Organized cottage garden style
A little more than 10 geezerhood ago this sorcerous bungalow - inspired garden in Maine was a blank slate . Erin and Dan Clark had just add the 29×35 - foot paver terrace to their exist pack of cards , but then Erin come out dreaming of a garden . What exalt her ? “ I knew I want bungalow bloom , but I ’m also kind of a neat freak , ” she says . “ And my mum , Linda , has always had really sweet gardens and great style . ”
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Even though she had a sense of what she wanted , she excogitate it over for years before landing on the horseshoe - form edge anchored by a picket fence and arbor you see below .
Secret to jump start new plants in the garden
In recent summertime 2019 the mates built the fence and bower and installed the plantings . It ’s hard to believe that the perennials in these pic are only a couple of years old . The fast growth is a will to how of import starting with neat soil can be .
Before they planted anything , Dan tilled up the planting area and circularise 4 or 5 in of biosolid compost purchased from a nearby municipality . Erin prod the compost in as she engraft the catmint ( Nepeta racemosa ) and lady ’s mantle ( Alchemilla mollis ) , divided and moved from the front yard , and the other small ending - of - season perennial picked up at a local garden center .
The spry start has been this garden ’s biggest surprisal . Erin kept the plants ’ mature sizes in mind when she plant and scatter them out rather than reach in to the enticement to backpack them in : “ It smart me . I had to keep tell apart myself , it ’s go to look fine . ” Now she ’s glad she did .
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Flower progression
In this geographical zone 4 garden , you ca n’t count on frost - free nighttime until the last of May and can look a frost by the end of September . Erin packs a lot into her shortsighted summers !
Theflowersstart in May with bulbs , such as tulip and genus Allium . Then the garden transition into the blue , pink and chartreuse June palette you see above . By July , pinks take over , with coneflowers ( Echinacea purpurea ) , althea ( Alcea rosea ) , garden phlox ( Phlox paniculata ) , and pink - blossom annuals likezinnias(Zinnia elegans ) andcosmos(Cosmos bipinnatus ) , which Erin starts from seed in her portable greenhouse . former summer bring Nipponese anemones ( Anemonexhybrida ) and the annuals in all their glory .
Change of plans
No projection come off totally as bear , particularly when the pattern call off for correspondence . Here , the ‘ John Davis ’ climbing rose wine on the south side of the terrace are less vigorous than those on the north . Erin suspect the fence is shade them so she plans to move the smaller roses to the outside of the fence to solve this problem .
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Sweet pea cottage
Once the planting was done , Dan and Erin plow their attention to building Sweet Pea Cottage at the back of the railyard as a studio place for Erin ’s painting and other creative endeavors . Next up on their project list ? A way to the cottage and , of course , a flower bottom . They started it of late last year , and you’re able to comply the progress as well as see the garden throughout the year onErin ’s web log , or on Instagram@Clark . bungalow . Gardens .
Erin’s cottage garden plant palette
Here are a few of the plants that blossom in June in this Maine garden .
Shrub ; crampoon with lightly fragrant double pinkish flowers from late spring through descent ; full sun ; 6 to 8 ft . tall , spreading ; dusty sturdy in USDA zona 2 to 9
Perennial ; flaccid pink flowers on mildew - resistant leafage in summer ; full sun ; 30 to 48 in . tall , 18 to 24 in . wide ; cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8
Perennial ; lavender - blue flowers rebloom from tardy fountain through downslope ; full sun ; 18 to 36 in . tall and all-encompassing ; moth-eaten hardy in USDA zone 3 to 9
Perennial ; flabby , silvery mounds of foliation ; full sun ; 8 to 10 in . tall , 10 to 15 in . wide ; moth-eaten hardy in USDA zone 3 to 7
repeated ; pale pink flowers start in midspring and retell through fall , crimson autumn leaf ; full sun to part shadowiness ; 9 to 12 in . tall , 12 to 24 in . astray ; cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8
Perennial ; clouds of tiny chartreuse bloom top plants in late saltation and other summer ; full Sunday to part shade ; 18 to 24 in . tall and wide-eyed ; inhuman stalwart in USDA zone 3 to 8
Create spots to relax in the garden
Of of course the garden mete are beautiful , but the more time you expend in this backyard , the more thoughtful contingent you find . There are plenty of places to sit and enjoy the space in different way .
One of Erin and Dan ’s pet maculation to baby-sit ( when they in reality do so ) is under an octagonalgazeboon the deck just outside their back room access . With comfortablefurnitureand lighting , it ’s the perfect spot to sit down with late good afternoon coffee or duck’s egg into when rain moves in . And the view is n’t unfit , either ; you could see that above .
Add sparkle with outdoor lights
The circle of wicker rocking chairs in the center of the terrace border a portable firepit that beckons in the even or even on a strong winter good afternoon . Dan ’s added enough lighting throughout the garden that it twinkles at Nox . Thebistro lightsthat zigzag across the deck , the finial Inner Light on tall posts in the fencing and thechandelierin the arbor in the pic below are all on an automatic timer that comes on at dusk and turns off at 10 p.m.
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Picket fence details
Erin is lucky . Anything she can dream up , Dan can build . She desire a picket fence but thought that traditional pickets seemed rather unmixed . And she loves round shapes , which she ’s repeated throughout the garden with mounded perennials and globose finials . So inspired by a picket fencing in a nearby botanic garden that had silhouetted cat cutout , she asked Dan to build fencing slats with circle cutout detail . They cut every picket and drilled every forget me drug with a hole saw themselves and carried the same rophy details into the corner slice of the mandrel .
Use repetition
repeat is an easy elbow room to create single in your garden . If you ’re feeling like yours is a little hodgepodge , look for way to take over a form , a color , or even a specific industrial plant here and there . It ’ll start to tie the outer space together .
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Vintage style
As you drift this garden , you ’ll line up vintage chairs , oldwatering cansand copper color tubs tucked in here and there , some turned into containers , and even an old rusty bicycle with flowers institute in the basket and the freight box .
Charming cottage garden containers
Add a touch of whimsy withupcycled container . If you ’d wish to expend an honest-to-god bathing tub , tearing can or hoop as a container , it ’s in force if you’re able to drill some holes in the bottom of the watercraft for drainage . If you ca n’t bring yourself to do that , you might have to move it under the eaves of the sign of the zodiac every time it rains so it does n’t get waterlogged ! Erin feeds her container every calendar week withwater - soluble fertilizerto keep them blooming . Learn a few more tips and meet the plant life below . These charming containers are just the cherry tree on top of this garden ’s organized bungalow garden style .
wheel basketball hoop plantation owner
Nothing say charming like an quondam bicycle with a basket full of flowers ! After a year or two , Erin spray paint the basket and , when it ’s too tattered , she replaces it . In the high temperature of summer , the nemesia and sweet alyssum may stop bloom . Cut industrial plant back and keep lachrymation and they will pick up up again by recent summer .
Replace the nemesia and madwort once they start to go down with heating system - tolerant flowers , such as geraniums ( Pelargoniumhybrids ) or lantana ( Lantana camara ) to brighten the planting back up .
A ) NemesiaNemesiaEscential ™ PinkberryB ) Sweet alyssumLobulariaClear Crystal ® Purple ShadesC ) CalibrachoaCalibrachoaSurfinia ® Summer Double ™ blank
Watering can
If your watering can is already tattling , you may not take to drill any holes ! Erin also couch a duet inches of rocks in the bottom to press the pots down . One drone and one more upright flora is about all that will usually accommodate in a small lachrymation can open .
A ) PetuniaPetunia Headliner ™ YellowB ) LobeliaLobelia erinus Laguna ® Sky Blue
Basket Beauty
To extend their lifespan , line baskets with refuse bags with holes poked in them or slip charge card container inside the baskets so the potting mix does n’t come into liaison with the woven stuff . Even with these precautions , Erin ’s baskets often rot out in a twosome of years .
A ) PetuniaPetuniaSupertunia Vista ® Bubblegum ® B ) CalibrachoaCalibrachoaCallie ® YellowC ) LobeliaLobelia erinusLaguna ® Sky Blue
Fragrant Flowers
The fresh combo in this concrete plantation owner echoes the colors in the rest of the garden and admit fragrant beloved - scent sweet alyssum . The recurrent gaura in the center will carry on to bring about pink blooms from bounce through frost , even without deadheading .
Perennial gaura can be planted in the garden in zones 5 and warmer when you ’ve finished with it in the spate .
A ) GauraGaura lindheimeri Belleza ® WhiteB ) SnapdragonAntirrhinum Snapshot ™ PinkC ) CalibrachoaCalibrachoa Surfinia ® Summer Double ™ WhiteD ) Sweet alyssumLobularia Clear Crystal ® Purple Shades
