Ask any friends or family members how they would describe a cottage garden and chances are they might suggest the following: intimate and informal, heirloom plants with lots of colour, looking like my grandmother’s garden. When we talk about a cottage garden we are really speaking about an English cottage garden, as the plants and flowers used in this garden style are those first seen in gardens throughout England. These charming gardens all conjure up thoughts of romance, butterflies, bumble bees, and lazy summer days.
The typical English cottage garden is small and compact, brimming with brightly flowering cottage garden plants. They appear to be haphazard as they typically surround a smaller home or cottage with a front porch. Climbing roses, vines and wisterias often define the height of these gardens, either by cascading over an arbour, or by growing down the front of the house. Masses of fragrant flowers and herbs are planted in small pockets rather than in large drifts. Favourite plantings include: daisies, primroses, violets, snapdragons, cornflowers, lavender, petunias, pansies, sweet peas and hollyhocks. As a cottage garden depends on grace and charm rather than a formal structure, different heights and levels can be obtained by using raised garden beds, contrasted by large flowering pots and colourful ground covers.
Choose simple flowers for your cottage garden, making sure they are old-fashioned varieties. The garden should present a sense of random casualness as though nature had widely scattered its seed to paint this variegated tapestry. If you choose a whole spectrum of colour keep the palette soft, or break this up by placing occasional foliage plants to add a touch of green or silver. As the garden blossoms into its fulness, don’t forget to include garden seats or a bench, as this is the ideal place to rest and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Wonderful post and images depicting the charm you speak of. I especially love the first image with all its bright and cheerful color!
Thank you, Denise, for leaving your comment. Cottage gardens are loved by everyone.
My favourite kind of garden, beautifully presented. What a treat!
This is my favourite too. If I had to spend my days in a garden, the cottage garden would be my first choice.
This is my idea of a perfect garden. Though my grandmother’s wasn’t nearly so grand, nor my mother’s, for that matter, they had many of the same plants, and much the same appeal.
In my mother’s garden, I remember spirea (bridal wreath), ferns, flowering almond, lily of the valley, forsythia, bachelor buttons, zinnias and hollyhocks. I made dolls from the hollyhocks, inverting one bloom atop another, and sometimes adding pipe cleaner arms.
We had a flowering almond tree in our back yard where I grew up in Minnesota. I loved to watch those beautiful buds burst into pink flowers every spring. Gardens give such joy!
Ah, I had forgotten about the hollyhock dolls!
I never made a hollyhock doll but it would have been great fun to [play with one.
A delightful post on the attractive cottage garden! The variety of flowers are so pretty… such vibrant colours. Thank you for this interesting article, Mary 🙂
Thank you, Iris, for this lovely comment. There’s nothing like a garden!
That porch looks remarkably like my sister’s home! Their garden has cottage beds, but is beautifully planned. I wonder what the new one will be like – their current house is up for sale. It will be missed. Love the article by the way, I started to reminisce…
Your sister’s garden will be a joy to visit and view. it won’t be long now until you visit England. Bon Voyage!
I should have said ‘and is beautifully planned’, not but!
Mary, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Cottage gardens are my favorite. If I spy one over a fence I will think about it for days afterwards.
Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
Thank you, Wendy. I thought of you when I wrote this post and remembered how much you loved a cottage garden. They do have a great charm about them.