With the return of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week and fairly reasonable weather on the horizon (well, as reasonable as it gets in Britain) you may be inspired to grab your spade, dust off the mower and transform your garden into a show stopping plot worthy of a Chelsea ‘Best in Show’.
The only problem is knowing where to start! How do you decipher your modern minimalist gardens from the wildflower, country cottage garden and how exactly do you achieve the perfect look? What plants should you use? What sort of layout works best? And then there’s the paving and landscaping!
At Yorkstone Supplies, we’ve put together a definitive guide on how to achieve each garden style, so you can achieve your dream garden in no time…
The Country Cottage Garden
The country cottage garden stirs up images of afternoon tea, romance and relaxing strolls in the evening, with free flowing, heavily packed and wild flowering beds and the opportunity to achieve a whole host of palettes to suit your tastes. Basically, the country cottage garden gives you free reign, there are no hard and fast rules for what you can and can’t do.
A big draw of the cottage garden design is the attractiveness of the planting to wildlife; insects and birds love the variety a cottage border offers. This is particularly beneficial if your garden is part of a family home; kids love creepy crawlies and colourful birds.
Don’t be fooled though, there’s much more to it than adding garden walling, throwing in a load of seeds and hoping for the best! The cottage garden requires plenty of ongoing gardening effort, particularly maintaining and growing plants.
We recommend starting with hard landscaping, preparing your layout, pathways and walling first before you start softening up with planting This gives you the option to ‘test’ different planting schemes in different locations; sometimes trial and error plays a part in individual gardens and what plants will or won’t work.
Harder landscaping in a cottage garden can be difficult to master in the first few years, as stone work and paving needs time to weather. Thankfully there are a few shortcuts you can take along the way.
Country Cottage gardens may look out of control, but be warned, they take a hefty amount of maintenance!
The Design
Cottage Gardens need small nooks and crannies to properly set them off, so think about adding visual blocks such as trellis, fenced areas and stone walls, with the aim of taking the eye around the plot and leaving people wanting to ‘explore’.
A good way to achieve this is by splitting your garden into three sections, each division can be staggered to hide some of the features, adding a little bit of intrigue.
A great addition to any wild garden is a meandering path, again adding the sense of exploration and a laid back feel; nothing in a country cottage garden seems to fit a schedule.
Traditionally, cottage gardens are smaller, so consider enclosing the surrounding area with fencing or garden walling, this will also help serve as a backdrop for colourful plant borders.
The Planting
Cottage garden planting is all about creating a sense of informality, with tightly packed beds to create an abundance of colour. Use a mixture of annuals and perennials, with some larger shrubs to create an intriguing planting scheme that works all year round.
The Landscaping
Reclaimed Setts and Tumbled Cobbles
Walkways and paths need to be equally as wild and free as the rest of the garden; cobblestones are a great choice as they allow flowers and grasses to grow between them, adding some rustic charm.
Reclaimed Setts are a great ‘shortcut’ for the cottage garden look as they are already partially weathered, meaning your garden design will look like it’s already been in place for years.
Using reclaimed stone helps to give paths and walling an already weathered look.
Trellis & Arches
The secret to a cottage garden that people love is holding some areas back, that’s where trellis and archways come in. Use trellis and arches, combined with climbers such as roses (the quintessential cottage garden plant!) to effectively split your garden areas, whilst also keeping the free flowing feel of the overall plot.
Trellis arches help divide cottage gardens, whilst adding a little bit of planting height.
Dressed Walling
Continue the flowing feel of your design by using dressed or dry stone walling. The organic and weathered appearance compliments any type of wildflower borders.
Bird Baths and Statues
Whilst usually out of place in modern, minimalist designs, garden features such as bird baths and statues add interest, talking points and plenty of charm to the cottage garden. Place a feature deep in heavy borders and taller plants to really set them off.
Cottage Garden Top Tips
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Start with pathways, paving, walling and fencing to create some semblance of layout before planting
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Break up the garden with different visuals, anything from large shrubs to garden walling
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Enclose garden areas if you can; cottage garden planting is really set off when it has a backdrop
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Use as much colour as you want, but limit palettes to different areas.
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Repeat planting and plants to tie the whole design together
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Use taller plants to add interest
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Add a fun feature such as a bird bath or statue