A picket fence is one key element of a cottage-style garden featured in early American landscapes. The main function of this style of fence included keeping children and farm animals either in or out of the yard and off the fence. Picket fence plants typically include a mixture of flowers, kitchen herbs and shrubs. This style of planting lacks hard rules. Just use the plants with the scents and colors you love.
Flowers bring colors to the area and complement the picket fence. One perennial flower is “Strawberry Candy” daylily (Hemerocallis “Strawberry Candy”), which grows best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 10, staying evergreen unless exposed to freezing temperatures. This 3-foot-tall daylily produces clusters of small rose-pink blossoms with yellow throats. The flowers close at night and re-open each morning. “The Fairy” sweetheart rose (Rosa “The Fairy”) produces sprays of pink blooms from June until the first fall frost in USDA zones 5 through 9. These non-fragrant roses reach 1 to 3 feet tall, and attract birds and butterflies.
Many types of herbs are commonly planted along a picket fence near the kitchen. Sweet bay (Laurus nobilis) reaches 12 to 15 feet tall and wide in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 through 11. This culinary herb can grow into a tree shape, reaching 20 to 35 feet tall. Slow-growing, aromatic green leaves cover the plant year-round with yellow flowers appearing in the spring. “Tuscan Blue” rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis “Tuscan Blue”) grows as an upright aromatic shrub with needle-like leaves and tiny blue flowers in the summer. In USDA zones 8 through 10, this evergreen herb reaches 6 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide.
Shrubs planted along a picket fence create a peek-a-boo look to the border. An aromatic shrub is the Chinese lilac (Syringa x chinensis) with spring spikes made up of pale purple flowers on spreading branches reaching 10 to 12 feet wide. This deciduous bush grows well in USDA zones 3 through 8, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. Dwarf pomegranate shrubs (Punica granatum “Nana”) produce a dense coverage of thin green leaves and orange-red single flowers in the summer. This fruiting bush reaches 36 inches tall and wide in USDA zones 7 to 11.
Small trees take advantage of vertical growing space along the picket fence. A tropical deciduous tree, Black Tulip magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana “Jurmag1”) produces 6-inch-wide purplish-pink flowers, which look like tulips. These blossoms appear before the green leathery leaves in the early spring. In USDA zones 5 through 9, this tree reaches 15 to 20 feet tall and spreads 6 to 10 feet wide. “Dwarf Bearss Seedless” lime trees (Citrus aurantifolia “Dwarf Bearss Seedless”) reach 6 to 8 feet tall in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 and 10. This round-shaped evergreen citrus tree produces juicy lemon-sized fruit in the winter and white blossoms in the early spring.
Your Planting Articles
- Monrovia: Cottage Garden Style
- Fine Gardening Plant Guide: Hemerocallis “Strawberry Candy” (Daylily)
- Fine Gardening Plant Guide: Rosa “The Fairy” (Polyantha Rose, Sweetheart Rose)
- Monrovia: Sweet Bay
- Monrovia: Tuscan Blue Rosemary
- Monrovia: Chinese Lilac
- Monrovia: Dwarf Pomegranate
- Monrovia: Black Tulip Magnolia
- Monrovia: Dwarf Bearss Seedless Lime
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