I would love to have a plant of your Annabelle if there is any left. I don't think I have any of the flowers you mentioned but perhaps you are interested in others? I have Irises of different shades of purple Orange daylilies Holly Hocks Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) Wild Geranium Wild Columbine Ferns of all kinds Trilliums Violets Sweet William Pink Phlox My list goes on . . . Please let me know!

The advice is exactly right: be a bit more restrained while the roses are reaching maturity. And yes, clear the spent perennials away when they look tired. Also, look carefully at the bloom time and reblooming potential of the companions. After the first great flush of roses and the companions that flower with them we cut and clear quite ruthlessly those 'early perennials' including many of the foxgloves, sissirinchiums, campanulas, geraniums, columbines, polemoniums etc. Many of these will quickly form fresh clumps of foliage and flower again before the Summer is finished. But also, make sure you have many later flowerers like asters, salvias, nicotiana, penstemons, lilies, late alliums etc which have been growing quietly in the background but can now take their place. You should be able to arrange for successions of plants to be coming to the fore through the whole season. I know I'm mentioning plants that grow well here, and you may need to substitute your own favourites. Best wishes Jon

Thanks everyone, I'm sure these lists are going to be of help to others as well as myself. It's really nice seeing what everybody is growing, different zones different plants, some I can't grow in the ground but some I can grow in a container for a punch of color then put in the greenhouse for winter protection. From all the contributions Nell has done a survey of what the top 12 plants for a cottage garden are, the ones with the most votes seem to be the favorites, this will be a big help to anyone starting out with a blank slate. It also helps those of us that are still looking for good choices to add to our cottage gardens. If anyone thinks of more to add to this list feel free to do so. I have got some of the plants mentioned above, I'll be selecting more from these lists to add to my garden. I'll post a picture if and when it looks half decent. Annette

I have about a 20'X3" flowerbed on the east side of my house that I planted with red roses in February and am also trying to find companion plants after removing mint (although I notice here and there it's coming back, probably won't EVER be able to get it all out, but am trying!). I easily rooted a skullcap this winter and planted it to see how that would work out,, but it looks like it's struggling, so am looking for some sort of companion plants, too. I do notice that a purple salvia does well in this bed, it gets morning sun and afternoon shade, so may go with that and be done with it.. The roses are Firefighter, Oklahoma, Francis Debreuil and Stephen's Big Purple (yikes!), along with a Souv Dr. Jamain that hasn't done anything for two years, and the wonderful Dr Huey that sprung up out of nowhere (and I can't get rid of). I'll be interested to see if this works. Must say at this point I am enjoying the wild colors, so we'll see...This is pretty much my first foray into the more modern roses, and so far they look healthy.