Five picks?

Roses
Hollyhocks
Daisies
Dahlias
Phlox

Those 5 are a must for my garden in addition to your list. Plus veggies, herbs, etc. I get all excited thinking of it!
~Natalie

I guess if I were picking five that I have the most of (which I guess defines my must-haves), they would be:

Roses
Clematis
Hydrangea
Daylilies
Gardenia

Mary

Roses, snapdragons, chrysanthemums, dianthus and sunflowers. Can I have six picks? Sage is really nice, too.

Lorna

My 5 picks for a cottage garden are
Foxgloves
Canterbury Bells
Roses
Pinks (Dianthus)
Lavender

Annette

Only five???

Well, I will just add to the flowers already listed above:

Nasturtiums
Sweet Allysum
Hollyhocks
Rosemary
Lupines

...just to name a few.

~ sweetannie4u

It's hard to choose only 5, but here's mine:
Peonies
Lady's Mantle
Lilac
Roses
Salvia
I would have to add Tulips.

Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, Roses, Lavender, Sunflowers

Since I have DEER, I have to attempt to achieve the look through plants that are specifically deer resistant. Otherwise, I have to cram plants (roses, dianthus, daylilies, shastas) into my small space inside the fence.

So...outside the fence for full sun:

Lavender
Irises
Verbena
Buddleia
Nepeta

Cameron (on a mission for a beautiful deer-resistant garden)

Here is a link that might be useful: my gardening blog

I am listing what will grow in my area.

Larkspur
daylilies
roses
hollyhocks
iris

I find this amusing - I only have a few of those that have been listed, but more are in my future plans.

Of those previously listed, I have (in the current garden):
larkspur
iris
daylilies (new this year)
nepeta
shasta daisies (new this year)
peonies (well, one)
lilac
dianthus (new this year)
hydrangea (new this year)
clematis (new this year)
sunflowers
salvia (new this year)

Hmm...maybe more than a few!

And in the coming years, I hope to add:
hollyhocks
roses
more clematis
more peonies

In the old garden, I had:
roses
ladysmantle
lavender
iris (some came with us)
daylilies
lilac
hollyhocks
tulips

Hmm...does this mean the new garden is more cottage-y than the old one? ;)

We grow such different plants here in coastal Northern CA. I love hollyhocks but never see them out here, but another gardening forum posted they don't like humidity so living in the fog belt wouldn't work for them, I guess. Plus, I prefer evergreens, since the yards need to look good the entire year, no real dormant season here.

- roses
- lavender
- osteospermum
- pelargoniums
- evergreen shrubs such as citrus, leptospermum, rhaphiolepsis, etc. - these are often overlooked but critical to keeping a "cottage look" in our climate, where we get no water at all in summer but it's cold and rainy all winter.

Quintessential for me would be Roses (preferably floribundas) and hollyhocks along a rustic or picket fence. Then snapdragons in a rainbow of colors. Definitely delphs/larkspur. And lastly violas/pansies - could never be without them.

: )
Diana

Rose Campion - a personal favorite
Snapdragons - tall kind
Hollyhocks - love them but haven't grown them for a few years due to Japanese beetles
pinks
salvia

I'm also of the opinion that cottage gardens are a state of mind - I grow a lot of items that aren't traditional cottage plants I suspect, but it combines to make one big happy garden.

I love reading everyone's lists, I agree... there is no one way to have a cottage garden. But its neat to see different people's adaptations of the concept.

Kim

"But its neat to see different people's adaptations of the concept".

I so agree, Kim. The style can be interpreted in many ways - Southwest, Mediterranean, English, etc. - and I'm sure our lists aren't meant to imply we don't or can't appreciate the many interpretations. Our lists are just personal favorites and I for one love reading everyone's lists. Now I have to go look up a few to see if they might work for me. : )

Diana

salvia
dahlias
clematis
iris
peonies

These say cottage garden to me.

Hollyhocks
Delphiniums
Foxgloves
Climbing roses
Daisies/Rudbeckia/Echinacea - any or all

ThinMan

don't forget pink coneflower now! :)

OH Thinman just added that.. ok! good!
Phlox
roses
butterfly bush(someone mentioned..)
how about poppies?

Oh boy! Can I play? Five....let me think....

walker's low catmint--love the way it blooms and then a new flush of blooms comes on again.

lantana--I love the ease of growing it and it brings back so many memories of catching butterflies when I was a girl

daylilies--particularly "Red Volunteer"--man, oh man, that's a gaw-jus daylily!

Jacob's Kline Bee Balm--new for me, but I love it

Coneflower--particulary the bright orange of tiki torch

Oh no....I'm out of room and I didn't get to mention balloon flowers or coreopsis or hollyhock or may night salvia, or broadway lights shasta daisies....

Hard to pick just five, but I'd say, for me:

Lilies (that includes Asiatic, Oriental, and daylilies- even though they're not real lilies, it's cheating, I know); hosta; echinacea; nepeta; and perennial geranium.

Hosta, because I can't think of a better plant for color in the shade, or to separate and infuse some texture in the garden.

Tracy

Lets see 5
well all the above
Brandywine tomato
rosemary
lavender
hollyhocks
roses (shrub)
I do grow alot of my
veggies mixed in with the flowers

Blueangel

Hollyhocks(picture the garden behind the fence at George Bailey's house in "It's a Wonderful Life")

Pink Climbing Roses(covering the arbor, climbing the aged brick walls and hovering over the roof of that ethereal English cottage)

Shasta Daisies(in Jane Austins "Pride and Prejudice" they cut daisies in their garden that stand 4' tall with a pair of scissors that look like they were designed to trim hooves, then daintily place each perfect bloom in their little woven basket)

Larkspur(forming drifts of blue, pink, white and purple gently waving in the Spring breezes. Can you imagine how much finer the world would be if the US government would spend as much as they do on the space program developing a larkspur that would grow and bloom all year?)

Lavender(In Jane Austins "Emma", Emma strolls through her garden with her governess and strokes the flowering tips of the lavender plants that are about 3 1/2' tall)

Cheryl

Here's my favorite 5/6:

Verbena bonariensis-(loves the drought and gives a wonderful airy look to the garden)

Nigella-(another lovely airy looking flower, love the seedpods!)

Mullein-(loves the drought and the smaller ones don't take over your garden and they bloom profusely)

Salvias- (tons of them........)

Hollyhocks-(even though I live close to the coast, rust hasn't been a problem. My front garden is hot and west facing.)

Sunflowers-(I adore these, but unfortunately so do the d. squirrels, so I've just about given up on these, boo hoo)

Great thread! Love reading everyones favorites!

Mine are:

Peonies - for their gorgeous fragrance and appearance

Hollyhocks - just because they belong there and give height

Roses - HAVE to have them

Garden Phlox - the scent from these makes me smile and remember my mom's garden :)

Liatris - love the feathery spikes

Catmint - their fullness and wispiness and the way they gently cascade over the hardscape

Foxglove - gorgeous, height and all over yummy look to a garden

Sorry it wasn't 5. Just could not eliminate any :)

All these lists are making me want to expand my garden and add more plants!

One plant that I forgot that I love as a cottage garden plant - Centranthus ruber - red valerian. So pretty and I love the way the blooms pop up around other plants.

I think I meant to put Columbine instead of Clematis on mine... not that either is better than the other... but yeah.

Lol... its making me want my plants to grow sooner!

Check out the special edition magazine from Cottage Living . There are "cottage gardens" with plants to suit the zone...New Mexico, Florida, NC, California, etc. The common theme is the cottage, the ambiance, paths, hardscape, garden art, romance, etc. :-)

Cameron

I almost suggested the same magazine! I have it and I love it.

oh my - any of the above are great choices but if I HAD to limit it to 5 for my NC Cottage garden they would be

salvias
larkspur
daylilies - actually any lily
foxglove
CLEMATIS - lots of them

up north or in another part of the country my choices would be different......

Lynne

musicaldeity, this is ot, but I just noticed your user name! I love music just as much as gardening, so your name makes me smile. (My number 1 musical deity is Bruce Springsteen. If you are him, don't tell me, because I'll have heart failure. **g**)

Lol... I would have had a sex change for one thing... and he could be my father... but other than that... lol

I am a music teacher and music therapist... its my first passion.

If I could only choose 5...

Roses
Iris
Daylilies
Columbine
Rudbeckia

If I could choose 5 more...

Foxglove
Gailardia
Heuchera
Dianthus
Stachys Byzantina

I just couldn't stop at 10, though... there are way too many gorgeous plants that look wonderful in the carefully controlled chaos of the cottage garden!

Only five? If I were limited to only five, I would plant flowering shrubs/small trees and attempt year-round bloom, which is possible in your zone.
Roses
Gardenia
Azalea
Camellia
Crape myrtle

I went out and tried to visualize if these were all that were left in my gardens.
I would need to leave the boxwoods and dogwoods and all the large trees.
It would be quite satisfactory, actually. Lots more lawn and no perennials and annuals to water, LOL.

But what about the butterflies -- maybe they could get by on just an additional five. Lantana
Pentas
Verbena bonariensis
Dianthus
Tithonia, or Zinnias?

Nell

P.S. I forgot about the bulbs: daffodils, lilies, agapanthus, caladiums, gingers....

small cranesbills
small scented geraniums
cone flowers
achillea
alyssum
roses
clematis
salvias - hot lips, indigo spires, coral nymph, russian, black & blue, pineapple, etc.
lemon verbena
sunflowers
foxgloves
delphiniums
nastursiums
thyme
verbena bonariensis
heliotrope

I knew 5 wouldn't be easy, since everyone has favorites and there are no wrong answers. Well maybe bananas. But here in FL we can try to make even that work... lol.

I think that's why I love cottage gardens so much, they are teeming with all sorts of things... and no matter what they are all beautiful.

Roses are the most basic necessity for my garden. I've just added 2 more to my little garden, making about a dozen.

Nasturtiums... I'll never be without them, partly because I have no choice, they reseed like mad, but also because they're gorgeous for filling in areas, spilling and mounding everywhere. They add a look of lushness.

Lavender... beautiful, sweet smelling, I just put in 6 more this year.

Vines... can I nominate a whole group rather than just one plant? Cottage gardens, to me, require some height, and not too much order, so vines climbing and scrambling around, blurring the lines of order, are a must. Sweet peas are lovely, clematis, morning glories.

I would like to say hollyhocks or sunflowers, but the slugs tend to get them. I'll say lavatera, because if I sow the hundreds of seeds that come in a packet, or which I gather from last year's plants, I can often get at least a few plants past the wretched slimers.

I love so many of the choices already listed. Low spreading herbs are additional things to love in a cottage garden as edgers, like variegated lemon thyme. Also oregano, purple basil, rosemary. I grow parsley for the swallowtail butterflies and year two, the 3 foot flowers are lacy and wonderful. There are some great ornamental peppers now - didn't get around to starting those this year but will next spring.