Like their namesakes, cottage gardens tend to be compact, efficient, informal, and reflective of their designers’ personalities. The history of cottage gardens dates back at least to Elizabethan times; their origins are probably as humble as their first peasant designers.
Unlike classic formal English gardens, cottage gardens are intended to be low-maintenance: One doesn’t need a cadre of hired hands to maintain them.
While formal gardens are designed to impress visitors with their order and discipline (a notion rooted in the Classical philosophy that order must be imposed on chaos), cottage gardens are the offspring of Romanticism; they appeal more to the emotions than the intellect.
Perhaps just as importantly, cottage gardens originally contained plants that were also utilitarian: Medicinal and culinary plants—including fruit trees—were intermingled with flowers and other ornamentals. Cottage gardens were usually appended to the homes they served; one only needed to step out the door to take advantage of their beauty or bounty.
Of necessity, peasants practiced cottage gardening long before it became vogue with the affluent. Workers had little time to groom gardens that didn’t return at least a modicum of support to their owners. The gardens of the peasantry were practical as well as ornamental.
However, in the 18th century the well-heeled gentry joined the cottage-garden movement, and informal gardens became popular with people of all classes. In 1713, English poet Alexander Pope wrote of a need to adapt “the amiable simplicity of unadorned nature,” rather than imposing rigid rules on landscapes. (Reynolds, Myra. The Treatment of Nature in English Poetry Between Pope and Wordsworth. The University of Chicago press. p. 253)
Art had its influence on the evolution of cottage gardening, too. One of the most well-known cottage gardens was designed by the French Impressionist, Claude Monet, whose works were significantly influenced by the world just beyond his door.
Today, economic pressures are forcing people to turn to gardening as a means of increasing their self sufficiency. Cottage gardening lends itself well to this trend: Esthetically pleasing flowers can be planted alongside fruits and vegetables in a manner that brightens the spirits while simultaneously stocking the larder.
Basic Principles of Cottage Gardening
By definition, cottage gardens don’t adhere to a systematic approach, but a few guidelines apply:
- Consider the hardscape (rocks, local geography, stone walls, patios, decks and fences, statuary, etc.) in the garden’s design
- Remember the tenets of color theory when planting companion plants (i.e., use a color wheel to help smooth transitions from one hue to another within the garden); sometimes, however, it pays to step outside conventions and place clashing or even jarring colors side by side
- Plantings should ideally create pleasing transitions of form (i.e., weeping vs. upright), texture (coarsely-leafed vs. fine), and line (the technique of creating visual flows within the garden that draw the eye in certain directions)
- Use cultivars that are locally hardy
- Plants that will be harvested for food should remain accessible, even when other nearby plantings have matured
- Any plant that seems out of place as the garden develops can be moved (but keep in mind the relative permanence of larger specimens like trees and shrubs)
- A landscape architect or garden designer may be helpful, but is by no means required; a cottage garden should reflect its OWNER’S personality
Cottage gardens have been a part of the human landscape for hundreds of years. Like victory or freedom gardens, they can contribute foodstuffs in times of duress or shortage…
…and they are friendly refuges from the cares of a troubled world.
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