Gardening Garden Plans Gardens by Style This Summer Cottage Garden Plan Brings Color to a Sunny Border Colorful perennials such a stately delphiniums, elegant bellflowers, and reliable yarrows form the backbone of this flower-filled design. By Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln Instagram Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on November 9, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Add plenty of color and texture to your yard with this eye-catching, summer-blooming cottage garden plan. It relies on classic perennials such as bellflower, lamb's ear, cranesbill, and delphinium, just to name a few of the showstoppers in this free design. It's perfect for a sunny border along a lawn or walkway. Most of the plants in this design do best in moist, well-drained soil so adding a generous amount of compost to your soil before planting will help ensure that this beautiful cottage garden will flourish for you. Get the full plant list below, along with the detailed layout diagram as a downloadable PDF. Laurie Black Plants for Creating the Summer Cottage Garden Plan 3 Boxwood (Buxus spp.): Zones 5-9, depending on species 3 Dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis): Zones 4-9 1 Lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina): Zones 4-8 4 Cranesbill (Geranium x oxonianum): Zones 4-8 1 Penstemon 'Sour Grapes': Zones 7-10 2 White peach-leaved bellflower (Campanula persicifolia 'Alba'): Zones 3-8 4 Leopard's bane (Doronicum cordatum): Zones 4-8 2 Yarrow (Achillea 'Coronation Gold'): Zones 3-9 2 Larkspur (Consolida ajacis): Annual 3 Delphinium Pacific Giants: Zones 4-7 1 Sedum 'Autumn Joy': Zones 3-10 If you aren't able to find the exact cultivars listed above, substitute with others that have similar colors, shapes, and sizes. And because some plants can become overly aggressive and spread out of control in certain climates, always check which species are considered invasive in your area before planting. For example, dame's rocket vigorously reseeds itself and has been reported to invade natural areas in various states around the country; you may want to replace it with a shorter garden phlox variety such as 'Jeana' to achieve a similar look in this plan. Illustration by Mavis Augustine Torke Get the Free Summer Cottage Garden Plan Our free Garden Plan for this design includes an illustrated version of the planted garden, a detailed layout diagram, a list of plants for the garden as shown, and complete instructions for installing the garden. Free, one-time registration allows unlimited access to all garden plans, available as printable PDFs. Download This Plan More Cottage-Style Garden Plans to Try English-Style Front-Yard Garden Plan Tiny Corner Garden Plan Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit