Today the cottage look can be recreated using a mixture of edibles, quintessential cottage plants and some good self seeders which pop up unannounced. Create a natural look by planting in ribbons rather than blocky sections. The traditional colour palette is soft pastels, simply shaped and bee friendly.
Vicky’s top 5 cottage style plants:
- Digitalis, the humble foxglove, no cottage border is complete without them.
- Delphinium, available in white and a range of pinks as well as the traditional blue. Protect young plants from slugs.
- Annual sweet peas grown on a small obelisk will give a central point and scent. Great for picking and placing in small posy vases.
- Campanula Persicfolia, the bell flower available in white and blue. Happy in any soils and aspect.
- Extend the flowering season by adding a Rose Bonica. It’s a tough, disease resistant and repeat flowering plant. Nodding heads of Aquilegias for early spring, Asters and Cosmos will extend it into autumn.