Saturday, June 1, 2019

This Month in the Garden-Cottage Gardening: A Timeless Tradition of Past and Present

Cottage Style Gardening
Welcome to This Month in the Garden! The very familiar and popular concept known as “cottage style" gardening actually dates back to the 14th century prior to Elizabethan times. The earliest cottage gardens had more emphasis on vegetables, herbs and fruit trees, and were thought to be created by workers for the purpose of growing food for household consumption. Unlike today, flowers were occasionally used to fill spaces simply for decoration. In later years, the Cottage style garden was more admired for its informal design, dense traditional plantings, and mixture of ornamental and edible plants. During the 1870’s, cottage gardens went through a major transformation with the development of formal estate gardens, which led to the planting of masses of greenhouse annuals and roses enclosed in “garden rooms” consisting of boxwood hedge. The Arts and Crafts movement during the late 19th century focused on a return to the informal romantic planting style of the traditional English garden and well-known 19 century authors such as William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll helped to popularize cottage garden design as we know it today.
Thatched Cottage at Old Westbury Gardens, Long Island, NY
By the early 20th century the term "cottage garden" was described to be a large and sophisticated garden in which color harmony were carefully planned and controlled. The famous 1910 Hidcote Manor in the United Kingdom is one of the best-known and most influential Arts and Crafts gardens in Britain, with its linked "garden rooms" of hedges, rare trees, shrubs and herbaceous borders. Vita-Sackville-West, English poet, novelist, and garden designer had implemented similar models for her 1930’s cottage garden at Sissinghurst Castle, where her idea of a cottage garden was a place where, as she put it, "the plants grow in a jumble, flowering shrubs mingled with Roses, herbaceous plants with bulbous subjects, climbers scrambling over hedges, seedlings coming up wherever they have chosen to sow themselves". The cottage garden in France was a development of the early 20th century Monet's garden, a sprawling garden full of varied plantings, rich colors, and water gardens. In modern times, the term "cottage garden" is used to describe any number of informal garden styles, using design and plants very different from their traditional English cottage garden origins.
Allium in Walled Garden Old Westbury Garden

Modern cottage gardens are associated with an assortment of roses: shrub roses, climbing roses, and old garden roses with lush foliage. The newer hybrid English roses introduced by David Austin are very popular in modern day cottage gardens because of their old-fashioned look with multi-petaled, fragrant, rosette-shaped flowers combined with hardiness and disease-resistance. Many modern cottage gardens also include the use of native plantings and those adapted to the local climate. Other plants incorporated into cottage style gardens include hedging plants such as boxwood, holly, Hawthorn, Elderberry, laurel and Privet. Flowering herbs and perennials in include lavender, catmint, thyme, sage, wormwood, feverfew, lungwort, hyssop, and sweet woodruff. Fruiting trees include the planting of crabapple, dogwood and cherry. 
Cottage/Traditional Style Perennial Border
A well-planned cottage garden can be a beautiful addition to your space and be a great haven for pollinators, such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. As a landscape designer, I try to incorporate a mix of "cottage style" plantings with traditional plantings to create a colorful garden which has all season interest and requires less maintenance. A favorite hybrid garden I created is this mix of perennials with evergreen and flowering shrubs. A weeping Pussy Willow is surrounded by fragrant deep pink Peony 'Karl Rosenfeld' with an understory of colorful purple 'Salvia May Night'. A natural stone path leads from the patio to lawn area and is followed by a collection of Peony 'Bartzella', Astilbe, Daylily, Allium, Salvia and Lamb's Ear, accompanied by the decorative foliage of Hosta. 
 Clockwise (Left to Right: Allium 'Globemaster', Lamb's Ear, Astilbe 'Visions in Red', Stella D' Oro Daylily, Peony 'Karl Rosenfeld', Salvia 'May Night' and Peony 'Bartzella')

Although often overlooked, plant form is another useful attribute. An extension of the garden incorporates various colorful weeping, globe and spreading evergreens, such as Weeping Norway Spruce, Juniper, Chamaecyparis, Blue Globe Spruce and Dwarf White Pine. Ornamental/Flowering shrubs include hydrangea, rhododendron, azalea, weeping Japanese Maple, Dogwood, Crape Myrtle, flowering Plum and Cherry. Masses of perennials in odd numbers of three, five and seven offer an informal cottage-garden feel throughout the garden, while the color and texture of evergreens and flowering shrubs add an update to the traditional style. Ornamental grasses can also be incorporated to create interest and flow while planters with herbs can be added and used for cooking. Cottage gardening has evolved over the centuries, but remains a timeless tradition, and the right combination of colorful perennials, evergreens and flowering shrubs can create an informal and inviting atmosphere.

Extension of Garden

I hope you enjoyed This Month in the Garden for June. Be sure to stop by on the 1st. of each month for This Month in the Garden, as I share gardening tips, information and horticultural adventures! Linking with:  Floral FridaysMacro Monday 2Friday Photo JournalImage-in-ing Weekly Photo Link-Up and Dishing It & Digging It.

Visit My Author Page/Purchase My Books

~As Always...Happy Gardening! ~

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening,© Copyright 2010-2019. All rights reserved.

20 comments:

  1. Lovely article, Lee, and one dear to my heart, as you know! You are right that cottage style gardening dates back to the 14th century, but those were not Elizabethan times. The Elizabethan era was the 16th century as Elizabeth I reined in the fifteen hundreds. Easy mistake for someone who did not sit through all those English history lessons as a child as I did. You give wonderful information, dear friend. Please enjoy June in your beautiful garden. P.x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your insight dear friend. I adjusted that line to read that cottage gardening started prior to Elizabethan times. It really is a timeless tradition and I do know it is a passion of yours. One can easily tell with your beautiful cottage style gardens!

      Delete
  2. Hello there!
    What a gorgeous and informative gardening post.
    I loved reading the history of cottage gardening. Thank you for sharing!

    I don't live in the North, but I do garden a bit in my Southern area and appreciate the diversity all over our land. We live in the foothills of the Smoky Mtns.

    Have a lovely weekend!
    Toni

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting Toni, and I am glad you enjoyed This Month in the Garden for June. It must be beautiful where you live and the gardens too!

      Delete
  3. What a great, informative post, Lee. I'm so glad to have found your blog. I cherish it even more as I say goodbye to my own garden. Happy June!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Rita. I wish you happiness with your new home and look forward to all your new adventures!

      Delete
  4. I think you would say my garden is a cottage garden. I love that style. I know my garden is a mish mash of plants that I love no matter what it is called. I do admire the way you incorporate evergreens in your garden. I have so much shade that evergreens aren't too happy here but I can't stop myself from planting them. Ha.. Happy June.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa-Thank you for visiting. Your garden is beautiful and I love your collection of lillies! I have always had a fondness for the Asiatic variety that you have so many of.

      Delete
  5. Pretty garden colors! And, thanks for the info, too, there's so much to know about gardens!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love love Love! Spotted lambs ear in there! Lovely cottage and garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for stopping by! I enjoyed visiting your blog and your post on the Georgia Botanical Gardens is wonderful!

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Me too! It is one of my favorite things to see when I visit the gardens. I love that it was once a playhouse!

      Delete
  8. Lovely. I especially love the allium - they are so striking.
    Thanks for linking up at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2019/06/pop-art-i-dont-get-it.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Il cottage è bellissimo e quella peonia gialla è incredibile! Complimenti!

    Ti auguro una buona Domenica :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Gabriele. I am glad you enjoyed your visit! Have a great week!

      Delete

Thank you for visiting. I love reading your comments and knowing you have been here, and will try to reciprocate on your blog. If you have any questions I will try my very best to answer them. As always...HAPPY GARDENING!