Cottage gardens are all about romance and relaxation, with a nod to the past. It’s a style that draws you in and invites you to stay awhile.A cottage garden is designed to look like the quintessential English country garden. It’s not a formal garden, and it has no rigid structure. Instead, it’s filled with an abundance of different plants and flowers, vines and herbs all growing together in a random way.
If you love this romantic look, here are some tips for designing your own cottage garden.
- You should plan out your garden before you start planting anything so that you can determine which areas will get more sunlight than others, and this will help you decide what plants to use in each spot.
- Use perennials, herbs, and bulbs everywhere you can, but if you have children or pets (or if you are prone to tripping over flowers), replace some of the more delicate or fragile plants with annuals. They require a little extra work, but they will make your flower garden look great during the growing season.
- The cottage gardening style is all about planting in groups of five or more for the most impact. This may mean that you have only one type of flower growing in each group, or it can be a mix of flowers that bloom at different times of the year.
- Mulch with shredded bark or pine needles. Mulch helps control weeds and keeps the soil moist and cool in summer. Keep mulch away from the base of woody plants (such as trees and shrubs) as it can cause rot.
- Include a mixture of large-scale plants (shrubs and trees), mid-scale plants (perennials), and small-scale plants (bulbs and annuals). If this is your first garden, plant big things first and fill in with smaller ones later on.
