Cottage garden

Helen8012

Can anybody advise how I can get the cottage garden look? Ive tried sprinkling wild flowers every year to help the bees. But in 5 years or so, not a single proper wild flower. Any perennial flowers combo you’d recommend? South facing garden! 

Thank you!

KajiKita

What’s your soil type? 

Foxgloves are biennial but once they get started in your garden they will flower every year 

Primulas and daffodils are a nice combo for early spring under a flowering apple tree or cherry. 

Shasta daisies are as tough as old boots and flower everywhere for me. 

It depends a bit on what you like 😊

KK

Misslayed

Aquiligea (aka 'Granny's Bonnets') are a good traditional cottage garden flower, they reseed nicely. Also cornflowers, Forget-me-nots, poppies and snap dragons. Wild flower seeds actually need a well prepared, weed free bed, otherwise grass and other dominant weeds just take over. 

elsien

I’ve also go orange poppies taking over the world in mine as well as the aquilegia and forget me nots. 

If you chuck some love-in-the-mist seeds around they are very prolific. 

It depends what you mean by cottage garden, because wild flower seeds and cottage garden plants are to me two different things. 

I don’t do some more traditional plants because they get slugged, but there’s always roses, lavender, salvia etc to give a bit of structure.
Geums and asters are good for bees. 

Buddiea or mock orange if you have the space but they need a lot of space and pruning to keep under control.


If you want something native and bee /butterfly friendly try achillea. 

Alliums as well. 

Farway

Depends on requirements as above, but cottage garden includes edibles, so "pot" marigolds, nasturtiums & borage

All dead easy from seed and will self seed if you let them

Dustyevsky

Misslayed said:

Wild flower seeds actually need a well prepared, weed free bed, otherwise grass and other dominant weeds just take over. 

Wild flowers tend to need quite specific conditions to flourish and reproduce themselves. These aren't easily created in a garden. Even in a traditional hayfield, one doesn't always see all the potential wild flowers grouped nicely together to make a show, or one that lasts. For these reasons, throwing quantities of seeds down and hoping doesn't bring the colourful results people expect.

Even at places like RHS Rosemoor, where they have wildflower meadows, conditions are tightly controlled. Plants like yellow rattle are established to weaken the grasses, and cut hay is raked-off by machine to prevent it from making the soil more fertile. There's a lot of work involved.

However, from personal experience, anyone may have self-heal, dandelions, daisies, buttercups and knapweed in their lawns without any effort whatever!

gwynlas

Most gardens take a fair amount of work even a low maintenance one in the planning stages. Take some time to look at what grows well in the gardens around you so you have a decent chance they will thrive for you. I am amazed how resilient wild flowers are particularly on road verges but it is hard to replicate this. The wildflower meadows and patches we see are usually carefully cultivated with the ground being tilled and specific seed mixes sown. Check some books out of the library or do computer research for hardy fail safe plants,

twopenny

Cottage garden look needs a lot of plants that are 'old fashioned' like Pinks, Campanulas, Lavenders, old roses that grow as bushes, aquilegias as mentioned but I'd get seeds from a friend as they're mostly posh and not that hardy these days. You want the original ones.

Stocks, Lupins, mostly the tough tall plants with a flowering shrub or two to hold them together.

Have a look on the net and see what appeals.

Then there's the path that should be in keeping. Doesn't have to cost much but pea shingle with an edging would do but you need the plants to flop over it.

A painted bird table. Old table and chairs.

Working_Mum

Helen8012 said:

Can anybody advise how I can get the cottage garden look? Ive tried sprinkling wild flowers every year to help the bees. But in 5 years or so, not a single proper wild flower. Any perennial flowers combo you’d recommend? South facing garden! 

Thank you!

Can you supply us with a picture of the border? It helps to understand the size of the project you need to undertake 

badger09

We moved here Feb 21 & inherited a huge brutish conifer which sucked most of the sunlight from the garden. It was gone within a month & my cottage garden bed is very much a work in progress to replace it. 

I have planted (on a 🤞🏻 this doesn’t die basis):  Allium Aquilegia Ceanothus Clematis Delphinium Foxgloves Gardenia Geranium Geum Hollyhock Lavender Lily of the valley Lupins Penstemon Poppies Primula Verbena. Some do well, some don’t, & I’ve probably forgotten other stuff I’ve planted. 

Photos follow if I can manage it

badger09

1 & 2 Feb 21