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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Dryopteris affinis ssp. affinis
Item #: 3724
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: England
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris affinis 'The King'
Item #: 2257
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris x australis
Item #: 3546
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 50" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $25.00 -
Dryopteris cambrensis
Item #: 2108
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris championii
Item #: 2966
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Taiwan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris commixta
Item #: 3651
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris decipiens
Item #: 4851
Zones: 6a to 8b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: China, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'
Item #: 5293
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris erythrosora var. prolifica
Item #: 4754
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Dryopteris goldieana
Item #: 1625
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Dryopteris kinkiensis 'Green Hans'
Item #: 7602
Zones: 7a to 9b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Sold outDryopteris koidzumiana
Item #: 5221
Zones: 6a to 10b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00Sold out -
Dryopteris ludoviciana
Item #: 611
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Dryopteris marginalis
Item #: 2132
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part 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 -
Dryopteris nipponensis
Item #: 5152
Zones: 6a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris pseudofilix-mas
Item #: 3879
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris sieboldii
Item #: 1836
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Taiwan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dryopteris uniformis 'Cristata'
Item #: 3516
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Dystaenia takesimana
Item #: 17252
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Echinacea 'Big Kahuna' PP 26,159
Item #: 14337
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Echinacea 'Delicious Candy'
Item #: 13516
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Echinacea 'Double Scoop Cranberry' PP 24,769
Item #: 14347
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 16" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Echinacea 'Kismet Raspberry' PP 28,768
Item #: 14360
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Sold outEchinacea 'Kismet Red' PP 29,743
Item #: 14336
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Next crop available: 10/02/2026Sold 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.
























