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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Sold outCypripedium 'Sabine Pastel'
Item #: 9607
Zones: 5a to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter, Fall
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $110.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $110.00Sold out -
Sold outCypripedium 'Schoko'
Item #: 10654
Zones: 4a to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter, Fall
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $110.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $110.00Sold out -
Cypripedium 'Victoria'
Item #: 8916
Zones: 4a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter, Fall
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $110.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $110.00 -
Cyrilla racemiflora 'Tom Patrick'
Item #: 15627
Zones: 5a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $30.00 -
Cyrtomium fortunei 'Fortunately'
Item #: 5927
Zones: 7a to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Cyrtomium lonchitoides
Item #: 4873
Zones: 6a to 8b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Dahlia 'Flame' PP 18,426
Item #: 7480
Zones: 7b to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" 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 -
Sold outDahlia 'Happy Days Purple'
Item #: 14944
Zones: 7b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $32.00Sold out -
Dahlia imperialis 'Double or Nothing'
Item #: 5926
Zones: 7b to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 108" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Central America
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $27.00Sold out -
Dahlia 'Yellow Hammer'
Item #: 4718
Zones: 7a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" 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 -
Sold outDanae racemosa
Item #: 2614
Zones: 6b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Caucasus Mountains, Iran
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $32.00Next crop available: 02/12/2027Sold out -
Dentaria laciniata 'Priceless'
Item #: 16191
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Light Shade to 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 -
Dianthus barbatus 'Scarlet Fever' PP 30,454
Item #: 13199
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Southern Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Sold outDianthus 'Razzlepop'
Item #: 17008
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Next crop available: 08/28/2026Sold out -
Dianthus 'Rose Bouquet' PP 30,274
Item #: 15891
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $19.00 -
Dicentra eximia 'Dolly Sods'
Item #: 1264
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Dicentra spectabilis 'Valentine' PP 22,739
Item #: 9243
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter, Summer, Fall
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dicliptera suberecta
Item #: 1285
Zones: 7a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Sold outDigitalis thapsi 'Spanish Peaks'
Item #: 16658
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Portugal, Spain
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00Next crop available: 09/04/2026Sold out -
Disporopsis bakerorum 'Bill Baker'
Item #: 17094
Zones: 6a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $25.00 -
Disporopsis pernyi 'Little Hulk'
Item #: 16908
Zones: 6a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Disporopsis sp. nov. 'Lily Pads'
Item #: 3381
Zones: 7b to 10b, probably colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 22" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Disporum flavens
Item #: 691
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00 -
Sold outDisporum smilacinum 'Ki Naka Fu'
Item #: 15919
Zones: 5a to 9a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $28.00Sold out
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.
























