I'm thrilled to have discovered this forum! My garden has, for a number of years, been "Cottage" style for want of any other definition. Informal, closely planted, started out planned but evolved. What I like about this style is that there is often a surprise awaiting on a stroll thru the garden - a little self-seeded plant, large rock placed to support a statue left when the statue was moved, a garden decoration peeking out from beneath the overgrown foliage. Perhaps even an unidentified plant which may or may not be a "weed". There's room for those to stay for awhile until their true nature is determined! I don't believe that a cottage garden should only be allowed next to a cottage home, or that there are many "requirements" for such a garden. There are as many cottage garden styles as there are cottage gardeners because of the informal and personal nature of the style. It's perfect for those of us who buy plants on a whim wherever we find them and happily accept extras from other gardeners without a concern as to where we will plant them. My choice has also been to have an organic garden so birds are an important part as they keep the insects in check. I have saved this entire thread and look forward to reading everyone's ideas when I am more awake!

Thanks Plumfield! The cistern idea is a good one; my mom does love her gardens and we have a well so it would be really take some of the strain off the well in summer. I did check out the Tumbleweed houses but to get something of comparable size was about 16,000 more and that was just materials to build versus the Elder Cottage which is pre-fab. The site is here: www.eldercottages.com and I was really impressed with their pricing for the floor plans available. Many similar options we explored looked very much like an efficiency (one open floor plan with separate bath) and were as much as 20,000 more.

Antique silver (remind me to share pics of the lawyers cabinets I am trying to fill with silver lol) I never thought about those knifes the way you did. They came down day one because we have a small child...and because they were dull as butter knives lol That back porch is original to the structure and will be a much needed mud room (probably more for me than the kid and dog). Rococo, thank you for the cabinet recommendations. I'll be sure to talk with crown point. It's nice to hear from someone who has seen them. As well as the peacock cabs, which I've researched to death. I do like their people. Customer service is job one there as far as ive seen. Holly that scrap will be saved and unfortunately after trying to find a replacement I have found that its just not possible. You will be happy though to hear that in the servants dining room (right off the kitchen where we eat most meals) I did find a nos linoleum carpet for the floor in turquoise, pink, gold and blue. That china cabinet you are picturing (and the one in the current nook) will be restored with appropriate drawers and a turquoise paint job inside its white exterior to house my white ware collection (ok I have one piece but I have a couple of years to work on it). That large piece will be put in the servant's dining room which wil be done in similar colors to the "carpet". Very soft and sweet, 1930s and 40s feel under the alabaster light fixture and white tin painted ceiling that remain from the days it was built. We will also have a butlers pantry between the kitchen and the main dinng room for the china and silver and stuff one feels one must horde if they have a Victorian :). As to the gardens....I couldn't get the current pics to load. All viable plants and bulbs were saved and relocated around the property. Now when you walk between the gardeners cottage and the main house you do so through a sea of hyacInths which progress through the season to a taller sea of iris complimented by fall hydrengea and roses that bloom through the summer. Not a bulb went to waste. The bad thing about the pic you were charmed by is that the wind knocked the late summer blooming iris down with the first wind far before their blooms were spent. Their new location protects them from that sea "breeze" (monsoon) and allows them to last through the season. I've replaced them in that old location with paniculata hydrengeas which seem to like a good beating from the wind and don't mind the harsh sun in that location. They are all happy :). On a side gardening note....we found mr James diary and he particularly loved hydrangea and peonies so the current gardens are filled with over 60 different varieties of hydrangas and around 30 peony types. He isn't haunting me so I think he likes them lol

OMG! I was having trouble posting asking if anyone remembered the Hypertufa forum, or wintersowing, or cement. I got so many good ideas on the GW forums. I have moved since the old GW days (still zone 7a), but I did a ton of FTF trades and USPS bare root trades. And, I feel the same about FB - I find it so intrusive. As for Houzz, I hired (and paid) and got ripped off by a contractor found through the site. I spent close to $1000 (last fall an emergency fix and then this spring, fixing it correctly. (The original job, a patio, cost several thousand dollars and he created a massive drainage problem). Then, I went to review him on the site to review contractors, but they are not easy to scroll thru and I do not have hours to look thru 1000s of their contractors.