This is an alphabetical listing of the Wildlife Friendly cottage garden plants you selected.
At times, especially during the summer, plants may be cut back or pinched out if they are too far advanced to ship whole. This encourages annuals and biennials to produce extra flowering stems, so no bad thing! Perennials will establish well for next year, but may or may not flower this year, depending on species. In some instances top growth may be woody or sparce (e.g. Anthemis tinctoria), but don't worry, the plants are perfectly healthy and will soon produce fresh foliage! Please contact me if you would like to enquire about specific plants.
NCG 207
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Bidens ferulifolia 'Golden Goddess'
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Bidens 'Golden Goddess' A taller variety than the familiar hanging basket and container Bidens, this bright and cheery plant looks lovely planted en masse in the hot bed, alongside other orange and yellow-flowering plants such as Cosmos polidor and Tagetes tenuifolia. The foliage is very attractive too - finely divided leaves are a… |
NCG 593
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Borago officinalis, Blue
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Borage, Blue Borage is edible - the flowers, which have a flavour reminiscent of cucumber, can be added to summer drinks or as a garnish on salads and other cold dishes. The leaves can also be added, wilted, to Mediterranean recipes such as pasta sauces and to ravioli stuffing. Borage is very… |
NCG 049
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Calendula officinalis
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Pot Marigold Sold out for now One of the most recognisable and popular cottage garden plants, this Calendula mixture will light up the garden for many months with an abundance of yellow and orange blooms, some double. Makes a nice addition to small flower arrangements, so cut often to encourage repeat flowering and to keep the… |
NCG 551
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Calendula officinalis 'Sunset Buff'
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Pot marigold 'Sunset Buff' A variation on one of the most recognisable and popular cottage garden plants, 'Sunset Buff' produces double (and perhaps the occasional single) flowers in soft, peachy tones with red backs. Makes a nice addition to small flower arrangements, so cut often to encourage repeat flowering and to keep the plants… |
NCG 404
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Campanula glomerata
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Clustered bellflower, Dane's blood Sold out for now Clusters of deep-blue bell-shaped flowers on straight stems from early summer. A very pretty plant, but spreads by underground runners and can be rather invasive, so position carefully. Note: Bare-rooted plants, when on offer, may look a little untidy, particularly early in the year. Don't worry - they will establish… |
NCG 064
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Campanula lactiflora
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Milky Bellflower Absolutely gorgeous! A tall, stately campanula, pale blue/lilac or white. Makes a dynamic statement at the back of the border and is also lovely cut flower if you can bear to remove it from the garden! Masses of blooms on stems up to 2m high. Much in demand by visitors to the… |
NCG 098
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Campanula persicifolia Ex. 'Alba'
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White bellflower A typical cottage garden plant, this campanula, with its papery, nodding white bells on tall, straight stems above low-growing foliage, is perfect for the middle of the border and is particularly effective if planted en masse. A good cut flower. Since these are open-pollinated plants, some variation may occur in… |
NCG 384
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Campanula persicifolia, Ex. blue
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Blue bellflower A typical cottage garden plant, this campanula, with its papery, nodding pale-blue bells on tall, straight stems above low-growing foliage, is perfect for the middle of the border and is particularly effective if planted en masse. A good cut flower. Since these are open-pollinated plants, some variation may occur in… |
NCG 598
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Campanula punctata 'Kent Belle' | |
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Bellflower 'Kent Belle' Nodding heads of deep-violet narrow, tubular flowers adorn this attractive campanula. Will probably not always come true from seed, but my experience with another campanula with similarly shaped flowers (Campanula takesimana) is that collected seeds are are likely to produce plants with blooms of a similar shape and habit, though… |
NCG 356
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Campanula takesimana | |
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Korean bellflower This lovely campanula bears drooping, tubular bells an inch or more long, coloured soft pink fading to white at the tips, in mid-summer. The leaves, which form an attractive basal rosette, are rich-green, heart-shaped, slightly glossy and serrated. |
NCG 216
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Carex comans 'Bronze'
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New Zealand Hair Sedge This very attractive grass, 12 inches high and 12-18 inches in diameter, forms a soft tussock of very narrow, chestnut-red leaves in spring. These fade somewhat as the season progresses and in summer many delicate flower/seed spikes are produced. The soft, rounded 'cushion' of this grass was a magnet for… |
NCG 013
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Centaurea macrocephala
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Globe Knapweed Currently unavailable Visitors to the garden often fall in love with this plant, which forms a large clump and has large spherical buds opening to clear yellow flowers surrounded by unusual, papery brown bracts. The mature seed heads are a natural 'barometer', opening and closing according to humidity. |
NCG 014
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Centaurea montana
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Perennial cornflower, Mountain bluet This wildflower has been a popular garden plant for generations. Rich blue with a reddish-purple centre, it makes a good cut flower for smaller arrangements and posies. Dead-head regularly to promote fresh blooms. The plant has a lax habit, so either cut long stems back by half to discourage legginess… |
NCG 092
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Centranthus ruber
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Valerian
A classic cottage garden plant with delicate sprays of white, pink or red flowers held above grey green foliage. Perfectly happy in poor, stony, chalky soil, but is will tolerate other more-or-less neutral soil types. Although a perennial, perhaps better treated as a biennial as older plants tend to become… |
NCG 353
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Cephalaria gigantea
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Giant scabious, Yellow scabious Loved by pollinators! This stunning perennial scabious is perfect for the back of the border as it can grow as high as 2.5m. Blooming during the summer, the strongly textured flowers are a delicate pale yellow. |
NCG 438
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Cerastium tomentosum | |
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Snow-in-Summer This evergreen, mat-forming perennial has small, grey-green leaves and produces a veritable carpet of small white blooms in late spring through to early summer. A wonderful plant to grow at the front of borders or tumbling over walls. It requires very free-draining soil as it does not like its roots… |
NCG 094
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Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens'
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Cerinthe, Honeywort, Blue shrimp plant Currently unavailable Deep purple, almost indigo, clusters of bells dangle above attractive glaucous, grey-green foliage. This wildflower is much loved by bees and butterflies. It self-seeds happily (but not invasively) in the gravel patio area in my garden, where it looks charming. |
NCG 086
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Chaenomeles speciosa 'Geisha Girl' AGM
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Ornamental Quince Currently unavailable A very attractive and useful hardy, semi-evergreen shrub with masses of soft peach flowers in Spring. Easy to grow and well worth trying. Flowers are nectar-rich so attractive to bees. Also makes a good hedging plant. |
NCG 320
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Chamaemelum syn. Anthemis nobile syn. nobilis 'Flore Pleno'
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Double flowered Chamomile Limited stock! Delightful in all respects, this highly scented double-flowered form of perennial chamomile has feathery leaves and inch-wide, creamy-white blooms. Best planted in containers or at the edge of borders, where, when brushed against, both leaves and flowers release their strong, sweet, apple-like fragrance. NOTE: Depending on season, plants are sometimes… |
NCG 235
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Chasmanthium Syn. uniola latifolium
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Northern Sea Oats, Spangle Grass The photograph really does not do this delightful grass justice! Growing to a maximum of a metre or so (usually somewhat less), the erect stems resemble miniature bamboo in their growth habit. The seed heads are, however, quite different, being delicate, flat, diamond shapes - almost like spear heads -… |
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