Cottage gardens are usually informal in style and require little in the way of heavy-duty planning or landscaping. Usually you've simply got lots of colorful plants with a vegetable patch thrown in somewhere, connected by meandering brick paths or stepping stones.
Perennials that self-seed like pot marigolds (calendulas) enhance the look of colorful chaos, especially if you allow them to grow where they will. Pot marigolds in full sun are quick bloomers too (typically blooming in less than 8 weeks) so you'll see results almost immediately, and you'll get a mix of bright yellows, reds, and oranges in your garden from summer through fall. You can even add the petals from this herbal plant to your salads, as they are indeed edible.
Another hardy annual is the Limnanthes douglasii, colloquially known as The Fried Egg or Poached Egg plant. This sun-loving flower carpet boasts fragrant golden and white blooms in spring and summer.
If you don't want to have a dedicated vegetable garden, plant vegetables among the flowers. Runner beans, for example, have attractive foliage with red or white flowers. The taller plants that grow to six feet tall obviously need support, but there are dwarf runner beans that are short enough to be able to stand alone.
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