Grow An English Garden.
 (Read 250+ times)
By ena clewes
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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!
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Ena Clewes - I am a transplanted Scot, living in Ontario on a farm where I have an English country garden. I have a passion for gardening, and try to encourage others to feel the same. I have met many gardeners in my travels and find that no matter where we are, we all seem to have the same problems!
I write articles on gardening for magazines and newspapers and I also enjoy giving talks to local garden clubs, on my favourite topics. I have many visitors to my garden, and not all of them have two legs! I have many creatures in my ponds and wildlife in my flower gardens but I do enjoy watching them from my kitchen window. I feel that being able to get my hands dirty and create something from a tiny seed that will give pleasure in years to come, is a joy unto itself.
" Make your garden green"
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Author Bio Box: ena clewes
Ena Clewes
Expert Author with Ezines.com
Writer and Master gardener.
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