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  • #1

    New cottage garden border

    Hi All,

    I've redesigned my main border in my back garden and now have a 9m by 1m length. to fill. I have some plants in their already that are a couple of years old, but I don't mind replacing / moving some things. I'd like to try and create a cottage garden style border and was looking for recommendations of plants and varieties. I want to make sure I get some variety of heights. I'd like to stick to a couple of colours, maybe purple / blue and yellow.

    Pretty much a blank canvas really.

    Thanks,

    Dom

    Oh, and I'd like to keep it as low maintenance as possible. For example, everything would need to be fully hardy, I would forget to lift and cover etc.
    Last edited by Dr Pips; 07-06-2012, 11:13 AM. Reason: PS
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Lupins! For purple/blue and yellow, how about Lupinus cruckshansii 'Sunrise'?

    How about sweet peas on a teepee to give some height and structure? And I think lady's mantle, Alchemilla mollis, is a must - love the way it looks in the rain.
    Last edited by eirish; 07-06-2012, 11:18 AM.
    March is the new winter.

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    • #3


      Cerinthe Major purpurecsens ?sp (one of my absolute favourites annual but self seeds easily) also Phlox and aquilegia,

      PS This is a good site for Aquilegias http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/Home.htm
      Attached Files
      Last edited by veggiechicken; 07-06-2012, 11:35 AM.

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      • #4
        Don't forget delphiniums

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        • #5
          And the hollyhocks.

          And for down the front, aubretiia and snowdrops, and anenomes and Snakeshead fritillara.
          If the river hasn't reached the top of your step, DON'T PANIC!

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          • #6
            ....and don't forget the Sissy-wotsits!!

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            • #7
              Johnson's Blue perennial geranium
              Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'
              yellow phlomis
              Phlomis
              and verbena bonariensis
              Verbena bonariensis

              all work very nicely in my garden

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              • #8
                How about some meconopsis and aliums?

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                • #9
                  snapdragons are easy to grow, wall flower - Bowles (mauve one if sticking to blue) against any structures/walls, cornflowers - lovely blue colours and easy to grow, iris, for first colour in Spring ( blue/mauve yellow etc), lavender, salvia, phlox, peonies, etc
                  gladioli - good stalwart to have at back? etc etc - could go on - depends with your plan whether you start with colour, companion plants, soil type, historical planning, etc etc

                  agree with all the plants previously mentioned - most can be mixed and tumbled together, such is the cottage garden mentality planning lol

                  agree with Veggie Chicken - Aquilegias - saw a lovely example in Terry's garden t'other day - the ex-florist gardener who propagates loads of cottage type plants and whom I bought trailing campanulas from other day - oh yeah - campanulas too LOL
                  Last edited by GardenFaery; 08-06-2012, 12:53 PM.

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                  • #10
                    red valerian, forget-me-nots, pyrethrum daisies, redhot pokers ..........the list is endless .
                    Personally I like a mishmash of colours and shapes and not necessarily all in height order.
                    S*d the housework I have a lottie to dig
                    a batch of jam is always an act of creation ..Christine Ferber

                    You can't beat a bit of garden porn

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                    • #11
                      I agree Binley. It's all about personal taste, it's your garden after all.
                      Years ago, traditional cottage gardens would have grown flowers and/or veg in rows to get best crop to sell as cut flowers and veg. Then by Victorian times the Romantic style of 'cottage' garden went with planting everything with everything and the 'borders' idea, followed that.

                      I always have a twinge of 'that's how I 'should' be doing it, when I look at well-designed height organised borders, but my garden has just evolved as a mix-matched of allsorts lol
                      there's not 'right' or 'wrong' way - cottage garden should just suggest abundance, look lush without soil showing and please the person who's looking after it!

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Dr Pips View Post
                        I'd like to stick to a couple of colours, maybe purple / blue and yellow.
                        My garden is blue & white (for the Chelsea fan who pays the mortgage)

                        - forget-me-nots
                        - tulips
                        - narcissus
                        - iris
                        - hellebore
                        - delphinium
                        - foxgloves
                        - aquilegia
                        - lavender
                        - limnanthes
                        - California poppies
                        - bush roses
                        - geraniums
                        - verbena bonariensis
                        - salvia patens

                        up the fences:
                        - clematis
                        - climbing rose
                        - jasmine
                        - honeysuckle

                        and more. I don't really have a design as such, I just chuck plants in as they become available, turning over more lawn as I go
                        Attached Files
                        Last edited by Two_Sheds; 08-06-2012, 09:11 AM.
                        All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                        • #13
                          I have a large border as well and like to keep it low maintanance. I have lupins, bleeding hearts, phlox, roses, michaelmas dasies, dahlias, lilys, neirine, polyanthus, jasmine and spring bulbs such as daffs, snowdrops, crocus and hycianth. I hardly ever need to do anything to this border other than pull the weeds, and yet it gives me colour for the best part of the year.
                          Don't worry too much about height, just plant it up and see what happens.

                          And when your back stops aching,
                          And your hands begin to harden.
                          You will find yourself a partner,
                          In the glory of the garden.

                          Rudyard Kipling.sigpic

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                          • #14
                            Hi,

                            After a lot of research and taking your ideas onboard, I've come up with the following list.

                            Vinca Minor - Gertrude Jekyll
                            Iris - Butter and Sugar
                            Lupin - The Governor
                            Campanula - Pritchard's Variety
                            Anemone - Bowles's Pink
                            Echinacea - Rubinstern
                            Aster - Monch
                            Phlox - Chattahoochee
                            Alstroemeria - Friendship
                            Coreopsis - Zagreb
                            Honeysuckle - Graham Thomas
                            Dahlia - Bishop of Llandaff

                            I've already got a about 6 plants in there as well.

                            Am I better just getting one of each plant? Or cutting down my choices a little and getting several of a few? The border is 9m by 1m.

                            Thanks,

                            Dom

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Small groups are good for impact and a will look more established. See you've wandered from your original colour choice! Very hard to stick to first thoughts when there are so many lovley plants out there. You've got a big space to fill so think you will need lots of different varieties.
                              Quite envious of your blank canvas. I would love to start again as I think you learn so much as you go along just planting what you like I didnt plan as such just shoved them in! I've squeezed in as many borders as I can ! No more grass to dig up really.
                              Gardening forever- housework whenever

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