Today’s Garden Ideas

English cottage gardens are usually a hodge podge of classical heavily scented flowers and plants. There is no rhyme or reason to the design. You might have a Sweet William plant popping up in four or five different places. A clump of Delphinium may be blooming on one side of your garden and a clump of Foxglove on the other side. Pathways through the garden are often overgrown with groundcover or taller flowers and might be difficult to see as you make your way through the growth.

The English cottage garden might also contain a small area with a birdbath and small birdhouses. Or, you might see a sitting area with a comfortable chair and small table where one can sit and read the poems of Lord Byron or Elizabeth Barrett Browning. All

of course hidden by the riotous growth of herbs, perennials, vines and shrubs.

If your English cottage garden is in a sun-loving spot you might try the following design. First, or course you want to prep your soil. Clear an area approximately 10 feet by 13 feet. Remove any weeds, roots, and stones. Work some compost into the soil.

Varieties of Plants

One of the plants you will need to purchase is the Climbing Rose of the variety ‘Danse Du Feu’. This red flower grows up to 8 feet tall and is great for an arbor, fence, or trellis. Climbing Rose will grow in zones 5-10. This garden should also contain Shrubby Cinquefoil. This bloom has yellow flowers all summer and gets up to 4 feet tall. It is drought tolerant and can act as a short hedge or shrub. This plant does well in zones 2-7. Next purchase some Sweet William. It has a wonderful aroma and the blooms come in red, pink and white. Sweet William gets about 18 inches tall and flourishes in zones 3-9. Add Delphinium to your English cottage garden. Delphinium can get quite tall at up to 7 feet. The spikes of flowers come in blue, white, or lilac. This plant prefers cool conditions and due to its height will need to be staked. Delphinium grows best in zones 3-7. The final plant we want to add to this garden is Scotch Thistle. At 6 feet tall this is one of the larger plants. The leaves are spiny and a silver gray and the flowers are pinkish-purple. This plant reseeds itself and flourishes in zones 3-9.

Purchasing & Planting

Begin with your Climbing Rose. Purchase your bareroot rose and soak in water overnight. Dig a hole 1 ½ times the size of the root just in front of a trellis. Place a mound of soil in the middle of the hole. Set the rose on top of the mound and spread the roots. Fill in and water well.

click on picture to enlarge

Plant your Delphiniums and Scotch Thistle at the back of the garden. Space them about 2 feet apart. The Delphiniums will need to be staked.

At the front of the garden plant one Cinquefoil and 6 Sweet William plants. Mulch the garden and water well.

As the Delphinium and Roses grow they will need to be tied loosely to supports. To increase the blooms be sure to remove old or faded flowers. Encourage reseeding by letting Sweet William plants go to seed. In the fall rake around the plants and mulch. Then crumble the seedheads randomly over the bed to promote random growth.

Other Plant Choices

For groundcover in your English cottage garden try using Sweet Violet. This purple or white flowers has heart-shaped leaves and only gets 3 inches tall. It grows well in zones 4-8. Dianthus ‘Bath’s Pink’ is a lovely little pink bloom that gets about 8 inches tall. This plant grows best in zones 5-8. Sweet Alyssum ‘Wonderland’ blooms a bright pink from summer to fall. It is an annual that flourishes in all zones. It only gets about 6 inches tall. Finally, the groundcover plant called Moss Pink is an excellent choice for zones 4-9. The variety ‘Marjory’ has beautiful rose colored star like flowers.

click on picture to enlarge

If you want to plant flowers in your English cottage garden try Cleome. This rather unusual looking plant has spidery white or pink blooms through to fall. It will grow up to 4 feet tall and can be grown in zones 2-10. Cosmos are daisy-like and get up to 3 feet tall. Cosmos is an annual that is suited to all zones. Its flowers bloom in orange, white or pink throughout the summer. Foxglove has flowers that grow on large spikes up to 30 inches tall. The variety ‘Merton’ has lovely pastel lavender blooms. Be warned that Foxglove is poisonous to animals and humans. Finally Four o’clock are another bloom that is well suited to the English cottage garden. The flowers come in yellow, pink, white, and red. This is a 4 foot tall annual suited to all zones.

Another plant that works well in English cottage gardens in herbs. Chives have purple flowers in summer and grow about 1 foot tall. They have grass-like leaves and flourish in zones 3-9. Dill is a very fragrant herb with yellow flowers in summer. This is an annual that can be grown in all zones. It gets about 3 feet tall. Another aromatic herb to try is Feverfew. It gets about 3 feet tall and grows will in zones 4-8. The flowers look like Daisies and bloom white in summer. Wormwood is another excellent plant for the English cottage garden. The silver leaves and yellow flowers have a wonderful aroma. Wormwood does best in zones 4-8 and grows about 3 feet tall.

Finally, fill the back of your English cottage garden with vines, shrubs, and trees. Try a Dwarf Apple tree. It will get about 7 feet tall and produce edible fruit. The flowers are a lovely white in the spring. Dwarf Apple does best in zones 3-9. The vine Clematis has a very romantic star-shaped bloom. The ‘Jackmanii’ variety flowers in a vivid purple during the summer. The vine will extend up to six feet and prefers zones 3-8. Old-Fashioned Weigela is a summer flowering shrub with flowers of red, white or pink. It will get up to 9 feet tall in zones 5-8. Finally Common Witch Hazel is tree that gets up to 20 feet tall. It blooms in winter in colors of red, yellow or orange. Common Witch Hazel flourishes in zones 5-8.

Don’t forget, the English cottage garden is not symmetrical, geometrical, or mathematical. It is flowing, relaxing, and breath-taking. When designing this type of garden think lovely English ladies in big floppy hats and long chiffon skirts sipping tea and eating crumpets. Speaking of which, have you checked out my friend Jenny at Tea Party Girl? She has a great blog about tea parties that you’re sure to enjoy! Swing by and tell her hello!

click on picture to enlarge

Tags: ‘bath’s pink, ‘merton, chives, clematis, cleome, climbing rose, common witch hazel, cosmos, danse du feu, delphinium, dianthus, dill, dwarf apple, English Garden, feverfew, four o’clock, foxglove, jackmanii, old-fashioned weigla, scotch thistle, shrubby cinquefoil, sweet alyssum, sweet violet, sweet William, wonderland, wormwood