Cottage Garden Plants
I want to Create a cottage garden and need ideas?
I’m particularly interested in tall cottage garden plants. I would prefer plants that flower all summer.Can any give me some advice. (UK)
My local nurseries are already selling good selections of cottage garden plants from about £1.49 per pot or £1.29 per pot if you buy at least 6.They are grouped together so easy to find.Don’t forget wildflower plants too but don’t dig them up,get from nurseries for similar prices,also herbs like thyme,oregano.The bees will love them.All pots should have labels with pictures of the plants on,height will reach,whether to plant in shade or sun etc.Wildflowers to try are Ragged Robin,Ox-eye Daisies.Lavenders are great too & if you buy from the herb section they will be much cheaper & still do very well.Not all varieties are sold as herbs but one of the best is,called Munstead.They are also sold as herbs because you can make tea,icecream etc from the flowers.I latched on to the price difference a while ago.Aquilegias or Granny’s Bonnets are fantastic cottage plants,masses of different colours,several different heights,will spread so could be split up another year to make more plants & survive really bad winters.They may not be available for a month or so but keep a look out if you don’t want to use seeds
Cottage Garden Plants
Biennials for the cottage garden
A biennial is a plant that grows vegetatively in its first year,flowers in its second year and then (usually) dies.There are a number of common plants of this catergory that are essential to any garden let alone cottage garden.
First of all there is the foxglove(Digitalis purpurea)whose pure white relative is so beloved by plantsmen.The problem with this is that the white gene is recessive so you wont have white foxgloves for long before the revert to pink.Personally I think the pink foxglove is very lovely despite not being as recherche as the white one.Not only that but it self sows readily(I find it in many of my clients gardens) and is beloved by bees.However, it can often be mistaken for the pernicious weed of london garden alkanet.Simply rub the leaves-if its soft its a foxglove but if its furry its alkanet.I should add that some people like alkanet and use it in difficult situations but i consider it such a thug and i have pulled thousands up that we do not have a great working relationship!
Another key plant is the forget me not.It readily seeds once in a garden but will rarely find its way in by itself.I introduced it into my garden combined with tulips for a spring show and it works well-reseeding itself very readily but coping with shading from summer bedding.Its flowers are a charming light blue although you can buy white or pink(im not sure if they revert).Forget me nots like foxgloves will tolerate shade or sun having no real preference for either but like most plants native to the uk(like its citizens)enjoy a good drink.
A plant I have been using for some time now which as it turns out is more of a perennial is Salvia sclarea var.turkestan.its a beautifully statuesque plant which to my taste has a smell a bit like BO.Dont let that put you off though!It flowers for a long time-perhaps june to august and it has those lipped salvia flowers that i am a sucker for.
A plant i dont use but is very popular in mixed borders is verbascum.It has furry leaves and in most cases yellow flowers but like the salvia it grows very tall (about 3-4 feet) and therefore is what i would describe as an architectural plant.This means thats it is its structure and form that provides interest as opposed to the flowers on their own.
I hope all this helps you with your own mixed border or cottage garden!
About the Author
Sam MacDonald is a gardener living in Clapham,SW London.His portfolio can be seen at www.countrycottagegardener.co.uk His email address is cottage.gardener@live.co.uk
Gardens and the wonder of them?
I have just wandered into my garden and the sight was just stunning. Even though it can look untidy at times that is because it is a cottage garden, the colours and smell are just awesome. I do hope that you are all fortunate enough to have flowers and plants and would love to hear what your favourite flowers or plants are and why.
unfortunately i don’t have a garden 
but i do like lillies…. though sometimes the smell can be overpowering if there are too many of them.
i like my aunts garden as she has a patio with lots of colourful pots with different plants/trees/ flowers in.
and she grows vegetables too, its just a really nice little garden
plus my daughter loves smelling the flowers and helping pick the vegetables!
Cottage Garden Design, By NSL Design, Garden Designer Bristol