Cottage Garden Design

Today's adaptation of cottage garden design includes an assortment of annuals and perennials that are informal in style and inviting in mood. The design is informal and requires less maintenance than many manicured garden designs.

Elements of a Cottage Garden

The informality of a cottage garden should include an assortment of colorful and easy-care plants.

Mixing in some vegetables and herbs among the flowers adds to its authenticity and charm. A mix of annuals and perennial flowers in an array of colors will multiply and spread from year to year.

All the colorful, fragrant herbs and flowers will attract birds and butterflies. By including a bench or swing, you can sit and enjoy the flowers and wildlife. Add a few birdhouses, a birdbath or sundial and wind chimes to add country charm.

Surround your cottage flower garden with a rustic fence and add a path of cobblestones, brick or bark chips that meanders through the beds. You are well on your way to achieving a cottage garden design.

Plants for a Cottage Flower Garden

As a focal point, add a small flowering tree nestled against the fence and surround it with a bed of colorful flowers. Fragrant shrubs like lilacs, roses and butterfly bush can define the borders of the garden, with honeysuckle, clematis or climbing rose draping over an arbor for more structure.

Traditional annuals include Johnny jump-up, forget-me-not, asters, cosmos, delphiniums, sweet alyssum and larkspur. Add some morning glories to vine around a picket fence.

Perennials that have been favorites in cottage garden design include lady's mantle, lamb's ears, artemesia, bee balm, yarrow and dianthus.

Vegetables can be tucked into bare spots for a traditional cottage garden look. Include herbs like lavender along the edges. When you walk past and brush against it, the scent will add to the beauty of the garden. For additional fragrance, plant some chamomile or wooly thyme in crevices in the path. A pot or two of mint completes the plantings.

Care and Maintenance of the Cottage Flower Garden

Most of the plantings are low maintenance, requiring average sun and soil. Deadhead spent flowers, but as the season draws to a close, allow some of the annuals to self-seed for next year's garden.

The perennials will naturally spread. Once these new plants are established next season, add a layer of mulch to minimize weeding.

Cottage garden designs are limited only by your site and imagination. This is a garden design that has lasted for generations and will only grow in popularity because of its charm.