How To Achieve a Cottage Garden Look

Stone House Cottage Garden

The cottage garden look is a perennial favourite that, it seems, will never go entirely out of fashion. When designing a garden, it is important to think about the needs and wants of those who will use it, human and animal, and about the area in which your garden is located. Looking at popular garden styles can help you to synthesise your ideas and come up with the perfect scheme for you. In garden design, it is rarely a good idea to adopt a style wholesale – rather, it can be a good idea to incorporate elements of different styles to find the perfect look for you and for where you live.


Cottage GardenThe cottage garden look is less about strict style rules and more about creating an informal, fun and colourful garden that you personally love. This is an extremely informal, at times charmingly chaotic style that is, at the same time, cute, cosy and quintessentially British. The cottage garden look involves a riot of friendly flowers spilling over little winding paths. It is a more is more type of garden design and the antithesis of the minimalism and straight lines of more modern gardens.


The cottage garden approach does not require a fanatical hand when it comes to weeding and managing. Though it will take some upkeep to maintain, a cottage garden is generally a relaxing and low-maintenance type of style which lends itself well to a permaculture approach.


Mix of flowers and ediblesPlanting a range of colourful flowers will help to attract pollinators and other insects to your garden. This can be of great benefit when you are also growing some of your own food. Incorporate a range of edible plants as this really complements the cottage garden style, whether you have then scattered amongst the flowers or have a vegetable patch and fruit garden area.


Bird houseRaised beds with edges made of local stones or another organic, local material can really complement the cottage garden look. Bird feeders, baths, boxes and other items to attract wildlife will also look right at home in a cottage garden design.


Certain plants will always look right at home in a cottage garden inspired design. These include: lavender, foxgloves, delphinium, hollyhocks, Philadelphus (mock orange) and of course, old-fashioned roses.