Cottage garden/borders plant suggestions

PlymouthMaid

I like the cottage look so in my yard I have regular appearances from several perennials. I love the way they seem to vanish entirely and then put their heads up again in spring: eternal sweet pea, aquilegia, bleeding heart plant, clematis, lavender and roses. I also have a camellia and winter jasmine for early colour. Poppies are also gorgeous and can seem like a perennial of you don't dig up the new seedlings which appear.

macsoupdragon

Our garden is a large slope so I've also gone for the cottage garden look. Hardy geraniums, aqueligas, foxgloves, poppies, the odd fern here and there. After about 10 years of just weeding took almost everything else and started again. Like someone else mentioned b and q clearance dept, even b and m or any of the nurseries, particularly end of aug/sept. Nelson if you want some (virtually) instant cover for cheap, try the seed shaker from £1land/world/99p shop, they also do some cheap bulbs

ClareTeaches

Reading with interest - many thanks to everyone who's given suggestions! :T

aggypanthus

Astilbe for dampish shade, will suit clay soil. Deffo hardy cranesbills.

browneyedbazzi

The nursery on my way home from work was open when I was on my way home today so I popped in for a nosey....came home with 5 more plants, including an eryngium (thank you for the suggestion I have spoken!), echinacea, poppy, coreopsis and monarda.

I know that the planting scheme is supposed to be really random and almost accidental, but I've laid the plants out in their pots on the bed and have been rearranging them trying to find an arrangement that looks right...I think they look really good and a nice mix. I'm really hoping we have a nice weekend so I can get planting!

I've also picked up some seeds - poppy, lupin, foxglove and cosmos.

I think I need to stop buying stuff now! At least until what I have is planted lol

I_have_spoken

Good selection and they should all produce seed so you can get more plants and/or divide them after a few seasons.

BTW, I find coreopsis flower very freely but they didn't overwinter successfully with me (in both Cambs and Glasgow gardens)

browneyedbazzi

Thank you!

Fingers crossed the coreopsis makes it, they look really pretty! I'm in a south London suburb and the plant is a British grown one so hopefully I have a decent chance. I'll try to gather some seed just in case!

arbrighton

I'm working towards cottage garden borders to go with our early Victorian house. Some of the plants are those that were already there being shifted, we got a set of perennials cheaply from T&m and I'm buying bits and bobs as we go.
We have delphiniums, nasturtiums, salvia, echinacea, roses (already there but doing well), alchemilla, iris, agapanthus (although I should really lift that and overwinter it inside), geraniums, coreopsis, something yellow which looks a bit like a gazania, geum, fox gloves, aquilegia (mostly self seeding), ornamental knapweed, sweet williams from seed, some chrysanths, gladiolus. I've just bought some achillea and a peony. Oh penstemon, lupin and verbena too

browneyedbazzi

We planted up the first bed today and it looks really good

The bed runs along the patio, with the lawn on the other side, so I didn't want anything too tall in it that would block the view down the garden. In case anyone is interested (and also for me to look back on when I inevitably forget) here's a list of what's in the bed so far:

Salvia nemerosa
Poppy 'pacino'
Argyranthemum White Improved
Blue eyed grass 'saphire'
Garden pink 'stargazer'
Balloon flower/Chinese bell flower (blue and pink)
Cosmos
Lavendula angustifolia 'Munstead'
Monarda didyma (bergamot)
Coreopsis Mayfield Giant
Echinacea Pallida
Eryngium Blue Hobbit
Papaver orienale Allegro
Geum
Osteospermum
Gazania
Dahlia
Rock daisy
Celosia

I know there are some annuals in the mix, but I'm hoping some will self-seed for future years. There are still some gaps too (and a few more plants on my wish list that I haven't been able to get yet including aquilegia, cornflower and rudbeckia), but we're going to leave this lot to settle in for a while and see how it comes on before putting in anything else.

The only problem now is that the bed that runs along the fence (which we don't want to start on until the work on the fence is finished) looks a mess by comparison! I've got lupin and foxglove seeds to start at some point so they are ready to plant out (after the fence is done) to flower next year. There are some shrubs on that side at least - weigela, ornamental quince, lilac, spirea, and mock orange - but they're all still small.

I_have_spoken

Quite a haul!

NB If anyone is buying for a cottage garden, Homebase have packs of 6 Dianthus 'Memories' for £10 - the plants are a very good size and quality in my local store.

http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2012/06/06/dianthus-memories-plant-of-the-year-runner-up.aspx