Advice to create cottage garden look

[Tryingtohelp23]

I moved into my house last summer and last autumn dug out a whole bed of raspberry canes. I’d like it plant it so there’s colour and fragrance through the summer & love the English cottage garden look - old fashioned roses, hollyhocks, lupins, forgetmenots, cornflowers - the kind of plants I remember from my childhood. Where and how do I start given that the bed is empty now? Many thanks for any advice - this is all new to me.

First year in new house I dug put a whole bed. I bought some perennials from local nursery, lupins, rudbeckia, lavatera …. And popped them in. Then scattered a whole load of wildlower seeds. It looked fantastic. Sunny border which helped. Poppies, nigella, calendula…etc

I also grew some cosmos from seed, started them off in pots indoors.

This year stuff has grown so less space to fill!

Following for ideas.

When I did this, I put in a couple of small shrubs at the back, that were easily pruned. Philadelphus and Daphne, both scented, if there’s not enough space an evergreen Hebe would do the job. I then thought of the flowers you’ve identified and put in two climbing roses, City of York and Claire Austin.
The beauty of a cottage garden look is that it can be so random, at the moment the spring bulbs are up, the forget me knots are about to send up flower spikes, they just self seed so are easy. Peonies, will come later, as will Alliums. Persicaria is a useful plant that wanders through the bed. Thalictrums are pretty and give height to the border as do Phlox. I’ve also planted some random small rose bushes. Small plants in the from could be old fashion pinks, which smell devine, small Crainsbill geranium Elkie which is really pretty,
Add in some scattered seeds and it should look beautiful.

This may be a really expensive way of buying, it sure, but on another thread I saw someone recommend this and think it looks good (I’m a total novice)

There’s even an English Cottage garden one…

www.gardenonaroll.com/

not sure

Brilliant and wild is a good book if your garden/border is sunny.

Good things is to think height and movement. Grasses, verbena, tall salvias. Rosemary is great for bees and gives some evergreen structure. Garden centres are great for ideas, but buying bare root perennials is cheaper. It’s a good time to buy that now. Plant lots of summer bulbs…and make a note to buy daffodils, alliums and crocus bulbs in the autumn.

Oooh, brilliant idea for a thread! I've just moved and this is exactly what I'd like to do! Following!

Have you got room for an archway to grow a rose up?

It is easy to get carried away by the thought of summer flowers but don't forget to plant for the rest of the year, too. Have some shrubs with winter leaves, flowers or berries. Have a small fruit tree with spring blossom. Have spring and autumn bulbs.

Old fashioned sweet peas like cupani grown up a wigwam are a great look and scent.

Zaluzianskya (night phlox) is very pretty, and gives amazing evening scent.

Right now you can start your sweet peas in loo roll tubes, Sarah Raven has a decent advice section for sweet peas.

Cupani, from last summer.

definitely a small fruit tree, or a small flowering cherry. I've got a weeping crab apple that casts very little shade but looks spectacular in spring.

I've also just put in a winter flowering cherry that is flowering now. a prunus autumnalis - but it won't cast much shade either. So I can grow stuff underneath. I've also got far too many roses for the space.

Nepetea (cat mint) and alchemilla mollis are also both brilliant ground cover.

But definitely think height. And also sow some seeds. Nigella sown in about a month in any gaps will look fantastic and frothy. Calendula is bomb proof and will self seed around. Aquilegias - but one plant and you'll never be without one.

I’ve love to do this. I’ve some patches of garden that need redesign. Was planning on some cosmos and perennials.

Following. I would love to do this in a few patches I need to sort out.

I’d get some David Austin rose bare roots in the ground now, they will flower come summer. Have a look at gardenthirtythree on instagram she is very clever at putting together cottage garden borders that work through the seasons.

You've a wonderful adventure ahead of you, dare I call you 'my dear young thing' and the rewards will, I'm sure be fab.

I'd advise starting with structures such as trellis near the back (or centre if the bed is not by a border) on which you can grown climbers like clematis or honeysuckle. David Austin roses are the absolute bees' knees. Look at shrubs like box or holly (bit of topiary if you're feeling ambitious!) as these'll look good in the winter.

Continuation of plants is something to aim for - it took me years to get this right and was helped by moving to a house where the previous owners had been keen gardeners so much of the planting had been done for me. Look at other gardens in your local area to see which plants are likely to do well. Plant with plenty of space between as things which are happy will spread, don't worry about it looking 'bitty and bobby' to start with. It'll soon look lovely.

Thank you for all your comments and advice. Really inspiring! Good luck to others watching and wanting to do the same thing. 🐌 🌸 🌳 ☀️ 🐝

I will come up with a better reply later as I'm supposed to be cooking dinner but, with cottage gardening, there are really no rules, other than common sense of shorter at the front and if you like it, have it!

If the border is sunny the world is your oyster

Lupin, cosmos grow easily from seed, as does hollyhock but they may not flower the first year. I buy plug plants on eBay as well but I've a green house to bring things on.

Decide if you want it to be year-round, or what season(s) first. Maybe 3 months of summer blooming is actually what you want. But maybe you really want it to look nice year round, or a full out winter border...it’s really important to be sure of what you want first. It’s very difficult to have the same 20 sq meters looking Muss Marple perfect from June to August, then New England autumn, then amazing winter garden, then resembling the Holland bulb fields crossed with Japanese cherry blossom in spring. You can have it really nice year-round, or breathtaking spectacular for a season... but probably not both.

Placemarking as I'm moving to a new build in the summer and want to make a cottage style garden there around making it child-friendly (so no foxgloves or delphs, boo!). I'll start my own thread once I've worked out where's wet/dry/shady/sunny but it's southeast facing so hopefully will be able to pinch some of the excellent advice shared here already!

If you have a slug / snail problem avoid lupins and delphiniums as they are very tasty.