How to Design an Old-Fashioned Cottage Garden | Gardener's Path

20.06.2023 - 04:35 / gardenerspath.com / Mike Quinn

There’s nothing more appealing than the building and landscape designs of yesteryear, especially when this applies to an old-fashioned cottage garden.

Once implemented solely for its usefulness, with edible plants as the primary ingredient, today’s version has remained much the same with exception to the fact that most gardeners nowadays seem to use their growing spaces more for their cheerful, relaxing qualities than their usefulness in the kitchen.

The cottage garden today provides a quiet sanctuary from the chaos associated with modern times. The only chaos here comes from the assortment of informal plantings.

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Rustic (or romantic) structures such as arbors are traditional mainstays, as well as the occasional found object weaved in here and there.

You don’t necessarily have to live out in the country in order to create one of these old-timey gardens. In fact, you can just as easily live in an urban environment.

Cottage gardens are well suited to either one, however, it’s more the home itself rather than space that will determine whether or not this landscape style is right for you.

Cottages of all types, log homes, and those having a country style of another sort will easily find themselves right at home with this informal design. More modern dwellings, however, may not complement this type of landscape.

A cottage garden should be located in a sunny area, usually along a walkway towards the front entrance and embellished with a rustic-looking gate or arbor of some kind.

The path leading up to the front door is normally characterized by