Informal design, dense plantings, traditional materials and a mixture of disheveled and edible plants, this is what a cottage garden comprises of. It gives an idea of traditional romantic planting. The cottage gardens of the good old days used to be more useful than ornamental. People usually planted fruit trees, veggies, herbs and other edible plants and also kept bee hives which were optimally utilized afterwards. The idea nowadays has changed drastically and people are maintaining cottage gardens mostly for beautification purpose besides the personal usages.
Starting with the cottage garden
There are no specific rules pertaining to the creation of cottage gardens; people can plant whatever they love to. A well created colorful and bright garden can beautify a very normal house and turn it into a special one. It also relaxes one’s mind when there are colorful flowers and brighter hues all over. It is quite easy to create a cottage garden these days. The garden needs not to be a large one. You can create a small and easily manageable one in the start. Feed and maintain the small portion properly and then gradually increase the size. The plantation can be done in a unique way by choosing different containers and creative things like wheelbarrows or washtubs which will give a trendy look to the garden.
Creating an attractive garden
It takes a lot of effort to create a blooming and interesting cottage garden. It requires proper and timely watering, mulching, deadheading, dividing, feeding, cutting back and tweaking the design to keep the garden alive and bright. A well-planned cottage garden looks very organized and pretty and it can always be customized according to the desire of creator. It can consist of many flowers and edibles. A pleasant informal look with lots of flowers and beautiful plants arranged together would give a rich look and attract butterflies and charming birds which will in turn enhance the overall beauty of the garden.
While arranging the plants, the height and spread should be taken care of properly by giving the arrangement a unique look. Unlike the usual one of putting the shortest plants in the front and the tallest at the back, the tall ones can be planted in the middle to give them a different look.
Choice of plants for the garden
There is no limit or particular choices of plants to be used in the cottage garden. One can try on different colors and variety of plants in the garden to give it a bright and bold look. Colorful perennials, annuals, bulbs and flowering shrubs can together create a magic in the garden. Long lasting easy to grow plants and wildflowers like cornflowers, calendula, biennial foxgloves and nigella can be planted for quick and easy results. Replacing overflowing colorful flowerbeds with simple grass lawns can give it a charismatic effect. Some evergreen plants can be used to make boundaries and edging the paths to give the garden a beautiful enduring look. Some of the most important cottage garden plants which are actually the lifeline are roses, lavender, dianthus, foxgloves, hollyhocks, aquilegia, campanula, delphinium, daisy, geranium, peony and alchemilla mollis. These plants altogether give a beautiful, cheerful, bright and classy effect to the garden. The traditional gardens used to be dense, so people could always tuck more and more plants in the corners and empty areas to give it a dense and traditional look.
Structure of the cottage garden
The architecture of the house should be kept in mind while deciding on the kind of cottage garden to be created. Materials which keep with look of the house should be used to give it a harmonious effect such as for paths and paving, the stepping stones, wood chips, flagstone and weathered bricks should be chosen accordingly. Instead of straight lines and some definite patterns, meandering paths should be there to give a natural and soothing look. A traditional fencing and tall structures like pergolas and trellis can also be used for enhancing the look. You can also add container plants by planting them into beautiful pots behind other plants. There is no end to the creativity one can apply. You can also use decorative items like antique watering cans, flower clothed obelisks, window boxes and old tools to give a classy final touch to your mesmerizing garden.
