Perennial garden beds are really what a cottage garden is about and they are easily shared. Divide and rule is the key with these plants. Clumping perennials such as day lilies are easy to divide by digging up and prising apart a clump. Plant around the garden to bulk up your beds, and give some extras to friends.
Mat-forming groundcovers are other easy plants to divide and share. Most grow roots where stems touch the soil, and providing you dig up a piece with roots attached, you're good to go. Strawberries are super-easy to divide, as are clumping herbs. You can divide many cottage garden classics in spring such as penstemon, echinacea, alchemilla, achillea, helleborus, campanula, true geranium, members of the daisy family, alstroemeria and euphorbia.
Pelargoniums (what most of us used to recognise as geraniums), lavender and rosemary are easy to grow from cuttings. They are drought-tolerant and excellent fillers in cottage gardens.
Waste not want not
• Cottage gardens often feature re-used materials. Get creative with bricks to lay as stepping stones or turn broken concrete into crazy paving. Use simple pea gravel or shell paths on a base of compacted gravel and lay stepping stones into this.
• Collect broken crockery to use in mosaics. This ancient art form will liven up pavers, pots, tables or birdbaths. They make sweet presents, too. Glue pieces to a clean, dry surface with tile glue, let set, then apply exterior grout and wipe clean. Easy.
• Tie tree prunings together to make growing frames or tepees for runner beans and sweet peas. Peas like twiggy branches to grow up so their tendrils have something to latch on to.
• If you have shell or gravel paths in your garden, don't rush to weed them. Take a closer look for self-sown seedlings from your garden. In my garden, aquilegia, cerinthe and Italian parsley regularly self-seed in gravel paths. Pot up in a newspaper punnet and give to friends.
Cottage garden resources
Swap plants and seeds by taking part in your local seed-savers group, or join ooooby.ning.com and check out the groups' pages.
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Perennials, by Professor Marshall Craigmyle, includes photos of 1500 perennials, plus growing and propagation guidelines. It's a must-have.
Take a peek at inspiring gardens at the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular, October 31-November 9. Special plants are often for sale.
Making cuttings
• Cuttings of perennials are often made from soft or semi-hardwood growth in late spring or summer. Use sharp secateurs sterilised with meths.
• Cut squarely beneath a leaf node or bud - the stem should be at least two nodes long. Trim off flower buds. Pinch off the lower leaves of stem. Cut the remaining upper leaves in half to reduce water loss.
• Dip the cutting into rooting hormone (optional), then insert half the stem into moistened, free-draining cutting mix (or make your own by adding sharp sand to seed raising mix). Put several cuttings in your pot at one time.
• Keep damp (not wet) in a warm spot out of direct sunlight. Create a mini glasshouse by covering pot with a clear plastic bag to keep moisture levels constant. And be patient.
