Welcome to the Garden!
June is just beginning and the Cottage & Rose Garden is coming to life! I want to share what’s blooming right now before the summer heat hits and the roses come along to steal the show! This is a photo heavy post as I have lots of blooms to share with you so get a tall glass of tea or lemonade and enjoy!
Bleeding Heart
I absolutely love old fashioned cottage garden flowers like this beautiful white bleeding heart next to me! She’s finally getting well established and has reached a lovely size this year!
I love how full and soft this plant looks. She seems to really enjoy the part sun she gets in this location, though my friend has one in full sun and it is gigantic! I just might have to get more and “test” their preferences! You know, just as an experiment 😉.
The tiny dangling crystal-white hearts are like little jewels suspended on a fine delicate stem.
For me bleeding heart plants, especially the Alba variety, bring to mind those who have passed. This one in my garden reminds me of my dad. Gardens can help us heal in so many ways.
Classical Columbine
I can’t help it – I love classic, “old fashioned” flowers, especially in a cottage garden. Columbine is certainly one that gets a seat at the table!!
This variety is called Aquilegia vulgaris, “Granny’s Bonnet”. I love how frilly and “extra” this plant is!
I have seen these ‘double’ varieties in both a solid pink version as well as the variegated pink-and white like mine. Reportedly it can also be solid purple, or purple-and-white! I might have to look for those!
My back garden is painted with yellows and purples and there are many Columbine/aquilegia varieties that would be at home there.
Columbine plants can get enormous at a height of nearly 3 feet and with a spread of up to 2 feet. I welcome self-seeded “volunteer” Columbine plants and hope to see it spread throughout the garden!
More Columbine!
What’s this, another aquilegia? Oh yes… and this one is called “White Crystal”. There are a few different market names for single, optic white aquilegias. This one called “Krystal” from Annie’s Annuals (again, sadly not sponsored) appears to be very similar to my variety.
The petals on this Columbine are such a pure optic white they hurt your eyes in the direct sun! But in the evening light they almost glow like little lanterns nestled in the deep greens of the garden’s private layers.
The petals are so fine and delicate they are nearly translucent.
This Columbine seems to be a fairly compact bush with a long bloom time starting in mid May.
Climbing & Creeping Clematis
Next up is this stunning Clematis. She’s the first clematis to show her pretty face in my zone 5b/6a Northeastern garden!
This beauty was given to me by a dear friend; talk about a gift that keeps on giving year after year!
Her blooms have six bright white petals with the softest pink stripes and delicate lemon yellow centers. In the video tour of my garden (embedded at the end of this post) you can see native bees enjoying her tasty pollen!
The vine’s main body is supported on a simple bamboo tipi. Soft velcro wrap plant supports – the type used to gently train and restrain tomatoes – wrap around her delicate stems to keep her stable.
Clematis and Roses make wonderful companions especially when the clematis are allowed to scramble up and through the roses. The clematis roots do not compete with the roses and their feet really appreciate the shade the roses provide.
“America” has been encouraged to run and ramble up through the rose “Crown Princess Margareta” right next to her, a stunning David Austin rose that is a pinkish apricot color. She’s even making a grab at “Huntington Rose” on the far side of Margareta! Those white and pink blooms will look lovely alongside the pink flush of “Huntington Rose”!
This variety is called “America”. I find her name utterly fitting as this darling starts blooming just before Memorial Day and keeps up a strong show right through July!
For a clematis it’s important to know what “type” you have so you can understand their proper pruning and growing habits. Some can be cut right to the ground each spring and others require much more finesse.
Unfortunately I didn’t keep the original tag (oops) and now I can’t find any record online of a clematis with her characteristics under the name America. *facepalm* Do as I say folks, not as I do… keep your plant tags especially for perennials even when you think you won’t need them!
I cut her back strongly early this spring secondary to some major winter damage. I really had no choice but to prune her hard and was sad to think I might not get any blooms this year. Happily we got very lucky as she seems to be the type that can bloom on both new and old growth!!
Darling Dahlias
And here we have a newcomer to the garden, these perky blush pink Dahlias!
Dahlias are such reliably cheerful flowers. Now that I have them I find myself wondering how I ever went without! This color, “Medio Pink Eye”, is just stunning. There are so many shades of pink in these blooms!
A group of three in this large faux terracotta pot strikes the perfect balance against the backdrop of green Adirondack ferns.
Verbascum Flower Towers
Verbascum is a delight in the cottage garden! It comes in so many interesting varieties, self seeds readily, and is extremely hardy.
This variety is called both “Flush of White” and “White Bride” and is reportedly a true perennial (some varieties are biennial). It is an ornamental cousin of the bright yellow Common Mullein, an important staple in the medicinal garden.
Lovely spires of clear white blooms with darling yellow centers stay bright and fresh faced for weeks. Bees and other pollinators love them!
I believe these volunteer plants that popped up this year are verbascums. We will have to wait to see them bloom to know what color they are!
Spearmint runs beneath the roses to provide ground cover and aid with pest prevention. Mint can overrun a garden if not kept in check but this combination has proven to be a beneficial relationship!
The Rose ~ Cottage Garden Queen
Ok ok, I said it’s not rose season yet, but we are right on the verge! Everywhere you look, buds are swelling and filling, ready to burst into bloom any day now…
In the early summer the garden starts to change daily, morphing before your eyes at an astonishing rate. That’s why I knew I’d better take pictures and share them quick!
This rose is “Désirée Parmentier“, an old rose that dates to before 1841.
She is a hybrid Gallica centrifolia, bred in Belgium by Louis-Joseph-Ghislain Parmentier… If you’re a rose nerd and care about these things like me 😆.
I purchased her at one of my favorite sources for own root old roses, High Country Roses. Alas, this post is not sponsored, but wouldn’t that be lovely!
I moved her to this location last year from a shadier spot and she seems delighted by the change. She is positively loaded with buds, sprawling and arching over the fence and into the boxwood and peonies!
I think she’ll give us quite a show over the next few weeks!
Another rose that’s looking ready to pop any day now is “Madame Hardy“, a white damask beauty with a green button eye that is one of my all time favorites!
Be sure to come back to see the roses when they are in full bloom!
Supporting Characters: Trees, Bushes, Ground Cover
Trees
Trees, bushes, and ground covers are all important foundational pieces to any cottage garden!
If you’re new here, there is a spectacular Weeping Beech tree in front of our 1879 Victorian. See the little tunnel of branches leading to the sidewalk?
This lovely lady provides much welcomed shade, privacy, and charm in the summer months. She also contributes to the dappled shade that keeps the cottage garden in mostly filtered sunlight and provides a deep green visual backdrop for summer blooms. I use her branches to make wreaths and to decorate my trees at Christmas. Can you tell we love her?
At three years old this little dwarf cherry tree is just a baby. Planted in the center of the garden it provides height, structure, and for the first time this year… fruit!
Ground Cover
Covering the ground there are Strawberry plants, mint, lamb’s ear, and another old fashioned favorite, perennial Candy Tuft. This variety, Iberia sempervirens “Tahoe”, is a reliable and hardy perennial. It provides low-level visual interest in the early summer months.
Shrubs
Boxwood is a classic structural element of many gardens and can find itself at home in the cottage garden as long as it’s not subjected to too strict of a haircut!
There are three boxwoods in my garden, all of which I acquired for free off craigslist!!
They are allowed to grow fairly wild and free with only minimal pruning to keep them healthy.
The classic green provides a lush, grounding, textured backdrop to more showy florals and the cardinals are delighted by their little green fruits!
Do you have a cottage style garden? Which plants do you gravitate towards? Any favorite varieties?
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this post, I am not sponsored by anyone for anything. Should that ever change I’ll be sure to let you know!