Must be that time of year...my wife called me at work last week and told me that she found a nest full of eggs in the mulch around the kids playset. We were brainstorming about what animal would lay soft shelled eggs and wondering how big this animal must be to lay eggs the size of chicken eggs. A huge lizard?!? My wife was a little grossed out and upset about "killing" the little babies. It turns out they were mushrooms..maybe stinkhorns...I saw a couple carrot looking ones when I checked it out.

- Brent

Sorry...posted to the wrong thread...now where is that Edit button?!?

For this thread I meant to say...It will be tough for you to get meaningful design responses with just the two close up pictures. Do you have other pictures? I suspect that with an east exposure, shade from a maple tree and a zone 5 location you will be best suited by shade tolerant plants.

- Brent

Annabelle hydrangea. It's my favorite because it oozes cottage charm, is easy large and undemanding. The flowers are white and fade to apretty light green that you can cut and put in a vase with water , then let the water evaporate and you have great dried f;lowers!

Purple liatris is also easy. And easy rugosa or floribunda roses. Fill in with annuals.

I'd like to see a mass planting of something that loves the site and grows like a weed, but is incredibly pretty, preferably all year round. Maybe a sea of the daisies and salvia around the cottage

Be sure to have a strong evergreen structure, though. There are a lot of B & B's close to the city i live in, and they have gorgeous landscaping. I"ll see if i can get some links and i'll post them--it's Fredericksburg, Texas, and they are noted for the country charm of their curb appeal.

Jenny

A cottage garden needs roses...you might check with both rose forums, the regular and the antique.

How do hydrangeas do up there? The Endless Summer hydrangeas have been getting some good reviews, check with the hydrangea forum.

Daylilies can usually take a little shade...again, check with the daylily forum. :)

Foxgloves will take some shade....not sure about lupines, delphiniums and larkspur, but they will give you some tall spikes.

I'm attaching a link to my photo album. I sort of garden in the cottage style....that's my excuse for tossing plants where ever I have a spot :) I'm in a hotter zone than you, but it might give you a few ideas. The link is for my Yard pics, I don't have a lot of pictures there, I just got a digital camera this year and the drought made wide shots difficult :) There are a bunch of individual shots on the main page.

Listen closely to all the suggestions for "bones"...my garden lacks them and it can look rather ugly in the winter!

Last, but not least, the soil forum can help you amend your soil. I'm a big believer in "lasagna" gardening, but there are other methods that work well too.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Yard shots

I agree that pictures from the road would be helpful.

Some ideas that occured to me though; in the first picture, I'd move the flag to the other side of the door on the blank wall so it's not blocking the view of the window. To the right of the flag, on the rest of that blank wall, add an interesting narrow trelis and grow something not too overwhelming like Clematis. Morning Glories would be okay if you promise to keep them trimmed back and thinned out. You don't want guests to think they're fighting their way in through a jungle. No roses that close to the door unless they are absolutely thornless. Honeysuckle would be great, if you pick something that hopefully has fragrance and definately won't eat the house.

I'd move the topairy/standard in a pot out away from the house, to the left hand corner of the landing. I think it would look nice to double the size of the landing too. Make the flower beds as generous as you can, and add some kind of awning or small porch over the door. You want people to *want* to linger for a minute at the door even if it's raining, rather than having to scurry right inside single file.
BTW, what's the purple plant to the left of the door?

Second picture: two words; porch swing. No, make that porch swing with plump pillows in flowery rose prints (think antique barckcloth) along with a small table that can hold a book and a glass of lemonade. If there's no room for a swing, get a fat old comfortable wicker chair to replace the one with the thin wire legs that's there now. Bigger doormat, with colors that echo the trim of the house or the plantings. Add a little round ball boxwood. Not a hedge of them, just one in the middle of the flowers for whimsey. I don't know how far it is to the street or sidewalk, but my impression is no gazing balls or shiny stuff, there's no room. Ditto no ornamental grasses, which would just make such a small space look weedy. Go with Columbine, as someone else mentioned daylilly and foxglove.