Fabulous & Carefree Perennials for English Cottage Gardens

"To say those who garden are passionate about their hobby is an understatement.  Those who garden live and breathe horticulture, always seeking to improve their plantings and create beauty around each corner."
~Jane Goodger

While formal gardens are all about order and well-defined spaces, English Cottage Gardens bubble in cheerful tangles of flowers that form a kaleidoscope of hue and texture.  To create an English Garden go big on color, but light on labor with this classic, informal garden style, using these plants:

For SUN:

False Sunflowers
Sun-Loving, easy to grow, hardy, heat and drought-tolerant,  False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) with its brilliant yellow daisy-like flowers add cheery color to a garden bed or border. 

https://www.gardenia.net/plant-variety/heliopsis-helianthoides-false-sunflower

Salvia - Vibrant Blue or Pink Flower Spikes

This plant will rev your garden with big, electrified vibrant blue or pink flower spikes above a dense mound of lush foliage.  Extras include its appeal to butterflies and hummingbirds. 

https://www.bluestoneperennials.com/SAMM.html

Yarrow

Drought-tolerant common yarrow (Achillea) grows well in poor soil, making it an ideal plant for xeriscaping, especially if you live in a desert environment.  Yarrow is most often sold as a potted plant but can be easily grown from seed and doesn't need much attention once established. 

https://www.almanac.com/plant/yarrow

Echinacea
An adaptable, easy-to-grow wildflower for your garden.  Grows in a variety of soil types and moistures but is intolerant to long, dry periods and might begin to droop.  The stunning blooms are long-lasting throughout the summer.  Highly attractive to the Monarch butterfly and large seed heads attract small birds later in the season.

https://onplants.ca/product/echinacea-purpurea/

Shasta Daisies

Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) are an old-fashioned favorite for planting in a cutting garden, along a fencerow, or in a half-wild, meadow-inspired cottage garden.  They will not attract the deer wandering through but will draw in butterflies when bursting with blooms in spring and summer.  Shasta daisies are tough and tolerant but prefer well-drained soil and require full sun (at least six hours).

https://www.southernliving.com/garden/flowers/daisy-flower-plant

.

SHADE / HALF-SHADE

Siberian Iris

Like all irises, Siberians (Iris sibirica) have strappy, sword-like foliage, but the leaves of Siberian iris remain quite attractive long after the flowers have faded, offering a texture similar to that of ornamental grass.  Siberian irises are also somewhat more cold-hardy than most bearded iris.

https://www.thespruce.com/growing-siberian-iris-5089592

Japanese Anemones 

Japanese Anemones (Anemone hupehensis) do best in semi-shade, in rich soil with lots of organic matter dug in to improve their structure.  They’re very easy to care for – simply cut the old flower stems back to the base in autumn to keep the plants looking tidy, and remove any tatty-looking old leaves in spring once new leaves start to appear.  They don’t like being dug up and transplanted, and also don’t respond well to being divided, so if you want to propagate them the best way is by taking root cuttings in spring.  Ironically, given that Japanese anemones can be difficult to establish and don’t like disruption, once they are settled in.

https://www.radwaybridgegardencentre.com/news/902/garden-plant-of-the-moment-anemone

Astilbe 

Astilbe (Astilbe spp and hybrids) varieties are hardy. Plant in spring to early fall in a part sun or part shade location spaced 1 to 3 feet apart depending on the variety. Astilbe plants can take more sun but need more shade in warmer locations. Astilbe will grow in a full-shade location, but may not flower well. An East-facing location with morning sun is usually best. Astilbe grows well in moist, fertile soil with a slightly acidic pH. Keep plants well-watered and mulched with a layer of bark mulch. Replenish the mulch each spring and fertilize in spring with compost spread around the plant roots.

https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/best-astilbe-varieties/

Lady's Mantle

Absolutely enchanting after the morning dew, the fuzzy leaves of Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) catch the tiny water droplets which glimmer like tiny crystals. The foliage is a soft grey-green and nearly round with deep lobes, giving them a scalloped look.  From late spring to early summer, masses of finely textured, star-shaped, yellow-green flowers are held in small clusters above the foliage. They work well as a filler in cut flower bouquets or can be dried for fall and winter arrangements.

https://www.greatgardenplants.com/products/ladys-mantle?variant=37358152581287

This is just a small list of flowering plants for an English Cottage Garden.  Here are more that I can suggest, such as Shrub Roses,  Lupins,  Delphiniums,  Lavender,  Poppy,  Hollyhock,  Peonies, Snapdragon,  Foxglove,  Bee Balm,  Loosestrife,  Hydrangeas,  Sage,  Flox,  Goatsbeard,  Spiderwort,  Castor Plants,  Salvias, etc.

Planting and Design Tips:

• Plant in clumps. Avoid individual plants, group your flowers and plants in clumps.
• Mix flower typs. Never have a single flower species in a flower bed, so, mix them all up.
• Mix colors! You can mix all colors. Make sure you choose a wide range of colors too.
• Flowers are the real protagonist. You can have trees and shrubs etc. but you will need lots of flowers in English cottage gardens! They are the real heart of a cottage garden.
• Get rid of large lawn areas. Install more flower beds and have lawns only for footpaths - if at all.

<><><><><>

.   

Savvy Gardening: How to Avoid Plastic

 

Trying to cut back on your plastic use?  Don’t overlook your garden! Have you ever wondered what happens to all the plastic waste we generate in our gardens?  Using less garden plastic will help slow demand for single-use plastics, reduce waste, and also keep plastic chemicals from leaching into your soil.  Over 350,000 pounds of horticultural plastic enters the waste stream each year in the United States alone.

Keep Plastic out of the Garden in the First Place

Recycling is not the solution to dealing with garden plastic.  But how?  Here are effective ways to use less in the future.  Cut demand for horticultural plastics.

Make Your Own Fertilizer - Known as Compost.

Make your own fertilizer, known more commonly as compost.  If you’re not already turning food scraps and garden waste into a nutrient-packed soil additive that plants love, you’re missing out.  It’s a vital and necessary sustainability strategy for reducing waste, closing the nutrient cycle, and preventing air pollution that causes climate change.  Remove plastic stickers from your fruits and vegetables before you compost.  You can make simple homemade fertilizers from food scraps like banana peels, coffee grounds, and eggshells.  If you have a fireplace, wood ash is also a great addition to garden soil.  Leaf mold may be used as a soil conditioner, made from nothing more than composted tree leaves.

Make Your own Mulch

One easy way to cut down on plastic in the garden and save money is to skip bagged mulch and make use of the free materials growing in your yard all season.  Not only do mulches look good and help reduce the number of weeds that pop up, but they also preserve soil moisture and add nutrients and organic matter to your beds over time.  Use seaweed, pine needles, cut-down twigs, or chipped wood.  Many municipalities also offer free wood chips by the truckload at community compost sites.

Pass on Plastic Nursery Pots

If you buy transplants from a garden center, odds are you’re bringing home plants in plastic pots. While some are recyclable or can be brought back to the nursery for reuse, most wind up in the trash.  

• Get divisions from friends, neighbors, plant swaps, social networking groups, and Freecycle.org
• Start your own seeds at home with seed starter pots made from newspaper or toilet paper tubes, or repurpose a cardboard egg carton
• Buy bare-root plants
• Propagate flowers and shrubs from your existing plants
• Look for pots made from compostable materials like coir or paper

Pick Non-plastic Growing Containers

Are you a container gardener? When you’re buying new pots or planters, skip the plastic and go for terracotta, wood, ceramic, or metal. You can repurpose metal tubs or oak barrels you find at flea markets and thrift shops as well.

Choose Plastic-free Tools and Gear

When you have the choice, go for durable metal and wood tools. Plastic tools are more likely to break in the short term and need replacing.  You can often find rakes, shovels, trowels, garden carts, and trimmers made without plastic. I found lots at garage sales for a few bucks or for free.  

Look for Ash handles in tools featuring wood since Ash is one of the strongest and long-lasting woods available.  When buying a tool featuring metal, avoid aluminum and opt for forged carbon, or stainless steel.  Pick cotton garden gloves.  When they wear out, they can be composted along with your food scraps.

Use Plastic-free Weed Barriers

While plastic sheeting suppresses weeds, it also keeps moisture from getting to your plants and can leach chemicals into your soil. Commonly-used “landscape fabric,” while more porous, is made out of woven plastic. Weed roots like to clinch through these tiny holes and it is almost impossible to get the weeds out. “Landscape fabric is one of the worst items a gardener can purchase!"  Instead, use thick layers of newspapers or cardboard and cover them with mulch.  It works well for garden pathways and is good for in-between perennial plantings, too.

Another plastic-free weed barrier that works well when covered with bark mulch is the repurposed burlap sacks from organic coffee roasters.  These are usually made from jute or hemp and will biodegrade into your garden soil, adding nutrients along the way.  Check-in with your local coffee company for more information. 

Enjoy Non-plastic Composters

Plastic composters are widely available but many options exist for composting without plastic.  You can build your own compost bin from up-cycled pallets or other scrap wood, or metal wires, or help speed the composting process with a metal compost tumbler.

Gardening with less plastic can take a little extra thought, but it isn’t difficult.  Try some of these simple swaps and enjoy a plastic-free garden.  You will have the double pleasure of a healthier garden and the knowledge that you have helped to slow the demand for unnecessary plastic.

.

<><><><><>