Need Ideas for New Red and White Cottage Garden Bed
Marty Thomas
8 years ago
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Comments (11)
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
8 years agoLavender Lass
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Ideas needed for a cottage garden
Comments (10)One thing that I think of when imagining a cottage garden is an issue of scale and intimacy. That is a reasonably big front yard and it feels quite open. So perhaps some boundaries can be created. Other ideas that come to mind are of lush, overgrown plantings, partially covered structures, various textures and colors. Suggestions: Boundary: A low fence of some kind, either a split rail, or white picket fence or something of the sort out toward the street and/or between the garden and the driveway on the side. And it doesn't need to completely enclose the front yard. . . it can be in certain areas to act as a foil for plants to grow up and on. Alternatively, you can do a garden wall of some kind. See link for my garden wall I built out of concrete. Cost: ~ $100 in gas money to haul free concrete out to my house. People "IN" the Garden: Find a way to draw people into the garden. A paved "court" area in the middle zone with some metal chairs and a table would be nice. The paving could be crushed rock or pavers of some kind. Who knows, perhaps even re-route your front walkway so that visitors enter at an opposite side of the front yard and get to walk through the garden to your front door. At the side-walk side of the yard you could build an arbor for them to walk through. This also helps with creating a boundary and enclosing the cottage garden. Arbor On The Wall: Removing the shutters on either side of the main window and building an arbor against the wall would look great. You could get some climbing roses or something going up the side of the house. The White Flowering Bushes: Those white flowering bushes against the house in the right of the photo look great. But I don't see a strong reason they have to stay put. I wouldn't be afraid to dig them up and move them to a different location. Grass: When I picture in my mind a cottage garden I don't see a lawn. Could just be my limited imagination. But you probably couldn't go wrong replacing most of that lawn. . . even if you don't put any pavers down in the middle for a paved court I can easily see cutting the lawn area down by 50% with planting beds for the rest of the 50% that are over flowing with plants and flowers. Inspirational Resources: Check out some cottage garden picture books at the local book store. In addition to Gardenweb forums I'm sure those would be a great resource. Here is a link that might be useful: Rubble Wall...See MoreNeed ideas for a new bed
Comments (6)I second the vote for zinnias and sunflowers and please add cosmos to your list, which are also directly sown. If you plant larkspur within the next week, you should be able to get them the cold period they need for germination. You mentioned daisies, however, keep in mind those are perennials and do not bloom the first year from seeds. You may want to go to some of the Internet seed sites such as Renee's Seeds, Burpee, Johnny's and see if they have cutting garden collections to get an idea of what works well when direct down. Good luck, Teresa...See MoreNeed ideas for new garden area :)
Comments (6)LL, I don't have a veggie garden except for a few lame pots, but I did see something that was very interesting for children, just not sure how ambitious this project might be. It was a large teepee (not covered by anything, just the large branches to form the teepee) and climbing up the wood were all the climbing veggies and flowering vines like morning glory, etc. There was an opening at the front and it was large enough for multiple kids to go in. As an adult I thought it was a blast! I can only imagine how much kids would enjoy it! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it. I don't think it took up more space than 8 X 8. It sounds like you plan on making this veggie area quite large....See MoreNew Garden - Need Ideas :-)
Comments (6)My zone is so different maybe your options are greater. "Great Show" and shade are not exactly compatible terms in my estimation. BUT there are tons of possibilities for color/texture if you like lots of green. Astilbe are blooming here now. I have white, pink, red, lavender. Solomons seal began the year with white flowers and now are setting seeds of gold or red. I love all sorts of ferns. Japanese painted and Autumn are the most colorful. The jacobs ladder was glorious this year. The columbine give you early color along with bleeding heart. Try the fern leaf variety for all summer blooms. My jack-in-the pulpits get alot of comments. They are soo tall this year because we had a wet spring. My ground covers, sedum, creeping jenny, ajuga are all blooming. Red, yellow, blue respectively. Hosta are my main stay. I have all the white, yellow,light green ones I can afford. Depending on how deep your shade I am having luck getting granesbill geraniums to bloom for me. There are the cora bells, some are shade loving. My newest plant is toad Lilly that has unusual flowers. Anyway the list is really quite long. Good Luck and have FUN!...See Moremnwsgal
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDandyLioness (CA 9, SZ 14)
8 years agodocmom_gw
8 years agoxiangirl zone 4/5 Nebraska
8 years agomnwsgal
8 years agobogturtle
8 years agoschoolhouse_gw
8 years agomnwsgal
8 years ago
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