AhhhH! You guys already have Lilies blooming. I'm so jealous. lol
I have one type of Asiatic lily that comes up with a striking almost-maroon foliage. It really stands out among the sea of green.
EndofFashion, that wall behind your cottagey garden is just crying out for some climbers! Or if that wall gets pretty warm, it would be ideal for espalier fruit trees. You can train cherries, peaches, apricots in a fan shape and secure to the wall, usually with wire that's been attached to the brick and stretched tight across. Just find a fruit tree that's been grafted onto dwarfing root stock so the tree never gets very large and stays manageable along a wall. It's a super space saver, plus the fruit trees really love this arrangement and percentage wise you really end up with more fruit than with a conventional style tree. I don't have any brick walls so I can't do this project. :sad:
http://www.demesne.info/Garden-Help/...s/Espalier.htm
That's how the old cottage gardens and British walled kitchen gardens on the huge country estates in Britain used to do it. The ornamental flowers only came around out of necessity, to attract pollinators for the food plants.
For interesting year-round foliage color, I suggest Heuchera (Coral Bells). They make flowers in the spring but the foliage is what's interesting. Everything from almost black, red, pink, green, lime green, orange and yellow. All year long! They prefer shade and part shade and with the bright colors, they would look great among Hostas and can really brighten up a dark corner!