Edna, one shrub you might try, fairly new to the trade but available, I would think this should do very well for you whereas I struggle with it. Dichroa Febrifuga, looks somewhat like a Hydrangea, the bonus is it forms these awesome blue fruits. Like a Hydrangea the flower color differs depending on what type of soil you have or what you feed it.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/education/dichroa.php

Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Dichroa febrifuga

Hi Edna, my new thing is red coloured foliage, just bought a new barberry that is dark red (I have another lighter, they also come in dark green and limey green). Love the red berries in winter. Don't know how it would do in your heat. Caryopteris is also nice, grey green foliage and blooms at end of summer.

My cottage garden is a hybrid with lots of shrubs. I thought that was what cottage garden means (variety). Since the bunny problem we have very little edible stuff, only tomatoes.

Brodie

Edna, have a look at a thread a few lines below titled "My garden needs some bones". There are quite a lot of suggestions there, including some from yours truly. I agree with you, I work full time, have a long daily commute and simply cannot cope with a "classical" cottage garden (whatever that means). The switch from herbaceous perennials and annuals to a mix including shrubs is nothing wrong by my book. Roses are technically shrubs, you know, and what could be more cottagey?

Some evergreen structure - box, myrtle, laurustinus - + some deciduous shrubs - viburnum opulus, hydrangeas - + some berry shrubs - hollies, pyracantha, beautyberry - can give you the cottage spirit and look, even if they deviate from purism (again, if that matters, considering the freedom of spirit cottage gardens epythomize). For your wildlife habitat I specifically vote for pyracantha, the birds will love you for that in Winter!

Eduarda

A couple more, don't know if these would be suitable for you but I think they are lovely.
Physocarpus...
Diablo
Dart's Gold
Coppertina

Sambucus...
Black Beauty
Sutherland's Gold

Kolkwitzia
Dreamcatcher

A

Were we thinking along similar lines, Edna, when I posted about Editing and Regrouping?

One of the latest sunny beds here has yellow roses with a varigated yellow and green euonymous at one end.
Perennials in this bed are a row of yellow daylilies as edging nearest the drive and daffodils for early spring.
Right now it is full of Black Eyed Susans starting to bloom. I treat them as annuals and they reseed.
I'm considering a white crape myrtle to match the one on the other side of the opposite driveway, on the end nearer the house.

I can't speak to specific shrubs, but would suggest those that will not outgrow your space in a few seasons and require lots of pruing.
Loropetalum came into vogue here before anybody realized how large they would eventually grow.
I pruned some of mine up as small trees this spring.

Nell

I think forsythia bushes are nice. They bloom once in early spring, lots of yellow flowers. Rose of Sharon is pretty, and can grow quite large. Hummingbirds love Agastache, which is a medium size perennial. Mexican sage should be perennial in your area. They grow fairly large and have wonderful furred purple/white flowers, reminds me somewhat of pussy willow. Rosemary should do well in your area and it flowers. When I lived in San Leandro, I bought a house which had large hedges of blue-flowered Rosemary. Russian sage is a favorite of bees, and eventually grows to a large sized bush. The flowers resemble lavender but have very little fragrance.

I think you are on a good track in cutting down your workload, Edna. I keep thinking I had better cutback, because some day it will be too much upkeep. But I tell myself, "You will be fully retired in about ten years and think of all the time you'll have to tend gardens then!"

Good luck with your new project, Edna.
Lorna

WOW! what quick responses! I spent 2 hours cleaning the kitchen, set down with a cup of coffee and check the forum.

I greatly appreciate the suggestions.

Annette, I definitely must seek out dichroa febrifuga. Oooo, I love the blue berries. Blue is just the color I need.

Brodie, Annette, Eduarda, Nell and Lorna; I loved all your suggestions and made a list. Off to the nursery hoping for Memorial Day sales.

Eduarda, although we are across the seas from each other, our climates are very similar. What ever grows in your garden will grow in mine. Missed your post on "My garden needs some bones". Off to read now.

Fox, I must have missed your post also "Editing and Regrouping". Work has been extremely demanding and I barely have time to glimpse through the threads. I keep meaning to come back and respond. Off to read it now.

Thank you all!

Edna

I don't know if spirea works in your zone. My favorite is 'Neon Flash' with a deep pink bloom (3x3 in size) that goes great with purple coneflowers. While being deciduous, they are the first shrubs to leaf out in the spring.

Knock-out roses are low maintenance for me. They are virtually evergreen in my zone. They bloom almost non-stop and require very little care. I just give them PlantTone a few times. Since Japanese Beetles are a problem, I mix up Neem oil with dish liquid and water to spray them once or twice in late spring/early summer (just did it last night).

Clumping bamboo is another favorite. It doesn't produce runners like other bamboo. The one that I have matures at around 6 feet high with an umbrella form. Evergreen and no maintenance (except I do throw PlantTone on it a few times during the growing season).

Osmanthus fragrans -- I have at least 12 of these. Evergreen, fragrant in spring and again in fall. No pruning (you can do it though), but they eventually get large. They are slow growers.

Purple smoketree. I don't do anything to it.

Chaste tree. I prune off the dead blooms and shape it once a year.

Encore Azaleas. Part-shade, bloom twice. Some are small in size. I have some that are 3x3 mature and then some that are tree form that will be 5 ft tall due to the trunk.

Indian Hawthorn, full sun. Deer will eat these. Mine are inside the fence.

Japanese Maple.

Kleim's Hardy Gardenia.

I understand your thoughts. Gardens are time-consuming. I never gardened on this scale until I retired. It's just what I do now. My garden is so large, I have a mix of shrubs, perennials, small trees and bulbs. I have everything that I've mentioned. I keep annuals to a minimum. I use groundcovers to reduce mulching chores (but we have a good 4" of mulch in the garden under the groundcovers). I probably plant things too close together, but our weed problem isn't too bad if we "pick weeds" each time we walk through the garden. There is a path through all of our gardens, so it makes it easier to pick new weeds.

Cameron

I do what Cameron does, but she does it with style and flair; I just grub along.

Do try Osmanthus, Chaste tree and Gardenia. I found my first gardenia bloom today.

Nell

Boy, this sounds so familiar. In my last home, I had a wild cottage garden - I was even complimented by a visitor from England that it was a 'true' cottage garden - whatever that means. To me it was, as all have said, a lot of work deadheading, trying to keep the invasive stuff back - the obedient plant ate the last of my Grandma's shasta daisies 8-(.
My new home has the most wonderful bones of mature evergreen, lilacs, forsythia, golden spirea and nicely proportioned beds of perennials. I'm trying not to screw it up, but I want to add mock orange, for the scent, and different colours of lilcs.

Cheers, Nancy.

I hear what you're saying, Edna. Spring is rough for me. As much as I love it, it's a lot of work - digging, dividing, moving, weeding, mulching, deadheading, fertilizing, watering. And then the mowing starts, and I'm really done for.

I keep promising myself I won't plant any more, no new beds, no new plants, but I can't stop. I do have lots of shrubs in the foundation plantings around the house, so that helps. I can see there coming a day when I can't keep up with all of it, though, and I'll have to cut back somewhere.

Carol

I also hear you Edna. I'm not making any more garden areas. I've got enough to handle right now, maybe even too much. I want to be able to sit back and enjoy, not keep working every spare minute. I'm sure your gardens will be still lovely and still in cottage mode.

Hugs ~ FlowerLady

Edna I hear what you are saying. At times I am totally overwhelmed. This year I made a decision to get rid of my biggest bed out back. I have been battling obedient plant and creeping charlie for years now and am just sick of it. I had planned to take some plants out and move them. Well that is out of the question now. I moved some Micanthus from that bed last fall and now there is obedient plant coming up in the new bed. Uhoh, I don't think so. It just made my decision much easier because now I am not even going to attempt to rescue any plants. It is a shame to loose so many things but I am not going to spread that nightmare to any other beds.

So I am basically doing what I hear many others on this thread are. I have extended the beds around the house and garage, putting in more shrubs, I still have one large freestanding bed but that is going to be my only "big bed" from now on. I made a new bed this year and will use it for now as just a holding bed for plants that I am dividing and some bushes I just dug up for DS to take when he closes on his house. I plan on doing a small woodland garden this year but it will be primarily low maintenance. Hostas and a few other shade plants and perhaps some azalea...nothing I will need to fuss over or drag the hose to all the time.

So I am with you. The older I get the more I want to simplify and use plants that do not require constant attention. Bought several knock out roses this year that do not need to be deadheaded and have a few Bonica that I do but they are all close together. Everything else is pretty self sufficient. Just can't deal with the high maintenance beds and flowers anymore.

(((Edna))) Oh, I so agree with Rainey. You've got the sweetest place and you'll always be a cottage gal, no matter what you choose to grow. : ) And you live in such a great climate with so many flowering shrubs to choose from. I just know whatever you decide to do will look awesome!

But I'm going to pick on that tv narrator for a moment. ; ) What exactly was in the cottage garden that he described as so high maintenance? I understand we all have different energy levels and physical abilities but I've never found a cottage garden to be high maintenance. Was he trying to grow things that weren't suitable for his climate, or was that even mentioned or considered?

Hmmm . . . maybe there are things that I do differently than some. For one, I don't try to grow a huge variety of plants. I stick to those I know work well in my climate, don't need a lot of dividing or deadheading, and bloom as long as possible. And I try to anticipate the eventual size of the plant. It's tempting to want to plant densely in order to have that instant look of abundance that is so typically cottage, but it almost always leads to the dreaded moving and dividing that so many complain about each spring. Plus it contributes to poor air circulation which can lead to pests and diseases run amuck. Since roses are the backbones of most of my gardens, it's especially critical that I provide them with good air circulation. I also have a several ground covers growing between my plants so weeding is very minimal.

I do have a lot of roses to deadhead every few months but that is because I choose to grow so many and I truly enjoy keeping them tidy. I just can't imagine a cottage garden without them, especially when it comes to fragrance and beauty of bloom. But it isn't necessary to grow scads of them to have a beautiful cottage garden. (did I really just write that? lol!)

The nurseries are filled with blooming shrubs and perennials that don't require lots of maintenance but can still provide a cottage feel. Maybe visit Annie's when you can - I'm sure she'll have lots of wonderful recommendations for you. And of course there's all the wonderful advice on this forum. Take it slow and easy, don't worry about it all getting done overnight, and you'll soon be sipping tea on your pretty porch and loving your new look. : )

Bear Hugs, Diana

So, what TV program was it? We hardly get anything here to do with gardening, let alone cottage gardening!

Why not ask Annie (Annie's Annuals) what she thinks for shrubs or go visit their gardens. You'll get some great ideas. Old fashioneds will look superb and blend right in with your cottage garden styling!

GGG

I understand what you are saying, Edna. It's all a matter of what you can comfortably handle. I feel the same way because I never want gardening to become something I dread.

Another option would be to concentrate on colorful foliage, rather than flowering plants.

A local garden writer suggested this as an alternative to flowering plants that go dormant in the hot summers. He suggested such things as Copper Plants, Coleus, Marguerite Sweet Potato Vine, Lambs Ears, Caladiums and Persian Shield. There's not much maintenance to these, but you still get that punch of color.

Marilyn

I wonder why the TV narrator would say it's the MOST difficult garden to maintain. I would have guessed a formal french garden, a japanese garden would require more maintenance than a casual lovely cottage garden.

Anyway, I do hear you and understand. Although my urges goes to cottage gardening, I'm also now much moving towards prairie or meadow gardening. (no roses or flashy flowers) It's a rather easy way to have a 'cottage garden' and yet not having to do so much maintenance. Ive become a great fan of Piet Oudolf and the New Wave Gardening movement.

It was some silly HG show on remodeling a front yard. The couple wanted a "cottage flair". There isn't much in the way of gardening shows anymore *sigh*

I think the problem is I don't have a backyard I can casually garden in. All of my garden lays in the front so it always needs to be in it's best performance. I need more texture and foliage so when the spring perennial flowers die back it doesn't look so depressing. I just filled two large trash cans with dead sweet peas and poppies, I was so sad :-(

I have 27 roses and 5 hydrangeas but I think I need more interesting and colorful bushes that are evergreen.

I so greatly appreciate everyone's input. I have some great ideas from you all.

I never thought of speaking with Annie *duh!*

Ok, that explains a lot. Most of the people on that network seem like they're being spoon fed what to say by whatever sponsors are paying for the show. Blanket statements like the one the narrator made are just plain wrong and are usually made because they want to put in something totally different. Next week they will probably show someone ripping out a garden like they just installed on the show you saw and saying it is high maintenance. Follow the money.

Any garden style can be a maintenance nightmare if you don't do your homework on what does best in your area/climate. I think Paul James is the only one who ever stressed that. I miss that guy!

Diana

Edna, this month's Fine Gardening lists the following for California:

Splendens bottlebrush, callistemon citrinus Z10-11
Toyon, heteromeles arbutifolia, Z7-11
Butterfly rose, rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis'
Little Red oleander, nerium oleander, Z8-11

I do think natives helps make our gardening easier.

I will stay out of the fray of style. I garden just like I always have....don't really like labels. I just need to simplify and organize to make my life easier. My "collector" instincts have got the better of me. I have too much!

I don't think just because you add more "bones" to your garden that it doesn't qualify as a cottage garden anymore. I think Eduarda's garden, which probably has the most shrubs out of any of ours, is also one of the most quintessential cottage gardens. At least for me it is.

I think cottage is more in the spirit and placement. How we cram things in there, let things haphazardly roam, etc.

Good luck with your restructuring Edna. I hope it lightens your load a bit. I, too, am adding shrubs this year. For the lower maintenance factor and also for easier color.

Tracy

OK, you just said poppies and sweet peas. Those are annuals, at least for us. I find my annuals are my back breakers. Pulling out those cool season annuals, then later in the fall the summer annuals are the bulk of my garden work. I find true perennials need very little care, other than the occaisonal haircut. Perennials that need nearly no care and are evergreen are alstromeria, helleborus, geranium, Japanese aneneme, lavender, oregano, rosemary, hyssop, rue, lambs ears, some salvia, and so forth. I have others that act as true perennials, but maybe some evergreen perennials are just what you need.

I think where cottage gardens can get high-maintenance can be that you may not be able to delegate the weeding, because it isn't as obvious what is a weed and what is a keeper, y'know? Plus, if you deadhead a lot, that can take a lot of time.

I agree with other posters...some variety makes a cottage garden more interesting. Evergreen shrubs are a way to make a handsome statement. I'm falling more and more in love with perenniels. I want things that come back several years and better yet, multiply so I can dig, divide, and plant elsewhere. If it doesn't come back, I want it to reseed.

I consider my cottage garden to be therapy, a creative outlet, exercise--both aerobic and strength training. I would say it is a cheap form of therapy, but my husband might drag out the invoices and bills to prove me wrong. I will say that I have no need to join a gym when I have mulch to haul and weeds to hoe. LOL

Do what your heart tells you to do. Whatever it is may it bring you delight, pleasure, and contentment.

I don't know where the notion comes that a "true" cottage garden is based around perennials and annuals only. Have a look at the following pics. They were taken in a small Scottish village called Luss, on Loch Lomond, and to me they epithomyze what a cottage garden is - plus, they are in the "classic" cottage garden home, the UK ;-) If you look closely at the images you will see the classic roses and clematis, but you will also see quite a few shrubs, including pieris and dwarf conifers. Not evident in the photos, but I remember it distinctly, it's also the use of low growing alpine plants and heathers, which are extremely popular in Scotland and do very well in that climate. So the idea that a cottage garden has to have only perennials and annuals is a misconception, IMO, since even at the cottage gardens homeland a lot more is grown.

Eduarda

Pieris on the left

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See the dwarf conifers in that bed?

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Pieris again on the left, this time in a pot. Pieris is a very popular shrub in Scotland and is a no care plant.

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"I don't know where the notion comes that a "true" cottage garden is based around perennials and annuals only.

I don't think any true cottage gardeners subscribe to that notion. Like I said above, these tv shows are basically 30 minute ads for their sponsors. One week they say something is easy, the next it's high maintenance. I have seen them take out perfectly healthy shrubs and trees just to get the look they're pushing in that particular episode. It's so ridiculous I don't even watch any more. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I had any of those channels on. Give me some good old fashioned baseball any day of the week! : )

Lovely pics, btw. I use dwarf conifers and evergreens, too. Also Colorado Blue Spruce and Vanderwolf Pines. These all do very well at my high altitude and winter temps often in the teens. My son removed 5 boxwoods but only because they were lined up along the garage foundation and I really don't like that look. And they get huge here so there wasn't room for anything else.

I still say Tom Edison got it right when he said " Hell, there are no rules around here. We're trying to accomplish something." Maybe we should ask GW to put that at the top of the Cottage Garden page. ; )

Diana

Diana ~ Love your quote by Tom Edison. " Hell, there are no rules around here. We're trying to accomplish something."

I have realized somthing in the last couple of days, thinking about Edna's gardens and my own. That is, how in my case, a few years ago I was happy in my gardens doing my own thing. Then, we got computers and I started seeing other people's gardens, which made me feel depressed, envious, inspired.

I started looking at what I didn't have, started adding more beds and little gardens, making more and more work for my self. Now, I'm going to relax and not stress about what I don't have. I'm not adding any more beds or gardens, I'm going to work with what I've got, with seeds and cuttings and weeding out what I don't want or don't have time to care for. I'm learning what does really well in our zone and what doesn't. Every day is new, and I want to see and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me without stressing over what isn't perfect. We are all different, come from different backgrounds, have different financial capabilites and in no way can we all be the same, have the same, or do the same things. What we do is inspire, encourage, and enjoy our gardens and others via the vast web.

Trying to keep up with the Joneses whether in homes, cars or gardens is just too hard, too demanding and too time consuming. Each of us has a unique personality, and different talents. We each create our own 'cottage gardens' with whatever comes our way. There is no right or wrong way to have a cottage garden.

Cottage gardens are typically random and carefree in form. As the pictures that Eduarda shared here show, it's a style, not necessarily the fact that we have nothing but cottage garden flowers filling them. We can't all grow the same, traditional CG flowers. We have to go with what will grow in our zones, what we have time to take care of, etc.

I've learned a lot here, been inspired and look forward to being inspired more and to not be so 'envious' of what others have, but to enjoy my own little tropical/cottage garden of sorts, and to enjoy all of your lovely gardens through your picture tours.

Just my little ramblings here near the end of May.

Happy Gardening to all, big or small gardens, packed or not so packed with wonderful things. Regardless, let's all enjoy the moments that make up each day, appreciating our many blessings.

FlowerLady

Rainy, you said it, COTTAGE GARDENS ARE TYPICALLY RANDOM AND CAREFREE IN FORM. Grow what you can, grow what you like, enjoy and don't get caught up in the term English cottage garden. To have one you'd have to live in England :o).
Annette

"To have one you'd have to live in England."

That's funny Annette. I really am looking forward to enjoying my gardens more, with a different mindset.

FlowerLady

Do we really need to be caught up in semantics?

According to the Forum title and banner:
"The Cottage Garden. This forum is for the discussion of informal, country-style gardens, commonly known as cottage gardens."

I just strive for 'purty' and don't worry so much about some silly rules. I'm commited to planting what thrives and grubbing out weeds and grass.

I think Edna wanted some advice about which shrubs to add to her pretty garden. Edna, get some of those blue shrubs that I can never spell that don't grow here.

Nell

*YIKES!* No controversy .... please :-) I've always looked at my cottage garden as a hodge-podge of everything. There's no one set way or plant. It's a garden made with love.

"OK, you just said poppies and sweet peas".
I think Debbie slapped me in the face and woke me up. I hit a depression when I pulled out the spent annuals then watched that silly show.

Diana, I miss Paul James as well.

"I think Eduarda's garden, which probably has the most shrubs out of any of ours, is also one of the most quintessential cottage gardens. At least for me it is."
Tracy, I couldn't agree more.

The buddleia are beginning to bloom and the hydrangeas are blooming as well. My spirits are lifting.

I have a wonderful list composed, thanks to all of you. I have plans in the works to add evergreen bushes.

Edna

Nell, I couldn't have said it any better :o).
Annette

Great post, Nell!

Forgot to say...Eduarda, I love those pictures. What pretty cottage.

Edna, a shrub I have found success with to fill gaps and give my garden more structure and less maintenance, is Cistus - and it works beautifully with the more traditional cottagy annuals and perennials. It's also evergreen and drought tolerant. I love the pretty, almost single rose like flowers and the dark green foliage is attractive. The Cistus varieties I have are white and pearl pink but I especially love the bright pink "Brilliancy" which seems to lift all around it.