Backyard cottage gardens are one of the most popular styles of landscaping today. They blend a happy combination of flowering shrubs, herbs, vegetables, fruits, and even flowers. Everyone is trying to become more ‘water conscious’ these days as well. So when you’re selecting cottage garden shrubs, you also need to keep that in mind. Some types of plants are more drought resistant than others and some of them require less water.
When it comes to choosing among the many different plants to plant in your cottage garden shrubs, you’ll want to choose plants that require less water. You may find you have a lot of lilacs and other plants that do well with minimal amounts of water in the summer. But if you want to grow a mix of sweet pea, pink cleaver, or blue star delphinium, you’ll want to plant them in the winter with the poppies and lilies in the spring, allowing their leaves to stay green during the growing season.
Shrubs are often considered a poor choice for English cottage garden designs. They don’t look quite right when they are planted close together. If you’re looking for shrubs that are taller and that can easily spread out, consider planting pansies, lupine, or even a ramberry. Pansies are fairly tall, spreading, evergreen shrubs that can reach three feet in height, while lupine and ramberry can grow up to seven feet.
While all of these plants make beautiful additions to your English cottage garden shrub selections, you may want to think about an azalea. Azaleas are a bit rare as far as English cottage garden shrubs go, but they do have some amazing attributes that make them ideal for your project. Azaleas have needlelike blooms, which are long and tapered at the tips. They can be planted singly or can be planted in a group of three. Azaleas love lots of sunlight, but if you want to keep them somewhat shady, make sure to move them periodically during the hot, sun-filled summer months.
Some perennials that are perfect for an English cottage garden are honeysuckle, catmint, and roses. Honeysuckle is an easy plant to grow. You just need to provide it with plenty of sunshine and water, and keep an eye on the height. Even though honeysuckle requires relatively little maintenance, it does not grow very tall, and it does not have very large flowers. You should be able to easily cover the entire area with these plants. If you don’t like the idea of planting these, try planting marigolds instead.
Catmint and roses are another type of plants that are ideal for planting in an English garden. They also do not grow very high, so you will need to move them from time to time. Planting lilacs in an English garden is a good idea because they are very pretty and will create a splash of color wherever they are planted. They are a perennial, so you shouldn’t have too much of a problem keeping them around.
If you prefer a more subtle fragrance, consider planting some clematis, or beeswax. These plants will provide the bees with a rich musky scent, as well as a wonderful place to raise their hives. This is great for areas where there are some harmful species of insects. When shopping for containers for bees, look for containers made with a durable plastic material. If possible, you should also be able to purchase beeswax in containers.
While you’re planting your flowers, also consider planting a ground cover such as fennel, which is a perennial that will keep growing year after year. Fennel will attract a number of birds and butterflies, which are two of the more popular insects that might be found in your garden. To get the most out of your perennial plants, it’s important to water them often, especially during the hotter summer months. Sweet peas can also be used as a companion plant to other plants in your garden. Sweet peas will provide your garden with a lovely fragrance, but they’re best planted in the winter.
