Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 06, 2010 10:17 pm Hi, I'm in the process of designing my front yard and would love some opinions. Below is a small design which is easier to trying to describe it. We're going for a somewhat "formal cottage" look. That is, lots of colour with a neat appearance with multiples of the same plant. I'm stuck on what to choose as a medium sized shrub between the ground cover and the taller shrubs/standards at the back. I was thinking sweetbox (Sarcococca) as it flowers in winter and doesn't mind the shade. Anyone have any info on these, of any other suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. I'm still designing so any suggestions on any of it would be great. Oh... Melbourne, eastern suburbs. http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z242/zerafa24/?action=view¤t=Front07.jpg&newest=1 Re: Cottage garden design advice 2Jan 06, 2010 10:26 pm zaff We're going for a somewhat "formal cottage" look. That is, lots of colour with a neat appearance with multiples of the same plant. Isn't a formal cottage garden a contradiction of terms? I always thought the attraction of cottage gardens is there slightly unkept appearance...basically if you lost a plant you wouldn't notice?...a philosophy I like in gardening. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Cottage garden design advice 3Jan 07, 2010 7:13 am I guess that's the beauty of gardening. It can be what ever you want it to be. Call it "formal cottage" or formal garden with flowering plants, it doesn't really matter I don't mind the style you've posted, but not really the look that I'm after. Trying to achieve something that suits the house and the area. Re: Cottage garden design advice 4Jan 07, 2010 4:55 pm It's definitely not a cottage garden...but it is nice. The flowers will be gorgeous - and planning for plants that flower at different times is defintely the go, so you always have something going on. I don't know if the idea appeals, but you could plant some spring bulbs under your roses too - those would put on a show just before the roses hit their full glory. I loved tulips under my roses. For your medium winter-flowering shrub, I'm a bit blank. Penstemons are easy to grow and have beautiful flowers in lots of colours, but flower in summer. I would suggest Daphne, but you already have one of those....still, you could always plant more. Maybe consider a grevillea - some of those flower in winter and they can be spectacular. Re: Cottage garden design advice 5Jan 07, 2010 9:18 pm Thanks for the suggestions kek. Not a massive fan of bulbs, but I'll look into them. The misses is a big fan of the daphne, but the front fence (behind the roses) may get too much sun for them. I'll look into the grevillea, thanks for that. Still after more info on the sarcococa (sweet box) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcococca Re: Cottage garden design advice 6Jan 08, 2010 1:00 pm Creating a waterwise cottage garden http://www.watercorporation.com.au/_fil ... Garden.pdf Waterwise plants to chose from (and yes they are a Perth list but nearly all will be a good choice for almost any capital city ) http://www.watercorporation.com.au/w/wa ... esults.cfm just cottage plants of all types http://www.watercorporation.com.au/w/wa ... esults.cfm Hi All New to the forum and looking for some advice, has anyone else renovated an old miners cottage in or around Ballarat and been able to identify the flooring? We… 0 8777 Our Bondi Greenwall was impressive from day one with advanced lush plants to provide a wow factor to this recently renovated living area. The boundary was less than 1… 0 15309 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18226 |