Creating a cottage garden: ideas and tips for your rustic outdoor oasis

A cottage garden intuitively invites us to walk in. He says to us: Come, stay a while! Such a garden is free-ranging, informal, generous and not stingy. The colorful profusion may be what you notice first. Vines climb porch posts, roses twine over arbors, flowers flood the beds in company with herbs and delicious berries. Cottage gardens are personal and inclusive. They are bursting with color and their happy jumble complements the character of the home. Old-fashioned hollyhocks and delphiniums, irises and hydrangeas, catnip and carnations… selected according to local growing conditions, the magnificent blossoms and lush greenery enchant us. Today we give you a few good tips on how to create an atmospheric cottage garden. Stay tuned to find out more about this laid-back garden paradise!

Create a cottage garden and enjoy the rustic atmosphere to the fullest

create a cottage garden plants and flowers

What are the advantages of creating a cottage garden?

If you’re still not quite sure if you’re ready for a cottage garden, be sure to check out these benefits:

Cottage gardens are personal

No garden in this style is like the other. In fact, not a single cottage garden will be the same a few years in a row. The plants will evolve and the balance between them will go up and down. So individual and free!

A romantic seating area fits in very well

garden path and bench in the cottage garden

A cottage garden is less expensive

Although you won’t have an immediate effect, with a few packets of seeds and a little patience, you can start a cottage garden. Even if you can afford some anchor plants like rose bushes or flowering shrubs, you can temporarily use less expensive plants to fill in the vacant space. Self-seeding also grows quickly and you can divide and propagate perennials every year. Find a friend or two or neighbors with similar tastes to plant and swap seeds and sowings to expand your palette.

Cottage gardens do not have to be perfectly maintained

You want your garden to be tidy, but you don’t want it to be immaculate. So nobody notices if there are a few weeds or a plant has to be staked out. A cottage garden can be described simply as an orderly chaos. You feel relaxed and happy in it at the same time.

A summer dream of flowers and scents

create a small cottage garden with suitable plants

Creating a cottage garden: practical ideas and tips

The charm of a cottage garden is obvious. A variety of flowers and scents welcome you home and greet you every time you open your door. If you want to add a rustic flair to your home, you can simply start by placing a small flower bed on either side of the garden path. So you can expand this little garden oasis over time. From there, you can design additional pathways and seating areas, as well as add other personal touches. Here are some of the most important points when creating the cottage garden, which can definitely help you:

Start small. A cottage garden does not have to be very large, you can always add more elements later if you decide to do so. Keep a bit of sod to break up each area and avoid straight lines when planning your garden plot.
Use a good mix of plants, including a variety of fragrant flowers. Start by planting these in large groups to avoid a mess. Mediterranean plants or succulents are quite suitable for warmer regions.
Repeat both plants and colors to create a sense of flow and harmony. Don’t forget to add taller plants too. So the eye moves up and down instead of seeing a flat plane.

Various types of roses register particularly well here

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Add some narrow paths for weeding. Choose path material that complements your garden and home. Traditional materials include brick, stone, gravel or earth.
Provide some structure with small trees, shrubs or vines. Evergreen plants do quite well in this context.
Give the garden the finishing touch by adding decorative accents. Hedges, rustic fences or even a wall serve as a background, which puts the garden in focus. Because of the informality of a cottage garden, you can decorate it with all kinds of found and used items. Antiques, rocking chairs and bird baths are some of the most popular classics.

Add more authentic flavor to your garden

create a cottage garden garden decoration ideas

Which flowers and plants are best for a cottage garden?

Cottage gardens contain a variety of plants that delight all the senses and create a natural, relaxed atmosphere. A variety of herbs offer enticing aromas and are often great ground covers. Small fruit trees, flowering shrubs such as roses and jasmine and ornamental grasses are of great importance to create structure in the cottage garden. Deciduous trees, like crape myrtle or redbuds, add textural height and make for beautiful fall foliage.

Shrubs like lilacs also provide a textural backbone to the garden. Evergreen shrubs can be interesting year-round and provide an appealing backdrop for flowers. Annuals like marigolds, snapdragons, cosmos, nasturtiums, alyssum, poppies and more offer tons of eye-popping colors.

Diverse perennials in the cottage garden ensure long-lasting support and come back every year. Combine those that bloom at different times of the year to ensure lasting color in the garden. Popular perennials when creating a cottage garden are phlox, bleeding heart, mallow, foxglove and columbine.

Diverse perennials ensure more dynamism and abundance in your own garden

creating a cottage garden bird bath flowers and plants

Using herbs and veggies not only adds an extra rustic charm, but also makes the space more useful and saves a bit of money on your grocery bill during the warmer seasons.

Don’t forget the beautiful flowering vines. Try honeysuckle, wisteria, morning glory or clematis. And of course climbing roses should not be missing in any cottage garden.

Prefer bee-friendly flowers and perennials!

create a cottage garden bee-friendly plants

Now that you’ve checked out all of these ideas and tips, it’ll be much easier to create your own cottage garden. Even the smallest of them can give you a lot of garden fun and countless hours of relaxation.

We wish you every success and a wonderful time in the garden!

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Create the garden dream you have dreamed of so often

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Give your cottage garden that special touch!

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Romantic seats in the garden provide even more charm and unforgettable moments

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