Designing an English Cottage Garden on a Small Georgia Lot

Cottage Garden Plants and Layout for Zone 7/8, < 0.25 Acre

Gray stucco home, steep slope on left, desire for retaining wall with rock plants, shrubs to soften edges without overwhelming the house.

Slope Solution: Terraced Retaining Wall

• Use stacked concrete pavers or landscape timbers (pavers longer-lasting, timbers cheaper).
• Create 2–3 level terraces for planting pockets.
• Backfill with gritty, well-drained mix for rock garden plants.

Shrub Backbone (Year-Round Structure, < 4 ft Tall)

• Buxus microphylla 'Green Velvet' (boxwood)
• Ilex crenata 'Soft Touch' (holly)
• Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee' (oakleaf hydrangea)
• Viburnum obovatum 'Mrs. Schiller's Delight' (dwarf walter's viburnum)
• Callicarpa americana 'Welch's Pink' (beautyberry)

Cottage Garden Perennials (Long Bloom, Low Maintenance)

• Spring: Digitalis purpurea (foxglove), Phlox divaricata, Geranium × cantabrigiense
• Summer: Salvia nemorosa, Echinacea purpurea, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Coreopsis verticillata, Rudbeckia fulgida
• Fall: Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Aster novae-angliae, Chrysanthemum (garden mums)
• Vertical/Texture: Alcea rosea (hollyhock), Lavandula, Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear)

Plant Sources (Free Catalogs, Online)

White Flower Farm, Wayside Gardens, Bluestone Perennials, Walters Gardens, Jackson & Perkins, Van Bourgondien, Brent & Becky's Bulbs, Prairie Nursery, High Country Gardens.

Start with the wall and shrubs this fall; add perennials in spring. Mulch heavily; deadhead for repeat bloom.