plant suggestions for socal cottage garden?

9 years ago

hi all -

i'm struggling with our tiny backyard and found everyone's pictures here very inspirational! i posted over in landscaping but seems like often the concerns over there are on a much larger scale.

since moving here last summer we've put up new redwood fencing, installed a 9' square patio for a table, and gotten two 4'x4' veggie gardens going. i'm landscaping the front yard with all ca natives - ceanothus, mallow, buckwheats etc. so i'm interested in natives but also willing to wander in the backyard. there is a huge orange tree whose canopy covers half the yard.

it gets a lot more sun back here during the summer - so my pretty baby's tears i'd tucked around the patio and between walkways promptly shriveled, though the creeping thyme is hanging on...

what are some climate appropriate/somewhat drought tolerant plants to consider to get that cottage look? looking forward to your suggestions!!

our new fence with ugly dry dusty dirt....

Comments (4)

Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
9 years ago
Hi jane !
What a nice garden space you have ! I love the seating area . I personally have no idea how your garden zone is. But some plants that I know are drought tolerant and look great in a cottage garden are lavender , salvias , and sedums. Also grasses are very pretty ! How does honeysuckle do for your area? I am particularly fond of gold flame honeysuckle . I also just got a plant of Florida honeysuckle from brushwood . Hasn't bloomed yet but I'm looking forward to it .
Have you heard of Santa Rosa gardens ? They have a lot of great plants to look at online I think you may love. Also sign up for their emails, they have lots of great sales. don't forget your local nursery , they will really help! Please share pics with us as you go ! We love pictures here. ( at least , I do ! ).
MilaB
9 years ago
Lavendar is a good idea. I would also do rosemary (just because I don't live in California anymore, and that is what i miss being able to grow easily!). You could do a whole herb area between the veggies and the patio. Nasturiums grow well in all that sun (not a perennial, but easy to grow from seed). California poppies are lovely, and come in several varieties besides just the bright orange.

Do you know Annie's Annuals and Perennials? They have a lot of California natives. I love looking at their catalog because they show really pretty plant combinations. http://www.anniesannuals.com/
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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.
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I lost a pine tree about 6 years ago and made a similar-sized cottage garden in the sole sun-space it made in my yard. I have had fun with reseeders that don't take too much water but have dragged a hose during some drought weeks. Here are some additional water-thrifty and long-blooming suggestions: melampodium (reseeds), salvia coccinea, both the pink-and-white and white reseed, tall ageratum (watch this one - can take over but rips up easily enough), white and yellow, red four-o'clocks, belamcanda, dianthus velvet n lace and sooty, agastache rugosa, rosemary, lambs ears beside crimson pygmy barberry, coreopsis superman, lantana chapel hill, daylily pardon me, happy returns, feverfew, vinca, chrysanthemum, penstemon iron maiden, bellflower (platycodon), black and blue salvia, and Johnny's has "gruppenblau" salvia farinacea seed that I planted 5 years ago that has been perennial here in 7A. I did try larkspur, corn poppies, batchelor buttons last fall at Thanksgiving and had low germination for the amount of seed spread but not covered - thought maybe a small amount of mulch might have helped but from Tamelask's comments, maybe not!
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almost any chamycypress that won't grow too big. But "big" is all relative. A chamycypress that tops out at 12 h x 6 w might be too big for some gardens or be a perfect anchor or focal point in another. there's no ugly chamycypresses. the foliage is lovely even in winter. I'd like to suggest your question (or search) should be refined quite a bit: you must consider ultimate height, sun tolerance, drought tolerant, resistance to winter burn and dessication. Consider winter foliage color: some evergreens becomewhat I consider a nasty olive; others deepen to bronze or gray and can be lovely. Do you want "green", blue, blue green, gold, yellow, bold, subtle. Can plants grow close to its root system? Can it carry a snow load or are you willing to wrap it in burlap, or build a shed over it or go out the freezing cold to shake the snow off? I will offer my personal experience with alberta spruce. In hot dry climates (or an especially hot dry summer) they are very suseptable to spider mites. As you drive around look at the AS in your area. If there are large areas of brown and defoliation on many it suggests spider mites will be a problem. Of all the "wrong plant, wrong place" problems, I think underestimating the ultimate size of a tree is the biggest and most common problem gardeners make, regardless of experience. Finally, if you are thinking of moving to a true mixed border of perennials, shrubs and trees see if your library has Michael Dirr's Woody Shrubs and Trees. If you have some bucks to burn buy it. It is an indispensable bible on the subject; readable and encyclopedic knowledge. My friends tell me it is available as an app for better on the spot shopping decisions. Long answer to a short question. idabean
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Roses often do well with under-plantings and mine are all grown with other plants, but you might want to ask for specifics on the rose forum. How long have the roses been in place - are they full sized? Are they bushes or climbers? If they are new, I'd stick with low-growing annuals such as Alyssum or Lobelia maritima for a couple of years until you have a good feel for how large your bushes will get. Good air circulation can be important for healthy foliage, especially with fungal diseases in roses that are prone to things like black spot, so I would stay with shorter plants. Regular tall garden phlox (P. paniculata) are large, robust plants that would hide many rose bushes and enclose them enough that I would worry about disease on both the roses and the phlox, and mine are always larger than 2' wide. I don't grow regular daisies, so don't know about how suitable they would be (I think they might spread too much and thinning them would disturb the roses), but there are smaller varieties of Campanulas such as C.cochlearifolia, C. carpatica, C. rotundifolia, 'Birch Hybrid' or any of the 'Clips' series that would work well. Even if they spread under the roses they are shallow rooted and won't compete. Columbine would be fine since it blooms on airy stalks with the foliage staying low. Here are some other plants that would work well in front of roses. Veronica 'Georgia Blue' - low, delicate foliage, intense blue spring flowers with occasional repeats in late summer and fall, weaves gently around other plants and is happy in sun or part shade Low Dianthus (pinks) such as 'Greystone', 'Brilliancy', 'Firewitch', 'Bath's Pink' or D. grantianopolitanus. Scabiosa such as butterfly blue is like Columbine in the way that the foliage stays low. Long summer bloom time in my garden. Delphinium 'Blue Butterfly' is another low-growing plant that would be fine in 1'-2', though it gets a bit taller than my other suggestions, more like 18". You could use foliage as well; non-aggressive low plants with green and white variegated foliage would look pretty all season at the feet of the roses since the color wouldn't rely on bloom. One possibility - I have a green and white variegated thyme that seems fine with the regular moisture levels in my garden.
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slowjane CA/ Sunset 21
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions! I bought several penstemons and silver falls dichondra to start with. How about Black-eyed Susan - Thunbergia - ?
DrPekeMom
9 years ago
Hi Slowjane!! I am fellow SoCal cottage gardener. My penstemons tend to look very pretty the first year and then get rather dissembled looking and bloom less. I may be doing something wrong.

In addition to Annie's Annuals, which is in NorCal, there is also Digging Dog. They have some great California natives. Rolling Green is pricey but they have got terrific plants; never found a pest on one. Matilija Nursery has the most wonderful plants; they are up in Moorpark.

So here are my winner plants: Black eyed Susan does very well here. My thunbergia grows like a demon but refuses to bloom; my neighbors' looks heavenly. I can not explain this. Favorites in my cottage garden: California native lupines (no water.) Echiums of all varieties. All the milkweeds native to California and Mexico do great. Coreopsis do very well. I've never gotten anything but the plain old pink coneflowers to grow, but those ones do very nice. Cosmos do respectably with a little water. Four o'clocks need a bit of water but not a lot. If you don't mind watering a bit and you have dry shade, fuchsias do well here. Any and all salvias tend to be quite enthusiastic and the hummers like them. Tansy get spectacular here but comes and goes. Vinca is quite pretty and self-sows, but I think it's labeled as invasive and you are not meant to plant it. (Mine came with the house. I tear out some, leave some.) All my sedum are happy with very little water.

With irises: if i buy them locally, they do fine. If I buy them elsewhere, they croak. The same is true of daylillies. I have my garden set up in 'water' and 'no water' zones so I can have the flowers I love so much but I can make the water conservation folks happy, too. I justify the roses by conserving water elsewhere.

I have a succulent garden I have created by using leftover succulent bouquets. They've become all the rage, and I work at USC where they have these all over. So when events are done, I beg for one or two of the arrangements, take the plants home, stick them around, see what lives and dies and looks good. It's quite random and lovely and it's been cheap! Most succulents you can just stick in the ground.

I think one should always grow rosemary by the garden gate.

This post was edited by DrPekeMom on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 0:18

plant suggestions for socal cottage garden?

Comments (4)

Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca

MilaB

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plant suggestions for socal cottage garden?

Comments (4)

Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca

MilaB

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slowjane CA/ Sunset 21Original Author

DrPekeMom

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slowjane CA/ Sunset 21
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