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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Salvia madrensis 'Red Neck Girl'
Item #: 4742
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 84" 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 -
Salvia 'Mes Azur' PP 21,097
Item #: 16664
Zones: 6b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" 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 -
Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'
Item #: 5424
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia microphylla 'San Carlos Festival'
Item #: 185
Zones: 7a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia nutans
Item #: 11572
Zones: 5b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Balkans, Russia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Salvia oxyphora
Item #: 1931
Zones: 8a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Bolivia, Peru
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia 'Phyllis Fancy'
Item #: 6157
Zones: 7b to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 84" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia regla 'Jame'
Item #: 1626
Zones: 7b to 10b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia 'Rockin' ® Deep Purple' PP 30,206
Item #: 16698
Zones: 8a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia 'Silke's Dream'
Item #: 4442
Zones: 7a to 10b, possibly colder
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 -
Salvia 'Smokey Jazz' PP 33,224
Item #: 17866
Zones: 7b to 9b
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 $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Salvia x sylvestris 'Violet Riot' PP 26,273
Item #: 10370
Zones: 4a to 8a
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Salvia uliginosa
Item #: 1091
Zones: 6a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 55" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Sold outSambucus canadensis 'Blonde Envy'
Item #: 16985
Zones: 5a to 9a, guessing
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 $29.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $29.00Next crop available: 02/06/2026Sold out -
Sambucus 'Chocolate Marzipan'
Item #: 17496
Zones: 5a to 9a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 144" 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 perSale price $29.00 -
Sambucus nigra 'Golden Tower' PP 28,957
Item #: 18552
Zones: 3b to 8a, guessing
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 120" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Asia, Europe, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $0.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $0.00This plant is available for JLBG Members only.
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Sambucus racemosa 'Welsh Gold' PP 26,425
Item #: 18553
Zones: 3b to 8a, guessing
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Asia, Europe, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $0.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $0.00This plant is available for JLBG Members only.
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Sanguinaria canadensis
Item #: 2392
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter, Summer, Fall
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Light Shade to 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 -
Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex'
Item #: 2688
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter, Summer, Fall
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $32.00 -
Sanguisorba officinalis var. microcephala 'Little Angel'
Item #: 12733
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 7" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Europe, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Sold out -
Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna 'Purple Stem'
Item #: 8597
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Himalayan Mountains
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Sarracenia 'Bug Bat'
Item #: 11736
Zones: 5b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 16" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $30.00 -
Sold outSaruma henryi
Item #: 2597
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Sold out -
Sauromatum giganteum
Item #: 2536
Zones: 6b to 9b
Dormancy: Winter, Spring
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Manchuria region China, Tibet
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.
























