!

can you post the link over here for those of us who have trouble finding threads?

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/620984/

Great job Fly!

I don't have a clue how to do that,sorry,

Thanks K, maybe you could tell me how to do that :) I would be grateful!

Hey Fly, very easy. Go to the thread and copy the address from your browser at the top of your window and then paste into whatever you're typing. You did an awesome job and I love your beds. Very pretty!

When posting a link, you just have to be sure to leave a space at the end.

Yes! Thankyou Ms. Maggiemoo.

Oh I loved the pictures Konkrete. Do you start your annuals inside or sow in the bed? Thanks for the list of plants everyone. I do have a few of them here and there so I might move some to area I am working on. I'll definitely have hollyhocks and will try delphiniums. I'm starting the perennials now in the greenhouse so they will be big enough to plant hopefully in the fall. Will also throw in some dahlia, I can't grow any vines on the fence because Fred and Ginger will eat them :) but I might make some sort of teepee to grow them on. I am not very creative so a cottage garden forum would be great so I can get more ideas. lol

Larkspur - they love our area and I have them growing in the spring - they self seed themselves and look good... Yarrow too - they do great and help fill in.

I was looking out at my backyard rock garden...with all Tx natives and I've now decided that I have a Texas Cottage Garden, after reading all of ya'll's testimonials...lol...'magine that..! :) I love salvias and sage and have all sorts growing in tall spires...(including my indigo spires) SOME lavenders are doing great...tho my French Lavender didn't make it. Anyone considering growing a Texas version should definitely grow some hyssop. Wonderful tall spikes that smell wonderful and the hummers love it. And so easy to grow. Another nice edition is my white woolly butterfly bush, orange globe mallows and a huge bat face bush.

I do miss the English Cottage gardens that were so prevalent around Boston when I lived up there for a number of years. I miss the wild violets, lilacs and forsythias. But I've come to love our natives a whole lot more... It seems that the colorful "weeds" that I would see while driving down country roads here are now available in hybridized versions... amazing..!

WOW I sure enjoyed the stroll in your gardens, konkreteblond and maggie. I was just thinking today that I'd love to go on a garden tour but July probably wasn't a good time and it cost too much for gas nowadays to travel very far. Thanks for the tours.

So true barbur, my backyard is hot in July! I'm with ya on staying close to home with the gas prices. Gotta love this internet stuff!

Venessa, all my annuals came from seeds just thrown out or reseeded from something last year. The only thing I did start this year were some Old Mexico zinnias, and they are really leggy. I'm letting them reseed tho so those should look much better. I hope some of them germinate this year.

Larkspur is a great thing to just throw out. I had a ton of them this year so next year there will be even more. I deadheaded them but even doing that the seeds would go flying out all over. Nature's way is so easy. They don't necessarily like our heat and humidity but I've still got some blooming now.

I love the idea for a cottage garden forum and the thread. I'll join in soon.