Planning small cottagey beds - mixing seeds/perennials, evergreen/summer plants etc

[OhRosalind]

We have a new (small) garden and I’ve decided on layout and marked out a series of smallish beds. Bigger structural stuff like climbing roses and small trees are already in. I like cottage-style planting and we are in a (literally) Mediterranean climate so that combination has shaped my plant list. But all my gardening experience is with containers, which meant I could easily rearrange stuff to suit the season! Now we have some ground I’m struggling with the logistics and committing to a planting design.

So for example how do you organise perennials versus seeds - do I leave empty patches and hope the seeds take or scatter them in the gaps and leave them to fight it out? How does the rule of 3 work with small beds - does repeating key plants across the garden have a similar effect (my natural instinct is “one of everything please” but that might not be the most aesthetically pleasing look in a small space). What about balancing evergreen or winter plants with all the stuff that does down - just intersperse them and compensate with early flowering bulbs?

Any advice or links welcome!

So for example how do you organise
I believe that the ethos of a cottage garden is that it is not organised. It should look like the gardener has more plants and ideas than space so everything is crammed in willy-nilly. But, in practice, good artless-looking designs are usually anything but.
You can overcome "the rule of three" by other rules eg having "one of everything" but sticking to a colour palette to give unity. You can also get cohesion from the hard materials - stone, wood, brick, paint colour, etc
Winter can be a problem; it always is an a summer-flower-heavy garden. A cottage garden should be filled full of practical things as well as flowers so you can get winter interest from vegetables (cheat with pretty ornamental cabbage) and herbs.

Thanks @Senua! I guess I like artless looking but I am thrown by the challenge of trying to achieve (fake?) that type of look fairly fast rather than only through gradual maturing. We have a blank canvas (it was an allotment that’s become a garden so just a plain strip) so it feels a bit intimidating, I think I’d feel more confident cramming things into gaps one at a time I went along. Although I guess perennials can be lifted and moved and different annuals sown so nothing in a garden is permanent.

A lot of plants I already have keep attractive foliage in winter - lavender, rosemary, artemisia, star jasmine, olive, then our roses mostly keep going and I have some winter jasmine that I might do cuttings from. I was just looking at the stumpy potted salvias that I’d normally hide away and thinking they’d leave huge ugly bare patches, but ornamental cabbages and winter veg are a good idea to temporarily fill the gaps.

I was just thinking this morning how lovely my perennial bed was looking - some green low down but mostly very sculptural tall seed heads, mainly teasel, purple loosestrife and globe thistle.

I have been cottagey style gardening with perrenials mainly for quite a few years now and they don't now leave room for seeds - but that also means, no room for weeds! Some real toughies like alchemilla, pulmonaria and oregano seed themselves and fill any gaps, they get weeded out sometimes ... I try to have a colour scheme but if there is one at some rimes of the year it goes to pot at others anyway, but I don't care, after all this time the garden has selected itself what works.

Don't forget bulbs for early in the year - little daffs like tete a rete, species tulips and anemone blanda are all very cottagey imo.and you can never have too many alliums - of all sorts -I don't think!

Thrre will be plenty of room for seeds to begin with, I meant - they will be crowded out as the years go by so hopefully less work for you!

Sculptural seed heads is a good idea for winter, thanks @candycane222. Echinops and rudbeckia are on my list but I’ll think about adding something else. I love Teasels but they spread out of control in my mum’a garden which puts me off a bit. Maybe honesty?

Good point about seeds having more space the first year. I’d really like to make room for bigger plants cosmos and nicotiana as well as smaller flowers more suited to scattering or underplanting.

And I like the idea of letting the garden self-select what works for it.

Honesty is pretty, also agapanthus - lovely seedheads. And ice plant. And they all earn their keep in summer too 🙂

The book brilliant and wild could suit you. It’s got great ideas for perennials for sunny beds and borders, Very wildlife friendly and you can supplement with annuals.

Ice plant looks useful. I’m not terribly keen on agapanthus, I’m not sure why. Overexposure maybe. But they definitely suit our conditions so perhaps I should have a look at the different varieties.

Thanks @justjam4tea I’ll have a look.

Ornamental grasses look good all year round and the seed heads can give colour in winter.

So, I’ve started planning three beds. I’m aiming for some plants repeated across each (lavender, salvia, guara, fleabane and so on), some ‘same but different’ things in each (so roses but different varieties, various herbs etc), and a different key shrub in each (mock orange, dwarf pomegranate, something else tbc!). The colour palette is harmonious but not too restricted with an occasional pop of something brighter. Does that sound like a reasonable way of balancing continuity and chaos?

For winter, seed heads from Rudbeckia, echinacea, verbena bonsiariensis, globe thistle, honesty and evergreen herbs, winter jasmine and rose hips.

Now I’m thinking seeds and wondering whether to bother planting them indoors first so they are tougher when they go out and I have more control over placement, or if I should just scatter them around. I received a LOT of seeds for Christmas. Stuff like nasturtiums and calendula I’ll just pop straight in but I’ve never grown phlox, nicotiana, scabiosa, delphiniums, Californian poppies, cosmos and so on. I think nigella can go straight out. What do you think?

Planting scheme sounds lovely.

Now I’m thinking seeds and wondering whether to bother planting them indoors first so they are tougher when they go out and I have more control over placement, or if I should just scatter them around.
Why not both? You've probably got enough seeds to cover both bases.
If the indoors end up being surplus then you can get brownie points off friends and family in the let's-swap-spares game. If there are still some left over then they can go in pots.

Very wise @senua, not sure why I was thinking it was either/or, mostly laziness about caring for seedlings probably. But I am feeling quite motivated so I shall give it a try.