Creating a quaint cottage garden

Nature is exuberant. Plants grow where seeds fall and pathways meander through the foliage. Straight lines rarely exist in nature and plants are not neatly trimmed. While a cottage garden should not be an unkempt jumble of weeds, it should have a natural feel to it. How can you create this feeling of being surrounded by nature when designing a cottage garden? Some of the essential elements of a cottage garden include:

• good soil
• flowering plants of different colours and heights
• shrubs and bushes with a variety of leaf colours, textures, shapes and sizes
• climbing vines
• a winding pathway made from natural stone, pebbles or both
• a few boulders here and there that give the garden a more natural feel.

Creating a cottage garden can be more of a challenge than creating a formal garden, but if you take a step-by-step approach and aren’t afraid to make a few mistakes along the way, it can be an enjoyable challenge.

Some garden designers start with the footpath and work their way back from there. You don’t want your favourite plants to be hidden from sight, so plant low-lying plants closest to the footpath. Mix them up a little and don’t choose plants of uniform height. In nature, bright flowers will push their way up through the soil at the edge of a spiky aloe vera, for example.

Choose predominantly hardy, low-maintenance plants that grow and thrive easily in your location. Native flora is always a good choice, but as long as flowers can bloom without too much coaxing, imported species are fine, too.

Cottage gardens for small spaces

What if you live in the inner city and don’t have the luxury of enough space for a cottage? As long as you have enough space for a small garden, you can create a cottage garden atmosphere. The trick is to create a micro-environment. You can do this in a variety of ways. For example, you can:

• grow vertical gardens along your fences
• do plantscaping with potted plants in places where you can’t have a garden
• install a vine-covered arbour or pergola to provide shade and a verdant environment
• build a shed or convert an existing shed into a small office or reading room
• install comfortable, rustic furniture made from natural materials.

If you want to build a shed or pergola, check with your local council first. You may need to get building approval. Regulations vary from council to council, but smaller, less expensive outdoor structures can often be fast-tracked through the approval process.

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Nature doesn’t spring up all at once. You can take your time with your cottage garden; add to it and improve it as ideas come to you. Did you see a plant in the nursery you would just love to add to your garden? As long as you can squeeze it in, it’s in the perfect spot. Nature is random and so is the perfect cottage garden.