10 Ideas to Steal from English Cottage Gardens
Gardens should appeal to every sense, and scent is one of the most important features of a cottage garden. Many plants also have scented foliage, which adds another layer of enjoyment to your garden experience. Opt for roses such as ‘Maid Marion,’ ‘Princess Anne,’ and ‘Gertrude Jekyll.’ Other fragrant plants to incorporate include peonies, catmint, salvia, lavender, and hardy geraniums.
Add Arbors
Use this long-blooming tuberous plant in the front, middle, or back of a cottage-style border for months of late-season color. Cottage gardens evoke a sense of nostalgia and simplicity, with their informal designs and charmingly eclectic mix of plants. While the traditional cottage garden may be best suited to a large country estate, it’s possible to create a smaller-scale version that still looks chic and modern. All you need is some inspiration and a few tips on how to get started.
Cottage garden plants
Combine roses with lavender for a pleasing aphid free combination. For edging, I use thin flagstones inserted upright along the sides of the path. This is accomplished by digging a narrow trench, pushing the vertical flagstone in so that it is level with its adjoining stone, and then backfilling with mud. Leigh Clapp is a professional photographer with over 25 years experience, primarily as a garden specialist photojournalist but also with food and travel. She delights in exploring gardens, discovering the tiny elements to their overall essence and meeting lots of enthusiastic gardeners along the way.
Add a summer house to your cottage garden
Get a hazy effect with lady’s mantle (AKA Alchemilla mollis, used to edge the path here). The trick is not to cut a straight line through the garden – keep it winding; seemingly random. Even though it takes careful consideration to plan the perfect route, you want it to appear effortless. With drifts of heavenly mauve lavender and ruffled old-fashioned pink roses (of course), as well as jewel-toned purple and magenta Verbena bonariensis like these beauties.
It requires full sun and well-drained soil to thrive, but it will also appreciate some afternoon shade in extremely hot locations. The flowers, which resemble dangling bells, ranging from a pink and white color to blue and violet. Then Gertrude Jekyll took the plantings she saw around the cottages of the British countryside and brought it to the gardens of the increasing middle class. It looked simple and natural and is remembered today more for its lush flower growth than its vegetables.
Designing a cottage garden: where to start
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Whereas the bushes anchor the beds, the perennials, biennials and annuals are the main show. They require a lot more maintenance and tend to get diseased when crowded with other plants. Traditionally there are two paths in straight lines which dissect the space at right angles in the center. If you have enough space, a panicle hydrangea hedge would be lovely and bloom from July until fall. Both look equally stunning when covered with a multitude of blooms.
Whatever you choose should always complement the surroundings, and other elements or structures within the space. Cottages of all types, log homes, and those having a country style of another sort will easily find themselves right at home with this informal design. More modern dwellings, however, may not complement this type of landscape. Rustic (or romantic) structures such as arbors are traditional mainstays, as well as the occasional found object weaved in here and there. Scour vintage stores and fleamarkets for old garden furniture, pots and vessels that can be repurposed for the garden – anything from crates to ceramic sinks. 'For terraces and pathways reclaimed stone is ideal, along with brick, if this chimes in with the locality, and gravel (cinder would often have been used in the past).
Summer-Show Cottage Garden
If you're a keen gardener, you may want to consider greenhouse ideas, too. This glorious build not only looks the part, but will also be hugely practical when colder weather comes around. Trellises and arbors add to the vertical display, but there's much more ornamentation to be done at ground level. That whimsical pale blue bistro set you passed by at the thrift store last weekend is dying to be placed under the crabapple tree.
In summer gladioli add a contrast in form, followed by dahlias. Other climbers like Japanese honeysuckle and wisteria are pretty but too invasive, and will require a lot of maintenance to keep them from taking over the garden. Plants for the edge of the pathway include marigolds, petunias, cranesbill, alyssums, pelargoniums, and heuchera.
However, it's a small sacrifice to make in exchange for all of those gorgeous flowers you'll enjoy. Combining with inviting cottage porch ideas helps to create the right mood and lets you show off your passion for plants too. Tap into cottage vernacular by choosing classics like lupins and perennial cornflowers, then let them romp around in a naturalistic way.
Every cottage garden needs edibles tucked here and there among the ornamental plants. “In its historical context, flowers were planted to attract beneficial pollinators for edibles,” says Cervoni. Many edibles are lovely in their own right too, such as rainbow Swiss chard, lettuce, sorrel, and perennial herbs such as salvia and thyme, especially when left to flower. One way to personalize your cottage garden is to choose plants that have special meaning to you.
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Test your soil so you know which plants are best-suited to it and add organic matter, such as compost. Good, rich organic soil where plants will thrive without too much watering or feeding will make the job easier, while mulching also helps retain moisture and keeps weeds down. Add height with a romantic arbor, arches, pergolas or obelisks draped in scented climbing plants, such as roses, honeysuckle or jasmine. But use these features sparingly so the whole effect doesn’t become too hectic. But, as with any garden, thought needs to go into planning a cottage garden layout and planting.
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