THE COTTAGE GARDEN 

Last month we considered the ‘herbaceous border’ and now we look into cottage gardens a little more.  The herbaceous border whilst maligned over recent years should not be criticised since well maintained perennials are something of beauty and there are still keen gardeners prepared to undertake the work involved.   An herbaceous border can require plenty of preparation and constant maintenance, but then so do most other borders.  

The Cottage garden, however is very much a personal form of gardening and so the gardener’s preferences can vary considerably with the variations and aspects.  When I think of a cottage garden it conjures up an image of a garden full of colour with hardly any bare soil to be seen, and plants cascading over the edges of steps, paths or walls; aromatic herbs and sweet-scented flowers filling the air with their fragrance where the cottage walls are clothed with colourful and perfumed climbing plants.

Probably the best example of such a garden is at East Lambrook Manor, in Somerset where the late Margery Fish did much to encourage gardeners to cultivate cottage garden plants.  It was a very personal garden and inevitably has lost some of its personality since her death, even though it is still being well cared for today, look at Garden Spy for some more details. 

You can have a muddle of colour in cottage gardens and the eye is not offended if one brilliant hue conflicts with another.  There is no definitive design and fresh plants can be fitted in wherever there is a bit of space.  In a genuine old cottage garden, there is often an established apple tree, with shade-loving plants growing beneath.  Invariably, it will contain a few fruit bushes, gooseberries or currants, under which self-sown annuals will flower  If there is room for a vegetable garden it probably has the odd row of carrots, lettuce or peas muddled in with the flowers and is likely to have flowering plants trailing through the turnips or runner beans, wild plants and bulbs. 

Most cottage gardens tend to be in or near the countryside and are so likely to have weed seeds blowing into the garden.  Some wild flowers are obviously too weedy to allow in but one or two have useful properties.  For instance elder, Sambucus nigra although rather invasive, can provide useful flowers for country remedies and cooking, berries can be used to make delicious wine and the flowers used to produce elderflower ‘champagne’.  

Cardamine (lady’s smock) is a graceful plant that thrives in a moist place and makes an attractive show early in the year; a double form is obtainable from some nurserymen.  Solidago (golden rod) is a bit of a weed, but sometimes you can come across a good or late-flowering form. Arum maculatum lords-and-ladies, or cuckoo-pint, has interesting arrow-shaped leaves, occasionally spotted purplish-black, that are useful for spring decoration in the house. Clematis vitalba (the wild traveller’s joy or old man’s beard) has greenish-white flowers, but it is best known for its woolly greyish-white seed- heads that appear in autumn; this thrives on chalky and lime soils.  Obviously, your love of wild plants has to be tempered by the size of the garden and the behaviour of the plants in question.

Bulbs are useful in cottage gardens, and these cover not only the usual spring daffodils, hyacinths and tulips, but the summer-flowering lilies, alliums and the white galtonia.  The advantage of bulbs is that they can peep through other plants and their untidy foliage is hidden in the general confusion.  The only difficulty is in remembering where they are when forking through a border. 

Planning a cottage garden

The cottage garden if cleverly planned can be one of the most spectacular and colourful features as a garden although you will need to decide how you want the final garden to look although the style of cottage gardens is to have lots of plants closely planted together.  Decide what areas you want to work towards to create as a cottage garden effect and plan to develop it over several years and be prepared to make adjustments. 

Preparing the soil

This is not complicated and involves digging or forking over the areas you intend to plant up, look at last month’s article to find details about preparing the herbaceous border, which are quite similar. 

Before planting apply a general fertilizer to the area and rake it in, the plants will benefit as they try to establish themselves. I strongly recommend spring planting for herbaceous plants, however you will need to plant up other specimens such as bulbs in autumn depending on your own preferences and you own style of cottage garden

Choosing plants

If you like the idea of a cottage garden but you are not sure of the types of plants you want, then may I suggest spending this season getting to know the plants by visiting garden centres and going to see cottage gardens open to the public to gain some inspiration and ideas how other people have set about the task.  In this way, you will get to understand how plants are used and placed, in relation to their colour, height and leaf texture as well as availability.  

When you have established your own preferences then you will need to set about obtaining the plants so you can build it in your own style.