Hi! I'm a brand new newbie...I used to get a few annuals every year, just to brighten up the front walk, but unfortunately (or fortunately) I caught the gardening bug in early spring, and my symptoms just keep intensifying. I finally convinced dh to rip the ugly and oddly misshapen shrubs (planted by a previous owner) that ran the length of the front porch and down both sides, and now I've got an almost blank canvas for next spring! The only things in the bed right now are a HUGE Lantana (supposed to be annual here, but mine came back from last year and is pretty much trying to take over the world I think)...pruned back a little last night, just so I could still walk on my porch, a tiny little pink landscaping rose on the other far end, and my favorite ever, my little patio peach tree I planted this spring. Other than that, it's empty. So...since I love the cottage garden look, and I want to try winter sowing, it only seems natural that those would be the seeds I was after! As I said, I'm new, so I don't really have trade...probably some crazy lantana, once the pods turn purple, and probably some tropical milkweed from the back yard, once that pod dries out, but other than that I'm nervous about whether or not I actually found the seeds/pod on all the other flowers I tried to harvest and would be scared to send them and have it be nothing. But, if anyone has an overstock of seeds, I'd be happy to send SASBE for them! I'm also sort of fishing for ideas...I'm thinking definately phlox, black eyed susan, hollyhock, daisy...but I am open to suggestion! You're the experts, so what would you sow to make a cottage garden???

Thanks for your help!

Dorothy