Ready to embrace rural English charm at its fullest? This blog post is all about cottage garden border ideas!
English cottage gardens are classic, whimsical, and romantic. Seriously, what’s not to love?? In this blog post, I’m sharing my best ideas for designing a stunning cottage garden border!
Cottage Garden Border Ideas
1. Choose Tall-Growing Varieties for the Back of the Border
When planting a garden, you want there to be balance between the different heights of plants. I would go for some tall-growing varieties to plant in the back of the border. Check out this blog post about tall-growing cottage garden flowers.
2. Get Personal
Cottage gardens do not have to be perfectly polished. Therefore, you have quite a bit of freedom when it comes to planting. Think about what your favorite colors are. Do you love pastels or do you prefer darker colors? Is your favorite color pink or is it blue? What was your favorite flower growing up? Consider there questions and use your answers as a guideline when choosing which flowers to plant in your cottage garden border.
3. Plant Cottage Garden Classics
Some flowers immediately makes us think of cottage gardens. You are going to want to incorporate some of these flowers in your border. Foxgloves, roses, hollyhock, monkshood, bleeding hearts, and phlox… These are all beautiful and nostalgic classics that will look stunning in a cottage garden border. In this post I share the 15 best low-maintenance cottage garden flowers.
4. Always Have Something in Bloom
In order to have your cottage garden border look beautiful for as much of the year as possible, plan to always have something in bloom. Something that gives a pop of color. During springtime, you want spring-flowering bulbs like tulips, crocus and hyacinth. Early summer flowers include anemones, ranuncules and peonies. During the summer months, annuals like cosmos can take over the show. In addition to this, you can add a variety of self-seeding flowers (poppies, foxgloves, etc) and perennials that bloom during late summer and fall.
5. Decide on a Color Palette
The cottage garden style is carefree, but it doesn’t look messy. One of the best ways to achieve this is by deciding on a color palette. Choose 3-5 colors that you know work together. They can be shades within the same color family (dark pink, light pink, rose, etc.), or they could be contrasting colors (like purple and yellow). Use the color wheel as a guideline. The most important thing is to go with color you love and adore! And remember that contrast can add a lot of visual interest in a garden border.
6. Make Sure You Have Good Soil
The soil is the basis for any garden, and in order to have beautiful blooms all season long, you need to have healthy soil. Make sure to add high-quality compost. Organic would be the absolute best option. If you see earth worms and insects in your soil, it’s a good sign!
7. Incorpotate Natural Materials
In addition to cottage garden flowers, add natural materials to your border like rocks and wood. The edging of the border can be constructed from rustic logs or rocks. Add garden paths made out of gravel or woodchips.
8. Mix in Edible Plants
Mix in edible plants like herbs in your garden. Oregano, thyme, basil and mint are all great ideas. If you decide to plant mint, know that it will spread. To keep the mint contained, I would plant it in a seperate container or pot.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this post about cottage garden border ideas. Remember that a garden is there to provide you with visual joy and pleasure. It is your space to be creative and find recreation. Choose the plants and materials that make you smile! Check out my other cottage garden blog posts here for more inspiration 🙂
xx, Irene