Option #1 combined mostly soft pinks, purples and yellows in a variety of textures to create a full and interesting cottagey feel. Choices like amsonia, columbine, early-blooming phlox and hellebore would start off the season, followed by perennial foxglove, variegated masterwort, reblooming daylily, and echinacea. Blooming late summer into autumn would be anemone and liriope, as well as a rebloom on the phlox (if sheared back after first flush).

Option #2 incorporated low-growing peonies, variegated iris, catmint, lady's mantle, monarda, dwarf delphiniums and rudbeckia in the part-sun portion of the garden. Two varieties of astilbe, along with epimedium, brunnera, heuchera and ferns were featured in the part-shade portion of the garden.