The English Cottage Garden

A garden with allure

Cosy seating areas, scintillating views and lush flower beds full of bright and colourful roses, and lots of classics: that’s the ‘English Garden’! If you enjoy the romantic and natural atmosphere of the English cottage garden, read on. This characteristic garden can be perfectly achieved in your own garden with just a little bit of gardening know-how. By using the right garden plants you can create a soothing blend that characterises the English cottage garden. The diversity of garden plants with varying colours and scents is there to enjoy from early spring through to autumn.

This example of an English cottage garden can be used to pick up a lot of gardening ideas that are also suitable for the smaller garden or decking.

In our example, romantic English cottage garden borders are generously brimming with a mixture of perennials, annuals and biennials. Perennials that fit well with English traditions: roses and geraniums; lady's mantle; lavender; catnip and sage mustn’t be forgotten. Beautiful biennials like foxglove and sweet William also enhance an English cottage garden. The pergola in the garden illustrated is adorned with a white flowering rambling rose and a wisteria in blue. A fragrant honeysuckle would also fit perfectly into the image of the English cottage garden. Garden accessories in suitable shades reinforce the English cottage garden ambience even more – try outdoor cushions in a floral print, hanging baskets full of summer flowering annuals, a pink rose arch and lots of plant pots, either in terracotta or ceramic.

Need a landscaper? Of course not!

Use mirrors to create the optical illusion of a surprising glimpse further through your garden.

Roses, roses and yet more classics!

Once you’ve landscaped the basis of your English cottage garden, you need to create a planting plan to fill the borders with plants. The English cottage garden consists mainly of (evergreen) perennials and flowering plants. True classics in the English cottage garden are of course rose bushes and hydrangeas. The perennial hydrangea looks beautiful either in a sunny border or in an attractive large planter. A pergola or rose arch with colourful climbing plants like clematis, or scented honeysuckle, is a wonderful addition to the English cottage garden. Hanging baskets full of pelargoniums, petunias and lobelia give us lovely cascades of bright colour. How do you fancy fast and easy planting of an English cottage garden? Try our ready-to-use garden border seed mats and you can create one easily in no-time!

Tip!

Start your garden plan by listing plants by colour, flowering period and height of all the plants you choose. It’s also important to keep in mind the ideal location of the plant. Check how many plants are required per m2 and divide the plants evenly over the space available. Remember, when creating a garden plan, that perennials like creeping thyme, great masterwort and foxglove are a mainstay of the English cottage garden. Other typical perennials in the English cottage garden are larkspur, coneflower, Monarda and yarrow.

Check out our garden plants

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