Cottage gardens are a license to riot – at least for the many plants in them. The cottage garden is the antithesis to formal gardens, whether the formality is in the geometric precision of the vast gardens of stately homes or in the massed groupings of one or two plants that is often seen in landscaping pictures of modern family homes. The cottage garden, by contrast, is informal and eclectic.
Cottage gardens began in rural areas, but only because at that time most of the population lived in the country and great cities were a rarity. Today they are very much at home in suburban settings, where they complement the architecture of older homes and soften the stark lines of some newer ones.
Plantings in the cottage garden are most successful when they pay attention to the realities of the lot. You want to achieve an effect that combines overall balance with continued seasonal interest and color. Some of the more obvious – yet, unhappily, frequently overlooked – preliminaries are:
Keep trees away from utilities – gas, water and sewage pipes, electricity and telephone lines.
Consider your lot’s aspect, prevailing winds, climate zone and plan accordingly.
Consider your soil and its limitations and how you plan to improve it over time.
Keep in mind the mature size of trees and shrubs you plant – you don’t want to have to perform extractions at a later date.
Divide your lot into appropriate zones for the different activities it will support, depending on the household’s demographics and interests.
Remember that cottage gardens need to have room for self-propagation; don’t overcrowd.
In your planning begin with the background planting, which will be influenced by the size and shape of the property and by an urban, suburban or rural environment. For the typical suburban lot a few evergreens such as Camellia or Pittosporum species, or flowering cherries, buddleias or lilacs will provide a sufficient framework that can be infilled with shrubs and perennials.
Foliage plants are an important part of the cottage garden. They soften the contours of angular plants and meld disparate groups into the bigger picture. Foliage plants come in a variety of sizes, and among those you might consider, depending on climate, are artemesia, Hosta, Heuchera, Tellima and Pulmonaria. Needless to say there are many others that deserve consideration and local landscaping contractors will have many suggestions for you to consider.
The main display in your cottage garden will come from your selection of perennials, supported in places and at times by annual plantings. There are many possible approaches, all personal, to selecting suitable plants – that is why all cottage gardens and landscaping ideas are unique expressions their owners. You may wish to have different “themes” for different areas of the garden; or you may explore different colorways; or perhaps, with a little research, you might wish to create “time capsules” of plants popular at different periods – a “New Deal” garden abutting a “Colonial” one. Such an approach could be continued even in choices of paving materials for paths, in fences and/or hedges, in seating and other elements of garden “furniture”.
If you are looking for ideas to experiment with, try groupings of three complementary plants: perhaps a hollyhock (Alcea rosea ‘St Joseph’s Staff’, for example); a bellflower (Campanula glomerata ‘Superba’); and a federation daisy (Argyranthemum frutescens ‘Federation Daisy’). This grouping brings together distinct forms – spiky, bell shaped, and daisy formed – and gives a choice of color combinations. The group can be under planted with appropriate annuals and placed next to a grouping linked either through complementary color or through repetition of form (for example a daisy-flowered dahlia), a tall bell shaped plant such as Brugmansia and a short spiky specimen such as aquilegia.
Considered repetition of these principles will soon enable you to create a garden filled with a shifting kaleidoscope of colour and form, with scent and life.
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