I think there's a circular reference going on there...they say don't follow the rules, yet they set up 10 rules, then say "the biggest rule is..." and again follow that up with "don't follow the rules." OMG I'm getting a headache. Need more caffeine... I think the biggest "rule" is that you need to know what your personal style & personality is. While I may marvel at the structured & even flow of certain mass plantings & professional garden landscapes, I know I could never achieve that because my tastes & personality are all over the place- very much an 'abstract painting' kinda personality. So if you 'think' you want a cottage garden, would you really ever want that in YOUR space? My sister likes my gardens, but she would never garden that way- haphazardly. I'm a winter-sower, also, and "plunking & running" is about the best technique I've found that lends itself so well to cottage gardening. If there's a space, it MUST be filled! And I think all the rest of 1-10 just fall naturally into place, whether you use 1 idea or several of them combined. It all works, and in the end, they are all "cottage gardens" because of the styles that are naturally employed by the person creating it.

This was the thread that helped me put a name to the style of garden that I love best. I have been working towards the cottage style for many years and never get tired of the evolution of it. Loved reading them all again today. Cheryl

"How do you keep the woodlands in the back of some of those pictures from invading?" I work very, very hard to keep invasive plants out of my yard and remove them when they try to take hold of my garden, including unwanted trees, shrubs, vines and tree seedlings. It's my worst nightmare. I really get tired of it, that is for sure. Although there are no vast, heavily wooded forests here, there are still the plants that grow in the woods that move onto the property and into the immediate yard. It is a continuous battle. There are no heavy woodlands in the background. There are wooded areas along creeks. There is one small wooded area behind my back yard., I call "the Little Wood", and another slightly bigger wooded area further up the hill on my property, which I call :"The Big Wood", but no woodlands. All the vegetation and trees you see in my photos are what I grew with only a few exceptions. I live in the middle of the prairie. Here is a picture I took of the land on the southside of my property, along my driveway just so I could show people what this place was like when I bought it, minus the trees. The white flowering Spirea, Jonquils and green grass along the fence is on my side along the driveway. The trees in the distance are mostly junipers, elms, and hackberry growing along a dry creek. I don't believe any of those trees are native. They have become naturalized. The creek is dry most of the year but runs with runoff water after heavy rains. Farmers cannot plow there, so they leave them for shelter for their cattle. Now, I turned 180 degrees around and took this picture of my front yard: All the land around me looks like the the above land or with even fewer trees and underbrush. Mostly prairie grasslands on rolling hills. Now, if you drive 30 or so miles northeast and southeast of here, you will start getting into the woodland areas, and far eastern Oklahoma there are pine woods and river birch, much like the rest of the South, but not here. The worst thing I have to deal with is Bermuda grass and prairie weeds that blow into the yard, wash down the hill into the yard, or are carried into the yard by animals (via stickery seeds) or through animal and bird poop. Oh, they are awful!!! We get Poison Ivy in the yard and it has to be sprayed - I am terribly allergic. Puts me in serious jeopardy. We have Tall Ragweed that grows up to 18 ft tall. and the regular short ragweed There are sweetbriars, and all kinds of sticky, thorny, seedy vines. There are Cowpeas (Creeping Vetch), Wild Cicily, Buffalo Burrs, Stinging (Spurge) Nettles, Horse Nettle, Nightshade, Poisonous Sumac, Chickweed (from h*ll), Lamb'c Quarters, Virginia creeper (invasive here), Curly Dock, Poisonous Hemlock, Wild Cucumber, Wild Onions, Wild Carrots, Shepherd's Purse (oh so awful this year), and many, many more intrusive, weedy, prairie-type plants, as well as the woodland-type plants. I work hard hoeing, chopping and cultivating all the weeds and weedy grasses out of my garden. I have to battle with weeds and wild grasses and vines all the time. Oh, I hate Johnson grass, Nutgrass, Bermuda grass, and all the other weedy grasses that plague any garden and those "sticktight" vines that grow rampant in trees, bushes and everywhere if they get started. Gads. So, my answer is simply this: I work my arse off. ~Annie

Altho' peonies grow to the size of shrubs every year, they aren't classified as such. Can you name the shrub in the photo above? Depending on what the botanical name might be, you may get more helpful suggestions about whether or not to trim it down. There are shrubs that benefit from being pruned every year whereas others are best left to their own devices. In the absence of a positive I.D., it's probably a good idea to leave it for a season to allow you to observe its behavior/bloom time/flower color. Good for you that the bed is now curved rather than linear. You many find that "ditching" the bed works better than lining the edges with stones but you'll decide what works best for you. The formal beds are ditched in nearly every botanical/public garden I've either visited or seen pictures of which is why I adapted my own garden beds to that method. Sorry I don't have a recent photo to give you a visual. As I mentioned above, I consulted my neighbor prior to ditching the beds and he reiterated that it was much easier to mow around them if they were ditched. I can tell you from experience that weeds/grass will grow up between your river rocks and you'll be hard pressed to kill them without using chemicals or vinegar. You'll find your own garden priorities but I recommend you consider this: perennial gardening isn't a goal with a finite end date. Rather, it's a journey. There are plenty of detours along the way.