25 Classic Cottage Garden Flowers

Plant these classic beauties to create a charming, vibrant cottage garden.

By: Lynn Coulter

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English Lavender

No cottage garden would feel complete without sweet-smelling lavender. While lavender can be difficult to grow in areas with high humidity, English lavender is less demanding. Give the plants full sun and soil that drains easily. This tall, perennial herb is a good companion for coneflowers (Echinacea) and black-eyed Susans, as well as shorter flowers and herbs.

Sweet Pea

Fragrant sweet peas are the mainstay of many cottage gardens. These climbing flowers come in a wide variety of colors and many have intense perfumes. They’re annuals that prefer full sun, although they dislike hot weather and produce their best blooms in early spring. If you live in a hot climate, sow the seeds in fall. Sweet peas are usually trellised, but in a cottage garden, you can allow them to weave around shrubs and tall perennials or train them on a fence.

Heliotrope

Heliotropes, with their vanilla perfumes, can be found in shades of blue, lavender and white. Grow them alongside pink or pale yellow flowers for a soft color combination, or with hot pink or gold blooms for a bold palette. A navy-blue heliotrope variety, ‘Marine’ is especially striking. These spring-blooming annuals need full to part sun.

Daylily

Although their blooms last only one day, daylilies are beautiful additions to any cottage garden. These nearly indestructible plants crave sun, but grow even in less-than-ideal soils. Look for rainbow colors that vary from butter yellow to raspberry pink, maroon, cream, apricot, watermelon red and more. Plant varieties with staggered bloom times to keep the flowers coming until frost. A bonus: daylily clumps can be divided to help increase your cottage garden.

Hollyhock

Drought-resistant hollyhocks add stately charm and bright color to cottage gardens. Tall varieties that grow 8 feet or more can tower over other plants, but shorter varieties that top out around 30 inches are also available. Grown as biennials or short-lived perennials in zones 3 to 8, hollyhocks are beautiful when planted alongside daylilies, delphiniums and sage. Because most hollyhocks are so tall, protect them from strong winds and rain by growing them near a garden shed, gazebo or other structure.

English Daisy

Look closely, and you may spot tiny white flowers popping up through the grass in medieval paintings and old tapestries. English daisies were bred from these flowers, which were low-growing plants native to Europe. Today, English daises have large blooms in single or doubled varieties, and their colors range from white to rose pink or red with yellow centers. Combine these early bloomers with pansies, violas, and other spring flowers; they take full sun to part shade and tolerate average soil.

Larkspur

Carefree larkspurs are easy to grow from seeds. These annuals are best sown in fall, since they don’t fare well once the summer heat arrives, but they self-seed readily to re-appear the next spring. Try them with roses and lavender for a soft color palette and a pleasing mix of flower forms and heights. You’ll find larkspurs in shades of blue and pink as well as white, but you may need to start with fresh seeds after a year or two. Self-sown flowers tend to become drab over time.

Flowering Tobacco

A member of the nightshade family, flowering tobacco is also known as woodland tobacco and jasmine tobacco. The plants’ trumpet-shaped flowers come in pink, white, red and pale green, and are filled with nectar for hungry hummingbirds. Grow this annual with other plants that tolerate sun to partial shade, such as love-in-a-mist or cleome. For more impact, use the tall, airy plants in masses or clumps. Note: the plants are toxic, so avoid growing them near pets or children who might chew on them.

Pansies

Hardy pansies, with their cheerful faces, belong in any cottage garden. They prefer cool temperatures, so start them indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting them, or sow them during the summer for early winter flowers. Pansies are available in more colors than almost any other garden flower. Some varieties have a delicate, light perfume.

Scabiosa

When the wind blooms, scabiosa’s lavender, pink or white blooms often nod on their slender stems. Despite their rather unattractive name—scabiosa may come from a Latin word that refers to scabies, a skin disease that the plants were used to treat—the pretty, delicate flowers are butterfly magnets. The plants prefer full sun and tolerate drought and blossom until frost.

Signet Marigold

Less well-known than the classic French or African marigolds, signet marigolds are small yellow or orange flowers with fine-cut, lacy foliage. They grow 12 to 24 inches high and have a lemony fragrance. Give them a spot with full sun in beds or along paths and walkways. The light, airy foliage combines nicely with violas, nasturtiums and snapdragons. These deer and rabbit-resistant plants can tolerate periods of drought.

Beard Tongue

Sun-loving penstemons are pink, white, lavender, purple, red, or hot pink perennials with contrasting colors in their throats. There are over 200 species of these members of the snapdragon family, and their trumpet-shaped flowers are a valuable source of nectar for many bees. The blooms open in early spring. After the flowers are finished, the foliage makes a good backdrop for plants that bloom later in the season.

Cardinal Flower

Hummingbirds and butterflies adore the red, tube-shaped blossoms of lobelia, also known as cardinal flowers. These native perennials thrive in sun to part shade and may need afternoon shade if grown in a hot climate. They prefer moist to wet soil, so try iris, ferns, hostas and astilbe as companion plants. Be cautious of using cardinal flowers around children and pets, since all parts of the plant are poisonous.

Climbing Roses

Spreading across fences, trellises and pergolas, climbing roses make gorgeous additions to cottage gardens.

Columbine

Columbine, Aquilegia, is a real treat for gardeners: These spring-bloomers look like two flowers in one and come in an array of colors. The woodland perennial performs best in part shade and well-drained soil.

Lobularia

Lobularia, commonly known as sweet alyssum, makes for perfect groundcovers and borders in cottage gardens. Typically grown as an annual in zones 4- 9, sweet alyssum produces an endless stream of fragrant, tiny white blooms throughout the summer.

Fountain Grass

Looking for an ornamental grass for your cottage garden? Fountain grass, with tall sprays of foliage topped with fuzzy flowers, will bounce gracefully in gentle breezes and color beautifully throughout the year.

Phlox

Butterflies, birds and hummingbirds find phlox irresistible. Phlox bears spikes of fragrant flowers that come in pink, red, white, purple and more during the summer. Creeping varieties make great flowering groundcovers and border plants.

Foxglove

Where would a cottage or woodland garden be without foxglove? The biennial produces delightful spires of vibrant flowers in early summer. Protect these charmers from the wind and give them light shade and moist, well-drained soil.

Butterfly Bush

The nectar-rich, arching flowers of buddleja are the perfect landing pad for butterflies. Butterfly bushes are known for their fuchsia blooms, but also come in white, purple, red or yellow. Grow the shrub in mass for a striking effect, and don't forget to deadhead to keep the blooms coming until frost.

Iris

With tall, striking leaves and even more dramatic flowers that come in a variety of colors, irises are a cottage garden staple. Plant them behind borders and beds, and remove spent flowers for a bright foliage display throughout the spring.

Peony

Peonies are classics in the cottage garden. These hardy, low-maintenance shrubs keep producing big blooms in a bright range of colors year after year.

Hydrangea

Loved for their unique blossoms and bushy habit, hydrangeas are perfect for brightening a shady spot in the cottage garden. Bloom color depends on variety and soil pH: blue flowers appear when planted in more acid soil, and you can expect pink flowers in alkaline soils.

Forget-Me-Not

Romantic forget-me-nots greet gardeners in the spring—their bright blue blooms are often one of the first flowers to pop up. Forget-me-nots prefer moist, well-drained soil with some afternoon shade. Try using them as a flowering groundcover or in front of borders and beds.

Osteospermum

Osteospermum produces an endless display of flowers from early summer to autumn and are great for sunny borders. 'White Pim' has pure white with a pink and grey striped reverse.