The cottage garden style is back! This romantic, abundant garden style, originating in the English countryside, fits perfectly with Dutch and Belgian gardens. You don't need an English estate to create this look. With our hardy perennials, you can create a beautiful cottage garden that blooms all season and perfectly suits our climate.
In this guide, you'll learn how to create the quintessential cottage garden atmosphere with plants that thrive here. Think of abundant borders full of peonies, coneflowers, delphiniums, and lavender, alternating in a seemingly wild but carefully chosen mix of colors and textures.
Designing your own garden - the joy is in the process
It is often a challenge for a novice gardener to design a border or an entire garden. But remember that your garden is a masterpiece in the making. It's not finished all at once, and it's the process of getting to know plants and adding new things that builds your dream garden over the years. That's what all those seasoned gardeners love so much about their hobby. The joy is in the process!
In this blog, we'll help you get started with choosing some basic elements for your garden. A cottage-style border is built up with different heights, plant structures, and flowering times. This way, you get depth, flowers all year round, and a beautiful appearance.
Step 1. Your foundation
Always start by getting to know your garden. Where in the garden will you plant a border? How big is this space? How many hours of sun do you have there, and what kind of soil? This information is the basis for which plants you choose, so you know that the plants will grow well in this spot.
If you've taken over an existing garden, we recommend making some space here and there for new plants, but not removing all established ones. Do you have a new garden or border? Then you have a clean slate to start with. In that case, in addition to a few strong perennials, also choose some shrubs and trees to fill your garden.
Step 1. Choosing basic plants
Browse our webshop and choose a few plants you want to use as the base for your border. Pay particular attention to ensuring the sun requirements of the plants match your garden. Although many typical cottage garden plants are mainly suitable for full sun, you can certainly create a cottage garden in partial shade. Additionally, many plants suitable for full sun are also suitable for partial shade. If a plant appeals to you, you can always find this information in the description.
View plants for partial shade here
A few suggestions
- Beginner-friendly basic plants: Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Autumn Anemone, Salvia, Achillea, Phlox, Salvia
- Pink and white color palette: Peony Sarah Bernhardt, Echinacea 'Magnus', Phlox 'Rembrandt', Autumn Anemone 'Koningin Charlotte', Veronicastrum virginicum 'Album'
- Warm and pastel color palette: Peony Duchesse de Nemours, Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow', Verbascum 'Southern Charm', Echinacea 'Mellow Yellow'
- Cheerful and sunny color palette: Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Peony 'Alexander Fleming, Echinacea 'Magnus', Digitalis purpurea, Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw'
Image: a cottage garden border with a variety of flowers. Here you see a combination of, among others, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Geum, and Phlox varieties.
Step 3. Adding height and bloom time
Now that you've selected a few basic plants, you can fill in what's still missing in your border. When making your choices, always consider the plants' sun requirements. Be aware that some plants are perfectly suitable for both full sun and partial shade. You can always find this information in the description.
Height
Your border broadly consists of three layers: at the back, you plant the tall plants (80-120 cm), in the middle, you plant the medium-height plants (40-80 cm), and in front of those, you plant the low plants (20-40 cm). This creates a nice structure in your border. Categorize your chosen plants this way. Which layer do you still need plants for?
Border in full sun
Plants for the front of your border
Plants for the middle of your border
Plants for the back of your border
Border in partial shade
Plants for the front of your border
Plants for the middle of your border
Plants for the back of your border
Flowering time
Next, consider the flowering period of your chosen plants. Add a few plants for a long blooming season in your garden.
Border in full sun
Border in partial shade
Image: by combining perennials of different heights and flowering times, you create a beautiful garden all year round.
Step 4. Planting
Have you found a plant combination? Great!
Work out how many plants you need to plant your garden. Choose groups of the same plant species for a sense of calm. Use the power of repetition in larger or longer borders by having plants reappear in different spots.
Planting distances
Cottage gardens may look full, but give plants space to grow in the coming years:
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Small plants (Lavandula, Stachys): 25-30cm.
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Medium plants (Echinacea, Salvia): 35-40cm.
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Large plants (Peonies, Digitalis): 60-80 cm.
Planting plan
Roughly sketch out which plants you have envisioned where. This is not only handy for planting your border but also for later finding out which species you used and where they are in your garden.
(Image created with AI for illustration): example of a border layout for a border in full sun and a border in partial shade.
Step 5. Maintenance
Year 1
In the first season, your plants will be working hard underground to root and find their nutrients and water.
- Spring: Fertilize in spring with compost or a good organic plant food.
- Summer: Since the roots do not yet reach so deep, it is especially important in warm summer weeks to provide them with enough water. Cut off the faded flowers from your plants. Preferably remove weeds weekly from between the plants; this way, you'll have little work. Do you want to pick flowers from your garden? It's better not to do that this year.
- Autumn: In autumn, leave the seed pods and dying leaves and flower stems on the plants. This provides important protection for your plants and is also a food source for birds and protection for important insects. Also, plant some flower bulbs in your border for early spring flowering, such as snowdrops and tulips.
- Winter: In January-February, remove old leaves and stems to make space for new growth.
Year 2
Your plants are already a bit larger and stronger this season. You will have less trouble with weeds because there are fewer open spots in your border. Additionally, the plants will bloom more profusely. You can already pick some flowers here and there this year, but don't do it too much so that the plants have enough strength to grow into mature plants.
- Spring: Fertilize in spring with compost or a good organic plant food.
- Summer: Check if there are large empty spots in your border. You can plant another plant here to fill the space. Cut off the faded flowers from your plants. Preferably remove weeds weekly from between the plants; this way, you'll have little work. Do you want to pick flowers from your garden? It's better not to do that this year.
- Autumn: In autumn, leave the seed pods and dying leaves and flower stems on the plants. This provides important protection for your plants and is also a food source for birds and protection for important insects. Also, plant some flower bulbs in your border for early spring flowering, such as snowdrops and tulips.
- Winter: In January-February, remove old leaves and stems to make space for new growth.
Year 3
Your plants will be mature from year 3-4 onwards. The border should be well-filled this year and should no longer have large gaps. Otherwise, you can always plant an additional plant in those spots. From this year, you can also pick more flowers from the plants, but always do so carefully so that the plant has enough leaves left, and do not cut more than 1/3 of the flowers at a time. You are now familiar with the care of your border:
- Spring: Fertilize in spring with compost or a good organic plant food.
- Summer: Check if there are large empty spots in your border. You can plant an additional plant here to fill the space. Remove spent flowers from your plants. Preferably remove weeds weekly from between the plants, so you have little work to do. Do you want to pick flowers from your garden? It's better not to do that this year yet.
- Autumn: In autumn, leave the seed pods and dying leaves and flower stalks on the plants. This provides important protection for your plants and is also a food source for birds and protection for important insects.
- Winter: In January-February, remove the old leaves and stalks to make room for new growth.
Maintaining a mature cottage garden
After about 7-8 years, you will notice that the flowering of some perennials decreases. Some perennials will flower in a kind of ring, but no more flowers will appear in the center. You see this, for example, with Sedum. Or they become so large in the border that they choke other plants. That is a good time to divide the plants. This is preferably done in autumn.
You can cut off groundcovers and plants at the front of your border with a spade to make them smaller. A larger plant, such as a sedum, can be dug up and cut in half with a sharp spade or a sharp knife. The older part is in the middle of the plant. On the outside, you often see new growth. By cutting out the old core and replanting the younger parts, you keep the plant healthy and ensure that your border remains beautiful over the years. And who knows, there might be plants in your border that you now want to replace to create a more beautiful color palette or to add more height or structure.
Finally
Don't be afraid to try things in your garden and enjoy the process! This way, you turn gardening into a wonderful activity that you can enjoy and continue to learn from throughout your life.
