I'm not sure exactly what you are asking - perhaps how to make a cottage type garden with what you have? I can't help you with that, but might I suggest you take a few pictures of the area you are talking about, and perhaps post in another sub-forum - Landscape Design or Perennials seem to be quite active and you may get more specific responses there. Also, you will want to provide your zone, climate, sun, etc., to give the posters there something to work with.

I plant my herbs, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers among my flowers and bushes that make up my landscaping around the house. I mulch them with shredded limbs from the transfer center. Last year I also grew artichokes in my landscape.

Thanks. I will try to snap a picture of my nook tomorrow...or when the thunderstorm is over. It's a nook. I'm space challenged. I live in a walk up brownstone and my yard is 14 by 100 feet. Lol. So I cram things and the result is chaos. Imo

Here are some of my efforts.

I don't have much of an eye for these sorts of things either, but I do think your garden looks quite lovely.

Thanks, folks. I am "moving the furniture" (rearranging some perennials) today. If all goes well, I will post pics.

Right now, it's a hot mess.

Well...here it is after some work.

And my 10 year old found a spot to relax:

If anyone has any comments, thoughts or suggestions. I'm all ears.

Aside from needing more plants closer together, I don't see a problem. My garden beds tend to be more crowded with things growing closer to each other. Since my hostas that were supposed to grow about 28" in diameter but have "super-sized" themselves to twice that size (with NO fertilizer or any other help from me), they've done it on their own. I like the look of them but confess I never expected them to go down that path. Speaking of which, the perennial geraniums and super-sized hostas have begun to grow OVER the concrete walkway I laid down along the edge of the bed. Sigh...

Thanks, gardenweed. I hesitate to overcrowd them, because I figure it might be "too much", especially in a few years. Keep in mind, my flower gardening has generally consisted of annuals in pots, etc and my reseeding morning glories. I'm a veggie gardener. Haha. Very different. Having all these perennials accumulating is something new for me. The hostas I received last year are getting large....and my reblooming lilac(which just set more blooms) bush grew 3 feet. But, as you mention, I DO want that overcrowded look. The cottage garden look. Any recommendations for plants, particularly flowering ones? I'm all ears. Thanks, again. You are wonderful to take the time.

Don't concern yourself or stress about over-crowding. Cottage gardens didn't become popular because gardeners were worried about over-crowding. Plants know what to do and they do it with very little help from humans since they do it underground. Don't think of them as workers crowded into an office building elevator during rush hour--they're NOT. Some perennials have taproots that grow straight down into the soil; others have wider roots.

Okay, one perennial I would NEVER be without is Stokesia/Stoke's aster. I love blue--always have; always will I guess. The ruffly flowers just make me smile plus they aren't (after 8+ years) apparently bothered by any critters nor have they ever self-seeded. Daylily flowers last a single day but the plants produce dozens of blooms + they need zero care/attention. I wouldn't be without them. Hellebore/Lenten rose starts blooming in March where I am and since I'm in New England, having ANYTHING blooming that early is welcome, I've added more than a half dozen. Mine are growing--and thriving--on the northeast corner of my house.

TIP: Hostas are pretty easily divided and can be (1) traded off to neighbors; (2) sold to anyone interested who passes by; (3) tossed out if neither #1 or #2 present themselves

Perennial geraniums - not the red plants your mother kept in pots, but the real deal (Google them) are zero-care/maintenance that are impervious to both predators & insects alike. They're low-growing, long bloomers that take up a fair amount of real estate. An ornamental grass, Carex 'Ice Dance' grows just 16" tall, is variegated green & white. Mine comes back every year, maintains it's form right through the toughest winter and needs zero maintenance aside from a spring haircut. Mine has now been divided, shared with friends, planted in multiple beds; all from ONE original plant.

Check out Platycodon grandiflora/balloon flower. It's perennial, not bothered by pests, well-behaved altho' I give all of mine (and I have LOTS) a haircut the third week of June each year. I just whack it back with pruning shears. It wants full sun but it's growing in part sun in my various beds. There are blue, white and even a couple of pale pink cultivars.

Variegated false Solomon's seal (Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum ‘Variegatum’) offers a foliage contrast to other shade perennials and blooms really early in the season, requires zero care/maintenance.

I really got a kick out of designing my garden beds and was happy to have the resources (read: my son) to achieve them. He hauled the 3,600 lbs. of granite I needed for my front walkway in his truck.

You don't have to spend a lot of $$ at a nursery to fill/stuff your garden with perennials. Check out the Winter Sowing forum. My first year winter sowing, I WS 535 recycled milk jugs. Yeah,..scary.