#WATERING_SYSTEMS

[angusstory]

Congratulations! You had a bumper crop of sage this year! Or maybe you found a baker’s dozen of potted basil plants on clearance at your grocery store. Whatever the reason, you have more herbs than you’re able to use fresh and you need to figure out a way to make them last. Drying herbs to preserve them is a practice that has been around for as long as cultivation has been a part of human civilization. The concept of drying is extremely simple. You just want to expose as much of the surface area of the plant to the air as you can so the moisture evaporates – the quicker, the better. But as with many things that are conceptually simple, the execution requires a little more nuance. To help you save those herbs, we’re going to discuss the many methods of dehydrating. Here’s what to expect, coming right up: Almost any herb can be dried, so long as you understand the various methods available and when to use them. The flavor of the plants comes from the oils stored inside their cells. Dehydrating concentrates these oils while removing the moisture that can cause herbs to spoil. Get your screens, hangers, or dehydrators ready. Those herbs aren’t going to dry themselves! Methods of Drying There are many ways to dry herbs. Some work faster than others, and some are better for larger or thicker plants, but all of them will work if you’re patient. Air drying has the distinct advantage of being free. However, it takes much more time and it usually takes up more space than other methods. You can do this by hanging harvested plants or laying them out. Bonus points if you can lay them out on a screen. Dehydrators usually take up less room and they’re much, much faster than air drying. They’re also more expensive than the air method and unless you have a monster-sized dehydrator, you can only process small batches at a time. The biggest advantage to this option is that you can dry the leaves quickly but at a controlled, low temperature, retaining the flavor better than other methods as a result. You can also often use your oven, though this method isn’t always effective for those that must be dried on low heat. Most ovens can’t go below about 175°F or so, and most herbs should ideally be dehydrated at around 90 to 110°F. Some microwaves are also good for drying herbs, depending on the available wattage. How to Harvest Herbs for Drying Harvesting starts the day before you intend to do the work. Water the soil well and then spray the plants with water to remove any debris, pollen, sprays you’ve applied, or dirt. While every herb is different, most should be harvested in the morning while the plants are full of moisture, but after the dew has evaporated. Whenever possible, harvest entire stems rather than individual leaves. Most are best harvested before or just as they start to flower. Of course, this doesn’t apply to plants that you want to dry to harvest the seeds. With herbs, we’re generally talking specifically about the edible leaves, as opposed to the seeds, bark, or roots, which would classically be described as spices. The younger leaves toward the end of the stems usually have the most flavor, with the highest concentration of oils. You can leave behind a six-inch length of stem when you harvest, and most will regenerate new growth. Use a sharp pair of scissors to snip the parts you intend to use. Pulling or twisting bruises the plant and causes it to deteriorate more quickly. Immediately after harvesting, place what you’ve picked in a cool, sheltered spot until you can process it for drying. Even better, place the stems in a glass of water as you would a bouquet. Don’t leave harvested stems in direct sunlight. Once you arrive indoors, or wherever you intend to prep your harvest, trim off and discard any damaged leaves. Air Drying When air drying, the ideal spot is indoors in a warm, sheltered space with good air circulation. You can also do this outdoors, but try to find an area that’s well protected from sun, insects, and wind. Hanging works best for plants with woody or firm stems. Think rosemary, sage, lemon verbena, and the like. For flimsier, more tender types like basil and parsley, lay the harvest out on a screen. To bundle herbs for hanging, loosely secure a handful of stems towards the lower, cut end with a rubber band or string. You don’t want to create a bundle that is too large or you run the risk of mold forming. Then, hang the bundles singly with a few inches between each one. I like to suspend a few bundles on a hanger in my attic, basement, or covered patio, depending on the time of year. But you can use anything really, from a clothesline to nails over a doorway. Be aware that as the stems dry, they shrink, which means some may fall out of the bundle. Experienced air dryers often use rubber bands to avoid this problem, because the bands usually tighten up as the bundle dries. If you want to collect the seeds from whatever plant you’ve harvested, fasten paper bags over the heads to collect the seeds as they fall. To dry flat, use a screen, mesh, or wire to lay the herbs in a single layer. If you don’t have any of those available, use a baking sheet with a few layers of newspaper or paper towels on top. Try to keep the herbs from touching, if possible. You can leave the leaves on the stems if you want, but things will go faster if you strip the leaves from the stem if you go with this option. Whether you hang them or lay them flat, location is important. It should be as dark as possible, with good air circulation and fairly warm temperatures around 70°F. Avoid the bathroom, laundry room, areas near the sink or dishwasher, or any other place that has high moisture. Don’t hang them in front of a window, even though that looks awfully pretty. Hanging can take a week or more, while laying flat takes a bit longer. Using a Dehydrator A dehydrator is ideal for plants that have a high moisture content. Basil, mint, tarragon, sage, thyme, and parsley are common ones to preserve this way. These plants need to dry quickly or they risk developing mold. Use leaves of a similar size and place them in a single layer. The leaves shouldn’t be touching. Set your dehydrator to 90 to 110°F and run it for as long as necessary to remove all of the moisture from the leaves so they’re dry and crumbly. This should take anywhere from one to three hours. If you notice that it seems to be taking a long time to dry the leaves, turn the dehydrator up a few degrees. Feel free to flip or shift the leaves or trays around, for even heating. If you live in an area with high humidity, you can dry all the way up to 125°F, but remember that lower temperatures are always better. Don’t have a dehydrator? No problem! Check out this roundup of some of the best models on our sister site, Foodal. Drying in the Oven Oven drying isn’t ideal. Most ovens can’t hold a low enough temperature to dehydrate the plant matter rather than cooking it, and that means you lose nutrients and flavor. Remember how we talked about the flavor of an herb coming from the concentrated oils that it contains? If you use too high of a temperature, you lose some of those oils – and the flavor as well. To dry, turn your oven on as low as it can go, and place the leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet. If your oven doesn’t go as low as 125°F, leave the door open a bit to reduce the heat level inside. This is a terrible waste of energy, but it works in a pinch if you need to dry some herbs quickly. It helps to flip them and turn the trays every 20 minutes or so. Depending on the temperature and the amount of plant matter in the oven, it will take an hour or two to completely dry the leaves. As with the other methods on this list, you’ll know the plants are done when you can crumble the leaves between your fingers. Don’t let them bake for too long or the leaves will burn. Using the Microwave You might curse your low-wattage (1000 or below) microwave when you’re trying to heat up a big pot of soup, but that low power is a big plus when it comes to drying herbs. Place a single layer of leaves between two paper towels. Set the microwave to defrost or the lowest heat setting and run it for two to three minutes, depending on the thickness of the leaves. Flip the paper towels and cook for another few minutes. Continue doing this until the leaves are dry and crumbly. Do not leave the microwave unattended during this process. The paper towels can catch on fire, particularly if you don’t have enough leaves in the microwave. Also, never use recycled paper towels because they can contain metal, and we all know how well metal and microwaves get along. Storage Regardless of which method you choose, you can be sure the leaves are dry when they crumble easily between your fingers. This is important, because you don’t want them to get moldy in storage. Fully dried leaves should be stored in airtight containers in a cool, dark place. Don’t expose them to light or high heat. If you’ve been processing your harvest in a warm kitchen, leave the lids off when you move them to the cooler storage area. Once the jars have cooled, put the lids in place. This process helps to avoid condensation inside the jars. Don’t forget to label the jars. You’d be surprised how much dry herbs can look alike and it can be hard to tell the difference even if you smell them. Most herbs can be stored for up to a year. When using, keep in mind that dried herbs are typically twice as strong (or more!) than fresh ones. Savor the Flavor of Your Herbs Drying is a classic choice of preserving for a reason. It’s incredibly easy and it works. You don’t need fancy tools or equipment, though having a food dehydrator is a real advantage. Don’t stress if you don’t have one, though. There are lots of other methods to choose from. Which method are you using? Which herbs are you drying? Fill us in via the comments below! Hopefully, this guide gave you the confidence to fill your cupboard with herbs galore! And for more information about growing and using herbs, check out these guides next: © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published April 28th, 2022. Last updated April 27th, 2025. 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[alexha2210]

Creating a sense of place has been a recurring garden theme for years now, and it lends authenticity to any setting, especially here in the Southwest. For me, nothing does this better than the use of succulents, both locally native ones and those that are well-adapted from far-off places. This may be one of the few unifying garden themes that rightfully extends across our Southwest region, from the California coast to South Texas. Indeed, succulents seem to be everywhere these days! Their water-thrifty nature is a strong selling point in a region with erratic precipitation, recurring droughts, and frequent hot temperatures. Don’t have time to water today? They’ll still be there tomorrow. Dealing with gritty poor soil? Who cares! Going on vacation? No worries . . . they are the ultimate in durable plants.If that is not enough to sell you, their spectacular diversity of form and color adds a sculptural element like no other category of plant, whether planted en masse in the ground or used in containers as focal points in cooler regions. Choosing your favorites is going to be your biggest challenge. Knowing your conditions is the first consideration, as some tolerate hot sun better than others, and many do best in bright shade. There is endless info online to help you decide. Listing my own favorites could easily surpass the one hundred mark, so I’ll narrow it way down to just a handful of categories. All the following species will need: Excellent drainage Dry intervals between watering Full to dappled sun, depending on the extremes of your own conditions. Most are hardy into Zone 8 or 9, but frost tolerance varies, so do some research for your area. Tree houseleek Aeonium spp. and cvs. Zones: 9–11 Size: Up to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, depending on the cultivar Aeoniums are among the largest rosette-leaved plants in the sedum family, originating mainly in North Africa and the Canary Islands. A. arboreum and other species are attractive enough on their own, but selected variations and hybrids now span a wide range of colors and sizes. A few can have robust dinner plate–sized rosettes from minty green to nearly black-wine in color. Clustered evenly on sturdy stems up to 3 feet tall, they complement any other succulents with their perfect symmetry and flowerlike form. Although they’re excellent in sun on the West Coast, you’ll need to provide dappled light in desert locations like Tucson, Arizona. Some tolerate light frost, but others will not, so do your research and be prepared to protect them in colder areas. New colorful hybrids labeled as × Semponium, were created by crossing Aeonium with the tough genus Sempervivum. These new options have added to the color/size selection but exhibit little if any of their hardy Sempervivum heritage. ‘Arizonia Star’ Weber agave Agave weberi ‘Arizona Star’ Zones: 8b–11 Size: Up to 5 feet tall and 7 feet wide Agaves come in all sizes, from 3-inch minis to 8-foot giants. Some are formidably armed with teeth and spiny tips, and others are soft-leaved and gardener-friendly. A favorite of mine is ‘Arizona Star’ Weber agave. Allow adequate space when planting as it can reach 3 to 6 feet across in surprisingly short order. The gold-edged smooth leaves are luminous when backlighted, allowing the plant to stand out as an elegant focal point whether in the ground or elevated in a container. Santa Rita prickly pear Opuntia santa-rita Zones: 7–11 Size: 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide Prickly pears are structural icons of the Southwest, and I have dozens in my gardens, from the giant (and less spiny) O. ficus-indica down to some truly miniature forms. But the one that gets my attention over and over in all seasons is the Santa Rita prickly pear. Native primarily to southern Arizona, it is widely planted due to its robust form and richly colored pads in shades of blue-green to violet-purple. The best color develops when grown in dry conditions and during winter chill. This comes close to a color “not found in nature,” as they say, yet here it is! Handle with care though. It is well armed with short bristles called glochids that detach easily and can lodge in skin, gloves, and fabric. Plant this in the background or a less-frequented area to be on the safe side. Hedgehog cacti Echinopsis spp. and cvs. Zones: 8b–11 Size: Up to 3 feet tall and wide, depending on the cultivar These small to medium cacti range from clustering barrel forms to midsize columns. They are easy to grow in morning sun or partial shade in desert areas and are also suited to well-drained containers in wetter climates. They make a sculptural focal point or accent all year, quietly increasing in size. After a dry winter rest, their fuzzy buds appear, slowly enlarging until some warm day in April when hand-sized blooms suddenly burst open in unison for a glorious one-day engagement. Occasional blooms may appear throughout the growing season, but most will last just one day, perhaps two. Watch the buds closely and plan a last-minute gathering to share the occasion with friends. Fencepost cactus Pachycereus marginatus Zones: 9–11 Size: 12 feet tall and 3 feet wide (over time) The famed fencepost cactus hails from Mexico and needs little introduction. I include this as a favorite because it is one of the larger succulents that contributes height and structural elegance with minimal spikiness. Smooth vertical lines are uninterrupted by stops and starts like some columnar cacti, and its spines are tiny and do not detach easily, clustered only along the symmetrical ribs, which makes for easier handling when necessary. A better focal point or backdrop plant is hard to find, and slowly clustering specimens just keep getting better with time. Echeveria Echeveria spp. and cvs. Zones: 9–11 Size: Up to 12 inches tall and wide The pastel rosettes of echeveria are the perfect complement to all the above plants, coming in shades of waxy aqua-blue to rosy purple, wine red, and mojito green. In hot climates they may prefer a bit of light shade but in coastal areas can tolerate full sun. Depending on your conditions, they may appreciate a bit more moisture than other succulents, but good drainage is still essential, and they will tolerate dry periods without complaint. In recent years many hybrids have been created with closely related genera. The diversity is endless, so it’s best to see them in person and buy the ones you like. These make colorful container combinations and enliven rock gardens in mild climates—there are few limits to creative uses of these stunning plants.   Discuss this and any other gardening topic in our Southwest gardening forum.Find more information on Southwest gardening here. Dan Johnson lives and gardens in Denver, Colorado, and in Tucson, Arizona. He is an associate director of horticulture for the Denver Botanic Gardens. Photos: Dan Johnson Fine Gardening Recommended Products Bee Watering Station with Vivid Flower Design Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Thoughtful Combo: You will receive a bee feeder and 30 glass marbles. This thoughtful combo can provide clean water for the bees, you just need to put the marbles into the bee watering station, add water (note: the water level should not exceed the height of the marbles) and hang them in the right place. The round, colored marbles can provide a place for the bees to stand and prevent them from falling into the water, effectively keeping the bees safe. Fine Material: This exquisite bee bath is made of high quality iron material, smooth surface, rust and weather resistant, not easy to fade, sturdy and reliable. Bee cups for garden can well meet the drinking water needs of lovely bees, and it can also provide food for bees, such as sugar water, nectar, etc., attracting more bees to your outdoor area and making your garden full of vitality. Perfect Size: The butterfly watering station has an overall height of 13.4 inches, a bowl diameter of 9.4 inches, and a weight of 0.44 pounds. The bee cup serves the needs of the bees well without plunging them into dangerously deep water or taking up unnecessary space in your garden, and this compact and efficient design makes it a practical addition to any outdoor space. Elegant Design: Our bee watering cups are designed in unique flower shapes with vibrant and realistic colours to attract lovely bees to your garden and patio, bee feeders for outside are not only functional but can also be used as a landscaping element, their vibrant floral patterns enhance the beauty of your garden. Multicolored Decoration: Colorful bee water stations look like flowers in a garden, flower bed or pot and attract bees and butterflies. They can drink or bathe in bee feeders, which are highly decorative and practical. The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. A crevice garden replicates the environmental conditions of mountain tops, deserts, coastlines, and other exposed or rocky places on earth. These striking garden features provide perfect conditions for the plants native to these far-off places, bringing the cultivation of these precious gems within everybody’s reach. Lee Valley Garden Obelisks Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Sturdy yet lightweight, these obelisks provide ample support for climbing plants while being easy to install and move. The medium obelisk stands 68 1/2" high overall with a diameter of about 9 1/2", compact enough for smaller containers indoors or out. The large size stands 86 1/2" high with a diameter of 15 3/4", ideal for larger outdoor spaces and containers. Source link

[tumibaba]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

[monaleen101]

April 11th, 2025 Posted In: Sheds/Sanctuaries Greenhouse gardening can stretch the flowering season, giving you blooms up to six weeks earlier than usual.And although a full size greenhouse can also be a living space – a haven away from the world – you can get the same growing benefits from lean-to greenhouse shelving, cloches and cold frames.Tom Brown is the author of The Greenhouse Book and head gardener at the stunning West Dean Gardens in Sussex. Over a year, Tom set up and used every kind of greenhouse structure in his own middle-sized garden. These ranged from a full-size hobby greenhouse to lean-to shelving, cold frames, and even simple cloches.With the advent of AI, it’s easy to find an answer to almost any question. But if you don’t know where that answer comes from or whether it has been tried out in real life, you may not be much the wiser. That’s why Tom has tried everything he writes about In The Greenhouse Book. And he shares what really works, even in the smallest space.So I asked him to answer some of the most common questions about choosing and using a greenhouse.Buy The Greenhouse Book here (affiliate link, see disclosure) or here. The book is photographed by Jason Ingram, who also has written an excellent book on How to Photograph Gardens.Choosing a greenhouse – what is best for a small or middlesized garden?The first question anyone asks is ‘what size of greenhouse should I choose?’Tom says that you should choose the largest size of greenhouse you can manage for your space or budget!‘I wish I’d bought a bigger greenhouse,’ is probably the only real regret you will ever hear from a greenhouse owner.However, if you don’t have space, you can get the benefits of greenhouse growing on a smaller scale by using cloches, cold frames or lean-to shelving mini greenhouses.Cloches and cold frames can be used for small-space greenhouse gardening. Top shows a cloche from Elho made to fit a window box. Above are the cold frames at West Dean. They could be described as low walled boxes with a glass ‘lid’.Are mini or lean-to greenhouses effective?While writing The Greenhouse Book, Tom installed every possible size of greenhouse structure in his own garden.So he bought an inexpensive set of mini greenhouse shelves and set them against a south-facing wall. ‘I was able to grow everything in the mini greenhouse shelves that I grew in the larger greenhouses,’ he says. (Obviously, in smaller quantities!).He used the mini greenhouse shelves for growing seeds and over-wintering plants. ‘Then in summer, the shelves can be removed so I used them for growing tomatoes.’This mini greenhouse shelving is in a garden created entirely from pots. These are ideal for small spaces or if you’re renting and want to take everything with you. See more of this garden in rented gardens!Should I choose glass or polycarbonate panels?Tom says that glass panels break more easily, so you may prefer polycarbonate if you have a children or pets. ‘But glass lets in a little more light and they’re easier to repair when they do break.’Having assembled all the greenhouses for the book in his own garden, he admits to being ‘terrible at DIY – I’m not ashamed to admit that I broke several panes of glass while installing them.’But he found it relatively easy to find a glass shop who could cut him new panels to size. ‘If you’re buying a greenhouse second-hand – and that’s the reality for many people – then it may well be missing a few frames or frames can break in transit. So glass would be easier to replace.’What’s the best position for a greenhouse in my garden?Tom says that the first thing to consider is access from the house, especially in winter. ‘If your greenhouse is tucked away, you won’t visit it as often. And also if you have to cross the lawn to access it, you’ll wear a path in the lawn. Incorporate it in the design of your garden.’Avoid placing greenhouse structures – lean-to shelving, cloches or cold frames –  under the shade of trees or in the shadow of walls or buildings.This beautiful lean-to greenhouse at West Dean Gardens is on a north-facing wall, so is used for plants that are happy with bright shade rather than needing hours of direct sunlight.And, although you can place a greenhouse against a north-facing wall ( south-facing in the Southern hemisphere), it will limit what you can grow in it. ‘Here at West Dean we have a lean-to greenhouse on a north facing wall. We use it for ferns and for growing tulips in winter/spring and fuschias in summer because they’re happy with some shade. But seedlings could get leggy if grown in a greenhouse structure against a north-facing wall.The cooler north-facing lean-to greenhouse at West Dean is used for fuchsias, lilies and pelargoniums in the summer.What flowers grow best in a greenhouse?Most people think of greenhouses as places to grow veg. And many veg, such as cucumbers, chillies, aubergines and tomatoes need the extra shelter and warmth of a greenhouse in summer to ripen properly. The Greenhouse Book has lots of veg growing advice, but I wanted to know more about the flower growing side of a greenhouse.For example, can you grow flowers in a greenhouse all year round? Tom says that greenhouse growing is best for extending your flower year rather than year-round flower growing.Use the greenhouse for veg during the hot summer and for flower growing in autumn, winter and spring. ‘Many flowers will find a greenhouse too hot in the summer,’ he says.Many people keep exotic plants in pots in the garden or on a terrace during the summer, then over-winter them in a greenhouse in winter.This makes the most of your greenhouse in winter. ‘Don’t use it just as a storage space!’ he says.Tom’s favourites include stocks and sweet peas, which he plants as seeds in the autumn. The young plants and seedlings then sit in the greenhouse, apparently dormant over winter. But their root system is growing stronger all the time, so when the longer daylight hours of spring and summer arrive, they’re ready to go out into the garden and flower around six weeks earlier.You get a longer flowering season this way because you can also grow the same flowers from seed starting in spring, and these will flower later. This two-sowing way of growing sweet peas, for example, can give you blooms for months on end.You can sow many seeds in autumn, including ammi major, cerinthe, California poppies and cornflowers. See Sowing Seeds – An Expert Guide.And Charlotte Denne of Kent Wildflowers recommends sowing wildflowers in trays and pots to overwinter for planting out in the spring. See How to Grow Wildflowers.Can I grow cut flowers in a greenhouse?Very much so, says Tom. His wife is a florist. He says that as soon as The Greenhouse Book was finished, she took over most of various growing spaces to grow cut flowers.Tom Brown with the flowers he’s grown in his own home greenhouse – he says that a greenhouse means you get flowers earlier and they’re protected from the weather so they’re perfect blooms.Tom recommends growing florists’ anemones, ranunculus and bulbs in the greenhouse.  You’ll get perfect flowers. ‘The winter weather can damage blooms, so growing these in a greenhouse means you have perfect cut flowers.’There’s no damage from wind or weather on these tulips – they’ve been grown in a greenhouse at West Dean.Are there any flowers or flowering plants I should NOT put in a greenhouse?Tom says that you can grow any plant in a greenhouse. Just be aware of the greenhouse climate and whether it is suitable for that particular plant. ‘And any plant that flowers in spring will flower earlier if you keep it in a greenhouse over winter.’How do I use a greenhouse for overwintering tender plants?Tom suggests moving chrysanthemums, pots of spring bulbs, cannas, fuchsias, pelargoniums, anemones and ranunculus into an unheated greenhouse during the winter to protect them from frost.The plants won’t grow much, but their root systems will be ready to spring into growth about six weeks earlier than usual when the longer days arrive.Tom says that there are two important aspects to greenhouse gardening in winter.Firstly, don’t over-water your plants! During the winter, when the plant is barely growing, it isn’t using up much water. So water can sit in the pot and rot the roots.Secondly, clean your greenhouse windows to let every bit of light through.Tom’s home greenhouses didn’t have any fixed heating. ‘Many people are either renting or can’t afford to run electricity and water through the garden to the greenhouse, so I didn’t heat my home greenhouses.However, he suggests using bubble wrap to protect plants (or the greenhouse windows) if it gets very cold. And you can also raise the temperatures just above freezing with a small portable heater or even a candle in a terracotta pot.How do I stop a greenhouse from overheating in summer?There are three ways to stop a greenhouse from overheating in summer. Firstly, at West Dean, Tom’s team paint most of the greenhouse windows with a chalk paint to reduce temperatures in the summer.‘We use a roller because they’re big greenhouses,’ he says. ‘But when I was doing the book, I tried to use a roller on the smaller domestic size greenhouse and it made such a mess! So for hobby greenhouses, I’d suggest using a big paintbrush. Use a washable chalk paint on the outside of the panes. You may have to top it up if it’s rained off.’Most of the greenhouse glass at West Dean is painted to keep greenhouses from over-heating on hot days. Tom says to use a brush not a roller on smaller, hobby greenhouses.Then in the autumn, you’ll need to scrub it off with a stiff brush and water. ‘I won’t say it’s quick,’ says Tom. ‘You do need a bit of elbow grease.’Secondly, ventilation is key in any greenhouse. Tom advises listening to your instincts. ‘If you go into your greenhouse and it feels too hot, then it probably is.’ Open the door or doors and lift windows for ventilation.And on a very hot day, Tom also splashes water on the floor to cool the greenhouse down!How do I keep pests and diseases under control?Pests and diseases can be an issue in a greenhouse as it is a confined space. Tom says that it’s a good idea to have a variety of plants, because a pest or disease will spread through a mono-culture (rows of the same variety of plants) very quickly.He also recommends keeping a close eye on the plants and acting quickly. If you see some spider mite or aphids, wipe them off with your finger as soon as you see them.He also uses biological controls that won’t damage other species, such as SB Plant Invigorator Pesticide & Natural Pest Control.But you also need a few pests in any environment in order to get pest predators, he says. The old style of greenhouse gardening was to say ‘if it flies, it dies!’ and the greenhouse had to be a very sterile place where nothing lived except for the plants you were growing.Today, gardeners are generally more relaxed about a little bit of mildew or a few pests. They’ll just remove the offending foliage or wipe off the pests without feeling they have to spray everything in the whole greenhouse.What are the best space-saving tips for a small greenhouse?Tom advises uses staged greenhouse shelving to maximise usable space in a greenhouse. You need to stay aware of how shelving affects the light, however. The shelves at West Dean have slatted shelving and are staged at up to four different levels.You can cram a greenhouse, says Tom. If you want to prioritise growing in a greenhouse and don’t want to leave a space for a table or chairs, you can leave just a very narrow path in the middle so that you can walk up and down.He also says that keeping a greenhouse tidy will save space. And because gardening tools can be sharp or heavy, that’s also safer.Staged slatted shelving at West Dean Gardens makes the most of the growing space and the light. But check that shelving isn’t taking light away from seedlings or they will get leggy and bend towards the sun.If you want to use your greenhouse for potting up, you don’t necessarily need a permanent potting bench. Tom uses a large tray as a potting bench in his greenhouse at home so that he’s not taking up permanent space with it.If you want chairs and a table inside the greenhouse then the table can double as a potting bench. When not being used for potting up, you can use it for cups of tea or even a book.Visit West Dean GardensWest Dean Gardens are one of the UK’s most famous restored historic gardens. They’re attached to the much-loved West Dean College of Arts, Design, Craft & Conservation. As well as doing diplomas, online courses, week or weekend courses and post-graduate degrees, you can also do courses in horticulture, garden design and gardening.Tom himself teaches The Gardening Year At West Dean, a beginner gardening course. Other practical gardening skills courses he teaches include Growing Cut Flowers and Summer Fruit Tree Pruning.West Dean Gardens are open to the public for 362 days a year, although opening times vary so check the website.Pin to remember answers to common greenhouse gardening questionsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration. Source link

[shelyold]

Pretty peonies are the quintessential romance flowers. They come by their popularity as a wedding flower and Instagram-worthy showpieces because of their truly breathtaking form and sweet fragrance. This everything guide to peonies covers the history and symbolism of peonies, the different cultivars, as well as how to grow, harvest, and use garden peonies. I’ve never met a person who didn’t love peonies. All it takes is one neighbour to grow a beautiful peony flower to make you run out to the garden centre to get your own. Peonies are incredibly giving flowers once they get established. They bloom large, showy flowers yearly and can remain in your garden for your entire life. Here’s how to grow peonies and harvest them to brighten up the home. Harvest peonies at different stages to ensure a long vase life of flowers. Expert Tips for Growing Peonies Plant peonies in full sun, where they can get 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. Peony flowers are drought-tolerant and require no additional fertilizer. Peonies require staking as the plants can get quite top-heavy when in bloom. If it rains, gently shake the water collected in the flowers to stop them from weighing down. To cut flowers, harvest them when they’re still a squishy bud, known as the marshmallow stage. Peonies can bloom starting in April through to June. History and Symbolism of Peonies In Eastern cultures, the peony is known as the “king of flowers” and a symbol of wealth, honour, and beauty. Peonies are often seen at weddings and are sometimes reserved for royalty. It was the national flower of China for over 250 years before being replaced. In Greek mythology, it is said that peonies are named for Paeon, a physician to the gods, while there are other stories of beings turned into peonies out of jealousy or immortality. Many intertwined tales around the world of peonies follow the themes of high value as a medicinal plant and as a striking beauty. In both European and Asian countries, these beautiful flowers were traditionally grown for their medicinal properties. Paeonia lactiflora is often used in Chinese herbal medicine. Asian countries use a decoction made from the root to treat inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, hepatitis, muscle cramping, and fever. The flower buds and petals are often used as a tea. Peony petals look beautiful served raw in salads but the buds and pedals can also be fried. Peony Varieties There are thousands of different cultivars of peony that are divided into three major groups. Herbaceous or Garden Peonies are sun-loving garden perennials which include species such as the medicinal Paeonia lactiflora. They are low maintenance in Zones 2 to 8 and require little water once established. They can be an investment to get started in the first few years, but after that, they will require little maintenance to bloom prolifically for many years to come. Tree Peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa) grow in Zones 4 to 9 and bloom a bit earlier than garden peonies (April and May). The stems are woody and stay above ground all year, growing 4 to 7 ft tall with beautiful foliage and enormous flowers that can be up to 10 inches across. Itoh Peonies are a hybrid of garden peonies and tree peonies. They grow in Zones 4 to 9 and bloom in June. Like many hybrids, these plants are bred for the best qualities of their parents. With Itoh peonies, you can find the prettiest flowers, the most striking foliage, and the most easy-going habit. Itoh peonies can be expensive, but you’ll know why when you see them in the garden. Herbaceous peonies can live 100+ years if taken care of well. Peony Flower Types There are six types of peony flower forms that peonies are known for, each striking and showy in their own way: single semi-double double bomb Japanese anemone The single, semi-double, Japanese, and anemone forms grow petals around colourful stamens and pistils. In the double and bomb forms, the blooms are full of ruffled petals, and no pollen is visible. Peonies come in many colours, but red and pink hues are the most popular. How to Grow Herbaceous Peonies These cool-climate perennials thrive in Zones 2 to 8 and bloom in late spring, generally between April and June. Here’s how to grow peonies! Soil and Location Plant peonies where you plan to keep them. They take a little while to get established. If planting from bare roots, it can take three years before they provide plenty of blooms. Potted peonies will bloom faster. But still, they like to be established in the garden to produce the most blooms. So once you set them in place, they could be happy to produce flowers for well over 50 years. But every time peonies get moved, they have to re-establish themselves. Garden peonies aren’t picky about soil, but they do like to have good drainage. Light To flower well, these sun-lovers need at least six hours of sun in the spring and summer months. They also require cool soil in the winter to stimulate spring growth. Plant peonies in full sun. Water Peonies are drought-tolerant and don’t require additional fertilizer to bloom. Adding compost as a topsoil dressing annually should be enough to build healthy soil and keep peonies happy. While the plants are sturdy, the flowers are more delicate. Overhead watering and heavy rain can be too much for the blooms, knocking them over and breaking the stems. After the rain, head out to the garden and gently shake each one of the blooms to release the weight of water captured inside. This will help them to perk back up. For those blooms that can’t be saved, cut the stems and bring the flower into the house to enjoy in a vase. Peonies don’t like waterlogged soil, so only water as necessary. Staking Peonies’ giant, fluffy blooms get heavy, so many peony plants require staking. There are commercial peony stakes that you can purchase, but my favourite option is a peony chair. This peony chair is a great way to reuse an old kitchen chair or one that you buy secondhand. Around my eclectic East Vancouver neighbourhood, it’s not uncommon to see a seatless chair frame standing in the garden beds to hold up peonies. As we live in a rainy climate, it’s absolutely necessary to have something strong to hold those blooms up. Otherwise, this is what happens! If your peonies ever get this way, shake them of water and add a stake pronto! If they’re too far to save, snip them and turn them into cut flowers. Pests Pests are generally not a problem, even though you may see ants on the peony buds before they open. There’s a common tale that the ants help the peony blooms to open, but the ants are really just drawn to the sweet nectar. Ants can actually help keep away other more harmful pests from peonies. How to Divide Peonies Divide peonies in the fall after the plant has gone dormant. If you have forgotten, you can also divide them in the early spring before the flowers and leaves appear. Once the leaves have formed on the stems and flower buds are showing, it’s best to wait until the following fall to divide them. Remember that it takes time for peonies to re-establish when they’re moved or divided and transplanted. Only divide peonies in the fall to allow the plant to get enough energy stored for the winter. How to Harvest Peonies for Cut Flowers When cutting flowers for arrangements, to dry for craft projects, or for culinary or medicinal purposes, I put my all-purpose bypass pruners away and instead use the precision blades of floral pruners and snips. Peonies have sturdy stems, but they are not woody, so light plant pruning shears are perfect. A low-friction coating means the bypass pruners won’t gum up with sap and bits of the plant. Keep long stems when harvesting peonies to make it easier to place in vases. Don’t cut any flowers for the first year the peony is getting established. In the second and third years, if you have to cut a few flowers, do so sparingly. To make your flowers last long, keep a bucket of cold water with you, and use clean tools to make the cuts. Take a long stem for your peonies but leave at least three sets of leaves on the plant below the cut. Harvest flowers in the morning, as that’s typically when they have the highest water content. You can cut peonies for arrangements at the bud stage or when the blooms are opening. The earliest you can cut the flowers is when the buds are not quite open but a bit squishy when you pinch them. This is called the “marshmallow” stage because the bud should feel like a springy marshmallow. Cutting them at this stage ensures that you have the longest-lasting blooms but cut them any earlier, and they won’t bloom in the vase. Immediately put the cut stems in cold water and keep them out of direct sunlight. The bud on the right is too early, and the bud on the left is too late. The middle bud is the perfect “marshmallow.” How to Arrange Peonies You can keep the cut flowers in your fridge or a cool place for a few days to delay blooming. Add the flowers to lukewarm water to speed up blooming and place them in a well-lit area. Remove any leaves from the stem that will touch the water.  Any leaves that sit in water will decompose and add bad bacteria to the water, making your flowers go bad sooner. Cut the stems on a diagonal before adding them to a vase of water. They have heavy flower heads, so be sure the vase is heavy enough to hold those big blooms. Cut the stems so that the blooms sit at an appropriate height just above the top of the vase. Stems that are too tall can cause the vase to topple over. Diagonal cuts allow the stems to soak up as much water as possible to stay hydrated. The beauty of peonies doesn’t have to be seasonal. While gorgeous garden peonies only last in the garden for a few weeks and have a showy but limited vase life, you can preserve the beauty all year by drying the petals and making a gorgeous, naturally-scented peony bath salts recipe. Peony petals retain their colour exceptionally well for craft projects. Frequently Asked Questions About Peonies When do peonies bloom? Tree peonies are first to bloom in mid-spring, typically around and of April to May. Herbaceous peonies bloom next in late spring, around the beginning of June. When are peonies in season? Peonies can bloom as early as April through to June. Their blooming time is quite short, only lasting 7-10 days. So enjoy your peony flowers while you can! When should I plant peonies? Peonies can be planted in spring or fall, but fall is preferable. Do so in September or October. If you missed your opportunity to plant in the fall, you can plant them in early spring as soon as the soil has thawed out enough. Do peonies need full sun? Yes, peonies require full sun of 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day. The flowers will continue out of the “marshmallow” stage into these full blooms. More Gorgeous Garden Guides Source link

[januishstory]

For those who want to add greenery to their life, even without a garden, let me introduce you to propagating! Today, I’m sharing four different methods you can use for propagating houseplants. With this guide, you can multiply the existing plants you have and create your very own home jungle. Watching new life grow within my home gets me really excited. For first-time propagators, you’ll see! You walk by every day and take a peep at your houseplants to watch them grow new roots and leaves. Propagating is extremely rewarding and oh-so-satisfying, producing new plants oftentimes in less than one month. For new and old plant lovers, propagating plants is an easy way to fill up your home based on what you already have. If a plant is doing well within your home, why not grow another one right? Besides, every person needs a houseplant. If I befriend someone new and notice their house doesn’t have a houseplant, you bet I will be stopping by with one of my propagations. If you’re looking for a thoughtful and affordable gift, why not gift them a plant baby you spent weeks watching over? This post will be very informative and cover lots of ground. Let’s dig in! How Do You Propagate an Indoor Plant? Making new plant babies is quite easy! There are four different methods for propagating houseplants: water propagation, stem cuttings, leaf cuttings, and division. For some plants, only one of the methods will work. For other plants, you can use multiple methods for propagating houseplants. I’ve outlined each method below and the types of plants that will work best for this method. Spring is wonderful time to propagate houseplants as they too are waking up from a winter sleep, ready to produce some new growth. This means your new cuttings and plant babies are likely to grow quicker and easier! Remember, not all the plants will take and that’s okay. Humidity, the temperature in the home, sunlight, amount of moisture, and the health of the mother plant will all play a role in the success of your plant. But soon enough, you’ll have a budding plant lady (or guy) haven inside your very own home. Let’s walk through how to propagate plants with these 4 different methods. Ficus cuttings using the water propagation method. Water Propagation Water propagation maybe my favourite method of propagating houseplants because you get to watch the action. Plus, this method is quick! Whenever I take a cutting in water, I am always sure to place it in a clear glass container so I can watch the roots grow. 1. Find a Plant Node To propagate a plant in water, you will want to find the nodes of a plant. Essentially, this is anywhere a leaf is coming out of the plant. Cut just below the node, ensuring that your plant has 3-4 leaves (with a few exceptions, like the African violet pictured below). Your plant needs enough leaves to photosynthesize and produce energy. 2. Add Cutting to Water Dunk your cutting in water and make sure no leaves are submerged as they will rot and cause bacteria. Place your little cuttings somewhere warm and with lots of sun to promote new growth. You will need to refill the water often to keep the node submerged, and water should be replaced completely after one week. Keep the stem in water, but ensure no leaves are submerged. 3. Plant in Soil When your roots are one inch or longer, they are ready for some potting soil! This usually takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks, but can be longer for some houseplants. Moisten your soil beforehand. Create a well or use your finger to poke a hole for your cutting. Feel free to place a few cuttings in the same pot to really fill up a plant. Monstera adansonii 4. Water Well and Keep Moist Water the plant thoroughly after planting. You will also want to keep the soil fairly moist for the first two weeks to encourage more root growth. What Houseplants Can You Root in Water? Pothos Monstera Begonia Philodendron String of hearts ZZ plant Croton Arrowhead vine Lipstick plant Hoya Peperomia Pilea Prayer plant Most aroid plants Some plants can happily stay in the water for months, like this monstera cutting. Stem Cutting Propagation Stem cuttings are similar to water cuttings in how you prepare them, but instead of sticking them in water, you will place them directly in the soil. This method for propagating houseplants works great for fast-growing plants with multi-stems. 1. Cut Below the Node and Add Rooting Hormone Like water propagation, cut your plant 3-5 inches from the top of the stem (with enough leaves left for photosynthesis) and just below a node. Pull off any lower leaves and dip the end of your cutting into a rooting hormone, such as the willow water recipe in Garden Alchemy. 2. Place in Soil Now, moisten your soil, take a pencil or your finger and poke a hole in it. Place your plant in the hole and carefully pat down the soil. It may need some support since it has no roots to anchor it. Feel free to place a clear plastic bag over top to help retain moisture while it’s growing. This is my self-watering set up to ensure the cutting stays moist. 3. Transplant (Optional) Once you are able to give the plant a small tug and it resists, it has successfully rooted and is ready for transplant if you wish. What Indoor plants Can Grow from Leaf Cuttings? Chinese evergreens African violet Jade Ficus Prayer plant Pothos Most other plants that also enjoy water propagation Leaf Cutting Propagation Leaf cuttings are similar to stem cutting for propagating houseplants. Instead, some plants only need a single leaf to reproduce. If you have a bushy plant that likes this method, you get endless propagation and baby plant possibilities. Succulents are famous for only needing a single leaf for propagating. 1. Cut a Leaf The most common method of leaf cuttings is to cut a single leaf with a hint of a stem left. African violet leaves in water. 2. Add Rooting Hormone and Plant Dip the cutting into the willow water rooting hormone for an extra boost and then stick it in moist potting soil. Do not place the cutting upside down, or it will not root. After 2-3 weeks, the plant should have some roots established and a new baby plant will begin to grow. Eventually, the parent leaf will die and decompose. The new leaves will grow from the base of the stem. What Indoor plants Can Grow from Leaf Cuttings? Most succulents will also grow from a single leaf. For more info read my guide on succulent propagation. Other plants include: Division Propagation Do you have an overcrowded houseplant? It may be a great candidate for division! In order to be divided, the plant needs to have an established root system. Plants that have rhizomes, tubers, or multiple-stems work well for division. 1. Divide the Plant To perform a plant division, remove the plant from the container and gently shake off excess soil. Gently pry apart sections of the plant, ensuring each section has a good amount of roots and leaves still attached. If the roots or stems are very close together and difficult to pull apart, you can use a sharp, clean knife to cut the roots apart. Don’t be scared to lose a few leaves or some roots while dividing. 2. Transplant into Potting Soil Transplant each of your sections directly into moist houseplant soil. Pat soil down firmly and water your plant thoroughly. Like the other methods, keep the soil moist for the first couple of weeks to encourage the plant to grow roots again. You don’t need a ton of roots to divide successfully, but you do need some. What Indoor Plants Can Grow from Division? Some houseplants will have little baby plants growing that you can easily pull off (with roots some roots) and plunk it in some soil. For example, spider plants are notorious for shooting out baby plants left and right. Others include: ZZ plant Birds of paradise Bromeliads Oxalis Peace lily Snake plant Calathea Prayer plant Palm Peacock plant Chinese evergreen Ferns This large peace lily can be divided into smaller plants. Common Houseplants for Propagation How to Propagate a Snake Plant Snake plants grow from rhizomes and are easily divided. If your plant has a ton of offshoots from the bottom, this is the best method to go. Cut the base apart into sections, leaving approximately 3 rhizomes and at least one healthy leaf per division. Plant each division into a potting soil. Alternatively, you can cut a healthy leaf and place it directly in water until new roots form. Or, you can take that cutting, dip it into the willow water rooting hormone from Garden Alchemy, and place it directly in the soil. After a couple of weeks, the plant will have new roots. Spider Plant Propagation Spider plants are always creating mini versions of themselves with spiderettes. These plant babies can be grown directly in soil or water. The process is fairly easy! Simply look for spiderettes that have tiny roots already growing out of them. Snip them off and place in water for up to a week or directly in soil. Spiderette growing on a spider plant. ZZ Plant Propagation ZZ plants have rhizomes, which make them a great candidate for division. However, it can only be done sparingly as rhizomes take time to grow. Divide your ZZ plant only when there is overcrowding. Otherwise, you can use stem or leaf cuttings to propagate your ZZ plant. Stems cuttings will grow the fastest while leaf cuttings will take more time. After your take a cutting, wait a couple of hours for the cut to callus. Next, place your cutting in my willow water rooting hormone and then in a good draining soil. Be patient and wait for your ZZ plant to slowly grow new roots! Jade Plant Propagation Every time I repot my jade plant, I end up accidentally knocking off a leaf. Instead of tossing that leaf into the compost, I can actually make a new baby jade with it. Leaf cuttings are very easy to do to propagate a jade plant, but may not always be successful. Wait for your jade leaf to dry up and heal the wound from being detached. Eventually, tiny white roots will begin to protrude. Place the leaf on a potting soil meant for succulents, and watch it grow! Eventually, the parent leaf will shrivel as a new jade plant takes form. You can also do this method with a whole cutting. Be sure to select a cutting that has a few leaves and is a few inches tall. Place your cutting in a glass (without water) and wait for it to grow some tiny white roots before planting. My jade plant. Prayer Plant Propagation Prayers plants can be propagated using 3 methods: water, stem cuttings, and division. For water cuttings, select where you will cut by finding the nodes. You will want to cut just below a node, close to the bottom of the stem, and make sure there are some healthy leaves on top. Place in water and wait. For stem cuttings, you will follow the same steps. Instead of placing in water, dip in the willow water rooting hormone and then place your prayer plant in low light and keep moist. If dividing, do so in early spring when the plant is overcrowded and needs to be repotted. Carefully separate offshoots and different stems, ensuring each division has enough leaves and roots to sustain itself. Pot new divisions and keep them fairly moist for the first two weeks. With these tips on propagating houseplants, you will have an endless supply of plant babies without having to spend a dollar at the garden centre! More Tips for Growing Houseplants Source link

[iamownerofme]

Tillandsia, AKA air plants, are so much fun. They are completely unique to the plant world, requiring no soil to survive. But, they do require a different water routine in order to thrive. Follow these steps to water air plants the right way and keep them hydrated and happy all year long. For even the most experienced gardeners and houseplant enthusiasts, air plants can remain an enigma. What do you mean they don’t require any soil!? By far the biggest question new air plant owners have is how the heck do you water a plant that doesn’t have any soil. While many people will recommend misting your air plant, I have a different method that will give your air plant the hydration it really needs. A bath! This post will cover… Tillandsia variety: Snowball What’s in a Name? Tillandsia gets their more common name, air plant, because they grow without soil in the air. One of the most common misconceptions about Tillandsia comes from their name and the idea that they only need air to survive. However, it really means that they need to absorb moisture through their leaves consistently. This either comes from very high humidity (as in a greenhouse) or from regular soaking. Their spiky tendrils are oh-so-cool looking, and because they don’t need soil to survive, there are endless creative ways to display them, from terrariums to popping them inside seashells. You can even make them into jewelry! They are hardy and easy to care for if you know what to do, and the most common problems that people have with air plants are due to incorrect watering. When Tillandsia grow in the wild, they absorb moisture from the air, which is much more humid than it is indoors, and that is usually where we keep them, so we have to soak them to rehydrate. But it must be done properly or the air plant will rot! How to Water Air Plants Water your air plants in the morning to ensure they get enough time to fully dry, or it may disrupt their ability to respire at night. To water air plants, remove them from wherever you have them displayed and submerge them in a bowl or sink full of enough water to completely cover them. Parts of the plants will float up above the water—this is okay. Just make sure that the majority of each air plant is submerged in the water. Leave them in the bath for one hour. Remove each plant, hold it facing upside down, and shake well to get rid of any excess water pooling at the base of the inner leaves. Then, turn your air plant upside down on a towel and place it in a bright spot. Let it sit for one to three hours, depending on when it is fully dry. Ensure there is no water pooled or else your air plant may rot. Return your air plants to their regular spot until it is time to bathe them again. Soak your air plants for an hour before removing them to completely dry out. Use the Right Water Don’t use chlorinated water for your air plants, as it can harm them. Instead, use rainwater or filtered water if possible. If you want to use tap water, allow it to sit out in a bowl for 24 hours first so that the chlorine evaporates. Chlorine can turn the tips of the leaves brown. Change Your Watering Schedule Seasonally Depending on the season, air plants need to be bathed at different frequencies. In the summer, when it is hot, they like to be bathed once a week, but in the cool winter months, once every three weeks or so will do. Pay attention to the changing of the seasons and the health of your air plant and water accordingly. You will also want to note the location of your air plant. For example, how much light is your plant receiving? If it’s getting lots of sun, it may need to be watered more often. Is your plant located next to a heater where it may dry out more quickly, or do you live somewhere humid where it will require less water? Take the time to evaluate the surroundings of your air plant when thinking about a watering schedule. More heat = more frequent waterings. Should I Mist My Air Plants? Many garden centers or plant stores will tell you to mist your air plant with water from a misting bottle a few times a week. Personally, I do not find this to be very helpful for the plant. Spritzing is just too inconsistent and doesn’t provide the air plant with enough moisture. Misting should not be the only method you use for watering your air plant. That being said, greenhouses and garden centers just mist them because it is already humid inside a greenhouse. And if you live in a humid climate (or a greenhouse) you can also get away with spritzing them. For air plants adopted as houseplants for the rest of us, the key is soaking them in a bath. If your air plant is stuck in a terrarium or glued somewhere and it cannot be removed, misting may be your only option. If this is the case, mist very often to ensure it gets as much water as possible without letting water sit in the base. However, I highly discourage placing air plants anywhere where they cannot be removed and bathed! Don’t rely just on misting to water air plants. Signs of an Unhappy Air Plant If your air plant is showing signs of distress, it could be due to watering. Crispy tips that are turning brown could be a sign of under-watering. You will also notice that the air plant’s concave shape is more noticeable when water is lacking. Signs of over-watering, however, are tricky to undo. If the air plant is rapidly losing leaves and the base has turned black or brown, the air plant has gone rotten. Resist watering and cross your fingers! View my guide on how to revive a sick air plant for more information. Brown tips can indicate your plant isn’t getting enough water. FAQ About Watering Air Plants My leaves become soggy after I water my air plants. What am I doing wrong? While soaking the air plants is the proper way to water, the most important part of the process is actually drying them. You want to water them in the morning, so you have all day to let them dry.Shake off as much water as possible after watering. Then, tip them upside down and place them in a bright and sunny spot until they’re fully dry. I repeat, fully dry. One commenter advised laying it on a screen so the water can drip out underneath. How can I tell if my air plant is dead? If it is dead, all the leaves will fall off, or it will turn brown and crunchy. Can I glue my air plant to display it? Avoid buying glued air plants. The glue is safe for air plants and won’t kill them, but it is certainly not the best option if you want to have long-living, healthy plants. I have purchased some gorgeous displays with air plants glued onto them, but I can never water them properly. It’s best to display them so they can be removed to be watered, such as this wire display or this living air plant wreath. More Posts About Air Plants: Source link

[iammeandmy]

Happy Friday GPODers! Sadly, we’ve reached the end of Cherry Ong’s tour of Nancy Heckler’s garden in Indianola, Washington. While Nancy’s garden has seemingly endless treasures and areas to explore, we’ll leave a little to the imagination. Nancy occasionally opens her gardens to tours for the public, so we’d highly suggest keeping your eye open for garden tours around the Puget Sound area for a chance to see Nancy’s incredible space in person. Of course, if you’re unable to make you way out to Washington, you can always scroll through all of Cherry’s fabulous photos she’s shared with us over several weeks (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Today we explore another garden room where art comes alive! 🦎 This room is tucked into a far side of the garden where Fergus and Brocc led us to. The first thing that greets you on arrival is this unique inanimate lizard climbing up the tree. Nancy said it was made by a friend and it appears like it has lived in the forest for many years. She doesn’t move the piece around as parts of it come off every time it is moved. Our experience is enhanced by the sweet smell of the forest throughout the visit, but most especially in this garden room. There are several more rooms but this will be the final installment contributed to this series. Until the next garden tour. Cherry Ong That incredible lizard sculpture Cherry mentions above. It’s hard to discern what materials were used to create this piece of art, but that is also part of what makes it so intriguing. If you’ve seen the other parts of this garden your series, you’ve seen plenty of examples of the colorful glass orbs that are sprinkled throughout Nancy’s garden. Aside from being some really pretty garden art, they are also a way to connect all of Nancy’s incredible designs together as well as to add a bit more shine to her shady garden beds. Structures in a garden are just as important as the plants that surround, and Nancy has made a point to make each one of these “garden rooms” cohesive yet wonderfully unique. A shed this small can be bland, but the addition of an ornate little window and exaggerated roof eaves gives it so much character. All of Nancy’s garden art is remarkable in that it catches the eye while simultaneously blending in so seamlessly with her garden and landscape. A partially downed tree would stick out like a sore thumb in many other locals, but amongst the many towering trees in and around Nancy’s space, it is actually the perfect pedestal to create something new. Even on a small porch, Nancy is able to find the space for a bit of art and plantings as interesting as the pots they are planted in. I particularly the trough container that looks like an old, hollowed-out log. A simple row of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, Zones 6–11) adds more interest without overwhelming the small space. In a garden with so much green, a little rust is the perfect addition. Again, while in other landscapes an old tree stump would need to be pulled or obscured, a stump in Nancy’s garden is the perfect pedestal to give height to a garden element that needs a little lift. Nancy is also able to keep all of these old tree stumps looking like a cohesive part of her garden by incorporating lots of natural wood elements into her designs. A bright colored, pristine raised bed would look out of place in Nancy’s woodland wonderland, while this one’s rustic finish makes it feel as natural as the rest of her beds. Of course, a woodland garden in the Pacific Northwest is not complete without a fair share of ferns. I’m by no means a fern expert, so I’m not sure what species this one is. Any fern aficionados have an idea what this beauty is? Lastly, I’m not surprised at all to see a little stumpery amongst all of Nancy’s rustic and woody plantings. With all of those old tree stumps I knew one was going to get transformed into a natural container. One final HUGE thank you to Cherry for sharing this very special tour of Nancy’s garden with us. Cherry has been continuously generous in sharing her garden as well as the many private and public gardens she visits, and this visit with Nancy Heckler was no exception. I can’t wait to see the adventures that Cherry continues to have in 2025!   Have a garden you’d like to share? Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here. Fine Gardening Recommended Products Buffalo-Style Gardens: Create a Quirky, One-of-a-Kind Private Garden with Eye-Catching Designs Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Buffalo-Style Gardens is a one-of-a-kind, offbeat garden design book that showcases the wildly inventive gardens and gardeners of Buffalo – and offers readers "the best of the best” ideas to use in their own small-space gardens. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Berry & Bird Rabbiting Spade, Trenching Shovel Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Ideal Tool for All Gardeners Use: Our heavy duty trenching shovel is designed by a professional gardening tool designer. Lifetime Durability: This heavy duty drain spade is made of high-quality stainless steel, it is very strong and durable, even if it is used for high-strength work, it will not bend. Ergonomic Wood Handle: The handle of this planting spade is made of ash hardwood harvested from FSC-certified forests and has an ergonomically streamlined design, making it very suitable for everyone's hands. Multi-Use: This digging shovel is generally used for digging trenches, digging holes, transplanting, edging, moving compost, cutting thick turf and furrowing. The sharp blade allows you to cut, scoop, dig, lift and dice in hard soil. Source link

[romaleen]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

[tameblog]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[ramestoryworld]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[angusstory]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[alexha2210]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[tumibaba]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[monaleen101]

Hi GPODers! One of the many reasons I love the Garden Photo of the Day community is because of the many diverse gardening stories we get to hear. From lifelong plant lovers who have fond memories of playing in their grandmother’s gardens to enthusiasts who caught the gardening bug later in the life, it’s inspiring how we can all come together to enjoy each other’s unique journeys and landscapes. Today, we’re hearing from Heidi Behrens-Benedict, an interior designer in Bellevue, Wash., who had a very unconventional path to her garden in the Pacific Northwest. She shares the story of how an interior design job at Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle gave her a new introduction to the world of gardening and shifted her perspective that stemmed from an initial unfortunate experience with plants in her youth. Dear Friends at Fine Gardening ~ Many years ago, I was prime on the new Arboretum Visitors Center in Seattle. I remember my first meeting with a group of guild members who had raised money for the project. As I sat around the conference table, I was introduced to the hosta expert, the rhody expert, the native species guru, gardeners who were passionate about gardening in the Puget Sound. One of the group asked me what kind of gardening I liked. While I believe I am a good designer, I knew from nothing about gardening. When I was growing up, my father was in the military. We lived in hot, dry bases. When my father would come home about 4:30 p.m., he’d walk in the door and say, “Why are you just sitting there? Go outside and weed.” Since it was 115 degrees in the shade, gardening always felt like punishment. I remember once tilting my head back as I was standing on the black, hot tarmac one recess and praying, “Please, God, when I grow up, I want to live someplace it rains every day.” When I graduated from college, I moved to Seattle. The first summer, it did rain every day. The windows sheeted with water day after day. Mid-August, I was standing at the window and saying, “Please, God, I should have been more specific. Perhaps not every single day.” Which brings me to my arboretum project, when I stumbled with an answer for what kind of gardening I liked and said, “Container gardening.” What I really liked about container gardening was not so much the plants but the vintage pots. Large glazed pots. Large terracotta pots. Large Chinese pots. Square pots. For years, I collected beautiful pots and beautiful yard art. About 20 years ago, I started putting plants in the pots. What I really like are perennial plants with interesting leaf structure, and lately, after becoming a novice beekeeper, I’ve focused on flowers that my bees will love. So here are a few pictures of my pots, plants, and yard art. With every good wish ~Heidi Heidi’s background in interior design, particularly her focus on architectural salvage, is evident in her outdoor space. Aside from the color she has potted into her incredible collection of containers, interest abounds in all the artful touches and decor. A closer look at the colorful annual flowers Heidi potted this year Annuals tend to get the bulk of the container space in gardens every year, but, as Heidi mentioned in her intro, the beautiful foliage of perennials and shrubs can be just as successful in a pot as they are in the ground. I love how this Japanese mock orange (Pittosporum tobira, Zones 8–10) is spilling out of its gorgeous green pot. When a backyard is full of this much fascinating art, even a simple planting can create a big impact. This ornate pillar and relief sculpture already have a lot going on, so a simple red geranium is all that’s needed for a colorful pop of extra interest. The outdoor seating area of a real collector: not only a space to enjoy Heidi’s lush gardens, but a spot to admire her thoughtfully curated art and furniture pieces. Thank you so much for sharing your artful potted displays and creative garden adornments, Heidi! Your story is certainly a unique one, and your garden truly reflects that unique background as well as your designer’s eye. What was your introduction to gardening? What journey brought you to your current garden? If you haven’t shared your garden on the blog yet, or it has been a while and you have a lot to update us on, consider sharing photos of your space this year! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.   We want to see YOUR garden! Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit! To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden. Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening! Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here Fine Gardening Recommended Products The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener, 30th Anniversary Edition Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Since its original publication in 1989, The New Organic Grower has been one of the most important farming books available, with pioneer Eliot Coleman leading the charge in the organic movement in the United States. Now fully illustrated and updated, this 30th Anniversary Edition is a must-have for any agricultural library. Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, Revised and Updated Second Edition: A Natural Approach to Pest Control Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs. This revised and updated edition of Jessica Walliser’s award-winning Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden offers a valuable and science-backed plan for bringing balance back to the garden. With this indispensable gardening reference—now updated with new research, insights, and voices—learn how to create a healthy, balanced, and diverse garden capable of supporting a hard-working crew of beneficial pest-eating insects and eliminate the need for synthetic chemical pesticides. Source link

[shelyold]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link