OK...Let's talk COTTAGE GARDENING here....
Anyone want to share pictures?
Edited to add link to new thread.
Jo
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/667305/
This message was edited Nov 4, 2006 7:40 AM
Continuation of Cottage Gardens....
Hey Jo, Thanks for starting this here. I was just going to do the same thing then noticed the new thread.
Did you see my 'finds' ? They're in the how are you different thread (swgardening). Not much to do with a cottage garden but maybe I can back the garden with the twig lady (I'm starting to think of her as either Blair WItch or Pocahontas, might come up with a diff/better name for her after she has vines growing all over her)
I nearly gave up my dreams of a cottage garden due to the condition of the ground I have to dig to plant anything. Then I got a lot of feedback and am bouyed enough to try it, little by little. It may not ever be the size I would have liked, but I can manage small to start and expand over time, right?
My more realistic dream for a cottage garden will include color, texture and varying heights. I want to have at least a couple of veggies in there too, but still investigating what will stand the heat/lack of shade. Specific plantings are still up in the air, but I'm working on it and welcome input and suggestions.
I'm eager to read and see pics of cottage gardens others have started or tended for years.
Jude
(Jo, aren't you going to Tucson today? I have a wedding I committed to long ago, so I wont be there)
Hi, I am a "plant collector" always trying something new LOL. I don't have formal land scaping around my home. So I guess I call it cottage gardening. I have clay soil so composting is a must for me and buying bags of peat and top soil has also helped.
Here is a picture to start the ball rolling. Hope this helps.
Here Is a Lily that I have growing next to a butterfly bush. And gloriosa daisy
Hi, folks. I have what I consider traditional suburban landscaping in the front of my 4year old home. When we moved in (it's a new development) we had nothing but mud and had to get something planted. I think the house has a bit of a cottage look...soft, earthy colors. More than most new suburban homes, anyway. I have a couple of garden beds in the back (we border on a small manmade lake in the back).
anyway, as far as a cottage garden, we are planning a bed for next spring in the back that will have an herb bed in the center, possibly some lowbush blueberries (more for the birds than for us), some native shrubs, roses, garlic, maybe a few root veggies. I'm going to try wintersowing this year so I'll have some perennials ready and annuals to fill in. probably a few small conifers. of course, some bulbs.
Here's a long view of the front. it will have to wait for big time renovation, but it does have a lot of daylilies and I've added some coneflowers and salvia. and bulbs. I love the lilies, especially, for summer. and the hosta when they bloom help some, too.
gram ~a girl~
ladygardener1 and grampapa,
WELCOME and thanks for posting pics. You're great contributors already and I hope you'll continue.
I'm in Scottsdale AZ. soil is what's call caliche (hard packed desert sand) which has been unworked for many many years before I got the place. There's 'desert' landscaping out front which I'm not touching, merely trying to maintain no grass creeping thru the rocks. Out back tho, bermuda grass is the bain of my existance, next to the caliche. Over the summer months, I put in a laver patio, then last month added a sort of railing/fence around the south edge with a pinestraw path leading to the alley behind. That's it besides two very youg ficus trees and an immature Meyers lemon under which I'm growing basil right now.
My plans vary from day to day/ level of exhaustion to high hopes of being aboe to manage it. The soil cannot be dug, the bermuda is spotty in places and rampant in others. So my best guess on what I'll be able to accomplish is to put a free standing bed in where the bermuda is most sparce by creating a raised bed. I hope to have some veggies, fragrant bloomers and some interesting taller maybe grasses for texture. Not much of a plan at the moment so I'm looking for input from others on what they're planting and then trying to adapt that to what will be able to grow here in the blazing summer sun/heat. Until and unless I get some shade my choices are somewhat limited, but I'm willing and eager to try to get this off the ground.
My soul craves bloomers with fragrance!! I know I'll be planting fragrant cloud tobacco and am planning to try a peony bush(wish me luck), also a ginger lily which will be great if it doesn't burn. That's as far as I've gotten on specifics.
Jude
Loved your pics ladygardener1...especailly the area around the birdbath. Gramp~a girl~ I got a kick out of that signature. I'd never have guessed! lol YOU have an even blanker slate than me! Hard to believe, as I am surrounded by bermuda grass on a 45 acre sod farm. Little by little I am digging it out and making new beds. I have a tendancy to walk around with a trowel in one hand and a plant in the other until I find its new home....so cottage gardening is definately for me!
Attached is a photo of the front door on our new place. One thing I do have an abundance of is foundation plantings (believe me grampapa if I could send them to you I would!) Some nice plants but rather boring elsewhere all lined up like soilders. Maybe I'll get energetic and move some of them....broke a shovel last time I tried. In this pic: youngest dog Delilah, nandina bushes, lavender, daylilies, clerya bushes, ilex bordeuax and golden euyonomous
edited for spelling.....if I could only type as well as I think I do...
This message was edited Nov 4, 2006 1:12 PM
I think my gardens are cottage-y but some have told me it's too well organized. Okay so I'm a control freak. Would you consider it a cottage garden? Here's the side entrance (I don't post this garden much because it's smaller than the rest).
Jude, AZ seems to me like a harsh place to garden, and water is the secret. As I read your post I am reminded of my raised veg garden when I first started it. We put up the sides and filled it with good soil. I watered it well but found that the water would drain through to the bottom and when it hit the hard soil at the bottom would run out the sides. After a few summers of this my husband started to work the soil at the bottom of the raised bed using a garden fork and small tiller. The condition improved. I also put newspapers between the rows and covered the paper with compost.
You might want to try starting off your new bed by stabing with a garden fork and rocking it back and forth to get the soil loose, cover with several layers of newspaper, soak the paper well and apply compost, bagged soil whatever you can get your hands on. and let it sit a season before planting. I have started a few flower beds this way.
The other thing is when you dig a hole for a plant and find very few or no earth worms your soil lacks organic matter. Compost is the way to fix that. Worms are important to a garden, at least where I live.
Chris
Justfurkids... Your garden is very neat, I like it! Mine gets very wild at times. I also walk around with a plant trying to find the right spot. I'm a compulsive plant buyer, "I like it, I buy it, I'll find a place for it, not matter what".
Boo.. Very pretty! I like it. What blooms when the Iris' are gone!
This is a picture of mums in an Island bed in the back yard.
Gram...I love the house....but what's all that green stuff growing in front of it?? LOL
(another Arizonian)
Jo
Jo, too funny LOL but all that green stuff has to go...it's just a place holder until I get around to building all the flower beds ;0)
justfurkids, at least you've got some plants around your front door to look at...it's a start. mine looks better when the daylilies and lilies are in bloom. here's some of the ones from the front of the house
Gram, I think lilies really pop in the garden bed, and the orentials really smell good. The pink "Color Parade" one that I posted a picture is right out side the door on both sides. It was really pleasent taking in it fragrance when you stepped out the door. Even a neighbor had to ask what smelled so good when she was on her evening walks.
Chris
Gram, your daylilies are beautiful!
Love to see everyone's pictures, it's inspiring.
This is the front of my house, the garden is winding down, but I usually have perennials, herbs, grasses, and annuals all mixed up, that's my idea of an English garden. I try to let it go, but I have to maintain some order, I don't like it to look too wild, maybe I'm a bit of a control freak. lol
Thought this was interesting
http://butterflywebsite.com/articles/bgq/CottageGarden.htm
Great to see all the garden photos.
ladygardner1, your iris and geraniums are very nice combination. I too have iris and geraniums in various locations. Have to trim the geraniums during summer. The lilies and gloriosa daisy look very nice.
justfurkids, very nice entry way and dog.
boojum, looks cottagey to me
grampapa Very pretty flower collage
flygirl, love seeing all that color, Not much in my garden now. We temps down to 13 degrees last week and a little snow Wed. and very low clouds ever since.
Here are 2 or 3 photos of my garden area. #1 is my front door entry
#2 Mulllein and allium in south garden.
ladygardener1, here is the same garden in July.
And August.
Rutholive, I adore mullein, and it was a star in my stair garden, but they always died over winter and I couldn't find any the last few years. Here's a few years ago. I miss it!
Mullien......There had been none in our vicinity until my DD brought some seeds home and planted them in her yard...next door to me (4 acre plots each). Year before last I had ONE come up beside my steps. This year I had an abundance of them....and my DD is over run with them!! I think we have some seeds she saved. Jo
ladygardener, I hear you about the clay soil. I was out planting bulbs today (40 degrees...brrrrrr!). it's like trying to chip a hole in a brick. and these are raised beds I had built, but all the topsoil the landscaper brought in is all clay, too. so I just keep adding the compost and manure. and I bought some 'claybuster' stuff, too. I figured it couldn't hurt.
booj, I think your gardens are cottage-y. if there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't control plants no matter how hard you try (and I DO try). here's some pics of some of the beds in my back yard. I tend to take a lot of pictures of individual plants and blooms, not so many of the beds.
I see you are another organizing soul. I also try to be organized and then let things happen for surprises (not weeds though!) BTW, what did you use for your collage?-I'm getting tired of posting one at a time.
flygirl, what a nice mix of colors and textures you've got there. that's what I want to get going. I have so many bare areas.
rutholive, your entry is so pretty. is that a brugmansia by the door? I got a tiny one on sale from Park's this year. still only has 4 leaves. I'll try to winter it over and see if I can get it grow next year.
mullein is on my list of plants to try in the front yard. I put in my very first giant allium bulbs today in the back near the copper obelisk you see in the picture. already can't wait for spring. actually added a ton of new perennials around that last collage. daylilies, foxglove, helenium, delphinium, dianthus, white lavender, tri-color sage, rosemary, campanula, malva, lupine, asclepias, salvia, sedum, clematis, a couple of mini roses, more lily bulbs.
mmm, I'm having fun here already. I hope some of the other folks follow us here.
booj, I use LumaPix FotoFusion. You can try it free, but they stick watermarks all over the collages until you pay for it. But I can throw a pretty decent collage together in a few minutes (if I can find the pics I want LOL).
Just in and catching up on posts. You're all amazing!!! I love the pics, too many to individually comment but they're all simply beatuful. I'd take any of them here without hesitation. So much work to do to get to the point of planting but I've started so that one day I can post pics to rival yours. Meantime, please keep naming what's growing, what smells great and post the pics too. I'm living vicariously through your gardens.
Jude
pweelee, when I lived in tucson for 2 years, I used to grow ruellia, jasmine, wonderful sages (especially the pale yellow), bougainvilla, lontana, oleander, and cacti and agaves. The Tucson Botannical Gardens had a wonderful plant sale each year. I used to go there every Sunday AM. They had wonderful penstemons and bearded irises and even foxglove there. It took a lot of watering for me to maintain my garden. When I came back, I marvelled at how green it is here and how wet! Everything wants to grow here-especially weeds!!
Oh how I envy the green you get. It's nothing like the dusty green here, all faded from sun. I used to live outside Chicago and also in the panhandle of Florida where truly everything grew, year round. There are advantages to being here, but I do miss real green and water. The smell of water in the air (Lake Michigan and the Gulf coast) is not to be found here except during the monsoons.
I've done a cut and paste of what you had in Tucson and will look at those for my house here. Thanks for the tips.
Jude
Now Jude, as a fellow Inmate, I remind you to say your thanks for:
the wonderful strong scent of Russian Sage, penstamons...
The orange and and other citrus scents during flower...
Four, count'em 4 flowering seasons for roses...
The variety in the migratory birds.... even if the dove sit and eat our Winter Rye.....
Busy bees enjoying our plantings,
Butterflies in abundance....
We can remember from where we came.... But here we Are.
Oh! and the thing I miss the most about the San Francisco Peninsula, Daphne, among other things!
You're right, of course. I don't mean to be negative about this area. I've just been so frustrated with the soil here and not being strong enough to dig it. I try digging for 10 to 20 minutes and I'm whipped for 4 hours. That's where its coming from. I do enjoy living here most days, I wouldn't stay if I didn't. So, I will make a point of trying to make my posts more upbeat henceforth.
Lovely photos fellow cottage gardeners! I am enjoying every one.
Jude why don't you make some raised beds? I have clay soil too, but in the raised beds I can stick my arm in down to my elbow. Don't even a shovel in that part of the yard!
carol
This message was edited Nov 5, 2006 7:40 AM
pweelee~ I can relate to your frustration, I eagerly started to plant some of the few varieties of my favorite flowers from the Pacific Northwest after my move here. Full sun there is not full sun here unless you want your plants to bite the dust before they can bloom. Thus a newbie gardener was born, what was playing in the garden there is now an educational experience here in the MIDWEST, still fun, but ever growing in the garden! We all have to adapt to some aspect of "difficulty" and it will be lots of fun to watch and share all the creative ideas in overcoming those difficulties in and out of the garden.
Jude, it's ok to vent your frustrations. that's part of what we're here for (((jude))) then you get the wonderful help and suggestions and you can move on :0) aguane, I love Russian sage...it makes such a wonderful backdrop for other perennials and it lasts and lasts. and I'm so jealous of you guys for the citrus and the year-round roses (I do love my roses!). So I'll post pics of green things and you post pics of oranges and lemons and roses in December. I've never lived anywhere but the NE, but my brother moved away after college. when he comes back he's always surprised by the lawns LOL
justfurkids, I think I mentioned this above, but I had my landscaper build my raised beds (I have some physical limitations and I just can't do all the hard stuff myself). it's all clay. next time, even though I know it will be more expensive, I will insist on them amending the soil they use. how much easier would that be if they bring in a truckload of manure and a truckload of compost to mix in? then if I add more as I dig and the mulch decomposes every year it will just get better.
Yes raised beds with builders fill dirt certainly wouldn't be ideal. It took forever to chip thru the builders "soil" around our last home. Went from naked when we built it to jungle in 5 years.
carol
My thanks to you all, justfurkids, garden6 and grampapa for the encouragement. I've really been in a frustrated funk of late and it's carried over here. Your ind words help a great deal and your advice is priceless. I know it will be rough going to get anything to grow without using raised beds of some sort, I was told that the bermuda will manage to creep to the top of those beds if I don't dig it out tho, so I have to get rid of it first I guess or it will defeat me in the long run, again.
So, here's the plan for today. I'm using season long since it's the only thing that killed the bermuda that crept thru the rock in front. Once it's dead, then I'll soak the ground, try to dig as deep as I can to get the roots and all. OK, I'll have a sunken bed then which I'm thinking of lining with some plastic or barrier cloth(although I was told that's useless against bermuda AGAIN) then fill the low area with sand and build the lasagna bed above that. With plastic below, I'm thinking sand is a must for the lowest level of the bed for drainage. Anyone think this might work?
I so want to have a garden RIGHT NOW. sheesh, I feel like a kid again wanting instant gratification in the form of bloomers.
I followed the advice on another thread of the SW garden group and ran to my local target to see what they had on clearance. I couldn't bring myself to buy a single plant because I have no where to put it. That's frustration! But if my plan above might have a chance, I'll get out there with the season long and go to work. It took two days for the front bermuda to fade from green to dried out tan so I can wait two more days, then start again.
Jude
jude, in the meantime, how about a big self-watering planter? either buy one or you can check out the self-made earthboxes over in the container gardening forum. make yourself a minigarden to have some fun with while you're working on the 'real' garden.
Well a lot has been going on here. I had trouble with my internet connection, seems they pick Sunday am to play with it. There is a change as Time Warner bought out Adeplhia so they have to switch over at sometime. Anywhoooooo.
Ruth I notice a purple/yellow combination developing, very nice.
And Boo.. something blooming all the time, thats what I try to do too.
I really don't know what some contractors, landscapers, ect. think when you ask for good garden soil. I had a large dump truck full delivered several years ago, it was very sandy and full of weedseeds that I never had in my yard before, I still had to add organic matter (compost) to it, the water would just run right through it and my plants had to be watered all the time. I'll never order another load again!
Here is an other view of the corner garden.
Jude......put the weed killer on and let it do it's work all this week....then meet us all at the Tucson Garden Part on Saturday, 11th....you'll probably get some new plants! Jo
grampapa, thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure about containers here. Every one I've had dired too fast in the summer heat so everything turned into crispy critters. It may have been my fault.......... bot the right soil mix or just too durned hot. I'm bent on making a garden.
ladygardener1, very pretty......... one day I'll post pics of mine too (I hope)
Jo, I can't go to Tucson, wedding committmetn (not mine) from way back so I really have to go much as I would love to. Right now I'm just trying to get by with a couple of small seed pots inside (MG) and working on making a garden area. I have a friend saving all her newspaper for me, she gets three daily so I'll have ton in a week. Then I'm making yard lasagna and hoping/praying and keeping all appendages crossed.
Take lots of pics so those who can't go can see the fun you all had without us. Are you making a trip to the Tucson nurseries too? I read that several from these parts are planning to stop at a few of them. They'll need to rent a trailor for the return trip from the sounds of it.
Jude
Patience. Part of the enjoyment is the process and little successes. Keep optimistic. I think I've mentioned an elderly friend of mine whose 90+ mother planted an orchid seed. It takes 5 years for it to germinate. Of course, she expected to see its little green head pop out of the lava rock at some point. Now that is patience and optimism.
Jude, just do what you can as far as the work goes. And as the others are advising... buy a few largish containers and plant them with what makes you very happy. Then go about the process of creating your canvas. Remember, you can complete small spaces then move on to the next project. I know what you mean about tiring while digging in this ridiculous earth. So hard. I feel like I'm mining and have actually used a pick ax.
This is exactly what I've done. I've recently bought a new house that has shrubs I can't tolerate and red granite rock everywhere covering the soil. Its about 6 inches deep. I know its going to be a year before I can finish clearig the rock and plant what I want. I think I'm young enough to see my dream.
Perspective. When you look at FishKnees garden know that she started out with a yard full of just dirt and rocks and a hugh mesquite tree. It can be done and you can do it. Just take 'er slow and complete small areas at a time.