Small Flowers, Big Impact

All season long I've been collecting ideas of plants that would look at home in a cottage garden, because that's what I'd like to create as I develop my current garden areas and create new ones. I printed out a post called What Plants Go in a Cottage Garden? from GardenWeb and was pleased to find some of the plants already in my garden included there. I've also added some new plants from the list this season.

In my most recent trip to Longwood Gardens, I noticed a number of plants in the annual section of the Idea Garden that looked quite "cottage-y" to me. I puzzled over it a bit, identified the common denominators, and decided it was because they all covered a lot of territory but had small flowers. They were all plants with some height, rather than the low groundcovers frequently associated with the feature of many tiny blooms. I think this combination of rambling, mulch-hiding foliage with diminutive blossoms fits the cottage garden look to a T. The plants have a big visual impact, but through charm rather than drama. Here are some examples:

Marguerite
Argyranthemum frutescens
'Butterfly'
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cupflower
Nierembergia hippomanica
var. violacea
'Purple Robe'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blackfoot
Melampodium
'Lemon Delight'
(the upper layer in this photo)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twinspur
Diascia
'Diamonte Coral Rose'
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a result, I seem to have established a cottage garden principle for myself: Big plant, small flowers. (Not that all plants in the garden should follow this rule, but that plants following this rule will fit the design concept.) Got it! Thus the wish list is shaped by vision and grows (big surprise) ever-longer.