craftyhunnypie Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Help! I need advice on what to plant for a cottage garden look. I know of hollyhocks, lupins & the like - but what will I be able to sow or plant in the immediate cottage gardens in mid August? I've seen a beautiful garden recently with lots of tall flowers - absolutely stunning. I want to pretty up my new house garden. Will be spending lots of time, digging the veg garden to be, which was once a little paddock for rounding up sheep. Then I've got two squares of garden/ lawn at the front of the bungalow & some grass borders edging the patio at the back - All chook safe, as surrounded by fencing & bungalow built on concrete platform. I want to attract butterflies & bees & like perfumed flowers too. I adore flowers - big time! Help! Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I don't have a cottage garden but do have a lot of new plants - buddleias are good for butterflies apparently (I think they're also known as the Butterfly Bush). If you look at my photos here, you'll see a salvia (the purple one) which I think would look nice in a cottage garden . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Hollyhocks and foxgloves for height, mallow is another lovely colourful flower. I have limnanthes (poached egg plants) at the front of the border, and lavender, alchemilla mollis (Ladies Mantle) and catnip behind that. How about a rambling rose as well? Stocks, Sweet William, nigella are good too. Foxgloves and hollyhocks are biennial, you should be able to put in plants now to flower next year. Things like alchemilla and the poached egg plants will self-seed, you'll never get rid of them! In true cottage garden style you could always grow some herbs in amongst them, or have a wigwam of runner beans for height. Buddleia and hebes are very good for attracting bees and butterflies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 All those sound wonderful Olly! Love the poached egg plant on google images. Not keen on the ladies mantle - too green for me. Would I be able to get hold of most of those mid August to plant in & would they flower this year at all - so as to get immediate colour? I love lavender. ANH - that purple Savia is beautiful - have added that to my list. Aha.. buddleia of course for butterflies. Thanks. Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I agree with Olly about hebes - they are excellent for filling in space below the taller plants and bees love them. Lavender as well, which can be quite small and compact or tall and almost 'blowsy'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 We've put in a Salvia Mystic Spire, Hebe Kirkii and a lovely Astilbe Arendsii Fire. Some pics here It's still a work in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I've got a cottage gardeny area in my garden and I've found the flowers that the bees like the most are the Icelandic Poppies. Each has dozens of flowers as opposed to just a couple on the ordinary bigger poppies. They seem to be flowering forever at the moment! The bees haven't seemed to have paid much attention to the Lupins nor the Delphiniums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 the bees and butterflies in my garden seem to love, in no particular order: lavender; hebe; sedum; buddleia; michaelmas daisies (asters I think they are - quite small, purple flowers); blackberries; raspberries; roses; escallonia; ivy what I think of as cottage garden are things like: roses, delphiniums, hollyhocks, wild-type poppies, lupins, aconitum, pinks, ivy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I'm afraid most of these will be pretty much over by August - you could certainly put Michaelmas daisies/asters in, but you'd have to buy them as flowering pots I should think. I'd just plan ahead for next year and plant some spring bulbs, I don't expect to have a lot of colour in my garden by August. That's where things like hebes (evergreen), the alchemilla, lavender etc come in as they provide some structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddie Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 open flowering roses,and marigolds. Stock, and nicotinia, for smell amd moth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickpea Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Gypsophelia, Aquilegia, Thalictrum, Penstemons, Verbena Bonariensis? Also Rudbeckia and dahlias will keep going till first frosts, how about some grasses to give height & structure in winter? Look great on a frosted morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 I absolutely love dahlias! Love delphiniums too, as they remind me of a very special lady I lost. I'm planning on making a cut flower patch ( large one) for next year, very excited about that. I like fragrant flowers too - stocks..I'd forot about those! I like gladioli too! Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhoundgirl Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 peonies and iris and lots of different types of roses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I can recommend Verbena Bonariensis especially planted with tall grasses like stipica gigantica to give height movement & structure the bees,hover flies and butterflies love the verbena which is perrenial and self seeds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
