Question about violas, pansies and other little flower things.

[hiddenhome]

If I plant these out in the garden will they come up again next year? I don't know much about flowers I tend to just buy shrubs which look after themselves.

If they won't come back, then what can I buy that will? I like things I can plant and then not worry about. I can't do with endlessly planting just for the stuff to disappear never to be seen again.

I have a small front garden that I want to look cottagey. I plan to plant some lavender, but don't know what else to put in.

Will hollyhocks and lupins come back every year because I like those too?

Any recommendations as well? The garden is South facing and I have planted a small cherry tree and a pear tree (small varieties).

Violas and pansies will need planting again next year. However they do last a long time, often the pansies will go,right through the summer.

If you want to plant once only, try,Rock Rose and hardy,geraniums, these are low growing and very pretty. They need little maintenance, just watering until they are established. for low maintenance and all round colour , you could interplant with low growing winter and summer heathers and some low spreading conifers. Blue and grey conifers look lovely with all the pinks,whites, purples and blues of hardy geraniums. Don't think if these, like the big old fashioned red jobs your great auntie used to have, they are debilitate and clump forming and will spread year after year.

Also summer builds, thymes and campula are low maintenance.

Forgot to add for a cottagey look and to give you some height, leave a little bit of bare earth between your planting and throw in poppy, calendula, cornflower and nigella seeds. These will come up in the summer, then self seed. My absolute favourite cottage garden plant is white lavetera. If you google 'Sarah raven' she has a catalogue of really pretty plant combinations.

Oo, I love geraniums. I didn't know you could get hardy ones. Mine are currently sitting on my kitchen windowsill waiting for the weather to warm up.

Will the violas last all through the summer as well?

If I sprinkle wild flower mix will they come up every year?

If pansies etc are looked after, they can keep going for a few years. Also, they can be allowed to self-seed. However, the original plant does best if it is dead-headed, so only allow seed to develop where you want to have seed.

Very good small plants, that can go on for ever are HARDY GERANIUM (cranesbill, not to be confused with gaudy Pelargoniums, which are often call geraniums.) They can make mounds or spread as ground cover.

Also, fuchsias are colourful, and can be grown from cuttings, and are of all sorts of colours and sizes.

Hardy Cyclamen go on for ever, get bigger every year, and make masses of seed; we have thousands of them!

www.jparkers.co.uk/perennial-plants/by-variety/hardy-geraniums

www.plantpref.co.uk/hardy-geraniums.html

www.fuchsiaflower.co.uk/index.htm

www.hardycyclamens.com/grow-hardy-cyclamen-outdoors.html

Sorry HH - I think you mean Pelargoniums, not Hardy Geraniums.

I would disagree with florentina1, as provided they are looked after carefully pansies can go from year to year; cut off the straggly shoots at the end of the season:

gardening.about.com/od/plantprofiles/p/Pansies.htm

Pansys act a bit like an annual (a plant that dies after one year) so you'll only get a year of two from them. Some sweet violets are perennial (plant comes back each year) though and they're lovely. I have viola laboradorica which is lovely, self seeds and seems to happily survive winter. It's easy to find in garden centres and makes great ground cover. Some nice perennial plants (for clay/heavier soils) are;
Bleeding heart
Peonies
Primroses
Clematis
Roses

Hollyhocks and lupins are perennials and should come back. Sea holly (eryngium) is another good one- really tough, good for height in a border, perennial and very popular with bees and butterflies.

If you live down south and your soil isn't too soggy, try penstemons- they love sun. They come in lovely blues, pinks and reds and should last for several years. Won't like wet heavy soil though.

Herbs like lavender, rosemary, sage are shrubs and will last several years (get a bit scraggly after that). They like dry, poor soil and plenty of sun. I also love marjoram and oregano- they seem to grow in almost any soil, and make nice ground cover (that you can eat!). Bees love the flowers too.

Another option is annuals that self seed so will pop up again next year. Poppies (the opium type), ceanothus, love in the mist, lobelia, are all good for this.

There are loads more, you'll be spoilt for choice. I'm very jealous, I'd love the space to do a full blown cottage garden

I stand corrected on pansies- didn't know you could get them back if you cut the straggly bits!

Just to clarify The Hardy Geraniums are little ground hugging things that you buy. I expect it has a Latin name but I am not very good with those.

Thank you for all of these suggestions

We live oop North and have a clay soil. I didn't know all these flowers self seeded. I love herbs too and will plant some of those.

The only problem might be rabbits. The garden is open and they ate some of my things last year

One of the neighbours has a little 'Rabbits Keep Off' sign

Aquilegia are cottagey and will come again each year. They self seed so you only need 2 or 3 and in a few years you'll have lots. They add height too.

I'm also having a little herb patch in the back garden. Me and dh are fighting over the available planting space because it's not very big

I'm so excited about it because it's all from scratch (new build). I have bought a flowering currant, hydrangea and a budlea to put in my area. I have been wrapping the poor hydrangea up every night because the weather has turned cold.

A small acer tree went in a couple of weeks ago.

It's hard though because the weather is too cold and wet to garden now

Acer trees love it up here, hidden (I'm also up north on clay)! Mine thrive! Hydrangeas seem to like the rich soil too. Plants like rosemary and sage I would probably keep in pots- they really don't seem to like cold wet clay. My lavender is doing ok though. Another herb that is pretty indestructible is lemon balm- smells lovely too.

If you're near yorkshire, take a trip to the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr- great for inspiration and they have an excellent plant shop (and a Betty's ).

Thank you Bolshy

We have lemon balm that dh brought over from the other house. It's fantastic and grows like crazy so it keeps the weeds down. Dh makes herbal tincture out of it which we give to ds2 because he's highly strung

I never knew you could use it for that- might try and sneak some into my mums tea then . My grandma always had it in her garden so it's a really evocative smell for me- I love it.

Yes you can make tea by steeping the leaves in hot water and also put into hot water in the bath for a nice natural smelling soak.

It calms you down and soothes the nervous system

Bolshy - I don't want us to fall out over it, and the link I gave is about the USA, so keeping pansies going from one year to the next is certainly not guaranteed, but it is just possible - 'cos we done it!