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

I second the vote for columbine and nicotiana. Bachelor buttons (also called cornflowers around here) would be another good choice. While they are annuals, mine bloom as early as most of the spring perennials - and in fact they self-seeded last fall and overwintered to bloom for me even earlier this spring. (Both nicotiana and bachelor buttons are hardy annuals and can either be sown quite early or will come up early from self-sowing.) BB are fairly tall, and the other plants around them will help keep them from flopping. They come not only in blue, but in pink, white, purple, and burgundy. Select Seeds had packets of just the burgundy available last year, I believe. Might be able to find just pink, too.

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!

Lilyfinchâ¦We had the arbor already. Here is a pic. We widened the beds and added a curvy grass path. To left of arbor we moved my reblooming lilac bush and to the right of arbor, I already had climbing roses that we planted last year..so maybe by next year, they will start climbing over the arbor!