A Year in a Cottage Garden - Flower Box (12 Packs)
12 hand-picked seed varieties
A curated journey through the cottage garden calendar — twelve of our favourites, chosen to take you from the first indoor sowings of winter right through to autumn. Designed to fill your borders with cut flowers, scent, and wildlife from the very first season.
The mix is deliberate. Hardy annuals — Cosmos 'Sensation', Cornflower 'Pink Ball', Nigella 'Miss Jekyll' and Scabious — give you flowers in the first summer. Biennials build up in year one and come into their own in year two, which is where Hollyhock 'Nigra' and white Sweet Rocket earn their place. Perennials like Achillea 'Cerise Queen', Echinops and Gaura 'The Bride' settle in and then return every year after that. Sweet Pea 'Winston Churchill' brings the scent, Cobaea scandens climbs whatever you give it, and Bells of Ireland supplies the green spires that make a hand-tied bunch look considered.
How the Year Works
Start the annuals indoors from late winter, or sow them direct once the soil warms in spring. Sow the biennials in June or July for flowers the following year. The perennials can go in any time from spring onwards — they take a season to establish and then look after themselves. Full instructions are printed on every packet.
Arrives in signature eco-friendly packaging — a gift that keeps giving long past the first summer.
- 12 full-size seed packets, each with detailed growing notes
- Seasonal varieties chosen to complement each other
- Eco-friendly compostable packaging throughout
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📦 What’s in the collection
📬 Delivery & packaging
What’s inside your collection
12 seed packetsEvery variety below is included in this collection. Click any packet to read the full growing guide and see more photos.
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Gaura 'The Bride'
Clouds of pure white starry blooms on slender arching stems — the white Whirling Butterflies that bring magical dancing movement to moon gardens and cottage borders.
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Scabious Imperial Mix
Honey-scented pincushion flowers in deep blackcurrant, crimson, lavender, salmon pink and white on tall wiry stems — the jewel-toned cottage Scabious for cutting and butterflies.
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Bells of Ireland
Tall architectural spires of lime-green bell-shaped calyxes — the florist's most prized green filler, with exceptional vase life and beautiful drying qualities.
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Cobaea scandens Purple
Vigorous climbing annual to 4–6m with huge bell flowers transforming from lime-green to deep purple over days — the architectural cup-and-saucer vine. RHS AGM.
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Echinops ritro Metallic Blue
Perfect steel-blue geometric spheres on rigid silvery stems — the architectural globe thistle that thrives on poor dry ground. Outstanding cut, dried and bee plant.
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Cosmos Sensation Mixed
The benchmark cottage Cosmos — large pink, white and carmine daisies on tall stems from July to November. RHS Award of Garden Merit. The most productive cut flower in the patch.
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Hesperis White (Sweet Rocket)
Tall luminous white Sweet Rocket spikes that release violet-and-clove fragrance at dusk — the moon-garden hero filling the gap between spring and summer.
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Sweet Pea Winston Churchill
Large ruffled crimson Sweet Pea on long stems with gentle fragrance — the classic Spencer crimson for bold cottage cutting drama. Bee-loved, RHS-awarded.
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Nigella 'Miss Jekyll' Blue (Love-in-a-mist)
Clear sky-blue semi-double flowers nestled in a "mist" of fine ferny foliage — the classic cottage Nigella named after Gertrude Jekyll. RHS AGM. Decorative dried pods.
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Achillea Cerise Queen
Flat-topped plates of deep cerise-pink that hold their colour through summer, age to vintage tones, and dry beautifully. A drought-tolerant cottage garden classic.
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Hollyhock Nigra
The legendary heritage Hollyhock with near-black maroon-purple single flowers and small yellow eyes — rising 2m against walls. Continuously cultivated since the 1600s.
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Cornflower Pink Ball
Soft, shaggy, fully double cornflowers in warm rose-pink and salmon — the romantic blush cornflower for cottage borders and cutting bouquets.
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