What is a cottage garden?

The world is an ever-changing place, and days seem to slip by at the speed of light. We get caught up in the chaos of political situations, global events and all the everyday issues bombarding us like that nasty bully in grade school, during gym-class dodge ball. It's no wonder we take refuge in the comforts of our routines and personal spaces! Be it a cup of warm cocoa on a snowy day, a pile of freshly raked leaves to dive into every now and then, or our perennial favorites planted in the garden. When we combine flower planting with the memory of former gardens we've loved, we're well on our way to creating a cottage garden.

Traditionally, a cottage garden was functional. Devised centuries ago in working-class England,  the emphasis was on herbs, vegetables, a few fruit trees, a beehive or two, and livestock. No one thought much about the appearance of their garden, as long as it got the job done. By the late 1870s the English started looking around garden spaces with appreciation for their humble roots. They cast critical eyes on the more structured, rigorously maintained English estate gardens of that era, whose formal designs and mass plantings of brilliant greenhouse annuals seemed excessive to the everyday person.

They found charm in the enclosed, practical spaces of the simple gardens behind their cottages, and indulged in a few guilty pleasures--profuse flowers that, unlike their hardworking floral predecessors (like the golden-blossomed calendula, used to treat wounds) did little more than look lovely and smell divine.  Over time, flowers became even more dominant, and soon English Cottage Gardens contained a bevy of double-duty beauties and lusciously lazy slackers, content to turn their beautiful blossoms toward the sun and bask in the glow of warm rays and garden-visitor praise.

To create your own version of the cottage garden, and have it blooming strong from spring until fall, try a mix of old-fashioned staples (just like Grandma used to have) with just a few of those oh-so-exotic garden stars:

Garden mainstays for spring:

Amsonia (blue star), Allium (ornamental onion), Baptisia (false indigo), Astilbe and Nepeta (catmint)

Spring celebrities:

Peony (especially a mashup of deep burgundy and cream), Veronica and Digitalis (foxglove)

Summer staples:

Heuchera (coral bells), Shasta daisy, Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan), Echinacea (coneflower), Cranesbill (geranium), Stachys (Lamb's ear), Phlox, Achilla mollis (Lady's mantle) and Monarda (Bee balm)

Summer superstars:

Rose (any and all roses command one's complete attention) and Delphiniums (perhaps the most "cottage" of all cottage blooms).


"Fall"back flowers:

Sedum (stonecrop), Aster, Liatris (Blazing star) and Agastache

Autumn all stars:

Hydrangea and the ruby-hued Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower)

Make a garden party out of deadheading every week or so (invite your friends over for a "deadheading walk" while sipping wine!), and you've got yourself lush bloomers that merge the seasons seamlessly!