6 of the best cottage garden plants for pots – nail the whimsical planting scheme wherever you've got room for containers

If cottage gardens are one of your favourite planting schemes (they’re certainly mine!), but you’re short on border space, you can still achieve the look on a patio. You’ll just need a list of the best cottage garden plants for pots to get you started.

Actually, many of the best cottage garden plants thrive in containers – it’s just a case of choosing the right types, whether you’re after the daisy-like flowers Erigeron or the delphinium varieties that thrive in pots (yes, really!).

Here's our pick of the best cottage garden plants for pots.

What you'll need

1. Bellflowers

Bellflowers (Campanula carpatica) always catch my eye at the garden centre (but you can also order them online, like Campanula carpatica 'Blaue Clips' from Crocus). Firstly, they’re blue and purple (my favourite colour) – but they’re also just so delicate and pretty.

Besides being a beautiful flowering groundcover plant, bellflowers are one of the best cottage garden plants for pots – they look beautiful spilling over the edges of a container or hanging basket.

‘Campanula carpatica is a personal favourite and another bullet-proof hardy perennial, completely covered in rich-blue little bell-shaped flowers for a lengthy period,’ agrees Pim Dickson, senior horticultural content manager at Fothergill’s. 'For the rest of the year and throughout the winter, its lovely cascading carpet of small leaves still looks amazing!’

Where to buy bellflowers:

• J. Parker's: Order Campanula carpatica plants in packs of 5 or 15.
• Gardening Express: Try Campanula carpatica 'Pearl White' if white flowers are more your thing.

2. Dicentra

I think Dicentra ‘Bleeding Hearts’ is one of the most whimsical cottage garden plants (you can order bleeding heart plants from Crocus), with its heart-shaped flowers on arching stems.

Dicentra is also one of the best cottage garden plants for shade, thriving under trees and in garden borders. It's a perfect example of cottage garden plants that thrive in pots, but you'll need to keep them out of direct sunlight.

Where to buy Dianthus:

• Crocus: Lamprocapnos spectabilis 'Alba' produces white heart-shaped flowers (it's so beautiful!).
• Dobies: Dicentra spectabilis 'Valentine' is another popular variety.

3. Erigeron

Erigeron deserves a place on any list of the best cottage garden plants for pots, because it'll fill a container with daisy-like flowers at speed. It’s known more commonly as Mexican fleabane, and it’s perfect for adding interest to a cottage garden planting scheme.

Borde Hill’s head gardener, Mark Bobin, recommends Erigeron karvinskianus 'Profusion' (which you can buy from YouGarden) for pots for a full and varied display alongside other cottage garden plants.

Where to buy Erigeron:

• Crocus: Order Erigeron karvinskianus in a range of sizes.

4. Dwarf delphiniums

Delphiniums might traditionally be a garden border plant, but ideally, a cottage garden scheme needs height – and dwarf varieties, which are often suited to pot-growing, can provide just that.

‘Add compact delphiniums for height,’ advises Jake Fisher, gardener at Burrow Farm Estate. ‘Use weathered terracotta or mismatched pots, and let plants intermingle to create that effortless, countryside feel in miniature.’

Personally, I love these classic Italian terracotta pots from Crocus.

Where to buy dwarf delphiniums:

• Thompson & Morgan: Delphinium grandiflorum 'Hunky Dory Mix' F1 seeds can be sown now for beautiful shades of blue and white.
• Dobies: Delphinium 'Magic Fountains Mixed' is ideal for a large container on the patio.

5. Lady's mantle

Alchemilla mollis, known commonly as lady’s mantle, is a popular groundcover plant that keeps weeds at bay, but it’s also a brilliant cottage garden plant for pots.

‘This hardy perennial, slug-proof, shade-tolerant, and will grow almost anywhere!’ says Pim. ‘It has interesting acid-green flowers but is mostly grown for its beautiful wavy-edged leaves, which hold raindrops and make them shimmer like diamonds.’

Where to buy lady’s mantle:

• Thompson & Morgan: Order Alchemilla mollis for vibrant green cottage garden plants.
• Gardening Express: Another great place to buy Alchemilla mollis plants.

6. Aquilegia

Aquilegia, known as granny’s bonnet, is another fantastic cottage garden plant to grow in pots. It usually bursts into bloom in early summer, and though it's a short-lived perennial, it'll self-seed for future plants.

'This plant is shade-tolerant with attractive leaves that tend to form airy, rounded plants, with the flowers rising tall above,' says Pim.

It's a perennial that you can grow from seed yourself, too, and the seeds are readily available to order online, like these Fothergill's Aquilegia 'Mix' seeds from Amazon.

Where to buy Aquilegia:

• Crocus: Aquilegia chrysantha 'Yellow Queen' produces delicate yellow flowers.
• Suttons: Go for Aquilegia 'McKana Hybrids' for multi-coloured blooms.

This list of the best cottage garden plants for pots is by no means extensive, but it's a brilliant starting point if you're hoping to start this whimsical, romantic planting scheme on a patio.