What Is Cottage Style Garden

Cottage garden Roses, clematis, a thatched roof: a cottage garden in Brittany. The cottage garden is a distinct garden style that uses informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure.

Cottage gardens feature a rich mix of plants that blend beauty and utility. You find combinations of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits that suit the informal, layered design of this garden style. These include: The English Cottage Garden: This is the style of cottage garden that is probably most familiar to people.

It is characterized by a relaxed, informal layout with an abundance of flowers. English cottage gardens often make use of "old-fashioned" or heirloom plants, such as roses, hollyhocks, and lavender. Find out how to plan a cottage garden, the most quintessential English garden style, with tips on designs to choosing the right plants.

Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Cottage gardens don't look designed.

In fact, they're. Discover the charm of Cottage Garden with our complete guide. Embrace romantic aesthetics and natural beauty in your outdoor space.

Although cottage gardens look as if flowers are growing there however they please, the reality is that they rely on a "deceptively casual style of gardening, blending relaxed informality with intentional, dense plantings", says garden designer and owner of English Gardens & Designs Sandy Lindh. Learn how to start a cottage garden in your own yard this spring with these expert tips for design, plant selection and maintenance. The English cottage garden is a type of "organized chaos," consisting of a tight formal structure (boxwood hedge or fence) with a loose, more informal interior.

Stone, wood, gravel and recycled brick are often part of the design. Stepping stones, rustic arbors made with tree branches, and other sculptural elements are integral to cottage style. Want to start your own cottage garden? This guide has everything you need to know about what a cottage garden is and how to grow your own.