The Best Flowers to Grow for an English Cottage-Style Garden
The Best Flowers to Grow for an English Cottage-Style Garden
Creating an English cottage-style garden is all about evoking charm, nostalgia, and timeless beauty. This garden style embraces a relaxed, informal aesthetic with a profusion of colorful, fragrant, and easy-to-grow flowers. If you're dreaming of a garden filled with the quintessential English cottage vibe, here’s a list of the best flowers to grow that will help you achieve that picturesque look.
1. Roses
Varieties: Climbing Roses, Hybrid Teas, and David Austin Roses
Why They Work: Roses are the epitome of classic beauty and sophistication. They add a romantic touch with their luxurious blooms and delightful fragrance. Climbing varieties are perfect for trellises and arbors, while hybrid teas and English roses bring elegance to any garden bed.
2. Lavender
Varieties: English Lavender, French Lavender
Why They Work: Lavender offers a soothing fragrance and beautiful, calming hues of purple. It also attracts pollinators like bees and butterflies, adding to the garden’s vibrancy. Its silver-green foliage complements other plants beautifully.
3. Peonies
Varieties: Herbaceous Peonies, Intersectional Peonies
Why They Work: Peonies are known for their large, fragrant blooms and lush, full petals. They come in a variety of colors, including pink, white, and red, making them perfect for creating a romantic and elegant garden space.
4. Delphiniums
Varieties: Pacific Giant, New Zealand
Why They Work: Delphiniums add vertical interest to the garden with their tall spikes of colorful flowers in shades of blue, purple, pink, and white. They create a dramatic effect and provide a striking contrast to shorter plants.
5. Hollyhocks
Varieties: Single-Flowering, Double-Flowering
Why They Work: Hollyhocks offer a nostalgic touch with their towering, colorful blooms. They are ideal for adding height and creating a backdrop of vibrant colors in the garden. Their classic look is synonymous with traditional English gardens.
6. Foxgloves
Varieties: Digitalis purpurea, Digitalis grandiflora
Why They Work: Foxgloves are known for their elegant, bell-shaped flowers that come in various shades, including pink, purple, white, and yellow. They add a whimsical, fairytale quality to your garden with their unique shape and height.
7. Sweet Peas
Varieties: Spencer, Old-Fashioned
Why They Work: Sweet peas bring a delightful fragrance and a variety of soft colors to the garden. Their climbing habit makes them ideal for trellises, fences, or mixed with other flowers to create a charming, cottage-like feel.
8. Dianthus
Varieties: Carnation, Pinks
Why They Work: Dianthus flowers are known for their frilled petals and spicy fragrance. They come in a range of colors from pink and red to white, making them perfect for creating a colorful, cheerful garden.
9. Campanula
Varieties: Bellflower, Canterbury Bells
Why They Work: Campanulas offer a lovely bell-shaped flower that adds a delicate, airy feel to the garden. They come in various colors, including blue, purple, pink, and white, and are excellent for filling in gaps and adding softness.
10. Shasta Daisies
Varieties: Snowcap, Snowland
Why They Work: Shasta daisies are a staple in cottage gardens due to their classic daisy shape and cheerful white and yellow blooms. They add a touch of simplicity and charm, complementing other flowers beautifully.
11. Larkspur
Varieties: Tall Larkspur, Dwarf Larkspur
Why They Work: Larkspur adds a touch of old-world charm with its tall, colorful spires. They come in shades of blue, purple, pink, and white, creating a striking contrast with other flowers and adding vertical interest.
12. Nigella (Love-in-a-Mist)
Varieties: Miss Jekyll, Persian Jewels
Why They Work: Nigella’s intricate flowers and feathery foliage add a touch of whimsy and texture. Their unique appearance, with delicate petals and seed pods, makes them a favorite in traditional gardens.
13. Heliotrope
Varieties: Marine, Fragrant
Why They Work: Heliotropes offer a sweet fragrance and lovely clusters of small flowers in shades of purple, blue, and white. They are perfect for adding a subtle scent and vibrant color to garden beds.
14. Astrantia
Varieties: Major, Roma
Why They Work: Astrantias, also known as Masterworts, have intricate, star-shaped flowers and are ideal for adding a touch of elegance and sophistication. They thrive in shady or partially shaded areas, making them versatile.
15. Asters
Varieties: New England Aster, Michaelmas Daisy
Why They Work: Asters provide a burst of late-season color with their daisy-like flowers in vibrant shades of purple, pink, blue, and white. They are excellent for extending the bloom season and adding brightness in the fall.
16. Scabiosa
Varieties: Pincushion Flower, Butterfly Blue
Why They Work: Scabiosas offer unique, pincushion-like flowers that attract butterflies and add a distinctive touch to the garden. They come in shades of blue, pink, and white, making them versatile and eye-catching.
17. Verbena
Varieties: Verbena bonariensis, Verbena hastata
Why They Work: Verbena’s clusters of small flowers on tall stems add a modern touch while fitting perfectly into the cottage garden style. They provide a long-lasting color display and attract pollinators.
18. Calendula
Varieties: Orange King, Pacific Beauty
Why They Work: Calendulas, or pot marigolds, offer bright, cheerful blooms in shades of orange and yellow. They are easy to grow, provide a pop of color, and are known for their medicinal properties.
19. Gaillardia (Blanket Flower)
Varieties: Goblin, Arizona Sun
Why They Work: Gaillardias are known for their vibrant, daisy-like flowers with bold, fiery colors. They are perfect for adding a touch of drama and warmth to your garden.
20. Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan)
Varieties: Goldsturm, Cherokee Sunset
Why They Work: Rudbeckias bring a cheerful, sun-like quality to the garden with their bright yellow or orange petals and dark centers. They are hardy and easy to grow, adding both color and texture.
21. Wallflowers
Varieties: Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve', Erysimum 'Golden Glow'
Why They Work: Wallflowers are known for their sweet fragrance and vibrant colors, which range from yellow and orange to purple and red. They are ideal for filling in gaps and adding a splash of color.
To create an enchanting English cottage-style garden, choose a mix of these classic flowers that offer a blend of color, fragrance, and charm. Combining traditional blooms with a touch of whimsy and texture will help you achieve that quintessential cottage garden look. With a little planning and creativity, your garden can become a delightful, timeless space where beauty and nature come together harmoniously. 🌸🏡🌿