Modern Cottage Garden, The: A Fresh Approach to a Classic Style

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Careful maintenance will also keep the floral show going, so trim and tidy new growth, and deadhead flowers to keep them blooming. It's super handy for those summer days that involve sun and rain in equal amounts – beat the unpredictability with this smart design.

Be free in your cottage garden! Of all garden styles, the cottage garden is one that is meant to delight and appeal to your own personal taste. Plant cabbage among the flowers or Swiss chard along the path. Do not follow "the rules." Plant whatever appeals to you—there is no ‘no’. A cottage garden should ideally have winding paths, which in midsummer are only just visible between beds bursting with plants. These paths lead your eye to a focal point; this could be your house, an arbour or even a simple bench,’ recommends RHS horticulturalist Catherine Fairhall Lewis, who looks after the cottage garden at RHS Hyde Hall.Hedges and decorative topiary can be used to divide the garden into a series of enclosed spaces with different planting themes. Today, cottage gardening is more of an ethos than a set of rules to be followed. It's about embracing nature's beauty and intricacies, rather than forcing it to conform. Rambling, rather than rigid. Imperfectly charming, rather than perfectly chic. She’s often to be found painting stunning watercolours for greetings cards and wall prints, all created without any initial sketching. “I never draw first, just load the paper with water and drop colour in,” she says. “With a bit of swirling with the paintbrush, the flower starts to take shape. I love recreating all my flowers but my favourites to paint have to be my dahlias. It’s so rewarding getting people into the studio and showing them how to paint them too.” It’s fair to say that Karen’s come a long way since then. Having overcome her illness, she’s launched a thriving career as a watercolourist and textile artist, working and teaching in her Dartmoor garden-side studio. And central to that career change is the lush rambling country garden she shares with her five cats and thriving wildlife. From intricate petal appliqué bags and edible flower biscuits to floral wreaths and framed pressed flowers, every one of Karen’s creations has been directly inspired by her homegrown blooms. Full of scent, colour and the sound of buzzy bees. The traditional cottage garden has been the setting for many paintings, photographs and films. They tend to include beautiful colours, intriguing layouts, hidden surprises and sometimes even edible treats. However, we tend to associate them with – well- cottages. But there’s no reason why the concept of a cottage garden cannot be adapted to suit any style of property of size of garden. Origins of the cottage garden

Colouring the fence panels in this garden accentuates the colours in the planting. The salvia to the left and geranium to the right are typical cottage garden plants. Layout and materials The idea of a cottage garden was then copied by more affluent gardeners and they evolved into the romantic scent-filled chocolate-box type gardens we think of today. It is easy to control the soil mix – growing acid-loving plants, for example, when your have alkaline soil. Medieval cottage gardens grew out of a necessity for self-sufficiency, but their informal and slightly haphazard aesthetic has seen many a renaissance over the last two centuries. From the heyday of the Arts and Crafts movement to the Chelsea Flower Show in recent years, the cottage garden is constantly being reinvented, and it could arguably be seen as an important foundation of modern, naturalistic planting design.For those with a big budget, try statement pergola ideas like this. A major step up from your average pergola, this structure features a remote-controlled roof system which can be rotated to protect from sun or increase ventilation whenever you need it. A classic cottage garden is never complete without a variety of roses. The main pruning period for all roses is spring, depending on location in the UK – usually early in March in the south, and around the end of March in the north. The relaxed style of a cottage garden is achieved by keeping the layout simple. Avoid anything too fussy or complex as the outline will soon be lost once the plants get going. Sow easy-to-grow long-lasting annuals and wildflowers, including calendula, cornflowers, nigella and biennial foxgloves, to fill any gaps. Over time self-seeding plants will pop up randomly in unexpected spots, giving an interwoven lightness and artfulness to the design. An annual spring application of 1-2 inches of well-rotted animal manure will insure that the plants thrive.