Today we’re going to talk all things cottage gardens! My latest project has been working on transforming a strip of weedy, reclaimed forest by my house into a beautiful garden filled with flowers. As I was deciding what to do with the area, I decided to go with the cottage garden look instead of a more formal garden.
Ok so, first things first. What is a cottage garden? A cottage garden is a whimsical, informal style of gardening that usually contains a mixture of edible and ornamental plants densely planted together. Plants are allowed to grow and spread until they flow together into a beautiful, somewhat messy array. While this style might not appeal to everyone, I chose to go with it because I like the freedom it gives to be a little messy. I am not very experienced at growing anything other than a vegetable garden, so this is a whole new experience for me. It’s going to take some patience, and it will be a multi-year process before it will be a true cottage garden in all it’s glory. But I am ok with that, and I believe it will be worth the wait.
So, what’s in my cottage garden?
- Lavender
- White Swan Echinacea
- Tall Verbena
- Yarrow (Summer Berries or Colorado mix, not sure which one)
- Daylily
- Apricot Foxglove
- Cosmos, Rubinato
- Aster, Salmon Janina
- Becky Shasta Daisy
- Pink Phlox
- Black Eyed Susan
- Blanket flower
- Various Marigold
- Mixed Zinnia
- A whole bunch of different dahlia tubers
I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money on this project, so I chose to minimize costs as much as possible. If you were to go to a nursery or plant store and buy everything that went into the garden, I’m sure you could have spent a few hundred dollars. I just added up what I spent on plants alone, and it actually came out to less than $50! I was thrilled to discover I didn’t actually spend that much. So let’s talk about where all these plants came from.
I bought quite a few things from seed. The foxglove, asters, zinnia, marigold, cosmos, poppy, and pansy. The poppies and pansies didn’t do as well and I think I planted them at the wrong time in the green house, so those didn’t make it in the ground, maybe next year.
Some plants I traded for. I had some extra vegetable starts, so I traded a friend for some lavender and dahlia tubers she didn’t want. Another generous friend had quite a few plants she divided from her garden to share with me, and she also passed on some dahlia tubers that she divided, and I gave her some veggie starts in return. The Phlox and Black Eyed Susan I bought at a random plant sale. The bricks I used for the border of the garden came from an old chimney my husband tore down at work. I bought a few bags of soil for starting the seeds, but I also used most of it for my vegetable garden, so I’m not really counting the cost.
So far, the garden looks pretty sparse and some of the plants are tiny. I didn’t really design the garden before I planted, and I am not sure if I will like how it is laid out. In time, everything is going to grow, and I can always move things around or take some things out. I’m excited to see what happens!
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