Living in the Cotswolds, I naturally come across a lot of cottage gardens as part of my job. There’s no doubt that it’s still a very popular style.
Of course, as Andrew Sankey points out in his book The English Cottage Garden, today’s idea of what that means is far removed from the original, which owed more to necessity than appearance.
Rather than the “idealistic Victorian image”, the first cottage gardens were no more than “simple productive gardens”.
I was given a copy in return for a fair review.
Yet, Andrew, a designer and chair of the Lincolnshire branch of the Cottage Garden Society, argues that what made them successful as a way of providing for a family, is what makes them still relevant today.
The plants that were grown were tough and needed little tending, it was a style that wasted no space in what were generally small plots, and was cheap given that it relied on self-sown plants to fill gaps.
Cottage gardens are ideal for a “flexible, easy maintenance and year-round interest garden”.
The English Cottage Garden opens with an overview of the history of the style from the original medieval plots through to modern gardens that don’t even need a cottage to qualify.
Having established the background, the book goes on to outline how to go about creating your own, covering everything from getting the underlying structure right to what plants to choose and how to combine them.
Woven through are case studies of gardens. Some were given the ‘cottage style’ makeover with before and after photographs and design plans showing how the transformation was achieved.
Other studies concentrate on individual planting plans with tips such as using colour to play with the perception of space, and repeated planting to unify a border.
The section on what to grow is exhaustive covering what are traditional plants – think foxgloves and hollyhocks – why companion planting is beneficial and what to use, and includes recommendations for, among others, varieties of geranium, roses and dahlias.
It finishes with suggested gardens to visit for inspiration and an appendix of plants for different areas, such as dry shade.
Unlike many modern gardening books, this is not one that delivers its information in bite-sized chunks and the layout is traditional. However, if you want to know anything about cottage gardens from what they are to how to make them, it is a truly comprehensive guide.
The English Cottage Garden by Andrew Sankey is published by The Crowood Press with an RRP of £25. You can buy it here for £18.99 (If you buy via this link, I get a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.)
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