Crunchie
Chillin' In The Garden
So...I have a somewhat large bed on one side of my path to my house that I decided I would like to plant cottage garden style...I love the seemingly totally random, mish-mash tangle of flowers and plants that a real cottage garden is. 
(I posted a thread a bit ago about tilling up my lawn to plant a cottage-style vegetable garden...still working on that, as the soil there will need lots of amendment). Anyway, this is a long, skinny stretch along our walkway to the door that opens up into a larger, somewhat circular-shaped area (will have to try to get pics). There is nothing planted there right now and it is ready to plant!! I planned to do quite a bit more planning before I invested in any plants, but today while out and about I found a fabulous sale on perennials. Mostly in gallon-size pots, all $3...or less!! I couldn't resist, and so I loaded up the trunk of my car. 
So now I have all of these cool plants, but I have many different varieties, 2 or 3 of some, singles of many. They are all things I like and all things that should do well in this spot, but I'm afraid I might have too many different varieties and too much mish-mash, if that makes sense? If too much mish-mash is possible in a cottage garden?? 
My point to this whole ramble is--I would like some suggestions as to what I might be able to plant to possibly tie my crazy mis-matched garden together just a bit. I only have 2 of the plants I bought today planted so far, so I can move things around any way I need to at this point. This is what I bought today:
3 giant Delphinium (blue)
3 Coneflower
2 Black-eyed susan
2 Coreopsis
2 Cupid's Dart
1 Knockout Rose (Pink)
1 Salvia, "Snowhill" (white flowers)
1 Salvia, can't remember variety--pink flowers
1 Walker's Low Catmint
1 Hyssop
2 Sage, can't remember variety--has pink flowers, low-growing variety (no higher than 12")
1 Lavender
1 Oregano, variegated
In addition to the above list, I also had a dwarf purple butterfly bush (4' tall at most) that I had planted in this bed. I planted the knockout rose, too.
I definitely want more lavender, and I need more creeping things to plant in spots along the concrete walkway (I want some things to spill out across the path in places). But should I invest in several of one variety of plant to tie this crazy mess together? Thoughts, opinions? I am thinking a couple more pink roses in some of the larger spots in the bed...hhhhmmmm....of course, I'm also having trouble because it is SO hard to envision what the bed will look like in a few years, when the plants are mature in size and are really taking over. Right now everything looks so sparse with just the little gallon-size pots laid out in the bed! But even taking into consideration the mature size of the plants, and given that you want things kinda crowded in a cottage garden, I'm going to have some space to fill.
I will try to get some pics of the area tomorrow!
Thanks!
(I posted a thread a bit ago about tilling up my lawn to plant a cottage-style vegetable garden...still working on that, as the soil there will need lots of amendment). Anyway, this is a long, skinny stretch along our walkway to the door that opens up into a larger, somewhat circular-shaped area (will have to try to get pics). There is nothing planted there right now and it is ready to plant!! I planned to do quite a bit more planning before I invested in any plants, but today while out and about I found a fabulous sale on perennials. Mostly in gallon-size pots, all $3...or less!! I couldn't resist, and so I loaded up the trunk of my car. So now I have all of these cool plants, but I have many different varieties, 2 or 3 of some, singles of many. They are all things I like and all things that should do well in this spot, but I'm afraid I might have too many different varieties and too much mish-mash, if that makes sense? If too much mish-mash is possible in a cottage garden?? My point to this whole ramble is--I would like some suggestions as to what I might be able to plant to possibly tie my crazy mis-matched garden together just a bit. I only have 2 of the plants I bought today planted so far, so I can move things around any way I need to at this point. This is what I bought today:
3 giant Delphinium (blue)
3 Coneflower
2 Black-eyed susan
2 Coreopsis
2 Cupid's Dart
1 Knockout Rose (Pink)
1 Salvia, "Snowhill" (white flowers)
1 Salvia, can't remember variety--pink flowers
1 Walker's Low Catmint
1 Hyssop
2 Sage, can't remember variety--has pink flowers, low-growing variety (no higher than 12")
1 Lavender
1 Oregano, variegated
In addition to the above list, I also had a dwarf purple butterfly bush (4' tall at most) that I had planted in this bed. I planted the knockout rose, too.
I definitely want more lavender, and I need more creeping things to plant in spots along the concrete walkway (I want some things to spill out across the path in places). But should I invest in several of one variety of plant to tie this crazy mess together? Thoughts, opinions? I am thinking a couple more pink roses in some of the larger spots in the bed...hhhhmmmm....of course, I'm also having trouble because it is SO hard to envision what the bed will look like in a few years, when the plants are mature in size and are really taking over. Right now everything looks so sparse with just the little gallon-size pots laid out in the bed! But even taking into consideration the mature size of the plants, and given that you want things kinda crowded in a cottage garden, I'm going to have some space to fill.
I will try to get some pics of the area tomorrow!
Thanks!
Great inspiration! I have started some delphinium, hollyhock, black-eyed susan, and coneflower from seed, but they probably won't bloom 'till next year. You are right, it is much cheaper! I think I'm going to try to start more from seed so I can inexpensively fill in gaps as I go. Ordering seed also provides access to a much wider variety of plants than what I can find locally. 
