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.
-
Alcea rugosa
Item #: 4469
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Russia, Ukraine
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Allium kiiense
Item #: 3352
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Allium 'Millenium'
Item #: 5466
Zones: 5a 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 $19.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Allium 'Pink Planet'
Item #: 12727
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: N/ASold out -
Aloysia gratissima 'Punky Brewster'
Item #: 17483
Zones: 7b to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 120" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, United States, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Aloysia virgata
Item #: 7587
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Alstroemeria 'Casablanca'
Item #: 8689
Zones: 6b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 40" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $27.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 12/29/2023Sold out -
Alstroemeria 'Golden Tiara' PP 35,427
Item #: 17264
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 45" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer'
Item #: 14362
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alstroemeria 'Patricia Lynn'
Item #: 4643
Zones: 6a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Alstroemeria 'Princess Fabiana' PP 17,991
Item #: 9555
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 01/19/2024Sold out -
Alstroemeria 'Summer Relieve'
Item #: 14366
Zones: 5b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $28.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Amarcrinum 'Elegance'
Item #: 6105
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $39.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 08/29/2031Sold out -
Ammocharis coranica
Item #: 5830
Zones: 7a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: South Africa
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Amorpha x notha 'Half-back'
Item #: 17494
Zones: 3a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Ampelaster carolinianus
Item #: 823
Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 120" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Amsonia ciliata var. filifolia 'Georgia Pancake'
Item #: 5375
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 5" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Amsonia hubrichtii
Item #: 759
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Amsonia orientalis 'Blue Ice'
Item #: 4225
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Greece, Turkey
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Storm Cloud'
Item #: 12043
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Anemone 'Dreaming Swan' PP 27,384
Item #: 13578
Zones: 6a to 8b, probably colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Anemone keiskeiana
Item #: 9646
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Summer
Height: 4" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 2.5" pot (7.9 fl. oz/233 ml)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Anemone nemorosa 'Vestal'
Item #: 17580
Zones: 4a to 7b
Dormancy: Summer, Fall
Height: 4" tall
Culture: Light Shade
Origin: Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: N/ASold out -
Anemonella thalictroides 'Cameo'
Item #: 8403
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter, Summer, Fall
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 2.5" pot (7.9 fl. oz/233 ml)
Regular price $39.00Regular priceUnit price per
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.