Cottage garden perennials - any recommendations?

Hi again everyone - more questions from me, the only way to get rid of me is to stop being so helpful:hehe: I really love traditional english cottage garden flowers - I planted some hollyhock seeds in the greenhouse recently (chaters mix) after spotting them in a victorian gardening book which I can't seem to get hold of again, I'd love to know if there are any other flowers that were traditionally grown in cottage style gardens especially if they're easy to grow for beginers. I'm aware that most of them will have to wait to after the winter now but if there are any which, like the hollyhocks can be overwintered in a greenhouse I'd love to get a head start on some. Any advice or recommendations welcome.

 

Echinacea, Foxgloves and Penstemon's are my top three favouites. :thumb: All easy to grow for a fantastic display.

 

Three native wildflowers that make excellent long flowering garden plants are Centranthus ruber (Red Valerian), Astrantia (Masterwort) and Eupatorium atropurpureum (Joe Pye Weed).

 

Just did a search and this was the first hit. Might be of some help.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg2/flat/module3/top_ten_plants1.shtml

Cottage gardens as we know them now evolved over time, with a seemingly wild mix of perennials, herbs, vegetables and annuals all jostling for space and self seeding at will. To re-create it takes a lot of effort but it can be done and looks wonderful.

I'm still trying to do it!

 

Not forgetting Rudbeckia



Cheers...freddy.

 

I raise you on the Rudbeckia front Freddy!



They are a superb perennial, get better each year and never fail to make me smile when I see them blooming at this time of year.

 

Thanks so much everyone, some fantastic sugggestions there to keep me busy! I actually tried to grow Rudbeckia from some kind of root like things but sadly they didn't appear. I saw established plants in homebase garden centre at the weekend at only £4.99 each so I may just pop in and get a couple on the way home tonight, it may be cheating but Freddy & Sussexgardener's pics have tempted me to take the easy option, I want some right away! I think the variety I saw are the same as yours Sussexgardener, are they goldsturm? Does each individual plant spread each year? How many did you plant to get that beautiful display?

Do all you experienced gardeners grow from bulbs/seeds?

 

I grow from a number of different means. Seeds, bulbs, cuttings or division. The best plants are either the free ones or the cheapest ones.

Most plants will need a couple of years before they are established enough to require division, and I would guess that would include your 4.99 rudbeckia.
Don't forget perennial geranium, which is a must, and day lilies, perhaps two of my favored perennials.

Hope this Helps!

 

There are two of those rudbeckia in that clump. This is it's third year and it gets bigger all the time - I might have to divide it in Spring as it's getting too big. No idea which variety it is - bog standard one I think?

Agree with Plant1star on Day Lilies. I adore them - just watching each bloom open each morning is a treat in itself.

 

Wow, only two? Maybe I could get away with planting the two I'm going to get apart from one another and still manage to get two huge clumps of flowers :D

 

For me the quintessential cottage plant is the Marguerite-in fact any daisy flowers of any type-feverfew, ox eyes any of them are perfect. I don't think they can be beaten amongst self sown poppies and the odd bouncing stem of a beautiful rose bobbing about amongst them all.

 

Thanks for the ideas lollipop, I love daisy like flowers myself, I bought 'shasta daisy' seeds recently, ox eyes used to grow wild next to the house I lived in as a kid, they were beautiful!

I bought two rudbeckias, they are about 8-10 centimetres across and 40 high. I think I'm going to plant seperately & hope they'll spread as well as sussexgardener's.

Thanks again for the advice everyone!

 

Another one, if you like traditional cottage garden daisies is Leucanthemum. It's a bit like Marguerite but bigger flowers and blooms for ages.

And of course Sedum Spectabile for some autumn colour.

You also need some height - a nice climbing rose and a couple of clematis. The list is endless

 

Sedum Spectabile look fantastic & they flower until November! I'm going to try & get hold of some of them soon, that's some late summer/autumn colour sorted already :D

 

Some of my favourites include:

Crocosmia (also called Montbretia) - you can get varieties which are 2', 3' or 4' high
Phlox
Linum
Coreopsis
Gaillardia
Verbena
Gaura
Herbaceous Lobelia
Salvia Microphylla (Myrtle Salvia) - the leaves smell like blackcurrant leaves. H 1m. Flower July - November. Hardy down to about -10 C (but with a bit of damage)
I love lupins - but can't seem to grow them (the slugs I can deal with, but the plants just keel over and die).
Physalis (Chinese Lanterns) - can be invasive but worth it IMHO!
And, of course, the day lillies (Hemerocallis)

As a BTW - I've seen 90% of these plants in H'base - who just happen to be having a 15% off weekend at the moment.

I'd suggest that initially, you buy plants which are easy to propagate, i.e. ones that self-seed or you propagate by division - you can discard what you don't want at a later date - but loads of new plants at once can seriously damage the relationship with your bank!

My top tip .. don't overlook what I call 'casualty corner'. If it's a plant I want, my rule is - if it's less than half it's original price but more than half alive, it's worth buying . If you are a novice gardener, there's a great deal of satisfaction in repotting something, giving it a bit of TLC and getting a happy plant cheaply and, if it doesn't survive ... well, you haven't wasted a fortune.