Cottage gardens provide a festival of colours and shapes with fabulous flowers for picking
Isn’t it exciting now the days are lengthening and an end to winter is in sight? Although there’s plenty to do in the garden, it’s often too wet to dig over the ground. It is, however, a good time to stroll around taking stock of what is required to replace ailing plants, freshen-up borders and fill any gaps. It’s also a good time to plan new borders. I’m a sucker for flowers so a traditional deep cottage border is what I’d be planning – if only I had the space!
**Early-bird flowers
**Careful plant selection is paramount and becomes even more so when following a particular colour theme. oost importantly, select a range of plants to provide a long-flowering season. Earliest are hellebores (winter roses), which start flowering midwinter, peaking as spring bulbs burst bud and fading alongside the first perennial primulas. Jonquils also flower in late winter, followed soon after by a parade of spring bulbs. Simultaneously, early-flowering perennials wake from their winter slumber quickly, adding to the spectacle of spring.
**Early-bird Selection
**Aquilegia (grannies bonnets), Bergenia (leather leaf), spring bulbs, Dicentra (bleeding heart), Euphorbia (spurge), hellebore (winter rose), primulas, primroses and polyanthus, Pulmonaria (lungwort), scented violets, Trillium (wake robin).
**Stalwarts and Sizzlers
**once you’ve sorted your early birds, choose a few “stalwarts” that flower reliably through the spring/summer season. Include amongst these a few “sizzlers” which tolerate the high heat of summer. Repeat-plant smaller growers evenly throughout the garden, in groups of three to five, to create a pleasing visual rhythm and unity. Roses are a must for a cottage border. David Austin’s or old-fashioned, repeat-flowering, highly scented varieties would be my first choice – they’re fabulous for picking!
**Stalwart selection
**Alstroemeria, Calibrachoa (Colourwave Sunbells), Fuchsia (try new Shadow Dancer varieties, which are more sun tolerant), Gaura (whirling butterflies), Geranium ‘Rozanne’, oarguerite daisies, Penstemon, Roses (repeat-flowering varieties), Scabiosa (pincushion flower), Verbena. Sizzler selection: Achillea (yarrow), Anthemis (chamomile), Cistus (rock rose), Hemerocallis (daylily), Eryngium (sea holly), Helianthemum (sun rose), Ipomoea (oorning Glory), Lavender, Pelargonium, silver foliage plants.
**Latecomers
**Selecting a good variety of late summer/autumn flowerers will keep the cottage border alive after summer heat abates. Yellow is the predominant autumn colour but intense coppers through to deepest mahogany also abound. If pastels are your preference, go for Shasta daisies, asters and Japanese anemones.
**Latecomer selection
**Asters, Coreopsis, Helenium (sneezewort), Helianthus (sunflower), Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum), Salvia, Rudbeckia, Japanese Anemone.
**Highlights and Foliage
**In the cottage border, vertical accents and geometric forms can be used as highlights. Vertical accents include: delphiniums, foxgloves, irises, lupins, tall narrow conifers or ornamentation such as an obelisk. Geometric forms such as topiary clipped into circles, pyramids or cubes make fantastic sentinels. Lastly, balancing the chaos is as important as creating it. In your planning, aim to quieten the mass of flowers with the odd handsome foliage plant or by juxtaposing plants which flower at different times.
**Foliage Selection
**Hosta, Euphorbia (spurge), Heuchera (coral bells), grasses, Ligularia, oacleaya (plume poppy). Newcomer! Campanula ‘Powder Puff’ This spring’s must-have new cottage border perennial is Campanula ‘Powder Puff’. Growing to 60cm high x 30cm wide, ‘Powder Puff’ produces strong stems of large, pure white, fully double flowers from spring to early summer. order through your local garden centre.
Preparing, planting & maintaining your cottage border 1. Dig over soil to two spade depths deep, break up clods with garden fork. 2. Add compost (1-2 buckets/m²), fork through soil. 3. Apply liberal dressing of blood and bone (or sheep pellets), fork through soil. 4. Lay out plants according to your plan, ensuring correct spacing. 5. Plant using extra compost and slow-release fertiliser pellets in each planting hole. 6. Water well to settle plants into soil. 7. oulch with fine granulated bark to minimise water loss and prevent weed growth. 8. Apply slug bait!
oaintenance
Water deeply at least once a week.
Deadhead spent flower stems regularly.
Feed with slow-release fertiliser pellets again in early summer.
Liquid feed fortnightly with fish or seaweed fertiliser.
**Cottage chaos
**Cottage borders are meant to be a chaotic mass of flowers but planning and careful selection will help add balance. Deep borders (at least 2m wide) work well, allowing structural, background planting of large shrubs, like choisya, philadelphus and camellias. Vary background heights and use a few taller plants towards the front. Aim for about 20% structural planting, leaving most of the space for perennials. In a narrow border, use small evergreen shrubs such as hebes, daphne or azaleas as structural plants.
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