I love the cottage look. And even if the garden isn't stuffed, a good selection of perennials keeps it interesting and blooming when the roses aren't doing anything. You might also look at adding some evergreens, small shrubs and dwarf trees. A good mix of textures, height, and shape.

Paula you have made some good choices. I'm sure you know that we can't do things here as they can in England(so frustrating) For me the penstemmons have been very satisfactory. I think I told you already that I have used alot of sedum. What a wonderful variety there is. Coreopsis is practically drought proof. A few well chosen knifofias wouldn't hurt. I'm still slowly working out my companions. The more water using and delicate ones are near the house. The others of necessity must be tough.

I hope to see some photos when it's all blooming, probably will always be a work in progress ;-). But at least you, and a lot of others, have the good sense to space your plants way apart at first. I don't envy you having to plant in gopher cages but it's better from the gitgo than losing them later.

They come so small, and I've so little room, I crowd my plants too much and am going to have to do some serious thinning out which will be a pain. It's an inclination that will be hard to break.

So far this year, I've only watered certain things very selectively. New plants, always.

Your garden is going to be fabulous once it fills in. Here the Perovskia spreads quite a bit, so be aware of that.

Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' is also very good, very low water needs and they bloom like crazy. Drawback is they only really look right with yellow & orange roses, or a color like 'Hot Cocoa'.

Daylilys are good too, quite tough.

HoovB, thanks! I found a variety of perovskia called 'Little Spires' that isn't supposed to sucker and spread. I selected my yarrow the same say. I can think of several drought tolerant plants that are too aggressive (evening primrose, saponaria) and I'm carefully avoiding them.

Gallaridas are nice. I have some planted in the vegetable area, but this is to be a garden of soft and cool colors with a few dark reds.

Aliska, I had to learn the spacing the hard way. Overcrowding remains a temptaion.

Pamela, I like those suggestions. I will probably add more once this starts to fill in a bit. I was thinking about threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'.

Catsrose, what you can't see is that while taking the picture I was standing under an enormous Italian stone pine, and that there is an evergreen daphne in the upper portion, along with an evergreen santolina. Around the corner are two evergreen orange trees of moderate size, as well as a huge old cedar. I'm well supplied with evergreens. I do agree that they add a lot to the garden.

Rosefolly

Don't forget Heucheras. Gophers ignore them in my garden. Heuchera maxima (Annie's has it) survives with no summer water. I also have the variety Old La Roquette which has pink flowers and has been blooming since March and is still going. It gets water however.

Diane

Thanks for the suggestion, Diane. I was thinking that this garden gets too much sun for heurchera (morning sun, afternoon shade), but there is a shady corner by the orange tree. I'll check into that.

R

How neat!
(And High Country Gardens emails are so welcome, as well.)

Would Sedums look 'right' in there?
Last year, the drought year with less than half our normal rainfall, was a real test. Autumn Joy Sedum lived well and bloomed on schedule, as if it were a rain year. I don't know how it did it. The previous year, the only bloom I had in one part of the yard (not as bad a drought, but concentrated as a rainless July and August) was (don't laugh) garlic chives which can be pretty when they've no competition and when they are mass planted.

(How bad was it? Neighbors who planted cactus by their mail boxes, never expecting the cactus to thrive, are having to try to figure out how to prune cactus.)

Garlic chives do well here, too.
Two plants that I like for the wilder parts of the garden, because they are somewhat invasive, are four o'clocks and centranthus. I plant them on the margins where they can hold back the Bermuda grass.
You do have rosemary, don't you? I didn't notice it on the list. Also, do you have buddleias?
Sounds like a great list: enjoy your new plants! We too are going to be planting a lot of little plants among our roses, as well as shrubs to have some dignified blobs of green among all these airy or brambly plants.
Melissa

FWIW, I don't believe gophers will eat penstemons. Since so many of them are natives, they must have built up some kind of resistance, or something, though most of their cousins are not gopher-resistant (except foxgloves, although I think once a gopher chewed on a greek foxglove, and I'm pretty sure died quickly afterwards, and the plant recovered).

Speaking of gophers, I saw a mink or a ferret zoom across the road with a gopher in its mouth. That's the second time I've seen him run across the road there, always making a mad dash. The gopher was about half the size of the mink/ferret.

--Ron

You are very brave to be doing all of this planting in mid-summer! How hot have you been? Sacramento has been well over 100, and I've been trying to keep a few new plants alive. I've been watering the newbies every day, which is against watering guidelines but can't be helped.

I think heuchera, once established, will do ok with morning sun. I grow Heuchera maxima, too. Rosada is a hybrid of it, I believe, with the added benefit of brightly colored flowers, Three heuchera are on the UCD all-star list. I don't know if you've looked at that list - there might be plants there that would do well for you, too. UCD really recommended catmint - nepeta - for a rose companion plant, too.

However, you've certainly planted a wonderful selection already! You were wise to space things out, but a cottage garden, once mature, needs to be stuffed with plants, so there may be opportunity to tuck some more things in.

A word about evergreens - I planted some terrific variegated dwarf myrtle when I put in my garden, but didn't realize that teas and chinas are evergreen themselves in my climate. They already provide foliage throughout the year, unlike the HTs with their bare legs, or the European OGRs.

If I had room, however, I'd consider using some columnar evergreens. We got to go to Stephen Scanniello's garden, and he's fond of very slim trees - which of course, also get a rose clambering up them once they are big enough. If not evergreen, things like columnar apples or pears. It was very nice to have that vertical punctuation.
Anita

Here is a link that might be useful: UCD all-stars

Anita, I'm not that brave. We have been up in the 90's, over 100 one day. Many of these plants are on order for September delivery. The ones I have been getting locally I'm keeping in pots in part shade. The ones you saw planted I put in the ground before the temperatures started to soar, and I've been watering them every couple of days. I haven't planted any more since then.

Thanks for the link to the UC Davis all-star list.

I wouldn't mind adding a columnar evergreen, something very slim and narrow that wouldn't eventually get too big, and also would tolerate a very low water situation. I have two spots where that could be quite effective. I don't know what that is, though.

Rosefolly

columnar evergreen, something very slim and narrow

That would be Cupressus sempervirens 'Monshel'.

If you want some thing faster, Juniper 'Sky Rocket'. C. 'Monshel' grows just a few inches a year.

There are also some fastigate Hollies that might work with your colder winters. Another possibility if it doesn't need to be that tall is Boxwood 'Green Tower' which grows tall and narrow. Slow grower.

The 'Little Spires' Perovskia is the one I have. I'll have to get a picture of how it has spread, but not now, too hot out.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Tiny Tower' cypress

I also love the English cottage garden look, but must make modifications since we have such dry summers. I used to garden in Full Sun, but when we moved, our new home had several large trees so that most of my planting beds were in partial shade. It's actually been a blessing as I've found a lot of Full sun plants do fine in part shade and with a lot less water. So I suggest planting an airy deciduous tree that will provide some light shade during the summer!
Anyways, some of my best performers include:

Bergenia - bold leaf shape; sun (some water) or shade (no water in summer)
Euphorbia - structure
Japanese Anemone - height and fall bloom; part shade is better
Asters - fall blooms
Agapanthus
Dietes - spiky
Lorapetalum - structure, arching branches
Lobelia laxiflora - I don't give mine any water, keeps it from spreading
Geranium incanum
Lamb's Ear
Shasta Daisy - I have this in full blazing sun, water lightly once a week and foliage is nice and green with lots of blooms
Sea Lavender - blooms almost year long
Gaura - can take full sun and very little water, nice airy effect
Grasses - Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, Miscanthus sinensis
French Lavender
Sedums

Rosefolly - I am in No CA zone 9. My roses are surrounded by lots of other flowering plants which get water because of their proximity to the roses. Real "cottage garden" look has resulted. Some of these are perennials, and others come back from seed every year (or both!). The main point is that they do come back every year WITHOUT MY DOING ANYTHING, and the only care they get other than water is having the dead foliage removed in the Fall:

four o'clocks (I like the ones with striped flowers)
Shasta daisies (these have spread to other beds in the winter floods)
asiatic lilies
cosmos
love-in-a-mist
nicotania mutablis
lunaria (money plant - makes wonderful stalks of dried seed pods)
peru lily (I forget its real name)
crocosmia
salvia lucantha

Jackie