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Cottage Gardens

Monochromatic (blues/purples) Cottage Garden

10 years ago

Has anyone ever done a cottage garden in all blues, purples, lavenders, etc? I would love to have suggestions for plants to do so and also to see pictures if anyone has a garden like this. So far I have false indigo, lavender, salvia, bellflower, purple coneflower, russian sage. Any other advice?

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Comments (15)

plantmaven
10 years ago
Sounds wonderful! Agapanthus, blue pea vine, columbine, plumbago, iris, corn flower (Centaurea cyanus), spiderwort.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
10 years ago
My in-laws did this several years ago. They had a purple leafed plum, lavender, irises (both Siberian and bearded), creeping phlox, and I am sure other plants which I no longer remember. Although I love blues and purples theirs had so many different shades and not much to provide contrast so that it always seemed to me somewhat less effective than it might have been. They have now reached an age that they are having a difficult time keeping up with their gardens, and that bed has been returned to lawn.
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Hi Bobby! I make my attempts at cottage gardening so I'll lend you my opinions for whatever they are worth to you. Actually, overall, I think your south foundation bed is the most color poppin bed in your photo album. Here are some thoughts... Make the bed larger on the east end near the backyard and include in it a small speciman tree. Your house is very tall and no matter what you do with perennials and annuals your not going to get enought height there to bring the bed into scale with the house unless you add something that is at least half the height of the house. A weeping cherry or a weeping red bud would be wonderful there. On your trellis' I would make them larger or fill the gap in the center with another trellis. Then I'd add more clematis to them in white or very pale colors. The lighter colors will help the darker ones to show up. Be careful to add the same pruning type that you have there now because once they are intertwined you'll never be able to prune them correctly if they're different types. If you aren't familiar with clematis types do a google search. Another thought would be to add a repeat blooming rose. Roses and clematis get along famously together! Personally I'd work with the peonies. I think they are wonderful cottage plants and the scent is worth the very short while that they bloom. Hollyhocks, tall delphinium, tall shrub roses, veronica, lupines, more lilies, daylilies, birdhouses on tall posts would all give you some needed height in the bed. Lastly...too much green, as you said yourself. You need lots more flowers of all colors or all pastels, depending on your personal preference, before you are going to get that lush cottage feeling. In addition to the colors...ADD WHITE. White flowers (daisy's are perfect) will help blend all the colors that you add and give the eye a place to rest between colors and they also make each individual color stand out more on it's own. When you are choosing your blooming plants look for things with foliage in verigated, grey tones, and blue tinged tones as well. It helps keep it all from looking "just green". Having said all that I think you have done a good job with your shrub choices which will also give you some backbone for the garden when it is not in bloom ie during winter. In time you'll end up like the rest of us cottagers, adding fencing, arbors and tons of draping roses lol. You're off to a great start. Keep at it...you'll get there. PS Did you know there is a cottage garden forum with a gallery that is to die for and conversation section as well. Stop in. They are the friendliest bunch of folks over there! MeMo
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Thanks all, for the pictures !! I have a nice dark blue monkshood and will save a few stargazers for around that guy too. I guess this year I will take note of flowering times for all the new lilies and rearrange the combos as needed after flowering. Nell, I spent some time going through your albums and really enjoyed them! It looks like some of your lilies are in dappled shade but still grow upright without stretching or leaning. Is that the case ? That would increase the number of places I can plant them if I know they can tolerate some shade and still flower/grow strong. Some plants that are in the sunny areas I am planning to put them are: a dwarf purple butterfly bush, phlox, a light pink knockout rose, a "sunshine blue" Mist shrub, the monkshood, fall-blooming shell pink anemones, a hot pink knockout rose, a Raspberry Mousse toadlily, a false indigo, and spiderwort Sweet Kate. I need to study some more of my pictures from last year to see what is blooming during the times the lilies will bloom. More research !! Here is a link that might be useful: Stargazers and Casa Blancas
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Wow, yes. Intriguing idea! I have something like that going on, although no pics to share as most things look dead right now... so use your imagination... There is one bed in my backyard that is purple/pink done in three tiers: - down at the bottom, 6 inches off the ground, is a row of Pinks (Dianthus) - next is a row of Society Garlic, which sends up lavender-colored flowers on stalks about two feet high - at the back is a Tibouchina with the bright purple flowers, flanked by pinkish Ixora. It's very cool when they are all blooming. Steps up, you know. I also have a silver-red combination going on around the back porch... red Hibiscus, Poinsettia, and red fountain grass, separated by silver dollar Eucalyptus and arizona Cypress. It's quite striking. This should be an interesting thread :)
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You may find the website linked below helpful. You can click on "Find - by common name" for info and pictures, or on "Commonly Affected Species" and choose the animal you are concerned about. Unfortunately, dicentra (fern-leaf bleeding heart) is on the list of plants toxic to horses. Great blue lobalia (lobelia siphilitica) is native to the lower 48 states and Canada. It is a perennial and will self-seed (unless you deadhead) as well as grow small new plants at the base. Lobelia cardinalis is in the same family, but has clear, bright red flowers that are very attractive to hummingbirds. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a good article on epimedium at http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/2007sp_epimedium.html. Epimedium and heuchera are different plants; epi's are in the berberidaceae family of plants, while heucheras are in the saxifragaceae. Do a google search for some photos of these little gems. Hellebores (Christmas and Lenten rose) are great plants, providing very early bloom. There are some great cultivars out now, but I especially like the foliage of the helleborus foetidus, which provide a strong, healthy mound of dark green leaves through summer and into winter ( well, here, anyway). I have one native ginger in my garden, and one Asian. The Asian variety has a nice silvery frosted pattern on the leaves, but there's something special (for me) about having the native variety. You will have to check, since some varieties are tropicals. You do have a lot of factors to take into consideration in planning your shade garden. Do you have a botanical garden or horticultural park nearby? Either of these might have a horticultural library, which would be a real help to you. If your state has a native plant society, they may be of some help, also your County Extension office. By the time you are finished with your research and planning, you may be able to tell us about a few great plants you've discovered that we've overlooked! Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell U., Dept. of Animal Science, Plants Poisonous to Livestock
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luckygal
10 years ago
My garden is a mix of colors altho I do like blues and purples so have quite a few. Here are the ones I had on my list:

Blue or purple perennial flowers -

Walker's Low catmint, East Friesland perennial sage, Royal Candles Spike Speedwell, Blue Fortune Hyssop, Dwarf Siberian Irises, Bearded Irises, forget-me-nots, Blue (creeping) sedum, Ajuga, Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue' (a blu-ish grass), lamb's ears, variegated and non-variegated Jacob's Ladder, Columbine, Pasque Flower, Cranesbill, Delphinium (tall & medium), purple loosestrife, Campanula glomerata, monkshood, Mountain Bluet, blue flax, lavender 'Munstead', chives.

I've also in the past grown borage which is an edible annual and the flowers are pretty in a glass of lemonade.

I've put some of my pics of blue and purple flowers in an album.

Here is a link that might be useful: My blue and purple plants

This post was edited by luckygal on Sun, May 12, 13 at 16:55
LillyP
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. This is great!! I decided I wanted to do the garden like this last season and am ready to get started again. It has a lot of space that needs to be filled and your suggestions have been great so far! Luckygal, I love your photos! I'm going to have to check into the blue creeping sedum, I've been trying to find a ground cover for some of the areas and I didn't know creeping sedum came in blue.
hosenemesis
10 years ago
For contrast, you can put blue next to violet. I love Etoile Violette clematis with blue plumbago.
Blue and violet bearded irises look great blooming together too.
docmom_gw
10 years ago
I'm in the process of creating a similar bed, though mine is also supposed to be for the butterflies and hummingbirds and other beneficial pollinators and will contain pinks and whites as well as blues. I have:
Lavender, chives, large and small iris, Jacob's Ladder, Malva, Agastache, Swamp milkweed, New England Asters, coreopsis (pink), columbine, delphinium, larkspur, Wild Blue Lupine (but I don't think they survived last summer), wild petunias, Obedient Plant, snapdragons, several annual and perennial monarda, and I'm starting lots of zinnias and annual asters from seed. I'm trying Torenia and Browallia from seed, also, but I've never grown them before, so we'll see. Good luck. I'll take pictures if the weather ever warms up enough to let things grow and bloom.

Martha
gardenweed_z6a
10 years ago
No one has thus far mentioned Stokesia laevis/stoke's aster but it has 2-3 inch fringed lavender-blue flowers & is reliably hardy--at least it has been in my beds for several seasons. In my experience it's virtually maintenance-free and requires little more than decent soil & adequate amounts of sun.

Virginia bluebells/Mertensia virginica are an early-spring, shade-loving ephemeral that provide trumpet-shaped blue color in the garden altho' they disappear completely sometime in late May-early June.

Phlox divaricata Ã¢ÂÂBlue MoonÃ¢ÂÂ (woodland phlox, wild sweet william) is putting on a show in my part-sun garden at the moment and altho' low-growing, it really pops this time of year.

Platycodon grandiflorus/balloon flower is another reliably hardy, low/no maintenance perennial that's also available in either blue or white-blooming varieties.

Catananche caerulea/Cupid's dart is also hardy in Z6 and blooms in either blue or white altho' it hasn't reliably come back for me.

Perennial flax/Linum perenne lewisii produces tiny but exquisite blue flowers in the early-season garden. It's also native if my research is correct--it was reputedly discovered by & gets its name from the Lewis & Clark expedition.

Lobelia siphilitica/Great blue lobelia is a somewhat tall, late-season bloomer that's popular with bees.
ripley529
10 years ago
docmom - I saw hummingbirds at my Centaurea - Mountain Bluet this year, if you are looking for another blue :)
docmom_gw
10 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion, Ripley.

Garden weed, I have Virginia Bluebells in back, and I wintersowed Great Blue Lobelia this winter and have lots of seedlings. Though, I've heard the lobelia can be quite enthusiastic in its reseeding habits. My bed is right up by the road, so I'm trying to have mostly low-growing plants to allow for visibility for those backing out of driveways. I love your other suggestions, also.

Martha
eclecticcottage
10 years ago
I am trying out Chinese Houses (purple and white) this year from direct sown seed, as well as Love In A Mist which I believe you can get in blue/purple only. There are some smaller sterile Butterfly Bushes that might work as foundation shrubs as well as the bigger older varieties (depending on if they are invasive where you are or not). Also hydrangea, depending on your soil (if it will stay blue).
gardenweed_z6a
10 years ago
docmom/Martha - you'd love the Phlox divaricata 'Blue Moon' I mentioned above. It's low-growing, forms a mound 6-8 inches tall and in my somewhat brief experience is extremely well behaved. I've no complaints about it so far and this is year 3 for me growing it.

My great blue lobelia is planted in a bed that's heavily mulched, with corrugated cardboard under the bark mulch & bordering on a brick walkway so I haven't noticed too much reseeding thus far. Can't say the same for the Adenophora/ladybells on the opposite side of the walkway however. Those appear to be rampant reseeders.
BecR
10 years ago
How about pincushion flower (I have Blue Butterfly), vinca is a nice groundcover with blue flowers as is blue star creeper, and how about violets, pansies, violas and johnny jump ups--these all have blooms in the blue/ violet range.
irene_dsc
10 years ago
Mine is largely blue, lavender and purple, but I've also mixed in white, yellow, and red, so it isn't quite as monochrome. I've got centaurea montana, baptisia, catmint, iris, sedum Autumn Joy, geranium nimbus & Brookside, brunnera, purple coneflowers, Russian sage, salvia, clematis, agastache, and a few more I am missing at the moment!
schoolhouse_gw
10 years ago
eclecticcottage, what is "Chinese Houses"?
eclecticcottage
10 years ago
Chinese Houses:

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