I don't see a Cottage garden forum here - am I missing it?

I like Cottage Gardens, the unkempt appearance, irrational distribution of disassociated species, and especially the lack of lawn to mow. Someday I may even learn how to make one, and with that in mind I would support a motion to create a Cottage Garden forum.

Cheerio

Balvenie, your " irrational distribution of disassociated species" is a perfect description of part of my garden. Patti

I vote for a cottage garden forum, pretty please?

While we're all talking, does anyone have a favorite book on cottage-style gardening?

I stumbled upon this site with a concise overview of cottage gardening and thought it worth sharing: http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2005/05/feature/

Some books I'd like to check out here: http://www.gertrudejekyll.co.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=20

Some info (but not enough pics!) of the restored Gertrude Jeckyll gardens at Manor House Upton Grey: http://www.gertrudejekyllgarden.co.uk/

Thanks for sharing those links.

I have two cottage garden books: "The Cottage Garden" by Christopher Lloyd & Richard Bird, and "Creating a Cottage Garden in North America" by Stephen Westcott-Gratton. I like the first one the best - tons of photos (some vintage, with history), lots of gardens, and lots of suggestions for different flowers for different seasons (again, with lots of pics).

I'm glad you asked about books, Gram, because I'd forgotten about these and they are delightful!

Gemini_sage, those are great links .. . I'd sure like to get the book on the restoration of Gertrude Jekyll's garden! Might have to be a Christmas request.

In those or any of these great books have you seen photos or suggestions for a cottage style garden in the desert southwest without resorting to xeriscape planting? I honestly hate that look, so dry and dusty to my eyes. I want the true greens that I used to have in the midwest and in FL, but I want it in the desert. Is that asking too much?

Pweelee, I'll peruse those books tomorrow or the next day and get back to you. There's got to be a way to do it!

Mur, my thoughts exactly and I appreciate your checking for me.

I know the close plantings will help to keep everything hydrated, but the burning sun is another story. At this point, I have very very little shade to offer anything in the yard, so I have to select carefully or watch it all wither come summer.

MGs will be a staple here, thakfully they will handle the heat, give me a real green and color to boot. Some daylilies will manage the heat and sun, but what else is the question.

I just checked the count on the violets and violas forum and I think we're already neck and neck with them in posts. So, why do they have a forum and we're still orphans? If anyone from admin is reading these, please let us all know if we're under serious consideration for forum status.

Pweelee, what's your zone? I'm heading to bed at the moment, but already took a quick look and found one list of plants that are drought tolerant, and they do list the zones, too.

I'll be gone overnight, but will take the books with me and see what kind of a list I can come up with. Pictures would sure be nice, wouldn't they??!!

I'm in the greater Phoenix area, which means that there are really two definitions for my zone........ the national and the arizona.

According to the national standard I'm in 10a or b depending on who you believe. In the Arizona zone map I'm 5 as described below.If you know any of the plants listed below, they all have that gray-green half dead look to them and I think I would rather have a lava rock bed than those. Bougies are horrid although they are green. I already have a few oleanders (white) and that's about it. Two dicus trees and one Meyers lemon. this is a new project and I'm drooling on a daily basis looking at all the lovely things grown all over the country, except in the d*mn desert.
I know I need shrubs as well as more trees, but for my soul I need bloomers!

Zone 5: Low Altitude Desert
(Elevation 100-2,000 feet)


Zone 5 growing seasons are long and the average minimum winter temperature recorded for this zone is around 36-37 degrees. However, temperatures occasionally dip below 20 degrees. In summer, average maximum temperatures are near 102 degrees. Annual rainfall is 10 inches or less throughout Zone 5.

The wide temperature and low humidity variations here exclude some subtropicals that thrive in milder costal climates. However, such heat-loving plants as Orchid tree (Bauhinia sp.), Thevetia (Thevetia peruviana) and Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) grow well except in cold microclimates.

Other plants for zone 5 landscapes are the carob (Ceratonia siliqua), Willow acacia (Acacia saligna), Cassia (Cassia sp.), Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea sp.), Australian willow (Geijera parviflora), Silk oak (Grevillea robusta), and Bottletree (Brachychiton populneus).

The fall months of September and October signal the beginning of the planting year in Zine 5. In the case of cool-season annual flowers, fall planting permits a full life cycle before the high temperatures of late April and May.

pweelee, are you familiar wit High Country Gardens? They specialize in all kinds of perennials for dry zones. I started receiving their catalog a couple of years ago, and have really enjoyed the pics and ideas they share. Some of the plant groupings have a very cottagy effect. I noticed they are now in the Watchdog top 30. Here's a link to some the their preplanned gardens: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/plannedgardens.html

I subscribe on line to their Emagazine...they have some very good info. Jo

G'morning to all, Jo.. nice to see you here too.
Thanks for the tip on High Country Gardens. I don't think of myself as living in high country so I didn't consider them, but I'm checking out the link and asking for a catalog too (or Emagazine).

That's outstanding - I'm going to look through it despite the fact that I'm not in country that even resembles dry . . . some great combinations and ideas there. I did see some plants that were on the list that I spotted in one of my books. Pweelee, I'll still see what is said in those.

So far, I'm seeing a lot of zones 8 and 9 plantings but they would probably turn to crispy critters here in the summer. Still checking in another window and avidly reading what's offered.

I have to ask here because I haven't gotten any kind of an answer elsewhere, not even master gardeners forum.

Since digging up the areas I want to plant involves digging caliche, I'm worn out and needing my chiropractor more and more. Not good. So, I'm considering using either round up or season long to kill the grass. What I need to ask is, if I do this, can I then build up those areas by adding (over newspaper or some other barrier) soil on top and then safely plant. Will watering the plantings bring them into the round up or season long despite the barrier and kill everything? I can't hire the digging out and am finding it's just too much for me to do.
Thoughts, objections or whatever are appreciated.

Jude

I have ued RoundUp over the years. Don't know anything aboug Season Long. RoundUp only kills whatever it is sprayed on, does not go into the soil to stay and kill other things. Using a newspaper under your new soil would not hurt anything. I usually just wait until whatever I was trying to kill has died then just whatever amendments are needed and go ahead and plant. Good luck with your garden.

Donna

I often use cardboard and/or newspapers - it really does kill what's under it. Put it as thick as you can and then add your soil and amendments. Lot of work, though - I was doing that last week in a nasty part of my garden. Someone on another thread suggested corn gluten for killing weeds, too. I think she said to get it at a farm supply store (I have one near me, not everyone does of course!).

It doesn't kill weeds that I know of, but it does keep seeds from germinating, weeds or otherwise. It's supposed to last for 4-6 weeks.

Heck, 4 -6 weeks isn't worth the effort!!!

It doesn't take much effort...It's all in the timing. People use it on lawns in early spring to keep crabgraas from sprouting, and again in late summer. It beats using poison that winds up in our streams and rivers. I'm going to put some on top of new flower beds to discourage the new weeds that always pop up when you disturb the soil.

This message was edited Oct 31, 2006 10:37 AM

I don't use chemicals either, but admit I may use a little roundup this year on the thistle and nettles - I was "injured" more than I care to remember this last summer by those darn things and despite the fact that I dug and dug and dug to get rid of the nettles, they are all back (a bit frozen today, but still there).

I

I haven't had any luck with the newspaper and/or cardboard to kill our hybrid bermuda lawn under a new bed no matter how thick I layer it. I have some roundup all season and haven't used it but will do so this winter. In the meantime, if I want to plant anything in a new bed, I dig out that darn sod.

Sorry about your recurring nettles Murmur. I expect I'll run into the same problem once I tackle the poison ivy in the wooded part of the property.

digging the soil out just isn't a possibility, so I have to do something! I'll try the round up/season long whichever, it can't hurt to try and if I don't et rid of the bermuda, nothing else will stand much of a chance.

good luck Jude! It's supposed to be ok to plant after 2 weeks if you use the regular round-up. Let us know how it goes!

carol

will do. Right now though I'm waiting for the plumber who is coming to replace the hot water heater which died last night. I tried a cold shower this morning and nearly stopped my heart in the process. Everything will have to wait until I have hot water again.

Grandpapa, yes some gardens here look like that, I'm not entirely sure it's exactly cottage garden style as many gardens here don't conform to any one style.

Erynne, I'm sorry you missed lunch! I had fun putting in all the names from my family too :)

Here's some articles from the archives of the Cottage Garden Society here in the UK that some of you might find interesting http://www.thecgs.org.uk/

Dave47, if this is making do, I'm more than happy with it. Mild climate, superb for gardening and a huge wealth of plants to choose from. When does your winter start again? Two can play at that game ;) but I'm not going to since one cannot compare countries or cultures and one individual cannot speak for an entire nation.

Here's a very small part of a new border dug this spring and planted in May/June, this photo was taken a couple of days ago.

pweelee, I just saw that there is a Southwestern gardening forum: http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/region_sw/all/

Gardeners there that share some of the same conditions will be a great souce of plant ideas.

My second home gemini. Thanks. There are somethere who have lots of green too

Baa, what square footage would determine a cottage? Just curious if I qualify. Does the land have to be limited, or can the garden just be limited. In your corner of the world, how big is a cottage?

I vote for a cottage forum. That is a great idea.

I'd have posted sooner, but just found this thread via someone posting this link, in another forum.
-T

I vote for a cottage garden forum!

Baolvera

I doubt there is a standard size of a cottage, nor are they entirely restricted to the countryside as there are cottages in towns too. One I nearly rented (thatched roof, mud walls) consisted of a total of two rooms, the lower floor room divided to create a kitchen and bathroom space. The ceiling of the living room had a large hatch in it so you could get the bed up to the upper floor room which was the space under the roof. It was about 400 years old and until recently the dwellers would have spend a large portion of their day outside. That is probably the more modern idea of a cottage but some are brick built, slate roofed buildings too.

I don't have a cottage garden, but I want one now! How does one start a cottage garden?

start planting what suits you. I want texture, loads of fragrant flowers and maybe some veggies thrown in here and there. Lacking my ability to dig what passes for soil here, Imay have to let MGs run free and place pots of other around, whatever you do sharona, enjoy it and don't get stuck on making something 'perfect'/ the beauty of cottage gardens is that they're perfect at any given moment to the beholder or you change the location of whatever suits you. It's planned without rigidity in my book. Others may have different ideas.

Jude

I started by deciding how the colors were going to flow from one area to the next, and then started listing plants in each color according to bloom time. Planting wise I started with the plants that take longer to get "full", like peonies, roses, lilies, iris, and blooming shrubs, then started filling in around them. While the casual, voluminous feel of the cottage garden is what I love, I tend to be obsessive about color and season long bloom. It's a constant work in progress moving things around so that they get along well with their neighbors (something is always hogging space or nutrients requiring changes, not that I have a tendency to overplant or anything, snicker, snicker, lol).

lol @ gemini_sage

I, too, am a overplantaholic and I don't care. I will continue. The way I plant is to put something into my flower beds wherever is handy. My gardens just seem to evolve rather than be thought out ahead of time but I do like to put the taller plants toward the back (or in the center of a freestanding bed). I have found that colors and textures seem to gravitate toward each other. In nature you will find that all colors, all textures, all shapes and sizes go together pleasingly and are not rigidly here and that there but rather in drifts and swaths. Next spring while you are out and about on the countryside take a look - not at specific flowers but as a whole - and you will see what I mean. Nature knows what she is doing and everything has a place in the overall scheme. Purples next to oranges next to reds next to yellows, highlighted by whites and greens. And they all seem to be happy -much happier than a trimmed-up everything-in-its-place garden.

Ann

My "yeah" vote should be recorded for posterity, please.