Cottage Garden Plants

Cottage garden plants are a cheery reminder of our childhood. The wonderful eclectic mix of colours all work harmoniously in the cottage garden. It would be hard to imagine an English cottage without the floral jumble of plants to welcome you.

Cottage plants would have been mostly herbs and vegetables in old cottage gardens. The cottager worked hard all day and the only the most productive plants would do. Herbs were used for medicinal purposes, for flavouring food and for their aroma. The vegetables from the garden gave extra nourishment for the family. They had little time for growing flowers.

Flowering herbs would be grown first then later flowering plants would be introduced. Flowering plants were chosen only if they did not need too much attention. They had to be hardy, attractive, and be able to grow without much fuss and attention. Flowering plants that self sow are very welcome in the English cottage garden.

The best type of plants are herbaceous plants. In the past flowering plants would have been passed along by the gardener at the manor house then by the cottager to another neighbouring cottager.

The cottager used simple gardening techniques to keep the cottage garden low maintenance and always worked with nature when preparing the soil and gardening.

This chapter is dedicated to the plants found in the cottage garden. In here you will find information about the plants and flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit found in the traditional English cottage garden.