The windflowers thrive here in the cottage garden.

My new cottage garden is located right by the road leading to the quaint little village Kalvsvik in southern Sweden. I passed by the lot many times before I got the house, and I couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful windflowers growing there in July-September. It became a defining feature of the garden. Together with the little hilltop behind the house of course. (The only one in the village!)

When I bought the house and started building my own little cottage garden in the front yard, many of you fell in love with the lovely pink flowers in my pictures and videos. This flower is like I mentioned earlier a windflower, which is also called anemone. A beautiful perennial plant. Watch the video below to see more of the windflowers in my cottage garden:

More about windflowers:

• It's a perennial plant that grows back year after year.
• The windflowers can spread out over a really large area, a bit too large for some.
• The flowers come in different shades of pink, but there are white flowers too.
• They bloom late in summer and early fall (depending on where you live of course.)
• Put them in a sunny spot if you want plenty of vibrant flowers.
• Both the leaves and flowers are very pretty.
• Plant the windflowers together with other perennials, or in a separate bed too for that matter. They look great on their own.

The windflowers looked so beautiful next to the vegetable beds and the house in summer 2019.

More about flowers: Growing annual flowers from seed

The windflowers at Oak Hill Cottage grow in a sheltered little spot by the window next to the front door. The flowers had spread to a large portion of the yard when I got the house though. Windflowers have very large and deep root systems that can be difficult to get rid of.

But since I mainly want to grow vegetables on this lot, I'm not interested in having that many windflowers around. I decided to try keeping them in the corner and covered the surrounding ground with newspapers, wood chips, and landscape fabric. This is a great way to smother unwanted plants but you might need to do it a few times though. The flowers might grow through the layers at first.

I hope that you don't need to limit their space too much though, by putting them in the right spot from the beginning. I just love these bright pink flowers. They look wonderful in a summery bouquet too. Follow my series about Oak Hill Cottage Garden on YouTube here: Sara's Kitchen Garden
/Sara Bäckmo