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Top 10 plants for a cottage garden
Don’t worry about finding authentic old-fashioned flowers; a colourful mixture of bulbs, perennials and flowering shrubs creates a chocolate box look with more structure and year-round appeal than a real cottage garden ever had.
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Latin name: Delphinium
Common name: Delphinium
Type of plant: Herbaceous perennial
Soil preference: Fertile, well drained
Hardiness: Hardy
Flower colour: Various shades of blue, also mauve, white
Height and spread: 1.5m x 50cm (5ft x 1.6ft) depending on variety
Description: These classic, cottage garden favourites produce spires of flowers in summer.
Design tips: Use among shrubs or towards the back of a sunny, sheltered border. Stake plants with canes.
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Latin name: Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’
Common name: Ornamental onion
Type of plant: Summer-flowering bulb
Soil preference: Well drained
Hardiness: Hardy
Flower colour: Deep violet
Height and spread: 1m x 7cm (3ft x 3in)
Description: These stylish bulbs produce violet, pompon-like flowers in early summer.
Design tips: Dot between shrubs and slightly shorter perennials, such as lavenders
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Latin name: Buddleja davidii ‘Nanho Blue’; also know as B. davidii 'Nanho Petite Indigo'.
Common name: Butterfly bush
Type of plant: Deciduous shrub
Soil preference: Most soil types
Hardiness: Hardy
Flower colour: Purple-red
Height and spread: 1.5m x 1.5m (5ft x 5ft)
Description: This tough, deciduous shrub is covered with butterflies when it blooms in summer.
Design tips: Use at the back of a mixed border, or with trees. Regular, hard pruning is essential.
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Latin name: Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘G´Ç±ô»å²õ³Ù³Ü°ù³¾â€™
Common name: Black-eyed Susan
Type of plant: Herbaceous perennial
Soil preference: Most reasonable soil
Hardiness: Hardy
Flower colour: Golden yellow with black ‘eyes’ in centre
Height and spread: 5cm x 5cm (2in x 2in)
Description: This perennnial’s daisy-like flowers brighten up the garden from mid-summer to autumn.
Design tips: Use in cottage garden borders with other perennials and/or shrubs.
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Latin name: Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’
Common name: Hardy geranium
Type of plant: Herbaceous perennial
Soil preference: Most soils
Hardiness: hardy
Flower colour: Lavender-blue
Height and spread: 30cm x 30cm (1ft x 1ft)
Description: Hardy geraniums are indispensable for their colourful flowers and amenable growing habits.
Design tips: Good ground cover under roses and other flowering shrubs, or for the front of a flower border.
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