Ahh! Your evil, you know that don't you? ONE plant, one single plant for a cottage gardener? Impossible.
LOL
Well, I am going to have to think about this one for sure. hmmm.....

I thought about an evergreen so I could enjoy it all year. But then I would miss the thrill of anticipating the first bud swelling or the first sign of life poking up through the rich earth.

A clematis would give me that excitement; maybe Marmori or Margot Koster. But then, would I enjoy the bare branches in midsummer and fall?

Maybe a Japanese maple for the thrill of the swelling buds and the breathtaking fall foliage.

Or maybe something that reseeds so I can have more plants and excape Token's crazy world.

Ahh, I know! A bronze fennel so I can watch a butterfly grow.

:)

I get alot of pleasure from my knockout roses. They are great performers, are cottagey, I get to deadhead and prune them here and there, which I love to do, you can take cuttings and make more, they even look good in winter most of the time.
Laurie

You mean I can't find a loophole and pick a plant with a million different species and cultivars?

Well my first thought (and a practical one) was to pick my longest blooming plant, but I don't really like it well enough to have a whole yard full of it.

Well here it is... Thalictrum rochebrunianum. Why? Because it is such an interesting plant, at every stage in its life. It comes up reasonably early (so a better choice than Joe-Pye), has ariy/dainty foliage, amazing looking stems, and clouds pinkish flowers. It always entertains me to chart how much it grows weekly.

Fun thread!
CMK

Oh, great. Now I have to go find a Thalictrum rochebrunianum.

LOL!

Roses. Can I have different ones or it has to be just one kind? Definitely roses.

Oh, gosh, this is a hard one!!! Let's see...it's gotta have good foliage so it looks good year round, but blooms so it isn't always the same. Hm. Um. Scratches head, looks around...thinks some more...

angelica archangelica: it's beautiful, fragrant, edible, medicinal and attractive to beneficial insects. It's also low-maintenance, not bothered by pests and self-sows like crazy.
I love daisies, though. And daffodils and lilacs and catmint and hens & chicks. And salvia and columbines and hosta and evening primrose......

Camellia.
Blossoms from late fall to April. Honking big gorgeous blossoms.
Evergreen.
Can be propagated from seed or cuttings.
Live forever and grow into trees when they're old, marvelous character.
The best you can expect for scent is a light tea fragrance.

There was a huge front yard south of town that had nothing but Camellias and pine trees. The owner died.
The arrival of certain big stores caused the property to become commercial and the garden is gone.

Nell

-Mickie, oh you will love T. rochebrunianum! It has wonderful blue-green foliage that is so airy! The stems, which look like celery when first emerging from the ground, are powdery purple. And the flowers!!! Don't even get me started on those! They are pendulous, lavender-pink, and have big tufts of yellow stamens. Did I mention it gets about seven feet tall? I was afraid that after I cut my apple tree down it would be unhappy, but it does not seem to mind full sun at all (as long as the soil stays fairly moist!). I just love that plant!
CMK

Perennial Geranium. As long as I don't have to pick just one cultivar. Blue, lavender, purple and pink flowers. Cultivars like Rozanne flower a long time. There is a lot of variety in the leaves too, some are deeply divided, almost ferny, and some are palmate like maple leaves, and some leaves are variegated, or even chocolate.

Hmm, I might actually try a bed of nothing but geraniums.

I am back Evil Master. I have my choice. It would be a Staghorn sumac.
They have those wonderful fuzzy branches in spring,they bud out and leaf like flowers, then they make a lovely almost tropical canopy not to thick not to heavy, the leaves are bi colored, they spread themselves, need no special care not even water, in the fall they make the most spectacular show of reds and orange which fall and become "flowers" on the ground, they have those interesting fruit? things and in the winter they show their graceful and interesting branching. And quite importantly, my birds will have a place to be.

ONE single plant??? What a thought! I'm torn between roses, which are so beautiful, and... nasturtiums! That must sound weird, but although I love roses, they are blackspot heaven here in our damp climate, so the foliage just won't stay looking nice. If that was my only plant I'd get discouraged. Nasturtiums are my best performer here... they grow into massive mounds of huge-leaves and radiant flowers, long long arms of stems stretching out for many feet away, getting into everything else. They're so lush, it just says life and fertility and growth to me. In fact this year I think I'll go plant a load of seeds so they can just take over the garden because I've got a one year old velcro baby who won't let go of his mommy long enough for me to do the garden properly this year, so I might as well have a sea of these strong performing, easy care plants. Lol I think I will, it'll be a funny experiment. Okay, I guess I vote nasturtiums for my one plant, but it would break my heart to give up all the others.

Today my choice would be a big-leaf rhododendron. Love the evergreen foliage and the irregular shape (no shearing in my yard), but it also has blooms once a year for something different, brief, and special to look forward to.

Ask me again tomorrow and you might get a different answer. :)

While reading through this thread I have had 6,7,8 different plants flash through my mind - can you tell I am undecided???????? lol - but given it some thought I will go with CrapeMyrtle for my area. LONG LONG summer/fall bloom - beautiful fall leaves and small so no leaf raking - wonderful branching and peeling bark for winter interest - bright red and lime green new spring growth. Good bird habitat - wonderful dapple shade for sitting under and sipping a glass of ice tea......

Lynne

It would be sweet peas for me. Bouquets of flowers every day, in whatever color you like, and room-filling fragrance. A hard choice, since its the combination of different flowers that is so pleasing. My current favorite combo is Coreopsis 'early sunrise', Salvia 'victoria blue' (darker variety), and Paludosum Daisy. So I'd probably put in three different colors of sweet peas, like purple, white, and pink.

This is a simple question for me. Shasta Daisy Silver Princess, it blooms so long from like late april till frost and its semi evergreen.

I love all daisies but my silver princess takes the cake it blooms alot longer and never flops over. I can imagine it now it would be ok with me if it was my only flower cause I love them soooooooo much.

Up until this year I definitely would have said Roses. But no more.

I almost said Lupines, because after seeing Phonegirl's fabulous display in the Gallery I sure wouldn't mind attempting to replicate it.

But I'm going to say Sunflowers. They feed the birds, and they do a lot for me, too. (They looked even better last year with zinnias and white nicotiana in front of them, but you won't let me choose three. :-) )

{{gwi:702417}}

Well I love the airy look and I love the fragrance of this plant... I would choose

Lavenders

I was going to say Echinops since they are new to me and I love them, but I'll pick lupines instead. I've always been partial to them and have just recently discovered Miss Rumphius - my new favorite book.

With no thought, no doubt or question about it, I'd choose
LIMELIGHT HYDRANGEAS.

Ahhh stillwelljill, I, too, love that limelight hydrangea. Have you seen Pinky Winky--very close to limelight, but beautiful pink colors in the blooms. This is a description of the blooms:
The large, 16 inch long flower heads (panicles) emerge white and the flowers at the base of the panicle quickly turn pink. The flowering is indeterminate, meaning they continue to push new white flowers from the tip of the panicle while the older flowers transform to rich pink.

-Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinky Winky

That pinky winky brings a whole new look to hydrangea very nice.

Peonies!! Even though it would be sacrificing the majority of the growing season for other plants. Hardy and carefree and can live for decades.

Sharon, I have two Pinky Winky hydrangeas. This should be their first year to bloom. I have them planted in front of three large Limelights. Should be quite a show if all goes well this year. I've read a couple of posts on the Hydrangea forum about Pinky Winky not living up to expectations but hope that is because the plants take a few years to mature.

Limelight blooms begin with a very soft "limey" vanilla color, changing to vanilla, then starts to develop a pale pink edging on the vanilla blooms. As it ages, the whole bloom changes to various shades of pink and burgundy.....truly awesome.

This is a hard one! I am still thinking...............

"a garden full of one plant."

For a cottage garden, that's easy. Roses. : )

I have a hedge of 'Outta the Blue' along my potager picket fence and tow out in the front cottage garden. The fragrance is out of this world, the color changes from a deep magenta rose to a soft lilac and they bloom non-stop for me from April until Dec. The other months are too cold to do much outside so I wouldn't care if there was nothing else to look at.

'Outta the Blue'
{{gwi:284056}}

Salvia (lady in red, black and blue, farinacea, transylvanica, greggii,leucanthemum - think this might be cheating.)

Joy, it's not cheating. You can have all the salvia you want. Just make sure they are all true salvias. If roses are one plant, salvia would have to be another.

Azaleas could make an incredible garden for a week in March here. And that's all some do.

.... Hydrangeas that bloom in purplish blue..

Carrie

In this Zone - no one plant - can't play!!! except for 'neige'!!

lol. Nancy.

It's a tie between Zinnias and Cosmos! Fun thread!

or my next choice..

Delphiniums - the pacific giant types.

I adore delphiniums also...and foxgloves...and hollyhocks...and poppies...but if I had to choose just one, I'd probably choose zinnias, because they come in so many varieties and they are such showstoppers! :)

I think I would chooses lots of different varieties of rudbeckias. They start fairly early here and go until frost.

Plumbago auriculata: sky-blue flowers from June til frost, decent looking foliage, drought tolerant, disease-free, and pest-free except for snails.

treelover - I pull up my Plumbagos and over winter them in the garage - I love them!

Carrie

Gotta' be roses! If you say that it must be one type of rose, then I'd choose the David Austin rose Abraham Darby. Since I'd only have one plant, there would be plenty of time for me to lavish care on it, spray it often as needed to keep blackspot away, and spend my whole day picking japanese beatles off of it. With all that care, my Abe Darby would be the most beautiful plant in the world. Since it's now just one of many plants in my yard, it gets mediocre care, is almost never sprayed, and looks ratty at this time of year.

Foxgloves. I know the garden will be barren in winter. Regardless, my answer is Foxgloves. Final answer :).
~Natalie

After thinking about the 4 plants question, I realized that if it had to be one plant, it would have to be roses. If I didn't have any other plants, I could lavish all of my time to making my roses look perfect - deadheading and all. I could have them bloom all summer long, and rose hips for winter interest. I could have them in all different sizes, shapes and colors...

I have a tie in my head between daylilies and knockout roses-all the colors available. Glad I really don't have to decide. Grin

Bev