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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Nierembergia gracilis 'Starry Eyes'
Item #: 5660
Zones: 8a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Argentina
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Oenothera fruticosa 'Fireworks'
Item #: 8719
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 20" 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 perSale price $20.00 -
Onoclea sensibilis 'Supersize'
Item #: 9212
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Onoclea sensibilis 'Texas Too Tall'
Item #: 8279
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Sold outOnychium japonicum 'Sichuan Lace'
Item #: 5958
Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: 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 $23.00Next crop available: 03/06/2026Sold out -
Ophiopogon japonicus 'Gyoku Ryu'
Item #: 551
Zones: 5a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 3" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Ophiopogon japonicus 'Snow Globe'
Item #: 12977
Zones: 6a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 2" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Kokuryu'
Item #: 721
Zones: 7a to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Origanum calcaratum
Item #: 10263
Zones: 7a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Crete, Greece
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00 -
Osmunda cinnamomea
Item #: 1366
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" 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 -
Oxalis crassipes 'Cherry Spritzer'
Item #: 12350
Zones: 6a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Argentina, Brazil
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Sold outOxalis triangularis 'Atropurpurea'
Item #: 589
Zones: 7a to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: South America
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Next crop available: 03/20/2026Sold out -
Sold outPachysandra procumbens 'Angola'
Item #: 6488
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $25.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $25.00Sold out -
Pachysandra procumbens 'Jackson'
Item #: 16627
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to 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 -
Paeonia 'America'
Item #: 15047
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $34.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $34.00 -
Paeonia 'Angel Cheeks'
Item #: 15766
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00 -
Paeonia 'Bartzella'
Item #: 7187
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 1.6 gal. (6 L)
Regular price $75.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $75.00 -
Sold outPaeonia 'Buckeye Belle'
Item #: 17456
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00Sold out -
Paeonia 'Cora Stubbs'
Item #: 4494
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 32" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00 -
Paeonia 'Coral Charm'
Item #: 6186
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00 -
Paeonia 'Do Tell'
Item #: 17030
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 32" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $34.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $34.00 -
Paeonia 'Gay Paree'
Item #: 10372
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3 qt. (2.8 L)
Regular price $34.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $34.00 -
Paeonia japonica
Item #: 2397
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $50.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $50.00 -
Paeonia 'Julia Rose'
Item #: 18458
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 1.6 gal. (6 L)
Regular price $45.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $45.00
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.
























