Cottage Garden Tips - The Style

The cottage garden differs from the other styles of gardens in that the plants are all-important and all other features are present only in a supporting role. No longer do we consider the marrying together of the organic and the inorganic, instead we have a collection of plants, each one capable of sustaining an interest in itself. We seek to assemble the collection in a harmonious way so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Trellis work and other items give the plants support, but all these are no more than a showcase for the living exhibits.   

With the profusion of plants in their infinite variety, going into a cottage garden and seeking to study the brick or woodwork is rather like going to a concert and concentrating on the decor of the auditorium! However, this does not mean (in either case) that the supporting features are not important or that they should not be chosen with the greatest care - any failings would be immediately apparent. They should blend unobtrusively into the background, performing their role but never seeking to be apparent. 

Cottage gardens are always associated with the countryside, and they certainly evolved in the country because they pre-date urbanization and the movement of man to the towns. Today there is no reason why cottage-style gardens cannot be developed in town centers, and there are several highly successful examples of this approach to urban gardening. Only the very smallest town-centre gardens - no more than a few square yards in area - cannot be developed in this way.  

Such minute plots are the exception rather than the rule and most people will have sufficient space in which to create their plant collection. 'If only I had a larger garden' or 'The garden is too small' are laments that are frequently heard, but you do not need a large area. On even the smallest sites interest can readily be created, especially where it is left to the plant to do this. With a small garden you may not be able to afford the room for trees, but mass and height can be created within the individual beds -stately lupins, hollyhocks, flag lilies and foxgloves perform a role similar to that of elms in a parkland, and lesser subjects, such as Canterbury bells, larkspur and godetia, also give form to individual beds. 

The cottage garden will bring with it scents which will change throughout the winter months; seeds will be produced in profusion and will attract seed-eating birds; bushes can provide nesting sites; honeysuckle (woodbine to the countryman) or clematis will change the stark walls of the urban jungle to a mass of color. The case for making a cottage garden in the town centre is perhaps stronger than it is for the green belt. The style of house is not important with this type of garden - the chocolate-box picture of a thatched cottage with black painted timbers and white plaster work is a contrived view both of architecture and horticulture.  

On the contrary, the feature that denotes the cottage style above all others is an awareness of height and its effect upon the mass of the site. The cottage garden is a profusion of growth - growth which occupies the air, rather than hugging the ground, as is the case with the alpine garden or formal design. The cottage garden is a celebration of flowers and vegetation. Foxgloves and hollyhocks will take the eye upwards, as will climbers on the walls, and the whole design states that the house is secondary to the garden. 

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