When it comes to creativity and cheerful color, Ashley Wilson’s historic Victorian cottage is the brightest on the block. Built-in 1905, the house is the embodiment of charm with gingerbread-esque wooden details, pastel pink shutters, and a cozy covered porch that’s right out of a storybook. When Ashley, the creative vision behind At Home with Ashley, decided that it was time to infuse some of that same charm into her front yard, she turned to a colorful palette of Southern Living Plants to craft a cottage garden with cute curb appeal all year long.
Contending with Utah’s chilly winters and warm summers, Ashley’s Zone 6 property is also covered by dappled shade, which can present a challenge to gardeners seeking the aesthetic of a traditional cottage garden. With these factors in mind, Ashley’s plant palette was thoughtfully crafted to combine lush, evergreen structural plantings with brightly-hued blooms and groundcover plants. Ashley loves flowers, so brilliant blooms were a must-have in her yard. The shade-friendly flowers that made the cut will literally make the cut for DIY flower arrangements for years to come.
To provide a solid foundation, a row of Better Boxwood® plantings were chosen to create structure and reflect the angular lines in her home’s architecture. This new blight-resistant collection offers brilliant evergreen color throughout the year and tolerates both shade and the tough Utah winter. With their tidy, classical shape, these boxwoods echo the timeless feel of the Victorian cottage aesthetic, lending an air of formality while complementing the playful details of the home.
To add bold, romantic color, Heart Throb® Hydrangeas were selected as the centerpiece of the planting design. Planted in a line below her window, these hydrangeas pull at the heartstrings with brilliant ruby-red blooms month after month. The deep red flowers beautifully contrast with the home’s pastel hues and provide an abundance of cut flowers for indoor arrangements, bringing a touch of the garden’s charm inside. As a more compact variety that reaches just three feet high and wide when mature, they make for ideal plantings beneath windows, providing exterior visual interest without blocking interior light.
Closer to the ground, Frosted Hot Pink Garden Jewels™ Gerbera Daisies were chosen. Perennial in Zones 7-10 and annual in Ashley’s region, these cheery flowers are true workhorses when it comes to blooms, producing up to one hundred cut flowers each year. Their bold pink hue picks up on the color of the shutters, tying the front landscape design together. To fill in empty spaces and infuse a pop of unexpected color, Beyond Blue™ Fescue was interspersed between the taller plantings in the landscape. This grass-like plant features stunning blue foliage that shimmers in the sunlight, adding soft texture and a casual, easy air to the cottage garden.
Ready to plant your own shaded cottage garden? Pull from the plant list below for a colorful, charming landscape that marries shade-friendly structure with cottagecore color!
Is your garden more sunny? View more cottagecore garden ideas.
