Loads of things Lydia. Everyone has their own CG style. Penstemons are good. Day lilies. Alliums....though the leaves are bit intrusive. 3 or 4 small apples or pears that pollinate one another. Rosemary, as a useful herb. Choose a lowish growing rose or two that blooms a long while and not subject to black spot. Little group of raspberries and a Jostaberry or two. Underplant with some bulbs and put tulips in odd spaces. Aubretia here and there. I try to have a little produce and not just decorative or too designery.

What about some of the 'County series' roses? They're low growing, and entirely in keeping with the theme. Prostrate rosemary, dwarfer asters (Michelmas daisy types), erigeron karv., and more modern nes like cistus dansereaui, or halimiocistus. Box edging? Or do you prefer lavender, in which case, L. Munstead. Worthy

Good at filling in empty spaces are perennial geraniums. The macrorrhizum group are great at keeping the weeds down and are virtually evergreen too so cover the ground in winter. They spread and clump up quickly but are also easy to remove and control if you dont want them to spread too much. Most of this group are spring and early summer flowering but there are lots of other perennial geraniums that have a good summer flowering period

Just been watching Carol Kleins cottage garden program Lydia and her winter scene looks as dead as a do-do too!
My garden too has cottage style planting, and it is difficult to have a decent skeleton in winter and some greenery...especially after the few weeks we've just experienced.

One of the best reasons for growing plants in pots is that you can position them where you want in whichever season. You could have large and small pots growing Bay, or Rosemary, or conifers , also statuary comes into it's own in winter when the plants aren't hiding it.

Easy cottage garden annuals such as Calendula, Tagetes, and Rudbeckias make for fabulous colour spring to summer and onwards...I still had Rudbeckias flowering when the snow fell. Calendula and Tagetes are great for keeping green, white and blackfly away from veggies too.
Hardy Lavenders will keep well all winter, and try to have some evergreen climbers on walls and fences as a backdrop.

Such lovely ideas from you all thank you so much... I now have lots of homework to do... then lots of saving up to do and then hopefully an empty garden to fill! :-)

Click on G in the A-Z at the foot of this page then on ground cover plants. You can come back and ask about anything that particularly takes your fancy. These are all growing in members gardens.

Great idea thanks. I really like the look of all the creeping phlox and i also just came across Rudbeckias which looks really lovely. Not sure if they're evergreen though?

Sorry didn't mean Rudbeckias at all... I meant Scutellaria!

By the way Heleniums are fantastic!!! Mine are leafing up well at the base in spite of the bad winter. They can be dug up, split, moved about easily and bloom far into autumn.

lovely thanks Dorjac I will have a look for some!

Heucheras add colour and come in a wide range of colours. Do use some small evergreen shrubs like skimmia or azaleas and how about an amelanchier canadensis for height. It has white flowers in spring, edible berries and lovely autumn foliage if you can get them before the birds. A "Stella" cherry would be a great addition or any fruit trees on very dwarf rootstock would add to the value and be in keeping with a cottage garden.

yes I have a couple of Heucheras already that I took from my mother-in-laws garden, they are doing very well even in all the snow and have added a lovely splash of evergreen colour. Thanks again Scotsgran.