How's this for a stab at cottage gardening?

Alrighty - from here on out I plant what I want where I want it - without worrying about rows, or how many of what goes where. I think that this little section of my garden has a cottagey look. Frpnt left is Speedwell, and at the top several types of dianthus, in the middle of which is a pansy. To the right I have sown seeds of pennyroyal, and hope to have a low carpet of this great low growing mint in sort order - so there is a flat place to step when getting out of the car.

This message was edited Mar 21, 2007 7:25 PM

Another spot I love - with two types of dianthus, geraniums, and rosemary

Bunny is set for the spring show

Wonderful, maryyx! I kind of like to think of cottage gardening as "please myself" gardening. A mix of order and chaos. I just put a pennyroyal into one of those metal children -- you know, the ones where you put a 6" pot of something into the "head" area and the plant becomes hair. I'll put chives in the cat and I'm not sure yet what I'll put in the little boy. But the pennyroyal in the girl should look pretty as soon as it takes off.

I think your beds are charming!

Why thank you, Brigidlily. Here's a pic I took today of a butterfly in the verbena. Well, ok, truth: my husband took the pic. I couldn't get the camera to take a closeup.

And a pansy closeup. I love pansies. To me they are a symbol of what I want to be: hardy enough to handle rough times without becoming hard.... I marvel at their delicacy in the midst of winter.

Pansies are almost scary. They shouldn't be able to do what they do. And the name is used as an insult! HA! It's one I want to grow, just haven't done it yet. Are they better seeded in spring or fall?

I love the butterfly pic; the pansies are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Mary, lookin' good!

Here are some of my Pansies.

The first pic is what they look like on March 31 when direct sown in July. They are very sparse because it was old seed I just threw out, but you can get an idea of the size (decent) and the bloom (non existent yet)

Suzy

That wasn't too impressive, but here is what a flat looks like the when planted in the ground on Halloween the fall before. The flat was $1.99 for 18 - 4" pots. If you count them, it might be more than one flat, now I don't remember. In any case, they bloomed until it got really, really cold on Dec 8th, then resumed about 3 weeks ago. They were partially green al winter. Oh, and these were just plainold pansies, not the special ones bred for winter survival.

Suzy

And another pic, but I'll stop here. I loaded my car 2x for the $1.99 sale and took all the colors I wanted or thought I'd want. LOL! I drive a small car, but it was loaded to the gills both times.

They also had some planters. Maybe 5, 6, 8 plants in an oval or round pot. Also $1.99.

I had these pots in iron plants stands, but they all died when the temperature went down to 8 degrees on Dec 8th. I put 5 containers in the garage and they lived, they just aren't blooming yet. I also had a container I left inside the house in a sunny window which I forgot to water so they died (but I still have the pot they came in). On the table, they had dropped about 3 packs of seed, so I kept that, too. LOL!

Suzy

These are the same pansies from another picture after a week of this phenomenal weather. The color may not look so good but they look great in person and go with the blooming primulas I have on the other side of the patio...I think *anything* blooming looks good this time of year.

Pansies really are awesome. I've not grown them from seed, Brigidlily - just set out the small plants in the fall.