Cottage garden plants like Hibiscus, Alcea and Geranium are charming and informal.The term "cottage garden" evokes certain images...a small, rustic house with a white picket fence and an arbor, surrounded by a small but densely-packed informal garden containing ornamental plants mixed with culinary and medicinal plants in a charming and graceful way.
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Cardamine bulbosa 'Fairy Lights'
Item #: 16976
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 17" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 2.5" pot (7.9 fl. oz/233 ml)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Cardamine bulbosa 'Snow Showers'
Item #: 13874
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 2.5" pot (7.9 fl. oz/233 ml)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Sold outCardamine douglassii 'Southern Lady'
Item #: 8601
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 2.5" pot (7.9 fl. oz/233 ml)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Next crop available: 02/13/2026Sold out -
Cardamine quinquefolia
Item #: 10148
Zones: 6a to 8b, guessing
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Asia Minor, Bulgaria, Caucasus Mountains, Iran, Southern Europe, Turkey
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Cardiocrinum giganteum
Item #: 9310
Zones: 6a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Himalayan Mountains
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $29.00 -
Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Blue Empire' PP 30,494
Item #: 17594
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Caryopteris divaricata 'Blue Butterflies'
Item #: 7518
Zones: 6b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Sold out -
Caryopteris divaricata 'Snow Fairy'
Item #: 4807
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Himalayan Mountains
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Cestrum parqui
Item #: 4794
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $25.00 -
Cestrum parqui 'Orange Peel'
Item #: 5981
Zones: 7b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $25.00 -
Chrysanthemum 'Gethsemane Moonlight'
Item #: 9818
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00 -
Chrysanthemum 'Matchsticks'
Item #: 9263
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Chrysogonum virginianum 'Pierre'
Item #: 5269
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00 -
Clematis hexapetala 'Mongolian Snowflakes'
Item #: 10603
Zones: 4a to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: China, Eastern Asia, Korea, Mongolia, Siberia Russia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $27.00 -
Sold outClematis ochroleuca 'Penny's Bend'
Item #: 10051
Zones: 4b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Next crop available: 03/27/2026Sold out -
Clematis 'Rooguchi'
Item #: 7093
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $28.00 -
Clematis 'Sapphire Indigo' PP 17,012
Item #: 8947
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $28.00 -
Sold outConvallaria majalis 'Hardwick Hall'
Item #: 6826
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 9" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Asia, Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $31.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $31.00Sold out -
Coreopsis palustris 'Summer Sunshine'
Item #: 3802
Zones: 6a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Coreopsis 'Red Hot Vanilla' PP 30,909
Item #: 17106
Zones: 5b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Sold out -
Crambe maritima
Item #: 14328
Zones: 5b to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Denmark, Europe, France, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Cuphea cyanea 'Ashevilla'
Item #: 11924
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Sold outCuphea glutinosa
Item #: 1489
Zones: 7a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Sold out -
Cuphea micropetala
Item #: 6807
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00
More Information About Cottage Garden Plants
Cottage gardens and the plants in them, are modest rather than grandiose and informal rather than architectural. Here at Plant Delights Nursery we have an enormous on-line plant catalog and we have searched through it to create this mini-catalog of cottage garden plants that look great in the informal garden.
What is a Cottage Garden?
Traditional cottage gardens are staples of the English countryside and generally contain hardy European plants, but there is no set list of cottage garden plants because cottage gardens may contain any plant that is tough, functional, and easy to obtain. Thus, depending on where you live, you are free to create variations on the cottage garden theme with other plant types like Mediterranean plants, desert southwest plants, US prairie plants, African plants, Chinese plants, Japanese plants, and others.
Traditional English Cottage Garden Plants
The traditional English cottage garden typically contains a variety of plants.
Flowering plants such as aconitum, achillea, alcea, aquilegia, campanula, coreopsis, dianthus, digitalis, geranium, lilium, paeonia, primula, viola, chrysanthemum, and roses
Woodland plants such as alchemilla, anemone, antirrhinum, convallaria, dicentra, hepatica, polygonatum, pulmonaria
Conifers like juniperus or chamaecyparis
Ornamental fruit trees like Punica granatum 'Eight Ball'
Herbs such as agastache, artemisia, calamintha, nepeta, origanum, lavandula, rosmarinus, salvia, saponaria.
Vines such as clematis
Woody perennials such as hydrangea
Native Cottage Garden Plants
There are many non-European plants that fit into this rustic theme. American gardeners can select native cottage garden plants like aster, heuchera, hibiscus, echinacea, eupatorium, rudbeckia, monarda, gaillardia, phlox, oenothera, solidago, veronica, and vernonia.
A chinese or japanese native plant fan could use hosta, aspidistra, iris, paeonia, chrysanthemum, lilium, hibiscus, polygonatum, cryptomeria and others.
And someone living in the Southwest US could really stretch the theme and create an informal garden of desert cottage garden plants like agave, amorpha, anisacanthus, salvia, eupatorium, delosperma, sedum, cheilanthes, yucca, echeveria, erythrina and opuntia.
























