Just wondered what YOU think makes a cottage garden a cottage garden.
Suzy
Below is a synopsis of the posts made by CG forum members pertaining to what we think makes a Cottage Garden, well, Cottage-y.
COTTAGE GARDEN DESIGN
Generally speaking, a Cottage Garden uses curve instead of straight lines; or curves within straight lines.
It has grass, or a path, to lead the eye.
There is an absence of any pretentious plan; a cross between formal and messy. Balance the perfect topiary with a forsythia.
The plants should be allowed to grow into each other so it is just a riot of colour, shape and texture. No perfection is expected and all the happy accidents just seem to work together.
A little mystery. One shouldn't be able to see the entire garden at once. A little curving stepping stone path around the birdbath to a hidden bench or courtyard.
The surprise factor. One should have to walk around that curve to see -- oooh! a birdbath! An obstacle at eye level such as an obelisk with a climbing or rambling rose or a small shrub (eye-level height) might be used.
At least one resident animal: Chicken, peafowl, cat or dog. A CG is a natural habitat to butterflies, birds and other wildlife because of the abundance of different kinds of plants used as food and forage. Purposefully including some larval host plants will attract even more. Bunnies are welcome as long as they only munch on clover especially planted for them.
Other Elements of a More Permanent or Structural Nature:
Structures. An arbor entwined with climbing rose is a classic cottage garden image. Add a bench, a rustic gate, stone or brick path, birdbath and flower containers like window boxes, clay pots, stone troughs or tubs. Aim for simplicity, though--it's easy to cross the line into kitsch.
from an article by Claire Hagen Dole, Publisher/editor of Butterfly Gardeners' Quarterly. Summer 1995. Back issues available from BGQ, PO Box 30931, Seattle, WA 98103.
[HYPERLINK@butterflywebsite.com]
Use arbors, trellises, fences &/or hedges to create the little rooms or zones in your Cottage Garden. One zone could be a pond or other water feature.
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A Cottage Garden should be interactive garden, welcoming the viewer to walk the paths, touch the lamb's ear, smell the herbs and blossoms, observe the butterflies and bees up close. Cottage Gardening is a style that encompasses the 5 senses, not just to be viewed from the road.
Two Different Styles; both are Cottage Gardens:
Extravagant Abundance: the feeling of lushness barely kept in check -- climbing roses or berry vines rambling together with Clematis, but might also have Rudbeckia and Solidago.
Cottage Prairie:Native plants, which are hardy and appropriate to the region's style might include the same Solidago and Rudbeckia as above, but might also have rosa rugosa and red raspberries. This style is characterized by native plants and grasses and a feeling of self-sufficiency.
Either of them would likely have climbing and shrub roses instead of perfectly pruned hybrid tea roses planted on 36" centers.
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PLANTS AND PLANTINGS
Flowering trees and shrubs - deutzia, forsythia, and if they're fragrant like Viburnum or shrub roses, then all the better. Flowering shrubs such as Buddleia, lilac, mock orange, Viburnum, holly, Flowerin vines such as honeysuckle or clematis. Taller self seeding and low maintenance perennials like Hollyhocks, Foxglove, Delphiniums, Phlox, Larkspur, and Campanula. Texture and variety are essential.
Choose some loose-growing, less formal looking plants... maybe a few things that form tidy mounds or archetectural spears, but also plants like Guara, which tosses little blooms every which way on wiry stems making "fillers" between more tidy or large-flowered specimens.
Plants which are grown very close together. In theory they are meant to look as if they were put together at random, without any real plan behind them, but in reality it takes a certain amount of thought to create a garden that looks entirely natural.
A stretch of lawn makes a "sea of green" which leads the eye. Or a path can do the same.
Consider the Scent: Lilies, Dianthus, Petunias and other scented flowers will enhance the garden.
Continuous bloomers are nice for color all summer and on into fall, but a CG is the one garden style that can support all colors, not look ragged even when something is past its prime because so much else is going on.
It wasn't actually discussed, but edible plants such as herbs & edible flowers, vegetables and fruits are a necessity. This might mean a full potager or just some basil and nasturtiums.
No garden is ever truly finished; experiment, learn from mistakes, and most of all, have fun!
This message was edited Dec 11, 2006 1:48 AM
So what makes a Cottage Garden, well, "Cottagey"?
Suzy - I don't know for sure, but it involves hollyhocks.
seems to be taller self seeding and low maintenance perennials.
Hi Al!
I thought maybe roses and a fence, but hollyhocks is a good answer, too.
I feel like such a dweeb. I actually bought 3 HH from Bluestone last year for something around $10.00. Then I found DG in June-July and somebody sent me an envelope of 1/2 million seeds and I just sprinkled out about 1/1000th of them and have little and not-so-little hollyhocks zooming right up! So easy. And now I'm mad at Bluestone for selling hollyhocks to me - plus they didn't even bloom! LOL!
Suzy
Buying hollyhocks is funny. The neighbor girl was wanting to help me when I was deadheading some of the hollyhocks I have over there and she asked about the seeds and then was proud as she spread the seeds around to plant them - over the 1/2" of seeds already on the ground ;)
I don't really have a cottage, this low maintenance and self seeding bed is the closest I have. There are cosmos,flax,monarda,helenium,black eyed susans in there.
Yup! Exactly what I want, except #1 I can't limit myself to just those flowers -- in fact, mine is going to look awful if I don't trim my seed collection! and #2 I have a heck of a lot more ground to cover with no pathways assigned.
Suzy
P.S. Where are the monarda, helenium & black eyed susans? All I see is a lovely combination of cosmos and flax.
Don't be so demanding now ;)
This has a few more plants - you could skip the zinnias. Hollyhocks are space hogs so I would give them plenty of room.
actually the zinnias didn't sneak into that pic - those were monarda ha ha.
here's this black eyed susan, hey there's some phlox that would work too. how about asters - I have a 7'er.
actually in that bed a have red/gold hybrids helenium, but here is Chelsey next to a different r/g hybrid to prove that I do have some helenium....as if
Ive always wondered about that too, especially since I have been reading the requests for a seperate forum. And I have friends who tell me I have an English Cottage Garden.
So I did a bit of surfing and here is a nice explanation I found:
"Principles of cottage planting"
Cottage gardens break all the usual rules of garden design, which in any case are only guidelines. In a cottage garden, plants are grown very close together, and they are meant to look as if they were put together at random, without any real plan behind them. But in practise it takes a certain amount of thought to create a garden that looks entirely natural.
Planting
There are several ways you can arrange plants in your border, including
Rows
Rows look very formal. The place they usually look best is along the edge of paving or a path, but you can also use a row of identical plants to edge a cottage garden border as it ‘pulls together’ a randomly generated collection of plants.
Drifts
Drifts make very natural-looking beds. Informal teardrop shapes work best. If you have uneven ground simply outline the high or low lying contours and use those shapes for your drifts. They will automatically look right for the spot. Put your tallest plants in the middle and shortest ones around the edge so that you can look at the drift from any angle and it will still look good.
Random planting
Random planting is typical of old-fashioned cottage gardens, where annuals were left to self-seed inbetween aggressive, spreading perennials. Just weed out what you don’t want. Be careful as the result can either look very natural or a complete mess.
Grouped
Grouped by height, colour or plant type, cottage borders are a lot easier to organise. The usual arrangement is to put the tallest plants at the back and shortest ones at the front, so you can see everything. But why not have the odd island of taller plants in a carpet of shorter flowers so you have to look round them?
The long and the short of cottage garden design is ‘do whatever you think looks best’. Remember if it doesn’t work out, you can always dig plants up and move them. "
Well that sort of sounds like the way I garden! Heres a pic taken a couple of years ago when I won some prizes in the Garden competition.
Heres another pic - actually part of the same bed just looking in the other direction.
Al -- That looks cottagey to me. I think the close planting is also a signature...yup, it's in the first paragraph of what fancyvan posted. I didn't realize you had anything besides dahlias -- or is that your neighbor's? The house on the other side of the fence looks sort of familiar.
Fancyvan -- Great place you've got. The curve of it is stellar -- and the grass, too. I would say those (plus the white picket fence) would also be key elements. I like the grass the most. Hahaha, that's not what I meant, but I think the grass sets it off so well, better than if the whole thing were all flowers, I mean.
I have a picture from 2005, but it was showing off the new house addition, not the garden. Naturally after 2 growing seasons things have changed a bit. On the leftis about 400 different kinds of daffodils (all named). The marigolds are used in Holland to kill nematodes, so I thought it would be a good idea to grow them. After 5 years, any nematodes are either killed or have built up a resistance. LOL!
Suzy
Needless to say, I couldn't find the picture on my harddrive. I didn't take any this year -- should have -- but didn't. :(
Suzy
Very nice Fancy - congratulations!
Suzy - that bed is at my neighbors that I maintain, some plants I put there are misfits and others because they will tolerate the heavy clay in that bed. I have penty of other plants besides dahlias, but I really am more of a specimen collector than a garden designer. Coneflowers,asters and helenium would be my main sun perennials.
coneflower bed
Wow, AL! That is going to be really, really nice when it fills in -- not too shabby now, as a matter of fact. I started out with teeny tiny ones from Parks (for a BIG price) and they are growing ever so slowly -- oh, theones that lived. The other ones croaked.
The curve & grass line is, once again, stellar. I just love those crisp edges. My grass is also a walkway but it's thin and bald, not full and thick and green like yours and fancyvan's. Makes a big difference to my eye. It also has 2 kinds of grasses in it and one of the kinds grows into the flowers beds at an alarming rate. The 2 kinds also show different colors on a camera that you can't see in person, so my pictures always look, well, 2nd rate? Lame? Something that isn't as good as yours, anyway :)
This year I was sent some Sundown and Sunrise -- something like that -- Ech. seed. I would love it if they'd bloom in different colors than the pinky-purple. I would have done better haunting the garden centers for gallon perennials I understand all those fancy Ech.'s were a decent price at the big box stores.
I truly cannot wait for next year!
Suzy
Sunrise is nice, I'm less than impressed with Sundown. I don't buy any gallon perennials - they grow fast, you're just paying for dirt ;) Hey the front right plant in that last photo(Ratibida pinnata)would be a nice cottage garden plant.
That bed was redone last year so it will be better next year(of course I will tweak it some in the spring)
this was the 2005 version - probably closer to your cottage look
http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/i/8944/
here is Sunrise
Yes, I guess 2005 was closer to the cotttage look...but 2006 is nice, too.
I want my coneflower petals to DROOP! I must be in the minority, though, because all the new ones have fancy have petals that stand straight out. I also noticed on a couple of my new ones, Ruby Giant to name one specifically, that the center isn't coneshaped! All-in-all I wish they'd just change the petal color and leave everything else the same.
I know you grow a lot of asters, and I have bought them many times, but I always pull them up in spring because they look like weeds! I also like the dark centered daisy-style flowers -- like your red Helenium. I thought I could just get some seed, but they are saying on other forums -- ooops, maybe this one -- that they don't come true from seed.
And yes, the ratibida looks great. I got 6 from Bluestone. Red Mexican Hats. They grew big and flowered, but they won't stand up like yours. I'm getting rid of them. It could be the plant or it could be I don't have enough sun for them. Pitam has them on her wish list and I was going to slip them in a bubble pack to her and see what she can do with them. (I'm not boxing up plants I consider weeds!)
Guess that's it -- I have been weeding some weird little plant I was hoping wouldn't make it past the frost, but it did. It's about 12" in diameter, but only 1/2" tall, has pale white flowers and a teeny tiny wiry tap root. Probably Creeping Charlie or something wiht a name like that. Getting the wiry tap root has worn my fingertips to the bone, and I'd better get back to it.
Suzy
Well Suzy I don't know what to tell you then, I certainly can't argue with you for liking what you do(or don't). Luckily plants and plans aren't permanent and you can always change.
Actually my ratibida pinnata is staked up. Mexican red hats are floppy by nature.
I like the flatter petaled echinacea like Ruby Giant,Fragrant Angel and Fatal Attraction. Some of the new colored ones like Sundown and Harvest Moon colors fade too quickly for me. The orange meadowbrite ones are not as full and not as hardy I feel.
Helenium barely sell around here and are always on sale later in the summer.
I don't know for sure about the helenium seed, I did have red/gold hybrids reseed true.
you want floppy - Jade
From The Cottage Garden...
The cottage garden has through the centuries presented a panorama of plants of all types which have reached these islands from all parts of the world. They provide colour the whole year through and many will give of their fragrance too and unlike those of the modern garden, in which the plants of spring and summer form two distinct groups, those of the cottage garden will intermingle through the seasons, there being no break or colourless period as usual with modern bedding plants.
I found my pictures - These are from Jun 2006. I don't have a program that will make a collage, so here goes. The first 2 are the patio.
I skipped ther 2nd patio picture -- this is the backyard, with the patio in the background. On the left is my dormant daffodil collection with annuals growing over it -- you can see the green zinc markers. That will be where the poppies will be next year, I hope. On the right is a new perennial garden. I got rid of a lot (most) of my perennials because I was sick of them and I bought a lot of things new to me, but I don't really like them (those Mexican Hats), so instead of it looking more filled in next year, it's going to be a lot of dahllias instead. I still have more old perennials to get rid of.
Lovely pictures, ILL
What is the blooming pink thingie in your first picture?
I see that you have the lily "Silk Road".
What perennials are you getting rid of?
Lovely photos. As long as we are defining "cottage gardens", I think true cottage gardens are supposed to contain edible plantings and herbs as well.
"The Oxford Companion to Gardens" defines a traditional Engligh cottage garden of a "casual mixture of vegetables, flowering plants, fruit trees, and shrubs."
Let's see, the blooming pink-thingy is a Thalictrum aquilegiafolium 'Lavender Mist' -- and it is actually "old lady lavender pantsuit" colored with very little pink it it. It is my favorite plant, and if you were in any trades or swaps with me, you probably got a package because I saved a lot of seed this year instead of cutting it off for a secondary bloom.
I am getting rid of all my old daylilies (and upgrading, hopefully. We'll see what the new ones look like), The Mexican Hats which didn't have a plant habit I can live with. I'm getting rid of a bunch of Asiatic lilies to trade for Trumpets & Orienpets. But when I say I'm getting rid of the Asiatics -- that means I will be using them as cut flowers and cutting them off at ground level. After the second year, I won't have any more asiatics.
I already got rid of irises, 'Autumn Joy', roses that I didn't like or didn't bloom all season, columbine, and a host of other things that were 15+ years old. I pawned them off on some friends and new gardeners in the neighborhood. I'll also be shovel pruning Daisy 'Becky', sweet autumn clematis, and a Japanese anemone. I forget what all there is, but I don't want to give all my sun to perennials that only bloom for 2 weeks unless I really, really love them, or they're just in the exact right place.
Just4kids, I have some herbs & veggies, but not many -- basil and tomatoes and ornamental hot peppers. Well, the peppers are edible, but not by this Hoosier family. LOL! The fruit trees are a problem since I have so very little sun, I just have to live with the dogwoods. Shrubs are no problem -- lots of birds pooping seeds here, but they are not as attractively placed as they coud be. In fact the whole place isn't as attractively planted as it could be, which is why I thought a Cottage Garden discussion would be advisable.
My lawn is awful, too, and I'd like to put in an arbor with climbing somethings on it.
Other than that, I'm in good shapeLOL!
Suzy
ROFL Suzy you crack me up! Oh to be a neighbor of yours and lucky enough to receive your cast offs! They say a garden is like a true work of art, always a work in progress. You are obviously a talented artist. Fruit trees are not absolutely necessary in a cotttage garden, as I think the definition has quite certainly evolved from its early origins. And IMHO it matters not a hoot.
Just in case any cottage garden enthusiasts are unaware, there are cottage garden threads popping up all over, until such time as the cottage garden forum is opened.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/667305/ seems to be the most active I've found and
to vote to form a cottage garden forum, do make sure and add a note expressing interest here
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/652468/
carol
Suzy, what color is your Jap. anemone?
Also would trade seeds with you for the pink thingie? Can't remember the dang name!!
Suzy - I give away a lot of plants too, my neighbors are now running out of room like me ;) Your beds look nice - lots of room yet.
I really don't do the edible part of the cottage thing, but I do try to have the continuous blooming. I always thought that was a common sense thing. Spring is slow because I am not the biggest bulb fan- not for the planting, but the leaves.
this has nothing to do with cottage gardens, more of a jab to Suzy **he he he**
Ouch! You runnin' a sod farm up there? )
Suzy
awwww...thats nothin! you want sod? lol
Nanny nanny boo boo AL! We want SOD, we'll go to Tennessee! LOL!
Is that your place, justfur? *Is* is a sod farm? What a hoot!
Maxine, yes, send me a SASE or whatever and I'll send you some Thalictrum seed...just wintersow or spring sow. They should be pretty easy. Oh, and make sure you're not in any swaps with me, I've been sending them into every swap and rr I've signed up for. I keep waiting for the sign up rules to say, "And Illoquin can't join unless she finds some differnet seeds to send in".
The Jap Anemone is 'Robitussima' sort of a lavender-pink (it's from Bluestone and they have a pic on their website.) It has a weird growth habit -- I think it is tap rooted with divisions coming off of it. When the divisions come away from the mother, they die, or at least I have not been able to extricate a decent size piece and have it live. My plant is huge, about 4 feet in diameter, but it's also really old. The foliage is gorgeous, my biggest problem is I have soooo much of the same color. I have 'Medicine Bow' chrysanthemum (also from Bluestone, and also to get rid of -- and you know how prolific chrysanthemums are!) same color with a lighter center, and the berries on Callicarpa are sort of the same color, and I have dahlias that same color. It looks like I planned it, but it's sort of dull to have everything blooming in October MATCH! I'm happy to look in the trash and see if the seeds have ripened in the trash can. :))
Al, right before the picture was taken, I um, heard about the Park Wholesale Sale and the bare places were filled long ago -- perennials from the sale (which I mostly hate) and roses from the sale (which I mostly love.) Plus the dahlias and zinnias and some tuberoses. Unlike you, I never met a bulb I didn't like, and a lot of it is underplanted with daffodils & lilies. plus some other stuff.
It's sort of funny when it blooms in the spring and summer because at planting time I forget where everything is and so I plant like a blind woman-- there will be HUGE spaces between some things, and other places the stuff is so close together it's a wonder I didn't chop the bulbs in half wedging more on top of them. And that might another facet of a cottage garden. LOL!
Suzy
Suzy; Your gardens are spetacular!!!
thanks for sharing.I apologize for changing the subject - just a quick question - I'm just about to apply nematodes to my lawns and gardens. I read that you are eliminating them. Why?? Thank you. Marie
There are beneficial nematodes and "un"beneficial ones....not to answer the question for Suzy.
I do enjoy looking at bulbs in other gardens. Giant allium I do like and will add again when I find the right spot. Daffodil's foliage doesn't die out until mid July and it's too hard to hide it.
this is an early spring perennial I like - Leopard's Bane
yep 45 acres of hydbrid bermuda sod farm here, so please just ignore me when I am constantly complaining about having to dig out more sod. lol Right now its going dormant and is a horrible tan color and will be till late April. Hopefully it will be easier to dig while dormant.
bigcityal I am delighted to see the leopards bane as I just planted a few tiny ones in the iris and daylilies. I'll be happy if it grows up to look like the one you posted.
Daisycat is now a good time to put the beneficial nematodes on? We have moles or voles that drive me crazy and I have been thinking I had to wait until spring! I understand the camellias I'd like to try are a favorite desert of those critters, after they munch on grubs.
Hi daisycat, levilyla is right. I was concerned with getting bulb & stem nematodes specific, I believe, to daffodils. Actually I wasn't all that worried, but there was a new study (and this is 5 years ago when it was new) that the Dutch Bulb Grower's Association sponsored showing certain marigolds were good to plant in the fields after harvest to grow until planting time, when they were rototilled under. This was BIG news because nematodes are the plague in Holland. I know a guy whose in charge of the whole shebang and he was so excited about the prospect, his voice was vibrating with excitement when he was explaining it to us! I wanted to impress him just a little, so I planted the marigolds over the existing daffodils I have (not wanting to dig up all of my nearly 400 varieties in that area, only to plant them back again that fall) and decided I liked the look. Previous to this, I had plain bark mulch for 9 months of the year.
The nematodes you are getting are specific to another crop. I'm not sure how there are carnivorous nematodes that eat grubs and vegetarian nematodes that eat bulbs, but I do know they are 2 different kinds totally.
Al, I love Doronicum! Of course, the last thing I need is more yellow in the spring! Regarding the foliage -- the RHS did a 5-year study ending about about 5 years ago. They whacked daff foliage in test beds planted with the same exact varieities of daffodils at 2-week intervals -- 4 weeks, 6 weeks and 8 weeks after bloom. At 4 weeks, the flowers came back, but not as large, but there was no difference in plant or flowering after 5 years for the 6-week and 8-week ripening, so they're telling us that 6 weeks after bloom is all the time the daffodil foliage needs to ripen; after that, whack it off. So, if daffodil foliage is annoying to you, and you like the color yellow in the spring, get EARLY BLOOMING varieties, only. I say if you like yellow because the yellow petaled daffodils typically bloom earlier than the white petalled varieties. (A little trivia) They should bloom 1st or 2nd week in April, at a guess in Wisconsin and ripen before Memorial Day. If you plant them around your perennials and you don't even have to cut the foliage -- let the Helenium and asters take care of it. 'Rapture' is an excellent variety I think anybody would be pleased with; it blooms very early, but it doesn't look like a typical daffodil. It started out in Oregon, right near Swan Island Dahlias, as a matter of fact. The price was maybe $30.00 a bulb when it first came out. It was so good, and wons a lot of ADS awards, and it is such a good grower the Dutch picked it up and you can buy it from B&B for very little. I myself won a big ADS award with it about 5 yers ago. Got a medal and everything.
Tulips, and I know no one will believe this, can be cut off or pulled or dug out as soon as the foliage at the base of the leaves turns dull. This is 1 week to 10 days after flowering. I believe they get their energy before bloom as well as after bloom. I have done this for 10 years, at least, and still have the same tulips blooming. Other things about tulips & daffs: Native to Turkey (tulips) and the Iberian Penninsula, Spain & Portugal to us, they both need heat and to be bone dry in summer, but if they get damp, they need to at least be cool. The easiest way for thos of usnot in Arizona to do this is to plant them 8 inches deep to avoid any wetness from summer rainstorms -- you know, where the ground is so dry any rain except gushers would get soaked up in the soil before it would get 8 inches deep. Then iof the rain did soak down, the 8" depth would keep them cool enough not to rot. As an aside, I have tulips planted in 100% horse manure mixed with straw from the stable and under pachysandra and they have bloomed and increased for 27 years now. You never plant these spring flowering bulbs where an automatic sprinkler can get to them in summer.
Or, you could wait until the new fall-blooming daffodils come out. I'm guessing less than10 years? Of course, they will barely be hardy here in zone 5, so I doubt you'll be able to grow them.
oh, and Daisy, I'm pretty sure you have the wrong picture -- must be Al's or carol's (fancyvan's) - but mine will be gorgeous when I get this Cottage Garden figured out!
Suzy
LOL! Brings new meaning to having to dig out sod, doesn't it? We would all be thinking 12" or so to make a border a little bigger and you'd b talking a whole other animal!
Suzy
Suzy:
Any way I could swap you for some meadow rue? I have black hollyhocks and blackberry lily and lots more later ... I plan to do a lot of winter sowing!
Sharron
Sure, Sharron -- send me a SASE with a note on what youwant and I'll get some out to you. My addy is in the exchange. I don't really need any more hollyhocks & blackberry lily (I don't think -- they're looking good right now) Yours looks so nice, but I don't have the space to grow it like you do in a nice full stand. They are BIG!
Suzy
Thanks Suzy, I will! I think I have some strawberry foxglove if you're interested ... digitalis x mertonensis ... also the tall white nicotiana ... very fragrant, especially at night ...
oooh, you got me! Fragrant Nicotiana would be ultra fab! Thanks!
Suzy