I thought we could use so ideas for substitute plants! Sometimes people in hot climates think they are stuck with tropicals, cacti, succlents, etc.
I'm sure with some brainstorming we can find plants for hot climates that give that loose, green, flowery feel of a true cottage garden.
Some of my favs are:
Mexican Heather
Rose Moss
Four O'Clocks
Morning Glories
Moonflower
Coreopsis
Lantana
Chinese Fringe Flower (Loropetalum)
Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo)
Crape Myrtle
Cottage Gardening for Hot Climates
Dear Larissa,
I saw a picture from a few years back in Fine Gardening of a Texas cottage garden which used Pink Mulhy Grass? I think that's how it's spelled. It was like looking at light pink clouds. One of the most beautiful plants I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, it said zone 6 or warmer. Rats..
Black-Eyed Susan and cana lillies, Frangipanni and Hybiscus, crotons and cosmos, oleander and bohenia trees, and Tibochena's, along with ginger and lots of palms is what works well here.
Larissa,
I use the two season approach.
Winter
and
Summer
And then there is the year round look.
Gorgeous, dale! I'm new to this house and can't say for sure what grows well, but I'm counting on daylilies, lantana, and lemon grass for sure. The roses should do all right if they don't succomb entirely to BS. And zinnias do well down here.
Brigid,
Your lucky. We can't grow zinnias in summer and roses are pitiful here. We are very humid, many kinds of disease and we have soil insects that eat many plants. Our best time to garden is in winter. The plants of summer are fewer, but, we make do. Here is a photo I took 3 hrs ago....
Riotous.
Was that a word on the list?
Should be..
so should Exuberant!
dale, that's what I want mine to look like! While I'm counting on the roses, I'm not entirely hopeful about them. I spent time before work this morning smushing aphids and picking off leaves with spots. I'll give them a try for a year or two because I love them SO much, but I'll pull them up after that if they don't get at least a little pretty.
One does what one can with what one has.
*
dale, you always have great looking pictures. : ) I get alot of ideas from them.
~Lucy
With the warmer weather this bed is starting to come into its own.
Roses do great in heat, I love cecil brunner and lady banks and cl blaze for a good cottage look. snap dragons,zinnias, poppies,calendula,dianthis lupines,rudbeckia,mums,allysium,gypsophilia,delphinium, marigolds. ground covers too, some don`t do good in the cold though which i have here. here is a picture in Barstow california where the temps are in the 100 to118 range, with little water and cold winters. this is lady banks roses all over the front lats patio cover of this restaurant
Dale, what are your "exuberant" orange flowers?
When I was in Phoenix, Zinnias were the best summer bloomers I had. Dont forget the Salvias - I'm thinking of the S. coccinea ... I also loved the Dietes bicolor - I think the common name is African Iris? I think this pic is of the Dietes versicolor (sorry, my memory is shot!). The evergreen leaves are slender spikes that almost look like an upright grass, about 2.5' tall.
Pagancat,
The orange above is Epidendrum http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/66666/index.html
Salvias that do grow here are the wild and rangy types, best as a hedge plant and then the hurricanes flattens them. Zinnias and marigolds both rot in the summer. Except the small flowering zinnias, I love 'Old Mexico', 'Chippendale' and 'Persian Carpet'. I have gotten very tired of the 'Profusion' since they only have three colors. Dietes bicolor is very weedy here because of all the moisture in summer and it needs to be groomed alot in summer because of all the rapid growth and brown leaves (and it doesn't bloom much, spring only).
For 'grassy' foliage this year I am tyring some Dierama species from SAfrica that grow in the warmer areas. I have tried the ones from the Cape, but, they need cooler summer nights. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1684/index.html
I could try that one, cool summer nights i have. i`ll have to see cold hardiness though. Hot summers/coldwinter nights. Do you like the picture of what can be done with the LB roses?
Hellnzn, Dierama should be hardy for you. Are you in the high desert? Climate like Lancaster?
Here is a seller of seed for many different species http://www.silverhillseeds.co.za/ByCategory.asp
Sure, Dale - that makes perfect sense - the diff between the humidity of the desert and Florida makes a huge difference.... one place where the USDA zones really fall-down-and-go-boom. But for Hellnzn -and possibly Larissa- they should do great.
Back in Phx I had also been playing with quite a few of the So. Africans - they're typically the only bulbs that did okay there, and even then our summers could still get too wet for them (believe it or not). But Fressias were perennial (my absolute favorite flower for scent) along with some others, glads, etc. I recommend Jim Duggan's site if you haven't been there - & if he is still selling: (http://www.thebulbman.com) he has some *very* interesting stuff!
Pagancat, I was a resident of SF CA for 13 years and loved growing the SAfrican bulbs that come the Cape area. They don't grow here very well. My second season here I tried Fressia, Ixia, Sparaxis, Watsonia etc. What a disappointment!! By the time they bloom our night temps are in the 70's. Fressia bloomed for about 4 days and had no scent, they were under stress from the heat and the same for most of the other bulbs, except Watsonia. The watsonia grew fine, but, never flowered because our day are not long enough in the summer. I have been trying to find species that grow from eastern SAfrica northward. I am trying some of the summer growing kinds, from seed, right now. Hope this works out.
Thanks for the tip, I had forgotten about Jim Duggan, but I am sure that NCalifornia stock isn't gonna prosper here in the near tropical heat and humidity. I have moved my focus to http://mpeixoto.sites.uol.com.br/amaryl/fotoamaryl4.html and I am having good success.
I have a tiny slate blue rented cottage in coastal Georgia. My landlady has invited me to choose somethng to replace 2 bushes to the right of the right of the front door with "something evergreen that flowers"
The area is shady but bright.
Zone 8b - 10 and poor sandy soil
I want to get something that will grow quickly to keep the symmetry of the waist high bushes I'm replacing - was thinking of getting away from the boring hedge look with pink muhly grass or butterfly bushes.
Other side of door has chest high azaela hedge with deep pink blooms in Spring and a camellliea that does not bloom at all.
Same hedges are around the side of the house on right.
I'd love a cottage garden look - thinking of expanding the bed on the right and the entry side walk. Also want to add an "auspicious" fountain to the entry.
Island, all the flowers that I mentioned should do good in your zone and with low water usage for a cottage garden. The little cottage is adorable, it just needs some posies. Hm evergreen &flowers.
What about pyrocanthas, they will be evergreen w/flwr/berries and grow pretty fast or heavenly bamboo or holly(I amnot sure if it grows fast though),crepe myrtle.
Oh ya Dale I do basically live in Lancaster, it is in the Antelope Valley, 10 minutes North. thanks
Helen,
But not butterfly bush or muhly grass??
Islandmuse, just for grins, giggles and laughs.... whaddya think when you kind of take it back a little? I agree with you that the hedge is kind of overwhelming for a such a cute little place.
Pagan Kitty - teach me how to edit photos???
Hellnzn - landlady says lorepetalum (fringe flower) - what does anyone think?
never heard of it, but ity may not be grown here or I will have to see on plant files?
Ummm - it's really not difficult, it's just a matter of the right software. I am the lucky owner of Photoshop... but I have used Photoshop Elements (*much* cheaper and easy to use) just as effectively.
So, I guess my point with that was to show how much weight that azalea hedge really carries - in it's current shape you're going to have a tough time balancing it out with light and airy things like grasses and wispier bushes, as lovely as they may be. I'm a big fan of grasses.
Would you like me to add or subtract anything else so you can get a feel for it?
island, your cottage is adorable! I agree totally with Pagancat's suggestion; those hedges are overwhelming and detract from the charm. While a butterfly bush may work well on the corner or for height between the windows on the left, I think they would get too big and overwhelming in your zone to use under the windows. I'm not familiar with muhly grass, but some short to mid height grasses would be lovely. I keep envisioning a clematis over the lattice entry, or perhaps a fragrant jasmine. Do keep us posted on what you decide; fun project!
Neal
If it were mine I agree with climbing things and a big arbor too. You said evergreen that flowers so I thought she wanted more shrubby type plants as there are not a lot of evergreen flowers here or vines in my area that do not freeze and I was thinking your zone , the same. Lady banks cl. rose is evergreen but it can overtake the house, honeysuckel is a nice evergreen in most zones vine that flowers and it can be shaped to a hedge or whatever too. I like lots of flowers that self sow and vines and roses for cottages.
island...my home looks alot like yours....here is what popped mine....white picket fence and arbor
island ...i am trying to find a frontal picture of my home with the fence....
here is a partial front view of my home with just the picket fence...no arbor...
brig...thanks for the reminder of lemongrass....i just went online and bought 4 lemongrass...i hope i can grow it in my yard:)
Very sweet place, Sticks!
pagan thanks...i put a slideshow on another cottage link ....shows all my junque!!
So nice yall.
sticks_n_stones, your home is lovely! Wonderful job :)