English
Cottage Gardening by Ena Clewes
In
the days of old England, many of the workers in small villages
were called Peasants and they would own small houses with very
small gardens. These gardens would have to supply the family with
all of their gardening needs. The kitchen garden,would consist
of vegetables and mixed fruits. In amongst this array of produce
they would also grow flowers.
The
most popular flowers would be hollyhocks, delphiniums, daisies
and also an array of herbs, mint being one of the most popular.
With
their mystical charm and abundance of scents, English cottage
gardens exhibited a style that evolved through the necessity of
the times.
Many
families would have gone hungry if they had not had the benefit
of their home grown produce.
Unlike
the peasant gardens, the gardens of the landowners or gentry,
would be very formal with box hedges, straight lines,stone paths
and many with wonderful statues depicting the gods of ancient
times. They would also have fountains with water flowing into
a lake or pond.
They
were considered by some, to be classic with their order and discipline.
When
the more romantic influence came into being, plants were considered
to affect us emotionally, and the cottage garden was born out
of this movement.
One
of the most famous cottage gardens was designed by the French
impressionist Painter, Claude Monet, (1840-1926).
The
cottage gardens,with their abundance of roses, growing over fences,
their vine covered arbors with flowers climbing towards the sun,
are now emulated in North America.
Their
informal style of tall wonderful perennials many battling it out
for space in the back of the borders creating a profusion of textures
and substance, the smaller plants in the front of the borders
determined to lift their heads to the sun, not to be outdone by
their taller cousins, all this creates a palette of color, that
would be very hard to outdo.
The
other advantage to having this kind of garden, is it reduces the
amount of weeds that grow, as the branching out of the plants
hides the sun from getting through to the ground and therefore
snuffs out the chances of weeds germinating.
To
create a cottage garden, don’t be afraid to plant seeds close
together as this creates the effect you are looking for, go for
a variety of shapes, plant feathery plants amidst spiky ones,
use bold leaf plants with delicate ones, put a sprawling plant
next to an upright one.
The
best rule of thumb is to plant tall at the back and short in the
front of your borders, and medium height plants in the middle.
In most cases, try to plant in odd numbers of three or five etc.
and in very large borders try groupings of up to seven or nine
of the same plant, this gives depth and structure to your borders.
Also keep foliage in mind, some gardeners say that foliage is
more important than blooms. I tend to disagree as the site of
colored blossoms, nodding in the breeze and turning their faces
up to the sun is more satisfying to me.
In
the end it all comes down to personal taste, but whether you like
straight line gardening, formal gardening or cottage gardening,
get your hands dirty, and have fun!
I
am a transplanted Scot, living in Ontario on a farm of 200 acres.
I have created a 2 acre English country garden from farmers
fields over the past 6 years. I have written a gardening column
for the local newspaper over 6 years and have answered many
gardening questions. I also speak and give seminars on the subject,
to gardening clubs etc. I have had small articles published
in magazines, over the years, based on my personal views on
my travels and adventures. My gardens are open to the public
in summer when I receive many visitors.
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