How to Grow an English Garden
In the days of old England, many of the workers in small villages were called peasants, and they owned small houses with very small gardens. These gardens would have to supply the family with all of their gardening needs. The kitchen garden would consist of vegetables and mixed fruits. In amongst this array of produce they would also grow flowers. This was the start of organic gardening as we know it today.
The most popular garden flowers would be hollyhocks, delphiniums, daisies and also an array of herbs - mint being one of the most popular. With their mystical charm and abundance of scents, English cottage gardens exhibited a style that evolved through the necessity of the times.
Many families would have gone hungry if they had not had the benefit of home-grown produce.
Classical Gardens
Unlike the peasant gardens, the gardens of the landowners, or gentry, were very formal with box hedges, straight lines, stone paths, and with many wonderful statues depicting the gods of ancient times.
They would also have fountains with water flowing into a lake or pond. They were considered by some to be classic gardens with their order and discipline.
Birth of the Romantic Cottage Garden
When the more romantic influence came into being, plants were considered to affect us emotionally, and the cottage garden was born out of this movement.
One of the most famous cottage gardens was designed by the French impressionist painter Claude Monet. The cottage gardens with their abundance of roses, growing over fences, and their vine-covered arbors with flowers climbing towards the sun are now emulated in North America.
Their informal style consists of tall wonderful perennials battling it out for space in the back of the borders, creating a profusion of textures and substance. The smaller plants in the front of the borders are determined to lift their heads to the sun, not to be outdone by their taller cousins. All this creates a palette of color that would be very hard to outdo.
The other advantage to having this kind of garden is that it reduces the amount of weeds that grow, as the branching out of the plants hides the sun from getting through to the ground and therefore snuffs out the chances of weeds germinating.
Creating Your Own English Cottage Garden
To create a cottage garden, don’t be afraid to plant seeds close together as this creates the effect you are looking for. Go for a variety of shapes. Plant feathery plants amidst spiky ones; use bold leaf plants with delicate ones. Put a sprawling plant next to an upright one.
The best rule of thumb is to plant tall at the back and short in the front of your borders.
In most cases, try to plant in odd numbers of three, five, etc and in very large borders try groupings of up to seven or nine of the same plant. This method gives depth and structure to your borders.
Also keep foliage in mind. Some gardeners say that foliage is more important than blooms, but the sight of colored blossoms nodding in the breeze and turning their faces up to the sun can be more satisfying.
In the end it all comes down to personal taste, but whether you like straight line gardening, formal gardening, or cottage gardening, get your hands dirty and have fun!
There is lots of good information in my ebook “How to Master Organic Gardening.”
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