Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
deannatoby

Plant arrangment help & pinching rose campion

I'm new to the forum and to cottage gardening. We were fortunate enough to buy a house with a well-begun but recently very neglected cottage-type garden. Last year and this have been massive weed-killing years, and next year begins my serious planting year. Being new to this area has meant a lot of fun plant discovery, but also a lot of questions.

My first question involves arranging plants in a cottage garden. I've done extensive web-searching and haven't been able to find what I'm looking for. Many sites offer general help about things like the walkways, architectural details, and give plant names to consider. But, my question involves plant arrangement. I've finally figured out that the cottage garden pictures I like have contrasting flowers growing together. The flowers contrast in color, height, and shape. A tall purple spiky flower next to a white daisy-type flower, etc. What resource is good to give me the details of how to arrange visually interesting plant combinations, etc.?

My second question involves pinching rose campion. Never heard of rose campion till we moved here, it has come up (in all kinds of spots) but I do love it. Is it a plant that can be pinched to produce a bit of a fuller effect? I don't know if all plants are able to be pinched or not.

Thanks ahead for your help!

Deanna

Comments (16)

  • token28001
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't think you'll find the details you're looking for. The biggest problem is that in my zone, I might get the same plant to grow larger than yours, assuming NH is New Hampshire. It might be twice the size here in zone 7. A plant in your yard can even perform differently than in your neighbor's yard. The only sure method is trail and error. Don't try to force things to grow where they can't. And if it doesn't do well, find a substitute. Instead of lilacs, I have tea olives. Ok, I do have one lilac, because I'm stubborn like that. :)

    Read plant tags and descriptions of plants online. Figure on somewhere in the middle and hope it grows that way. Get a copy of the Well Tended Perennial Garden and start playing with pruning perennials for desired effects, bloom height, quantity, delayed, etc. To get the look just right, you might have to move plants during the dormant season. Or if you're like some of us, during the middle of July. But I don't recommend that.

    And be sure to visit the wintersowing forum too. If you've never grown from seed, it's a great way to get lots of perennials and annuals for next to nothing.

    Welcome to the forum. This is my first year with rose campion so no blooms yet.

  • PRO
    Nell Jean
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Rose campion grows in a little rosette of leaves. Bloom spikes grow up out of that rosette. Really, there's nothing to pinch. What you can do is keep the dead flowers pinched off so it blooms as long as possible, then cut the bloom spike back to the base. Sometimes you may get a new bloom spike; I noticed one in my garden today.

    Inspiration is where you find it. My favorites are blogs in zones/states similar to my own, and botanical gardens.

    It should cut out years of trial and error if you can find someone here who has a clearcut answer to your first question and you like how their garden looks.

    Nell

  • cinci1994
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't consider myself an expert gardner by any means but I do love to garden. I have put plants in many places and realized they do need to be moved....like a bright orange beside a bright red (YUCK). I am also famous for planting too close together so again, have to move them. I'm one of those people that moves things all summer if I don't like it. Someone on here once told me that that is the fun of gardening and what looks wonderful to me is what's most important. So I agree with token above, a lot of it is trial and error. Good luck and remember to have fun with it.

  • bluesunflower
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Deanna and welcome to GW. This is a great forum and the people here are the nicest group you'll find. Congratulations on your new home! How wonderful that the house has a garden foundation that you like.

    As far as combining plants what the others have said is true. There are no "rules" in Cottage Garden style and that is the beauty of it. I think the one thing that will save you much grief and frustration is getting to know your zone and specifically your garden spaces. Each spot is going to have it's own micro climate within your zone.

    Once you understand your zone, micros, soil and light it will really be very easy for you to select plants. The nurseries will often put out plant trends that are not suited for your climate. They will lure you with pretty blooms and fantastic foliage. You will plunk down your money and your heart only to lose them both. Learn what will grow for you first and save yourself the frustration. Trust that you are going to know what is pleasing to your eye and will automatically be drawn to it. so don't worry about that. Just spend a little time getting to know your future garden.

    Nell is a great one for substitution planting. She likes the flowers/color of this or that but it won't grow in her climate so she finds something similar that will. The key here is that she knows what her garden climate is.

    Tom aka Token is also a great one for the winter sowing advice. He has brought a massive garden to life with seeds. What a great tool for building a fast full garden. It has been super fun to watch him.

    Most of all Cinci has is right; just remember to have fun. Gardening, especially cottage gardening, is about bringing joy to your world.

    Lots of words there. sigh. Best tool in your box right now is this web forum. You will be amazed at the guidence, wisdom and support you will find here.
    LeSan

  • Annie
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There are actually two types of Cottage Gardening, now.
    One is the American Cottage Garden style, which is the idea that "anything goes" - there are no rules.
    The other is the old English (French, Irish, Scottish, &etc) Cottage Garden style. (that is the one I fancy). It maintains more definitive rules to what is and what is not a "Proper Cottage garden". :)

    Although they do have some similarities, you can see right off that they follow two very different forms and perspectives.

    The people on this forum practice a mixture of the two styles for the most part, but some are American Cottage Gardeners and others are old school "purists". You will soon see the differences when you read the posted topics and take a look at the photos they post.

    Arbors, trellises, bowers, arches, gates, walls, fences and stepping stones all add that look, which is very appealing, but they originally were there for a particular function - to add more growing room by growing up onto a support of some kind (i.e. trellises); to protect the garden (i.e. fences & walls), and to make the garden more accessible (i.e. gates & stepping stones). The well or pond was there so the gardener had access to water for watering his/her plants, for their animals and for fishing! Nowadays, and especially in the United States, they are more often just added because they are esthetically pleasing and considered "traditional". Sheds were for storing tools, pots, soil and etc. and were a work space for cold, rainy days. Now they are most often there to look "Cute", although many people do have potting sheds or greenhouses. Bee Skeps in the garden look so charming, but in the old days, Cottagers kept bees for the honey they produced, and set skeps in the gardens or orchard to encourage the bees to pollinate their flowers, herbs and fruit. There was a reason for the way it looked, not merely to look pretty or cute or charming.

    If you keep these things in mind, I think it will help with your planning and layouts. Functionality and good sense are often the most esthetically pleasing.

    As was mentioned, the type of plants you grow will be determined by your growing zone, but also your budget, and your soil. In NH, I would think most of the old traditional flowers will grow very well.

    I've found many wonderful books on Cottage Gardening and English Cottage Gardens on eBay that I bought. It is a good source for books and they usually don't cost too much. (That is important to me).
    Look on-line for English Gardens, Irish Gardens, or French Gardens, instead of searching for "Cottage Gardens". You should get more hits. One of my favorite sites to visit is Moosey's Country Garden:
    I love her writing style and sense of humor. She has lots of photos to drool over and lots of great ideas for a Cottage Garden. She tells of her mistakes and failures, as well as her successes.

    Hope my ramblings have helped.
    Ask lots of questions. Someone is bound to reply with something that might help. Don't be shy - We're all learning as we go.

    WELCOME to our Gardens!

    ~Annie

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moosey's Country Garden - An eccentric Rambling New Zealand Country Garden

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What great help! I've checked out some library books, including Well-Tended Per Garden. The Moosey's garden site will be great. I appreciate everybody's input. If Token is the seed expert, he's going to have to help me figure out why I tend to kill my seeds! This year I tried some seeds, and I think it was the weather and not me. Up until last week our "summer" here (and I use that term loosely) consisted of rainy days in the 60's. NO sunshine and NO warm days. I was wearing my wool the first week of July. At swimming lessons in our freezing lake they actually gave the kids hot chocolate after only 10 minutes in the water. So, I'm blaming the weather right now. I tried Delphiniums and they haven't done a thing. We'll see if my painted daisy and coneflower seedlings survive now that the sun is actually here. Even my thyme is very small and stunted.

    I'd love to grow from seed more. I need to save money!

    Thanks again. I'll be posting quite a bit...trust me! I have a lot to learn.

    One last comment about my garden bones. It has fieldstone paths, a natural wood limb arbor with ample honeysuckle growing up on each side, a trellis on the front stoop, and New England stone walls (of course). I'm excited!!! It's taken a lot of work to "renovate"--for example, one of the garden paths had actually been completely covered by plants with 2-3" roots. wE didn't even know it was there when we bought the house.

  • token28001
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For seeds, I've learned a lot this year about wintersowing. Using cheap, recyclable plastic containers (2-liters for me), I created a whole new garden. I sowed 800+ containers of various sizes from 5 ounce cups to lasagna pans and an 18x24" planter. I had lots of success.

    Having learned what doesn't work for me, I'll be using more small containers this year and sowing a lot lighter. This year I lost a lot of plants due to crowding. Who knows what combinations I might have had if all the seeds had lived. But, you learn a little each day as long as you've got dirt under your nails when you go to bed. :)

  • token28001
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In regards to "finds", when I bought my house, I thought the driveway was L shaped. Turns out the ivy was just covering the other arm of the T. That whole area can be filled with wintersown containers and not be in my way coming and going.

  • Annie
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Deanna,
    if you have a camera, post pictures!
    We'd love to see your garden's bare bones structure. It sounds PERFECT! Lucky you!

    This year, you got too much cold and wet, and we got too much hot and dry! What a year, huh?

    ~Annie

  • gldno1
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I really don't like gardens that follow 'rules'. I would suggest you find plants and colors that you like and research them a lot before buying. Look at surrounding gardens, check with your local Extension offices (most have info online) to see what does well in your area.

    Then, experiment. If you know the mature size of the plant before you put it in the ground that will save you lots of time and labor.

    Most important of all is to create a garden that pleases you! Don't loose sight of that fact.

    It sounds like you have a great jump on the project with what is already there.

    Welcome to the group and I wish you great success with your new garden.

  • lindakimy
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Deanna, I'll add my enthusiastic amen to wintersowing. I never have any success with direct planting seeds - probably because my work hours are too long for me to stand by and keep them evenly moist. Wintersowing is another stripe of cat, though. It REALLY works and my garden would be almost bare without it. The wintersowing forum here at gardenweb can really give you a head start. They are so generous in sharing seeds with newcomers as well as super advice, tips, encouragement, etc.

    I've found that even with careful planning and consideration of things like my zone and plant growth habits there are still times when plants will surprise you. Who knew pink flamingo celosia could be over 6 feet tall? Obviously, it didn't belong in the front of the bed. May Knight Salvia was supposed to be 24 inches tall, not 8 like it is all over my garden. Oh well...sometimes you just have to drop back and punt.

    I used to get terribly frustrated by that sort of thing but now I'm realizing that I want to GARDEN...continually, not just to install a perfect bed or border and stand back with nothing more to do (as if that were even possible). Moving plants because they didn't fit the description on the seed packet is really no greater chore than weeding and deadheading. Some things are going to need dividing anyway. I'm really looking forward to moving some things this fall just to see if they will look even better in a new spot. It's that same excitement and anticipation I feel when I plant something new but I have a little better idea how the plant is actually going to behave.

    There are books and magazines (Fine Gardening comes to mind) that will show you scrumptious photos of combinations someone has planted. Consider those inspiration. I suspect that you can and will come up with your very own combinations and when you do that your garden is your very own creation. That is a very satisfying feeling.

  • ianna
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Don't forget online sources such as youtube.com and BBC Gardening World.

  • dlmill
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm new too, and I've gotten some good ideas of how things look together by looking at the photos on GardenWeb. Also, some online nurseries sell groups of plants that look good together or suggest companion plants.

  • janroze
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Welcome innh, Come sit a spell on my porch and we'll have a glass of lemonade and talk design. It seems what you are looking for are the very basics of design in any form of art. I used to teach them in my art classes. I consider a garden a canvas. John Lovett has a web site about elements and principles of design that you can google. It is very simplistic, yet a perfect guide for gardeners.
    A great beginning is to plant the bones of your garden first, that is: trees and shrubs. Remember, if you plant ones that get huge, the eventual shade will greatly effect the plants beneath. So unless your goal is a hosta garden, do NOT plant lots of shade trees near your garden area. As any good gardener (artist) learn the basic rules of design, then do what you want!
    I gave up on the design long ago. I am a true American cottage gardener, that is, I find a plant I love, it follows me home and I find a home for it. It may crowd out something else, but then that makes my garden everchanging and interesting for me. One thing good about this climate too, there is always a bit of winter kill, making room for those new finds I simply cannot live without.
    Good luck. I look forward to following your progress.
    gramma jan

  • stage_rat
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi!

    The above advice is great, what I have to say is just adding a little to it. If you know you like different shapes next to one another, honestly, that's about all you need to get started with the look you want. Poring over pictures on here, in magazines and books is a good way so see combos you like. You may want to pay the most attention to photos from your zone and region; many times, plants that bloom together in one area don't do that everywhere, and of course there may be many plants in a southern photo that aren't hardy for you. But if you like the look of a plant combo, you can search out a hardy plant that has a similar look. I think "visually interesting" has to do with the eye of the beholder. What you want to achieve may be considered by some to be too busy, or too plain. Since there's no universal perfect look, there aren't instructions on how to get it.

    What's challenging (and frustrating!) about gardening is the desire to create interesting plant combinations, with bloom colors we think look good together, that maintain flowers or at least an interesting look all season long, are not eaten up by the wildlife and which like our growing conditions. So, gardening books that show photos of the same beds at different times of year would help a lot (I hope there are some out there!). Quite a few posters on Gweb post shots throughout the season. Also, using plants with interesting foliage color and shape really makes a difference, or at least is has for me.

    At the Bluestone perennials site, you can search with keywords like "spiky" etc.. in order to find plants with a certain color or look. Another resource is Plantfiles, which is hosted by our "rival" garden forum. Plantfiles is great because there are comments and posts from (usually) multiple gardeners about a particular plant. It's not a blurb by someone trying to sell you the plant, it's from gardeners who own it. So, if the plant breeders are lying about the plant, it gets revealed on there! Plus you get all the essential info for a plant: zone, light needs, bloom time, water needs, even pH sometimes. However, sometimes it's wrong about zone, so I like to look up the plant's zone on a couple of sites. I get to the plantfiles listing by using google and entering the plant's name, either the common or latin one, and the word "plantfiles"

    Best of luck with your gardening!

  • nflwidow18_yahoo_com
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I realize this is a very old thread, but I am hoping someone will see this and help me. I just moved from zne 5 to zone 7 and brought some rose campion plants with me. The foliage looks great butI have no blooms! Any thoughts?

Sponsored
Dream Design Construction LLC
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars4 Reviews
Loudoun County's Innovative Design-Build Firms