"The Cottage Style Series":
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Behind a Wall
I own a solace shut within my heart,
A garden full of many a quaint delight
And warm with drowsy, poppied sunshine; bright,
Flaming with lilies out of whose cups dart
Shining things
With powdered wings.

Here terrace sinks to terrace, arbors close
The ends of dreaming paths; a wanton wind
Jostles the half-ripe pears, and then, unkind,
Tumbles a-slumber in a pillar rose,
With content
Grown indolent.

By night my garden is o'erhung with gems
Fixed in an onyx setting. Fireflies
Flicker their lanterns in my dazzled eyes.
In serried rows I guess the straight, stiff stems
Of hollyhocks
Against the rocks.

So far and still it is that, listening,
I hear the flowers talking in the dawn;
And where a sunken basin cuts the lawn,
Cinctured with iris, pale and glistening,
The sudden swish
Of a waking fish.

~Amy Lowell
Garden Color Tips

Gertrude Jekyll:

    Gertrude Jekyll was a great plantswoman who influenced our gardening styles of today immensely. She often drew upon the cottage plants and planting of old to create her garden "pictures". She is considered the pre-eminent garden stylist in the Cottage Garden genre.

B esides abundance of blooms, and heritage plants, what constitutes a cottage garden style? A sense of enclosure, within a fence or hedged by shrubs, is part of most of these gardens. And while there is profusion of plants, they are highly cultivated and it is not a wild garden. Many times there are structures of arches or small fences within the garden, containers of plants and vines over the doorways, and no-nonsense pathways. A small chicken coop or rabbit hutch wouldn't be out of place, either!
What if you like the look, but don't want to devote your self or your entire yard to intensive gardening? There are several possibilities: lining a driveway with the old fashioned choices of carnations, lilies, lavender, and mignonette, daisies, columbines, and daylilies. Creating an entry with an exuberant dooryard garden within a small picket fence. Tired of weed whacking under the post fences? consider the cottage flowers underneath (easy to mow around,too).
This is a garden style for those who love plants and are willing to invest a little time.

Plant Material for the Traditional Cottage Garden

T hese were homely gardens with space given over to a variety of vegetables and herbs for remedies. Many are beautiful in their own right and mixed together are anything but mundane. By rearranging the planting style the same plant could make a kitchen garden like the one at the Château de Villandry, or an Herb Garden ... it all depends on the use and display of the the plants. Many of these plants are used in perennial garden plans, like fennel and the wormwoods. A book with good pictures can be a great inspiration in designing your own sweet cottage garden.

Old Fashioned Herbs and Vegetables

Common Name:Angelica
Botanical Name:Angelica archangelica
Plant Use:Used for food and medicine. Grows 3- to 6-feet with interesting yellow-green flowers and seeds

Common Name: Beet
Botanical Name: Beta vulgaris
Plant Use: Used for its greens, as well as root.

Common Name: Borage
Botanical Name: Borago officinalis
Plant Use: A beautiful plant with blue star-shaped edible flowers, tastes like cucumber

Common Name: Burnet
Botanical Name: Poterium sanguisorba
Plant Use: Medicinal and culinary herb. Good in salads

Common Name: Cabbage
Botanical Name: Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Plant Use: A healthy vegetable.

Common Name: Calendula
Botanical Name: Calendula officinalis
Plant Use: Edible yellow, gold, and orange flowers. Also called pot marigold, was used to flavor stew

Common Name: Carrot
Botanical Name: Daucus carota sativa
Plant Use: Many forms, eaten fresh and cooked.

Common Name: Elecampane
Botanical Name: Inula elenium
Plant Use: Root used to treat deep cough and phlegm.A huge plant with daisy form flowers.

Common Name: Fennel
Botanical Name: Foeniculum vulgare
Plant Use: Culinary and medicinal plant with edible seed, leaf and flower. Has an anise taste, has a purple form.

Common Name: Feverfew
Botanical Name: Parthenium chrysanthemum
Plant Use: Used as a tea, or tisane for its ability to aid digestion and ease migraines.

Common Name: Gillyflower
Botanical Name: Dianthus caryophyllus
Plant Use: Fragrant edible and medicinal flower known as pinks or clove gillyflower.

Common Name: Houseleek
Botanical Name: Sempervivum tectorum
Plant Use: Used to patch holes in roofs. Known now as Hens and Chicks or Houseleeks.

Common Name: Hyssop
Botanical Name: Hyssopus officinalis
Plant Use: Medicinal and culinary herb used for its properties as an expectorant and for flavoring. Good with Chicken dishes.

Common Name: Leek
Botanical Name: Allium porrum
Plant Use: Sometimes planted as a companion border around a bed of tender salad greens to keep out garden pests

Common Name: Lettuce
Botanical Name: Lactuca sativa
Plant Use: The Cos and Romaine varieties are common salad ingredients.

Common Name: Mustard or Garden Cress
Botanical Name: Brassica juncea
Plant Use: An addition to salads, sometimes used as cooked greens.

Common Name: Onion
Botanical Name: Allium cepa
Plant Use: Common kitchen vegetable; also companion planted to keep out flea beetles and aphids from salad plants.

Common Name: Parsley
Botanical Name: Petroselinum crispum
Plant Use: A kitchen flavoring known for its diuretic properties.

Common Name: Rosemary
Botanical Name: Rosmarinus officinalis
Plant Use: Medicinal and culinary herb. Reputed to be good for memory.

Common Name: Rue
Botanical Name: Ruta graveolens
Plant Use: Silver-blue foliage and yellow flowers, extremely bitter. Once used medicinally, not recommended now.

Common Name: Sage
Botanical Name: Salvia officinalis
Plant Use: Edible leaf and flower. Used in cooking, has many reputed values

Common Name: Sorrel
Botanical Name: Rumex acetosa
Plant Use: Culinary and medicinal; sour-flavored leaf used in salads, soups and sauces.

Common Name: Southern Wood
Botanical Name: Artemisia abrotanum
Plant Use: Fragrant plant used to keep away moths, and for worming (poisonous).

Common Name: Tansy
Botanical Name: Tanacetum vulgare
Plant Use: Medicinal and culinary herb in former times. Small amounts used to flavor baked goods.

Common Name: Thyme
Botanical Name: Thymus vulgaris
Plant Use: Creeping plant with edible flowers and leaves has numerous forms. Used for culinary and medicinal purposes.

Common Name: Violet
Botanical Name: Viola odorata
Plant Use: Flowers used in salads, fragrant oils and medicines.

Common Name: Winter Savory
Botanical Name: Satureja montana
Plant Use: Savory pot herb with edible leaf and flower, especially good with bean dishes.

Common Name: Wormwood
Botanical Name: Artemisia absinthium
Plant Use: Tall, silver-gray medicinal plant. Used for insecticidal purposes and as strewing herb, don't eat it