The whole essence of a cottage garden is its wild and natural look.  So natural that it seems as though it has been untouched by human hand..it has grown out of untended ground with little help from anyone but not so!!  Most cottage gardens take quite a lot of trouble.  Where do the plants come from for instance?  Cottage gardens tend to be heavily infiltrated by perennials and perennials need help to get to where they are.  They are either potted in a potting shed from seeds collected from earlier growth or they are bought from your local nursery!  Of course once they have started there is the helpful bee and butterfly there to re-pollinate from last year, but for a good look a bit of management is required as perennials need to be moved, thinned and ordered (believe it or not) to some degree or you have havoc on your hands.  Some of the plants in a cottage garden are likely to be of the rarer less cultivated variety (so less likely to be found at your local nursery and need to be scouted in friend’s gardens)  and beautiful old fashioned shrubs are really the only ones that will do…not a dome shaped box ball in sight!   Here are some plants from my favourite cottage garden in no particular order – perennials and shrubs mixed: Rosa mutabilis, rosa rugosa, verbascum, ligularia, actaea, hydrangea paniculata, centranthus, persicaria, astilbe, aquilegia, cephalaria, agapanthus, astrantia, cosmos and alcea (hollyhocks) of course