'Cottagecore' has become one of our favorite aesthetics this summer, transporting you to a fairytale of billowing roses, stately delphiniums, and picnics in fields of lavender. Even in the city or on a balcony, you can create your own golden hour garden! Here are ten plants, a mix of perennials and annuals, that we love for their beauty in the cottage garden or in a vintage vase on your table...
Delphinium
Delphiniums will bring the height with some flowering stalks reaching more than 7 feet! If that’s not ideal for your garden space, there are also dwarf varieties. Delphiniums come in dark blue, sky blue, a range of purples, and white.
Full sun. Zone 4-7.
Foxglove
Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) are another stately backdrop plant. Growing from 3-5 feet, you’ll find a palette of sherbet colors, peach and coral, pink and yellow, light purple and creamy white.
Full sun, partial shade. Zone 4-10.
Fuchsia
Fuchsias look like fairy jewels hanging from pots, baskets, and window boxes. The hardest part is deciding which of the dozens of colors to plant! Hot pinks, maroons, purples, creams, corals… the combinations seem endless.
Partial shade, full shade. Zone 8-10 (Usually grown as an annual).
Gaura
With the common name of ‘Whirling Butterflies,’ gaura is a cottagecore dream plant! The pink and white flowers flutter in the breeze and sprawl in an airy, 3 foot shrub.
Full sun. Zone 5-9.
Lavender
We could wax poetic about lavender for days… The perfume coming in an open window is intoxicating and will make you long to wander in the lavender fields of southeastern France. You can find lavender in a variety of heights and colors, from pink to purple and blue.
Full sun. Zone 5-9.
Marguerite Daisy
Argyranthemum are terrific pollinator attractors. The yellow, white, and pink blooms are often covered with busy butterflies and bees. These little mounded gems grow 2 to 3 feet in the garden and flower all summer.
Full sun. Zone 9-11 (Usually grown as annuals).
Peony
Peonies produce massive amounts of blossoms above glossy, dark green leaves. They come petalled from exquisitely delicate singles to colossally lush doubles, in shades from pure white to the deepest red. The fragrant, abundant blossoms are quite glorious as cut flowers!
Full sun. Zone 3-8.
Rose
No cottage garden would be complete without a rambling, sweet smelling rose. A timeless choice whether climbing up a trellis, sprawling over a fence, or kept as a neatly shaped shrub. You can be sure to find one, or many, to fit your dream garden.
Full sun. Zone 3-10.
Salvia (Perennial)
The blooms of a perennial salvia are a gift to any cottage garden. Highly attractive with their graceful spikes, these plants attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. The jewel-like colors range from blues and purples, to pinks, reds, and white. Perennial salvia stay a well-mannered 2 to 3 feet.
Full sun. Zone 3-8.
Salvia (Annual)
These hummingbird magnets are in almost constant bloom through the entire summer. Vibrant shades of blue, maroon, red, white, and coral flowers are raised up on 1-2 foot spikes. These make an excellent cut flower to add to your carefree bouquets!
Full sun. Zone 8-10 (Usually grown as annuals).