This marks the 6th spring for this English cottage garden of mine. An English cottage garden takes years before it really shows you what it's capable of, not unlike the metamorphosis of a drag queen.
This is it. THIS is the year the English cottage garden all comes together. If she were a debutante there would be a ball in her future this summer.
Actually. Scratch that. She's ready for more than that.
🏳️🌈 She's ready for a pride parade 🏳️🌈
Any and all people who think pride, gay, lesbian, trans, drag or basically anything that adds colour to our life is evil can exit stage right.
Even though year one of my garden was more of a Dyke March than a Pride Parade. It was upset for being ignored and treated poorly, crying for help and change.
Year one of a cottage garden is about laying the foundation, figuring out what's wrong and addressing it while wearing sensible shoes.
For my garden there was a lot wrong. It was just a scragglefest. You can see how sad it was on my research post into English Cottage gardens. That post also has my inspiration photos of some beautiful cottage gardens and a list of plants to use if you want to create your own English Cottage garden.
Below you can see years 1, 2 and 3. Click on them to see the progression over the years.
The garden today, in late spring of 2023, is looking much more proud than it did 6 years ago. I didn't do anything to change it in that time. I just let it grow.
These peony bushes were bought in year 2 for $11 each and were the size of an ice cream cone. Now, 5 years later, they're fully exploding peony bushes covered in truly spectacular blooms.
Don't let impatience lead you to only plant impatiens.
Table of Contents
An Easy 5 year plan
Buy your small, insignificant perennials and plant them. Yes it will take years for them to become impressive. But you can make up for that by planting self seeding annuals to fill in the gaps for the first few years. And yes, if you want some of those annuals can be impatiens.
🌸 In year 1
You'll have to plant a lot of annuals to make up for the small size of your perennials. Have fun with it and get whatever you want. Annuals aren't permanent.
🌸 In year 2
You'll have a lot of annuals popping up in the spring if you don't disturb the soil. Let them germinate before you do anything in terms of bed cleanup. Then thin the seedlings or transplant them to other areas.
🌸 In years 3-5
Continue to thin and transplant annuals. You'll be needing less and less of them as the perennials fill out.
The purple/pink rose bush is a Rugosa shrub rose called Hansa.
The purple spiky flowers similar in look to lavender are actually the flowers from a sage bush. You'll get a look at it from a different angle in the next photo.
Crawling over the white picket fence (above) are perennial sweet peas. I have 2 masses of them. One at the front picket fence as seen which are white.
And one at the side picket fence which are purple. They'll begin to flower in early July.
The above photo is the same section seen from the opposite direction. In behind you can see the Ru Paul sized patch of rhubarb.
Climbing hydrangeas are blooming as well. I've repositioned my birdbath so that it's hidden inside of the shrub but has open access from the front.
Full List of Plants
Any plants that have died or withered away in the past 5 years are crossed out.
Flowers in the garden
Agapanthus
Cockscomb
Daylily
Dahlias (click through to see the varieties I'm growing this year)DelphiniumDianthus
Hyacinths
HydrangeaHollyhock (I demolished it. SO messy and haggard looking)
Lavender (French & English)Lupins
Milkweed
Phlox
Purrsian Blue Catmint
Roses
Snapdragons
Sweetpeas
Edibles in the garden
Apples
Tomatoes
Rhubarb
Cosmic Cherry Petunia
Cilantro
Sage
Dill
This is just the beginning. Hopefully this really IS the year that it all comes together for us.
Most gardeners start every season with that feeling of hope. Then blackspot hits. Or laziness. Or someone accidentally drives through your picket fence.
Maybe someone walking past tells you they don't like your garden. It's too colourful. Too different. Probably even evil.
Don't worry. Be proud. A garden can't be evil.
(Unless it's filled with trumpet vine.)
It is so beautiful, peonies are one of my favourites. Have you considered adding Lady’s Mantle? It is a great perennial and a great addition to cut bouquets.
Lady's Mantle is one of my favourites. I have had it in the past and can't remember why I don't anymore, lol. Chances are it didn't do well but you've reminded me that I should try it again. It looks spectacular after a rain because of how it beads on the leaves. ~ karen!
Rhu Barb... She is the queen of the garden.
I remember the first year, Karen. Your cottage garden has grown move lovely every year. Congrats.
Rhu Barb. Well isn't that clever. Thanks! I have a 6 day countdown until I can prune the equally larger than life apple espaliers. ~ karen!
Ru Paul sized patch of Rhubarb. Ha!
Thank you for noticing. :) ~ karen!
Oh Karen, you make me so jealous! I love your English Garden. I so wish I could create this here but I have five, count 'em FIVE, black walnut trees in my backyard. At least my hostas are doing well.
Oh god. That's a lot of death roots. ~ karen!
Thank you for this ♥️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈♥️
My pleasure. ~ karen
Seriously,Thank you for the pride stand.My heart is breaking for the steps back that are happening this year.
You're welcome. I lost more readers, but I'm sure I'll gain some too. I've always been a supporter and will continue to be vocal about it. ~ karen!
My daffodils went crazy this year, and two things I had planted in October 2020 that I thought had died actual grew and bloomed this year! Could have knocked me over with a feather. Oregano is going nuts and getting thuggish. Trying to get agastache established. Apple trees too. Needs another 3-5 years. My five haskap bushes just produced 4 jars of jam! The rest of the yard is a battle of drought, squash attackers, and bindweed removal. A little dog strangling vine too. I don't mind the creeping charlie, it's not as pernicious. Thankfully the groundhog and I are in a detente this year. He's (it had better be a he) welcome to the chamomile and goldenrod.
I see your chamomile and goldenrod and raise you a catmint. ~ karen!
I have a love/hate relationship with oregano. I threw an invasive unwanted clump into the tiny woods across the street about 30 yrs ago and it’s everywhere. Better there than in my garden and lawn and and……
I love this garden, Karen! Do you have any issues with rabbits attacking your plants? They seem to be especially brutal (truly evil, if you ask me) this year. They even ate my alliums!
I sure do have an issue with rabbits! Most years they eat my dahlias when they're just tiny sprouts. so this year I grew them out very large before I planted them. And yesterday I noticed the specialty marigolds I grew were half the size they were the day before. :/ What I have done in the past (and it works) is to put a plastic cloche over all the smaller plants until they grow up a bit. You can use anything like a plastic pop bottle cut in half. Just make sure it's open at the top for ventilation and so it doesn't get too hot inside. ~ karen!
Beautiful! Hard work does pay off.
As someone whose garden is far from full-on parade level, and still in its scrappy-and-fun-but-sparsely-attended Queer Prom days, I appreciate the reminder that so much of a lush, lovely garden is about giving plants time. I'd love to know, was it a conscious decision to scrap the French lavender and keep the English, or is the latter doing better in your zone? I'm in 5b and trying to figure out which kind(s) to go with.
It just does better in my garden, which is lucky because I also prefer the look of English lavender. They're very hardy and produce baby plants every year. ~ karen!
Ooh, good to know! Thanks, Karen
Politics aside, you do have a lovely home and garden. The result of obvious intense care and constant labour. (I added the 'u' for your Canadian-ness.) I'm an apathetic agricultural dope but I will say "Purty flowers."
Oh! In Canada pride celebrations aren't really a political thing. I've had a few Americans email me announcing their departure from my site because the gay pride logo I've put up for June is evil. Therefore I am promoting evil. Thus I am evil. Basically I'm a really great human being other than my pesky belief in equality. And trust me, I do NOT know very much about landscape plants. I'm also a "those are purty flowers person"! ~ karen
Pride celebrations aren't political here in the U.S. either Karen! Just our idiotic haters don't like a good fun colorful parade and party! As far as the ones who quit your site? Addios, arrivederci, adieu, sayonara! (you get the idea!)
I lost 0.5% of subscribers who opened the page today. That's very few. And it says a lot about the people around here. :) ~ karen
Hope the garden gate didn’t hit them in the butt on the way out. Actually, hope it did. Your evilness is one of your many charms 😉🏳️🌈
It looks beautiful Karen! And I spy some milkweed in front of the fence? I leave a few growing as well but I pull out dozens. Those rugosa roses are so beautiful!
Hi Marilyn! Thanks. Yes, I pull all kinds of it out, but always leave a bunch for farming monarchs. ;) ~ karen!
Incredibly beautiful. I've always loved peonies and these feel like I could just reach out and smell them - lovely. Your work ethic in this beautiful garden is unbelievable. I know how much work it takes to keep everything looking so perfect and I admire your patience and ability to keep on keeping on until it's so wonderful that it just takes your breath away...superb job!
Thanks Chris. I've also had a bit more time this year to take care of it, but this is definitely the year everything grew up. :) ~ karen!
👏👍😍
I love this! Thanks Karen!
You're welcome! ~ karen
I have the evil Trumpet Vine, I think the roots travel to Middle Earth! Any suggestions?
Really? I've been trying to grow a trumpet vine and it never took.
Don't. Do not. Unless you're trying to grow it in the middle of a field with nothing else around, don't try to grow it. It will take over everything for the rest of all time. ~ karen!
I had one too. I removed it when I discovered the vines growing IN MY DINING ROOM. They had made their way through a crack in the foundation, travelled through the walls and up between the baseboards. Yup. That was at least 15 years ago and I'm still pulling out runners outside every year. My advice is don't plant trumpet vine, especially anywhere near a house or building. If you have it already, I recommend taking it out. There is no containing it and the sooner you get it out the sooner it'll be gone but it will take years of pulling out the runners. :/ Luckily the runners get weaker and weaker every year. ~ karen!
Can you tell me why you got rid of your dianthus? I was planning on adding it to my front beds this year?
Hi Jenny! It was one I grew from seed and I honestly can't remember if it naturally died or if I pulled it out, but I really liked it. :/ I'd still recommend planting it. ~ karen!
Lovely!
Well done 👏👏❤️
We are doing a Mediterranean garden— multi stacked purposes for each plant, including beauty. It’s a real challenge and I agree re the ‘unfolding’. It takes a long time.. for me a bit scary ($$) but exciting! hope mine looks half as nice as yours in a few years!
It really does take time! The first few years are always less than spectacular. It'll happen. :) ~ karen!
Absolutely breathtaking!
Thanks Karen! ~ karen
Absolutely beautiful!
Thanks Nata. I'm really happy with it this year. (finally, lol) ~ karen!
It looks like this will be the year for that parade. Everything is beautiful.
Thanks Elaine! I'm really happy with the spring display of flowers this year. There will be a bit of a lag while the summer flowers get their energy gathered and their act together! ~ karen