A cottage garden used to be a practical space supplying food and medicine but today this is a romanticized version of a country idyll, it’s copied across the world and shows off decorative, ornamental and edible plants with a focus on diversity.
Today a traditional cottage garden is a space, which is so relaxed that it seems to be wild, with plants and blooms that don’t look refined or polished and are planted casually here and there. Such a garden is a very peaceful and welcoming space, without any formal decor and fuss about looking perfect, it’s low-maintenance and won’t break the bank, and you can achieve such a look in your space without applying much effort.
What Are Cottage Garden Features?
First of all, it’s covering the ground in an unstructured way. No carefully manicured lawns, borders, elegant garden beds and strict color schemes, just a box of closely planted blooms and greenery of various colors. Second, incorporate weathered, rustic materials, vintage detailing, heirloom plants to create a kaleidoscope of hues and textures from the tangle of flowers and foliage.
A beautiful and lush garden featuring bold blooms, an arbor with some climbers and a simple gravel path that looks all-natural.
An arbor or a gate can be covered with lush blooming roses, this will be a spectacular feature for your garden.
This beautiful space shows off several types of flowers including pansies and chamomiles, a gravel path and a bird bath.
Create a little sitting space in the corner of the garden, use vintage garden furniture and surround it with planted and potted flowers.
The garden almost sinks in blue hydrangeas, the arobr is covered with green vines and the bird house adds a cute touch.
A lovely garden corner with shrubs, pink roses, chamomilesm liriope and a stone path is amazing.
Colorful climbing roses will let you have a blooming garden even if you don't have much space, just cover an arbor or a gate.
How To Create A Cottage Garden On A Budget?
A cottage garden is quite budget-friendly as you may grow a lot of plants from seed and exchange some with your neighbors. As this is a natural planting style, you can allow self-seeders to spread and leave only those that you like. Use reclaimed and natural materials for hard landscaping and upcycle or recycle items for your garden features. Remember that there are no rules, and you can do whatever you want to make the space suit your taste. Now let’s consider how to do that in detail.
The lovely and cozy nook features a weathered wooden bench, a crate with vintage teaware and some floral pillows plus lush greenery around.
A side yard done with greenery, tall and bold flowers and a vintage cage is a pretty addition to a cottage garden.
Create a garden dining zone sinking in blooms, here in chamomiles, and it will be your secrete space to escape to.
A gravel path lined up with greenery and some flowers, a broken pot art piece and a weathered wooden gate for a relaxed feeling.
This bright cottage garden shows off a gravel path with stones, some green groundcovers, allium, bold asters and poppies.
A garden path going amid lush and colorful flowers and some trees is a beautiful way to pull off cottage garden style.
A gravel path lined up with greenery and bright flowers leading to a wooden arbor that will be covered with roses growing on the side.
An informal garden with chamomiles, some wildflowers, an arch done with blush and deep purple climbers is a relaxed space.
A cottage garden path should look as natural as possible and rocking groundcovers will be a great solution in this case.
Choose Natural Planting
To make your garden look cottage-like, the plants should appear to have planted themselves. Plan the position of your big permanent plants, so your trees, roses and shrubs, first. Smaller flowers will be fitted in the spaces around these, fill in the gaps. Use high performance, tough plants – such as un-hybridized flowers that appeal to pollinators. Plan for a succession of blooms to maintain the effect of dense planting all year long.
A beautiful secret garden nook with vintage furniture, lush lilac and dahlias is a fab hidden gem.
A small outdoor space done with greenery and some non-bright flowers, with folding furniture and trees is a gorgeous cottage-inspired nook.
This small backyard is done with a tree and some bright flowers, mostly potted, with a stone bench and a fire pit and it's enough to spend a good time outdoors.
A waterfall with a little pond cladded with stone and surrounded with lush flowers look absolutely natural, as if they have always been there.
A stone cottage and a foss-like pond with a bridge, with bright flowers around look very natural and non-manmade at all.
Such a cottage front yard with bright flowers and a bird bath will add a bold touch and curb appeal to your house.
This space is inspired by classic English cottage gardens and shows off a rough stone path amid bright and not too formal flowers, with a garden decoration at the end.
An extremely lush and chic blooming garden with a weathered wood pergola and dining set shows how to style a shady cottage garden.
Make Paths
Prefer stone, old bricks, gravel or grass for your garden paths to offer a visual relief to the exuberance of the planting in a larger cottage garden design. Make winding paths that will be barely visible in summer between the blooms. Place some focal point at the end of the path – a pond, a bench or make a water feature like a waterfall or pond clad with stone.
A waterfall just like any other water feature will always add interest with its look and sound, whatever garden you want to style.
A lush and wild-looking cottage garden presents a neutral gravel path that helps bright yellow flowers stand out.
This cute vintage pastel dining zone is located on the edge of a whole flower field, which looks dreamy and gorgeous.
A rough stone path goes amid lush pink roses and creates a feeling that this is an old and quite wild garden.
Pink roses and lavender pair beautifully creating a lovely pastel backdrop in your garden, and hardscaping is done with gravel and stone for a natural feel.
Choose to plant blooms without creating any defined and formal garden beds for a more relaxed and cute look.
A small pond with a weathered bridge show off greenery on one side and lilac blooms on the other side.
This tiny and absolutely natural-looking pond is clad with stone and accented with bright purple pansies by its side.
A little pond with a stone wall next to it, with lush greenery and various types of flowers is a cool decor feature for a cottage garden.
Add Garden Accessories
Ornaments, such as a rustic birdbath, sundial or seat, add focus among all the flowers, helping to break up the intensity of the planting and provide a place to rest the eye. Upcycle and recycle old things to make your garden look more relaxed.
A bright garden with lots of bright blooms, planted and potted ones, with vintage garden furniture and a tree is a fab and sweet space.
A relaxed reading nook with just a chair and some books can be placed in any part of your cottage garden, just don't make it polished.
A lush and chic cottage garden with lavender, asters and other blooms and shrubs, with blooming groundcovers and a flagstone path.
Incorporate vintage vases, pots and baskets into your garden styling if you want an eye-catchy touch.
This amazing seating arbor is covered with climbing roses and surrounded with blooms to match a lovely cottage garden.
A pretty and fairy-tale gardne nook with lush greenery, some potted flowers, a cage and climbers feels like a secret hidden space.
Accentuate The Vertical
Add height with a romantic arbor, arches, pergolas or obelisks draped in scented climbing plants, such as roses, honeysuckle or jasmine. But use these features sparingly so the whole effect doesn’t become too hectic.
This beautiful space along the fence shows off some poppies and liriope, a stone path with groundcovers and bold foliage.
A flagstone path is a perfect idea for a cottage garden, line it up with some green shrubs and perhaps lavender or liriope for a bit of color.
A stone path lined up with liriope, clover and greenery is a cool solution for a cottage garden.
A welcoming nook styled with a vintage bench, pastel hydrangeas, greenery and foliage plus some bee hives is gorgeous.
A wild-looking garden showing liriope, pink roses climbing up the arch and a bird bath as a pond with water plants.
A modern cottage-inspired garden with a wooden bench, various wildflowers and greenery plus ferns is a lovely nook with a relaxed feel.
A farmhouse space with a bench, a fence with benches and an arch covered with wisteria, with purple iris and pansies is adorable.
A wooden arbor done with puplr climbers will be a gorgeous color statement in any garden, especially in a cottage one.