May 6, 2012 By Nature's Garden by Susan Brimo-Cox 4 min read

Nature’s Garden for May 6, 2012

NG194-Topic: Cottage Garden

Column word count: 712

Photo by Susan Brimo-Cox:

If you like a garden with lots of interest, a casual look and few rules, a cottage-style garden may be for you.

Nature’s Garden

By Susan Brimo-Cox

If you’re a gardener who likes a lot of variety, free-form design, or a casual look, consider planting a cottage-style garden. While you may not live in a cottage, there is no reason you can’t take the qualities of the English cottage garden and adapt it for your garden, regardless if you live in the city, the suburbs or a rural area.

In jolly old England, cottage gardens began to develop during the Tudor period and grew to be most popular during the Victorian era. Cottage gardens got their start as practical gardens for the not-so-wealthy. Herbs, medicinal and dye plants, vegetables and fruit trees were common in these gardens.

Eventually this humble garden style was adapted to country estates and, because they required a lot of work on such a grand scale, they fell out of favor. On a small scale, however, the cottage-style garden offers many benefits and few rules.

While there really aren’t any firm rules to creating a cottage-style garden, there are a few elements-or characteristics-that make a cottage garden what it is.

Typically a cottage garden has an enclosure of some kind: a fence with a gate. Picket fences are especially appropriate. The need for a fence goes back to the early cottage gardens when animals and livestock roamed freely. The fence kept the animals out of the garden.

Trellises, arbors and archways are characteristic structures in a cottage-style garden. If you consider that a cottage garden includes a wide variety of plants, including vines, the need for such structures is obvious. They also offer opportunities for shade, since large trees are not found in a cottage garden.

Garden ornaments, such as a birdbath, sundial, or gazing ball are good additions. Having a focal point or two in your cottage-style garden is important to give your eye a place to rest as it takes in the view of the garden. You could also provide a contemporary accent to your cottage-style garden with a piece of garden sculpture.

Walkways are important in the cottage-style garden, too. While narrow walkways may seem appropriate for a small garden, I would suggest you make walkways in your cottage-style garden as wide as possible, as many of the plants in a cottage garden are encouraged to spread out and spill into the walkway. Walkways can be made from stepping stones, cobblestones, gravel, old brick or mulch.

One of the key elements to a cottage-style garden is variety! Variety of plant type, variety of plant height and shape, variety of color, variety of texture, variety of fragrance, and so on. You get the idea. And, though a riot of color is typically associated with cottage gardens, there is no reason why you can’t stick to a more limited color palette if you so desire.

Cottage-style gardens include annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, small trees, bulbs, herbs and vegetables. While that sounds like a lot, careful arrangement and grouping makes it all possible. For example, vining vegetables, such as cucumbers, can be grown up a trellis.

Annuals to include in the cottage-style garden are often self-seeding types that you may recall from your grandmother’s garden: cosmos, stock, four-o-clocks, heliotrope, cleome and strawflowers. The self-seeding ensures new plants the following year, but, because they are planting themselves, there will be a changing arrangement, so to speak.

Perennials might include phlox, columbine, daylilies, yarrow, cone flower, Black-eyed Susan, hollyhocks and foxglove. And don’t forget foliage plants, such as lamb’s ear.

Shrubs might include a lilac bush or roses. (Roses are the quintessential plant for the cottage garden.) But I wouldn’t hesitate to include a blueberry bush, red currant or some other berry bush.

Fruit trees, such as apple, pear or peach, are good choices, but so is a redbud, if you prefer. Underneath, plant crocus, tulips or daffodils.

Herbs and vegetables could include tomatoes, strawberries, Swiss chard, chamomile, thyme, sage, lettuce, lavender, colorful peppers, chives, parsley, mint, and anything else you might want for food or seasoning.

Remember, there are no real rules. Just make sure you give your plants enough room to grow and mature (don’t over crowd them), and you’ll have a garden full of interest year round. Don’t forget to add a bench, so you can sit down and enjoy your garden!

Susan Brimo-Cox gardens, observes nature and writes in Ohiopyle, Pa. Readers can send questions or comments to her at naturesgarden@brimo-cox.com.

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