In concert to these large estate gardens, small "cottage style" gardens flourished in the nearby country villages. Since the villagers could not afford the expensive fashionable plants of the landed gentry, their gardens proudly displayed a floral spread of persistent, herbaceous annuals and perennials. These plants were actively traded or swapped across the countryside by the travelling villagers, enabling a rapid spread into previously unaffected indigenous vegetation communities.
Many of the species proved to be the invasive weeds that soon gained a strangle hold in the disturbed or partially cultivated patches amid the pristine native grasslands or grassy woodlands. These weeds persist today as permanent reminders of their bygone origins. Examples of these environmental weeds include "Briar" Rosa rubiginosa, "Millefoil-pink" Achillea millifolium, "Mullein" Verbascum dumulosum, "Ivy" Hedera helix, "Vinca" Vinca major, "St. John's Wort", Hypericum perforatum, "Watsonia" Watsonia bulbifera, "Agapanthus" Agapanthus africanus, , "Pink and Yellow Wood Sorrel" Oxalis corniculatus, "Field Pansy" Viola arvensis, and "Poppies" Papaver sp.
Other species have persisted as major agricultural weeds imposing substantial economic impacts on many generations of agriculturalists. These include "Clovers" Trifolium sp., "Docks" Rumex sp., "Plaintain" Plantago sp. "Cat's Ear" Hypochaeris radicata, "Bindweed" Convolulus sp. and the flowering thistles planted by the nostalgic Scottish settlers. In fact, the original Scotch Thistle introduction to VDL has been attributed to Rev. Knopwood, purely for curiosity!
Many herbs used in Estate gardens and Cottage gardens such as "Horehound" Marrubium vulgare, "Three cornered Garlic" Allium triquetrum, "Mallow" Malva sp., and "Dandelion" Taraxacum officinalis proved valuable for their herbal and medicinal properties, before persisting as difficult to control agricultural weeds.
Serrated tussock does not belong to this era of agricultural weed importation. It was introduce from New Zealand in imported pea seed to Tasmania, during the 1930s.