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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Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Fanny'
Item #: 341
Zones: 4a to 9b
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 $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Sold outSyneilesis aconitifolia
Item #: 3400
Zones: 3a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Next crop available: 11/14/2025Sold out -
Sold outSyneilesis x hybrida
Item #: 12606
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Next crop available: 03/13/2026Sold out -
Sold outSyneilesis palmata
Item #: 5617
Zones: 4a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan, Korea
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Next crop available: 03/06/2026Sold out -
Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold'
Item #: 4219
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Asia, Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Teucrium 'Eugen'
Item #: 17655
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 2" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Mediterranean Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00 -
Teucrium marum
Item #: 8687
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Italy, Sardinia, Spain, Yugoslavia (former)
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Thalictrum aquilegiifolium 'Nimbus Pink'
Item #: 14330
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Asia, Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Thalictrum aquilegiifolium 'Nimbus White'
Item #: 14264
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 28" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Asia, Europe
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Sold outThalictrum 'Black Stockings'
Item #: 6482
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Sold out -
Thelypteris kunthii
Item #: 764
Zones: 7a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun 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 -
Thelypteris ovata var. lindheimeri 'Austin City Limits'
Item #: 4847
Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: 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 -
Thelypteris ovata var. lindheimeri 'Tooth Fairy'
Item #: 17599
Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: 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 $23.00Sold out -
Thermopsis villosa
Item #: 2288
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" 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 perSale price $21.00 -
Tiarella 'Cutting Edge' PP 29,745
Item #: 16628
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Tiarella 'Pink Skyrocket'
Item #: 5106
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Titanotrichum oldhamii
Item #: 2433
Zones: 6b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" 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 -
Trachystemon orientalis
Item #: 918
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Bulgaria, Turkey
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $24.00 -
Sold outTradescantia 'Pale Puma'
Item #: 7303
Zones: 7b to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00Sold out -
Tradescantia sillamontana 'Gold Stripes'
Item #: 17231
Zones: 8a to 10b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Mexico
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'
Item #: 4209
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" 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 -
Sold outTricyrtis hirta 'Golden Anniversary'
Item #: 16612
Zones: 4a 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 $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Sold out -
Sold outTricyrtis hirta 'Lightning Strike'
Item #: 3963
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 20" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00Next crop available: 04/17/2026Sold out -
Tricyrtis lasiocarpa
Item #: 1050
Zones: 7a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Taiwan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $26.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $26.00
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.
























