Theme garden help: Lake/Beach them

11 years ago

My husband and I recently bought a small cottage on the shore of Lake Ontario. We are converting it to a full time home (putting in a heat source, etc). I do have some cottage gardens I've started this year (and a Hosta garden), but, by chance, I found a rose that prompted me to try a theme garden. This past weekend, I found a Queen O The Lakes rose (subzero). Of course I bought it...but now I am thinking I'd like to create a small theme garden with all the plants having lake/beach/coastal theme names.

The garden gets afternoon sun, on the west side of the Cottage. It will be bordered by a Japanese Quince and a picket fence which will surround our veggie garden (with a chicken wire fence inside to keep the bunnies out). There are some poppies and lily of the valley there now, along with grass. I will probably leave the poppies since I know they don't like to be moved, obviously the grass would be scraped and I have enough lily of the valley-I'll rehome that. There is also a Wegelia (sp) that has been there for years that will stay. We don't really have deer or bunny problems. Our zone is techincally 5, but it is a bit odd because we're right on the lake, it stays cooler longer in the spring (I'm about a 1-2 weeks behind nearby areas for bloom times), and also warmer longer in the fall. Lavender grows well here (actually, pretty much everything does)!

I am looking for suggestions for plants (if you know of a plant-perennial, annual, whatever that has a nautical name, that's what I'm looking for).

I know some Daylilies would work, like Toy Boat and Lake Effect. I also thought about Sea Lavender and Sea Holly, although I'd like to stay with less "sea" or "ocean" and more "lake" or general nautical terms (boat, coast, beach, even cottage).

I do have an informal cottage garden bed in the front of the porch also, this would just be one of many beds.

Comments (7)

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
11 years ago
Seathrift. Does well in dry conditions, as well. I like it best when they are planted close together.

Rosa Rugosa grows all along the Maine coast. I believe it tolerates salt well. I love the smell! Sometimes it's called beach rose or saltspray rose.

Lastly, sea holly.
eclecticcottage
Original Author
11 years ago
Both Seathrift and the Rosa sound interesting! I will have to put together a list, then check zones and bloom times to create a a garden plan.

So, so far I have:
Sea Shell Cosmos
Yellow Sand Coreopsis
Sand Love Grass
"Nautical mix" petunias
Lake Currants
Cottage pinks (Dianthus)
Summer Breeze Hosta
Beach Music Day Lily
Great Lakes gold hosta
Coastal Mist bearded iris
Toy Boat dwarf Iris
Beach Dance iris
Ship Shape Iris
Lake Effect day lily
Lakeside Pebbles Hosta
Aye Captian day lily
Great Lakes Gladiola
Sea Lavender
Sea holly
Queen O The Lakes rose
Sea thrift
Rosa rugosa/beach rose

This is fun!
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Calamity_J
11 years ago
Sounds great!!!
on_greenthumb
11 years ago
There are tons of "Lakeside" Hostas....

But what about:
Northern Sea Oats
Erigeron glaucus Ã¯Â¿Â½Sea BreezeÃ¯Â¿Â½
Beach Bluebells

I don't know how common some of them are, but it will probably be lots of fun trying to find them :)
organic_kitten
11 years ago
Tall ships is another daylily.
kay
eclecticcottage
Original Author
11 years ago
I decided to take out any "sea" plants and try for others without sea or ocean in the name, since we really aren't on the ocean.

So my new updated list is:
"Nautical mix" petunias
"beach comber" mix petunias
Coastal Mist bearded iris
Toy Boat dwarf Iris
Sandy Beach Iris
Beach Dance iris
Ship Shape Iris
Ships Are Sailing Siberian Iris
Dover Beach Iris
Lake Effect day lily
Aye Captian day lily
Beach Music Day Lily
Moonlight Sail Day Lily
Celestial Shore Day Lily
Sailing Along Day Lily
Aye Captian day lily
Queen O The Lakes rose
Rosa rugosa/beach rose
Cottage Rose
Lake Ontario hosta
Great Lakes Hosta
Lakeside Beach Bum Hosta
Lakeside Beach Captain Hosta
Lakeside Breaking Waves hosta
Great Lakes Gold Hosta
Lakeside Pebbles Hosta
Lakeside Shoremaster Hosta
El Capitan Hosta
Summer Breeze Hosta
Great Lakes Gladiola
Sea Shell Cosmos
Yellow Sand Coreopsis
Sand Love Grass
Lake Currants
Cottage pinks (Dianthus)
Splish Splash Larkspur
Lobelia Regatta "Marine Blue"
Lobelia Regatta "Blue Splash"
Perennial Gerenium "splish splash"
Sunset Coneflower
clustered bellflower "marine"
beach pea
beach bluebells

I also spoke to my hubby and we might eb moving the theme garden since we split some of our existing hostas over the weekend and ended up with so many splits we started a new hosta garden! Now it needs a companion bed to "even out" that part of the yard (aw, darn-lol) so this might move to a spot that would offer a greater variety of conditions, from full sun transitioning to open shade. Meaning I can add more hostas and other shade lovers! I am on the hunt for the Lake Ontario Hosta now, since I just found it in the registry. The registrar is semi-local, so I tried emailing him (he was/is? on the board of the local Hosta society). This is going to be a bit of a challenge to fill an entire bed without costing myself a fortune, lol. Gotta love plant swaps (got a rosa rugosa-beach rose-at one yesterday, as well as a dover beach iris), hopefully I can get a lot from seed too.
ianna
11 years ago
So you must be near Niagara?

Anyway, how about valerian or Jupiter's Beard? I once saw this seascape garden just filled with these plants and grasses. It was breathtaking.

Ianna