Why do I cottage garden? . . . . . Because I am *lol*

What could be prettier than flowers growing everywhere
without rhyme or reason? Something new to see around every
corner. Everyday brings new surprises.

I also think it in my genes. From what I heard my great
Uncle in Ireland loved to garden. He had a nursery. My
grandfather also from Ireland, God rest his soul, loved
flowers such as peonies and pansies. My Granny could grow
anything by giving it a drop of Guinness. She even revived
one of her dead goldfish with a drop of Guinness...no lie!

Edna

My childhoodmemories include the flowers I knew growing up and eagerly awaited each year . . . lily-of-the-valley and daffodils along an abandoned house foundation across the road, and a blackberry bush in the same field; the peonies along the side of our house, the jonquils behind the garage, and the climbing Blaze roses on the fence out back. And my absolute favorite, the hollyhocks in the alley behind the corner store that we made dolls from. When we four siblings were home to see the house where we grew up over 30 yrs ago, I kept mentioning "and there were peonies over there and tulips there" and my sister remarked that I remember more about the plants than anything else. I have some of all of them now, old-fashioned plants all growing together, the more the merrier.

Carol

Annette pretty much summed it up for me. I don't know when my love for gardening started. Maybe from my grandfather who has gardened for as long as I can remember. I love to admire God's creation, the colors, textures, smells, shapes in all his handy work in both plant and animal. I could sit for hours and hours and just watch the bees buzzing about the flowers, the hummers hovering as they take a drink. The birds and butterflies as they fly about. The look of old fashion flowers. It IS a reminder to me of simpler times, of the way it was supposed to be.

I also find it very rewarding and relaxing wether pulling weeds or planting or just walking around and looking at each plant. It's a wonderful way to spend a day!
Meghan

Diana ~ This is a wonderful thread. I have thoroughly enjoyed every response, almost all have touched a chord within me. Plucked the strings of heart and soul in my gardening world.

I had no idea what type of garden I had when I began. I just new I loved plants, flowers, scents and being on a limited budget did what I could. We also knew we did NOT want a lawn, how boring is that?!? For years we did nothing, thinking we would move, then gradually lawn started disappearing and flower beds and borders appeared. It has been something like 24 years since I started. When I first read about cottage gardens I knew that was what I had and what I love. There is something so satisfying about not having any set rules to follow, just follow your heart. At first coming here and seeing all the beautiful, flower filled gardens I was intimidated and a tad green. But over the few years I've been here, I've learned to appreciate my humble gardens and to enjoy our little peace of paradise here on earth. It is our haven from the hectic world that we live in. In our area, you don't see many cottage gardens, mostly huge green lawns, palms, crotons, etc. We have those too, but we've added much more. Natives, herbs, roses, etc. Today, we have been blessed with much needed rain and I am ever so thankful to the Creator for the liquid sunshine recieved. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same as Tropical Storm Barry passes by. This is the first day of hurricane season and I am hoping for a quiet season like last year. The rain we need, but not the horrible destruction of hurricane force winds. I am thankful for our Plum Cottage and the gardens that surround it.

FlowerLady

I have been a vegetable gardener for as long as I can remember. I probably got that from my grandmother who grew a massive garden on her farm every year. When young and newly married we mostly lived in rental houses and I'd plunk in some annuals here and there but was never really able to "plant". At our last home we inherited many already planted beds and as the years passed I edited and added whatever struck a chord with me. Soon there were more and more beds and hardscaping projects that forced us to rearrange things. One day I ran across this forum while searching for something else. There was a thread going called "Show me your Cottage Garden" and it had 50-60 replies of garden after garden of beautiful pictures. As I started to go through them I realized that a Cottage Garden was exactly what I had created without ever knowing there was such a thing. I felt like I had come home in a strange way. Now I live in the country where formal has no place and that's just fine with me. While I am taming the wilds to suit myself I still choose and plant the same flowers that have always drawn me. I just know a lot more about all of them from reading all the fabulous posts and soaking up the knowledge that we have here on the forum. You all have made me a much better gardener and I couldn't be more pleased about that!

MeMo

I think I cottage garden because it is in my blood. Grandma who was from East Sussex grew up with a tiny cottage garden around their dirt floor stone cottage. Thatched roof 'n all. They grew a lot of cabbage and where very poor.
So when grandma moved to Canada, although she wasn't a particularly good gardener we grew some flowers and vegetables, a few fruits like rhubarb, currents, raspberries and gooseberries.
Mom was a much better gardener, and we also had home gardens with a small veg. plot, and some lovely flowers and trees. Lots of grass as Daddy liked his grass. Daddy's family never gardened because Grandpa was from Wales, and in Mountain Ash they have not much gardening space at all. A tiny slope on a bunch of rock (which amazingly, my cousins were successful at gardening in!!).
So the whole cottage thing is in my blood. I also grew up with loads of Italian and Greek gardeners who mixed all manner of flowers with vegetables, mainly because they had restaurants and had flowers for table and had their own fresh veg. to serve daily in the summer.
So with all those influences, I think it is natural that I am a cottage gardener. Never really considered gardening without growing food too. Now I often consider almost ONLY growing food, and getting rid of a lot of the rest of the perennials unless they are edible too....

GGG

I have always wanted a garden my whole life. But I lived in a condo for many years with outside space except for growing things in pots. Now i'm starting a garden from scratch in my new house. Perhaps I got the passion for growing things from my grandmother - who had a huge vegetable garden and canned many things for winter. But I've always loved the loose, informal look of a cottage garden around a little house. The look says to me here's someone that is a nurturer, who appreciates beauty and diversity, and believes in live and let live. It's also an artistic expression by using color, form and texture - especially the happy accidents.

I spend every day outside on weekends and I always spend an hour after work on most nights just pulling weeds, and going over things to see what's growing. I love being able to cut a vase of fresh flowers every week for my table. I would rather bring lunch to work and spend money on plants! :) I completely forget about everything and just totally immerse myself in the garden. It's a vacation without leaving home.

Estelle

I'm a city rat. A big city rat - Chicago, to be precise, and the ghettos no less. We always rented apartments, with (sometimes) tiny little scraggly lawns rimmed by sad rigidly clipped hedges. Flowers consisted of dandelions. Occasionally a wife would get a dozen roses from her husband, which was a huge deal when it happened, they'd get shown off to everyone.

I don't think I ever saw a lily actually growing in the ground, outside of the white Easter Lilies massed around the church alters at Easter time, until I was, maybe, 14 years old or so?

It was a shock to move to Southern CA in December 1966 and see roses blooming on Christmas Day!

I moved to Northern CA in 1972 and was astonished by the huge variety of plants that could grow here. I used to roam Golden Gate Park, taking pictures of flowers because they were so beautiful. The idea of flower stands where you could buy a bunch of daisies for $1 was still mind-boggling to a Midwesterner.

I was over 40 when we finally stopped being apartment dwellers and bought a house - a small cottage on a large (for a city) lot. For the next 12 years the lot went to pot - figuratively, not literally! - while we attended to the interior work.

When we finally turned out attention to the outside, a cottage garden seemed the only natural design to put in. The house is architecturally nondescript; the neighborhood modest and neat but rather subdued.

I have no quarrel with other garden designs, but they weren't going to fit what we had. And besides, we wanted color, variety, and lots of bright cheerful flowers all year 'round!

And that's exactly what we ended up with.

It's a lot of work, and I can see that 10 yrs, maybe even less, I won't want to do all this by myself any more. But the soul-deep satisfaction I've gotten by learning to garden is something I'll carry with me all the rest of my life, whether I keep gardening or not.

I keep re-reading this thread and getting something new out of it everytime - it has been an inspiration. One thing I have noticed is that several people (I feel the same way) have stated that cottage gardens reminds them of simpler and happier times. It seems like the flower industry has gone the same way as everything else in life - bigger, busier, flashier more frills double and triple petals. I prefer the 'oldfashioned' flowers - the singles - the ones I remember in Grandmas garden - the way nature and God intended them to be. When you have a garden full of doubles they are start looking the same - ruffled pompoms and you lose the intricacies of the flower and in many cases the fragrance. While a bouble hollyhock is beautiful, there is nothing like a pure single where you can see the bees working their magic. The same with columbine, a daisy with a single flat row of petals - the list goes on and on. I may be alone in my feelings but somehow I don't think I am.....

Lynne who loves the simple life and simple flowers

Lynne ~ I keep coming back to this thread also. Cottage gardens and their flowers do go back to simpler times. Times where people were more aware of their own roots and what is important in life. Now everything is so rushed, and people seem to be grasping at this, that and the other thing to find happiness. Happiness is found in very simple things, bird song, butterflies flitting by, the scents and textures of flowers and herbs, all the glorious colors, dewdrops, rain, gentle breezes, places to stop and rest, ponds, lakes, waterfalls, fountains, birdbaths. There is so much to see and enjoy in life, if we only look around us. Cottage gardens bring me joy, they do something for my heart, soul and body.

Happy gardening to one and all of you.

FlowerLady

I have enjoyed reading all of your responses. So many of them express my feelings towards my cottage garden. My dad was a farmer, literally had farming in his blood, I think! I have always loved flowers and the beauty they bring. I have never been that crazy about the dozen long stemmed roses bouquets. I have always preferred some pink baby roses, with some daisies, foxglove, etc. with them. A cottage bouquet is my favorite. When I moved into my new home about 4 years ago, I went with my sister and niece to visit The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas. I fell in love with antique roses and the cottage gardens there. I knew that this is how I wanted my garden to look at my new home. So. . . for the past four years this has been what I am working on. Just yesterday my next door neighbor and her friend came into my back yard to give me a gold fish for my pond. My neighbor's friend exclaimed, "Look at this yard, it looks just like an English garden!" Needless, to say, I was tickled pink. Again, thanks for all of the many interesting replies to "Why do you cottage garden?" Vicki

This is such a nice thread, Diana. I've enjoyed reading everyone's responses.

In philosophy I'm a cottage gardener.
In reality I have a garden where I plant what I like, where I like, and I don't give it a name.

It's one of the few things in life that I've done just for myself
and it fills me with wonder
and it challenges me
and it makes me smile
and frustrates me
and delights me
and puzzles me
and calms me
and makes me incredibly happy.

That's why.
Thanks for asking.

PattiOh

I'm so glad so many of you have responded to this thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's insights. Many of your sentiments echo my own and I feel like I am in the company of a great group of friends. : )

Thank you all for taking the time to share your inner most thoughts on this wonderful style of gardening we have chosen. You are all an inspiration to me and I wish I could visit each and every garden that you've verbally shared so lovingly.

Anyone else? : )

Diana

My Mom was a gardener and came from a long line of gardeners. My Grandfather had the most beautiful hollyhocks I've ever seen. For my first 35 years I only admired pretty flowers --- didn't care to do anything more than admire them. On the first day of spring in 1994 my Mom died suddenly, she had a stroke during her 70th birthday celebration and died later that day. She had been the picture of health until that day. A few weeks after her death I found the caladium bulbs that she had been storing over the winter and obviously planning to plant in the spring. I planted the bulbs because I knew that is what
she would have wanted. Everyday when I came home from work the first thing I would do was check to see if they had come up. Exactly 3 weeks after I planted them they stuck their little heads above ground and I have been addicted to gardening ever since. I call it my "dirt therapy." I spend alot of money each year on gardening (my driveway is spilling over with a load of mulch right now) but I figure that I would be spending more on the other kind of therapy if it wasn't for my love of gardening!

I still miss my Mom - everyday. But I take great joy in knowing how much joy she would be receiving from seeing me enjoy one of her loves!

Thanks for this thread Diana. It's been awhile since I've had the opportunity to tell anyone about my gardening roots!

Gayle

Cause ahm lazee.

What a great thread and interesting variety of responses. For me a cottage garden has an informal,casual,organic, whimsical and natural feel to it, and I am drawn to those elements in many things. I also like the types of flowers that are typical to this type of garden. Give me an arbor draped in flowering roses or clematis and it takes me to that place you simply want to be. Add a stone path or wall and it gets even better. I can relate to much of what Mr. Morton shared in his response. Of course I only have the beginning steps for this type of garden and am simply enjoying the process. I'm still trying to figure out the organized chaos that seem to happen in great cottage gardens....little baby steps at a time.

Gayle - your post was quite moving. And I'm sure your Mom is smiling when she sees your garden.

lavendrfem - Thank you. Yes, I believe that my Mom is enjoying my garden as well. I so relate to your comment about a vase of fresh flowers ---- I have a vase of hydrangeas on my kitchen table now!

There are a few major reasons I cottage garden or try.
I grew up in AZ and my mom was a southern gal from Charleston, and so my Mom and Dad from Mass. gardened together- endlessly watering and growing flowers that thrived in the desert sun. but no roses? never knew why.
My first garden was a pumpkin patch- i planted all of the seeds from a pumpkin and it seems they ALL grew- there was no yard left- pumpkins every where- growing into everyone elses yards. I was 5 and loved to water my punkins. when I was 9 it was sunflowers...
and so it began.
I love to see beautiful gardens no matter how formal, I love flowers, period. BUT cottage gardens speak to my soul and touch my heart.
And also I can't seem to plan my gardens or who goes where. I see, I love, I plant. Not a designer but a gardener. In what other garden can you just plant willy nilly, or even say willy nilly... or simply just breathe in the fragrance of roses or jasmine
great thread Diana. boo hiss no gardens in my office in downtown Baltimore, I should not be playing here... durn it.
Sue

A cottage garden is a place for children, birds, pets and of course the gardener's favorite flowers and herbs. If you want a shaggy shasta daisy next to a sleek-leaved daylily, you can have it. If you just love climbing roses, you can shower every inch of fence with them. If you just love poppies, but can only afford one plant- throw it in there. Or if your neighbors asks you to take some iris bulbs- toss them in, they will blend in nicely. The cottage garden truly represents the style and loves of its gardener. No boxwoods for shape or plain old evergreen shrubs, it is all about color. This photo of my son in our early spring garden makes me think of a real cottage garden, even though there aren't even any blooms yet.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_zrH_CEDzlg4/RlxXanRtMAI/AAAAAAAAACs/juxzS7u3up4/s1600-h/Will+running+in+garden.bmp

I guess it is a bit more than just the garden. It promotes a certain lifestyle that centers around the garden, not because of heavy maintenance, but because you want to spead a lot of time there just enjoying the flowers and your family there.

Absolutely for the romantic allure of it. As a child I remember seeing the pictures on chocolate boxes, showing beautiful "English" style gardens. I have always loved flowers, ever since I was a child. When I started my first and so far only garden, 6 years ago, I didn't even knew what a cottage garden was. I read gardening books (brought all the way from England, Scotland or ordered via the web), found these forums and was hooked. My garden is not a *pure breed* cottage garden. Quite a few of the traditional herbaceous perennials which are typical of this type of garden, such as lupines and delphiniums, I simply can't grow in my climate. But I can grow roses. Lots of them. And wisteria. And even lilac. So I search and replace and add and despair and sometimes oohhh and aaahh at the sheer beauty of it. And my life would be poorer without that sense of enchantment I have every time I see a new flower opening or a new leaf unfurling.

Eduarda

I like the freedom of it..the sense of peace and serenity...I like the rewards it offers and believe it or not..the blood sweat and tears..so of our best memories as a family are of relaxing in the yard..

Sue - I love that phrase - "I see, I love, I plant" - that says it all. I think I'm going to have to paint a plaque for my garden with that phrase on it! :)

I cottage garden because I love how informal it is, colorful and wonderful, how it reminds me of my grandmothers and childhood. How I can appreciate a hard work put into raising it. I love both: joys and disappointments. I love being there, sitting on a bench and admiring how beautiful it is, making assesments what needs to be done, replanted, planted, trimmed, watered, brought to my library, friends's house to brighten their day. I love that I have co-created it with All Mighty as a team. Love that my husband will go out, look around and say: this is a paradise...
I love that the first thing I do is to go outside most of the mornings and see what's up. I just love it, period!

My grandmother's entire front yard and one side yard were completely planted in flowers back in the 1950's and 60's when I was growing up. Her backyard had a big veggie and flower garden. She lived in a little 4 room bungalow with a screened porch on the back and a southern front porch on the front with a swing. She taught me about every plant in her garden. It's only in the past few years that I learned that her style was cottage gardening -- and so it's my style. Inherited the genes, I suppose.

My son who is away in archaeology graduate school in London living in a dismal dorm room is trying to grow lavender and tomatoes in pots in his window. He just got asked by his professor to house-sit for 2 months this summer. He went over there and found a garden of weeds -- so, he's going to clean it up and plant veggies and flowers! He asks me everyday to send him photos of the garden. When he's home, he helps me plant and build hardscape. I think he inherited the genes, too.

Cameron

I've read this thread over several times and have enjoyed and been touched by everyone's stories. Diana, thanks so much for asking this question. I'm going to print this and put it in my scrapbook.

So here's my two cents. I chose this style because my taste is eclectic and slightly off-beat. I'm an extremely unconventional person with weirdly conservative sensibilities. My vision tends to be romantic rather than practical, which is at odds with my anal-retentive Virgo self. If I had to tend a formal garden, I would go mad.

I love wilderness. But when I go hiking, while everyone else seems to be marveling at the spectacular vistas, I'm the person holding back looking at the details just off the trail. Small vignettes of rock formations with ferns and wildflowers growing in crevices, spilling down. Natural perfection. Cottage gardens give us the opportunity to recreate these random moments that you might find in the woodlands, or growing along pastures, or wherever nature makes pretty.

And finally, it's a way to give something back. Yes, they are beautiful (Mr. Morton, it ticks me off too when people pass by without a glance), but they give more than just beauty. They provide a habitat for so many creatures that are being pushed really hard. I love seeing the butterflies and birds and other wildlife come into my garden and take a drink. I danced with a hummingbird this evening. And my neighbors couldn't see me acting ridiculous because of the sunflowers.

I knew I would ramble on once I got started. Cottage gardening is simply good for the soul.

Steven

What a beautiful thread this is! So many talented writers, too. Although I'm not very good at writing descriptively, I'll give it a try.

I love all gardens or I can at least appreciate them and they give me joy. But cottage gardens are something more. I'm not sure why. It is almost like they make me feel connected to them. Sometimes I think it is a feeling of being in my grandmother's or my aunt's gardens when I was very young, too young to appreciate them. But maybe something about them stayed with me until I could duplicate that same feeling of being back there again. My garden does feel like an old friend. It gives me comfort that is unexplainable. Just like this morning on my way out the door, I had to stop and spend a little bit of time with it, just the two of us.

I'm not sure my garden even classifies as a "cottage garden". While it does have many of the elements most consider to be of the cottage style, I'd call it more of an eclectic garden - a loose mixture of a very wide assortment of trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and bulbs. It is very informal in character - little lawn, lots of winding pathways and seating areas and many containers.

How this particular garden evolved (my fourth and hopefully last) was in response to the character of my house (Cape Cod), the site and my passion for plants of all types. A search for year round color and a need to have shelter and food for birds and other wildlife contributed to the plant mix. It is a very contained and private garden, almost invisible to passers-by because of the density of the plantings. Many of the plants included are offspring from my parents' garden and from other gardening friends and mentors and it includes memorial plants to honor missing friends, relatives and pets, so it is a memory garden as well. It is very encompassing and sanctuary-like and a refuge from my very busy public life. It is my oasis.

I cottage garden because the style suits me. It is wild and mixed up. I can plant and pick, seed and shovel prune as I see fit. The garden positively hums with life and I adore sitting out there in the middle of it. It gives me peace. It clears my head and stirs my soul. Sometimes at night I almost expect to see a fairy appear. It is that magical.
The other reason I cottage garden is because of my grandmother. Her garden in Michigan was one of my favorite places. From the cherry tree, to the vegetable garden, to the pond, stream and small foot bridge. It was a joy to be out there and there was not a sunny day in summer that you didn't find her out in the garden doing something. Sadly, she died from a long battle with breast cancer back in October. Even though she is gone I think her spirit traveled 3000 miles and landed here in my garden. She is out there in every bloom, butterfly, and ray of sunshine. I am sure of it.
~Melissa

Cottage gardening keeps me grounded. Pun intended.

I think a lot of my influence to cottage gardening came from my mom's love of cottages and my love for Impressionistic art. Growing up, we lived in a cottage my mom designed surrounded by her love of cottage type flowers. Now a lot of those flowers have been replaced by rose bushes. How she gets her rose bushes to bloom with thousands of flowers I will never know.

When I finally started working on the landscaping for our house I stuck with the house's ranch style. I got rid of all the 1970's influenced evergreens, enlarged the beds and then started filling them with plants that complimented the house's style. Wouldn't you know, most of those plants fit in with the cottage theme.

I've also been influenced by the gardens in England. When I was 18 I went to school in England. I guess I was a weird teenager because I loved European history and literature. I wanted to get under the skin of my favorite writers and see how they lived. Jane Austen was one. Her house is a cottage with a modest garden, but it is also very lovely. All the castle gardens make one want to salivate, and then there were the gardens in Ireland I came to love as well. Despite the eons since I've been back to Europe, those gardens made a huge impression on me.

Heather

Guess I could say it's not why but how I started cottage gardening. I don't have anyone in my family that I know of that has done the cottage type gardening but I do have grandparents that did garden. I've always loved plants and flowers. There was an elderly gentleman that lived across the alley from us and he had a garden that I admired as a child. He had a big beautiful weeping willow at the back of the lot along with pussywillows, I loved petting these LOL.
But I started out trying to make our back yard look better but as thing's turned out I kept finding more and more flowers to love and to want in my gardens, what started out as a small little bed of about 5 by 5 has grown to 100 feet long and 5 foot or better wide and still growing.
When my husband is driving I am always looking at the yards of the homes along the way to see what and how they've done they're yards, most of the times it's boring nothing but hedges and a tree or two, while some love trees and plant 15 to 20 trees on a lot that is way to small for them to grow makes me sad for the trees.
Then once an awhile one yard will stand out from all the others, So many flowering plants and Oh so pretty to look at, it makes me want to get out of the car and walk around to get a better look.
I live on one of those blocks and it is my house that is different from all the rest, while most have hedges all the way around the house I have torn out all of our hedges and bushes and put in flowers roses, daylilies, cannas, Coreopsis ect but the front is not much of the cottage style garden it is my back yard that I've been working on. I still have a long ways to go because I've only been gardening for the last three years.
I love caladium's and I got started on them through my daughter, when she was in the second grade her teacher had bought a bag of them for the class to plant one each, when she brought it home I thought it was a pretty plant I loved the leaf. I kept it inside because I didn't have a place to plant it outside. After a bit the stem on the caladium bent and the leaf lay on the floor and I was very disappointed in the plant but I cut off the bent stem and kept the plant waiting for the next leaf to sprout and sure enough it sprouted another couple of leaves and then after it got so tall it bent over again. Well, now I'm really getting disappointed in this plant, I thought what good is it if it keeps bending over and you have to cut it thing off.
Then one day I was home laying on the couch and the caladium had grown more leaves and as I was laying there watching TV our cat walked over to the plant leaned down and BIT the poor caladium's stem, I was upset at the cat but laughing at the same time, to my relief it wasn't the plant that has a problem it was our cat LOL.

Like a lot of others here have stated it's all about the joy of the senses, seeing the first flower budding and the joy of waiting for it to bloom and when it does it like no feeling of joy that you can share with anyone other than another gardener. It's having a place to get away from all the stress life hands us sometimes. I have back problems and it takes a lot for me to work out in the garden but it is the one thing that gets me outside and I dearly love being outside if it's not to hot or to cold that is. It is better then going to some shrink any day LOL. If I'm sad I go tell it to my plants, if I'm mad I go tell it to my plants, if I'm happy I go enjoy my plants. What I tell my plants stays with my plants :)

Diana,
I had no clue I was making a cottage garden. I was making my own garden. Just like I thought my enclosed vegetable garden with flowers surrounding it was some new idea, lol.
I would peruse the forums and stop by here once in awhile to read and thought maybe this is what my garden is turning out to be. I posted photos last summer writing, "I think I have a cottage garden." Someone posted back, "Duh." Lol, no, they didn't say that, but it was inferred.
I'm not sure where the want to make this type of garden came from. I know where the want to garden came from though. My parents and grandparents all gardened, and I was fascinated by plants and flowers from a very early age.
Remy

I am not a religious person, but the only way I know to put it is that my garden makes me feel closer to God. A cottage garden is both an act of creation and an act of collaboration. If screaming yellow nasturtiums want to clamor around in the hot pink roses, so be it. It's about not trying to control or conquer nature, but working hand in hand.

The chaos and diversity of plantings create a haven for birds and insects; Trees and shrubs for shelter, nectar and berry plants for food, and water features here and there. I love watching all of the native bees in the garden (I have sweat bees!) and the many birds. Chickadees have nested in our birdhouse for about 8 years running now, and for a few years, we were graced with a pair of nesting Wilsons Warblers by the pond.

In the last couple of years, both my neighbor across the street and the one next door have taken out their front lawns and created cottage gardens. I feel that in its own small way, my garden has made the world a better place, and that I have encouraged others to do the same.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweat bees

I'm just drawn to it. I've attempted other forms of gardening but always gravitate back to cottage gardening. I feel like an artist painting with flowers. Ruthless when plants don't work out. Always wanting to experiment. Always at awe when the plants bloom. -- I would say this describes all the cottage gardeners.

Ianna

Many of you have said things that really resonated with me. MrMorton could have been speaking for me when he said that he gardens to create a magical place, a dream made real. In many ways I am a very practical person, but I have a rich fantasy life expressed best in my garden.

I also want a garden to be more than just beautiful. I want it to be useful, too. Beside flowers for scent and color, I want trees for shade, herbs to flavor my food, and fruit and vegetables to pick for the table. Short of a full scale farm, that means a cottage garden.

Rosefolly

Small space, lots of shade to work around--if I didn't take advantage of every spot of dappled sun and each little micro-climate, I would have very few blooms. Plus, I love the "aha" of turning a corner and finding something that I (even though I planted it) didn't expect. I also love whimsy (but not plastic) and in what other kind of garden could you place a tuba upright and use it as a planter to get height (sun) for the dahlias you just have to have?

My mum always grew everything and being English, was used to this style. I guess I always loved it and to me, it is the best way to garden.

today I again thought of this question as I wandered around my blooming yard....I cottage garden because it is rewarding, because my famiy likes to relax in my garden....most of all..it is all part of what makes a ordinary house, a home. A lived in, well loved feeling that makes you want to stay..

I think it is because I love roses and roses are the mainstay of the cottage garden and all the rest of the perennials and plantings keep it going when the roses are not in bloom, and besides, a cottage garden is chock-full and I like that.

It seems like for me, every house I've owned, has morphed into a cottage garden of sorts. Whether it's in shade or sun, I crave the plants associated with old-fashioned cottage gardens. I never had much of a green thumb until we bought our first house, with a blank slate of a yard. We got a rectangular fence installed to keep our dogs in, and I made straight borders around the inside perimeter of the fence with 2x6 boards (not too creative). I bought 12 different climbing roses and planted them along the fence, then filled in with a wide variety of sun perennials, some given to me by family and friends (the best kind) and many purchased with the $ I made selling crafts on the weekends to support my "growing" plant habit. That garden got so many compliments from the neighbors, it gave me the confidence to keep going and "validated" my sense of design/planning. The next house we moved to was 85% deep shade, with only a small sunny area. That began my infatuation with shade plants, and a hosta collector was born. Our present house has 4 beds in the back yard and a large front entry bed. It had some foundation plantings when we moved in, but the large sun bed in the back was largely unplanted. Yippee ! Room for another cottage garden ! So that's what I am trying to perfect right now. I am the type of cottage gardener that wants the plants to grow full and straight, but not flop. If it's supposed to grow tall, I want it to grow tall. If it flops, it doesn't work in the scheme I had in mind for it, so that annoys me. Other than that, I take sincere pleasure in walking through the gardens each morning and after work, and checking "everyone" out (yes, I talk to them). I have plans to do some rearranging when the cool front comes in later this week, so I am looking forward to the changes I am going to make, and the new "holes" I will need to fill !! In short, my gardening keeps me sane, keeps me always appreciating the beauty of nature and to look at every tiny detail, gives me satisfaction that I am helping wildlife by feeding the birds, butterflies and bees, and is my creative outlet above all else. It is truly a reflection of my taste and the colors, shapes and forms that please me most. Will it always need work ? You bet. But that is what I look forward to. I love weeding, believe it or not !

I am a newbie lurker here, and I would say that I cottage garden (If what I do is cottage gardening) because it fits ME! I have never been one for exact order because I am such a imaginative person. My eyes NEED the to look at more controlled chaos that surprises me as my eyes sweep around the garden, or when I am in the garden a surprise greats me and makes me smile. I am truly at peace when I am in my Garden whether I am weeding, watering, planting or just standing there taking it all in, also as spoke on above who wants to look at a garden and know exactly what color or plant that you will see next. I believe if you can't find a lil bit of peace in this world of uncontrolled chaos you are sure to lose you mind. My lil peace in this world is my garden!

The Garden Pooter!

Welcome to the Cottage, Garden Pooter! Please share pictures in the gallery when you can. We'd love to see your garden ;)

MeMo

Well, I'm not a regular poster here, I spend most of my time in the Hosta forum or over on That Home Site in the Decorating and Kitchens forums. This year I've finally had some time to start making my front yard a garden and the cottage style was the only way to go. My dad was British and my mom was a New Zealander and both loved to garden. Even though the house I grew up in was VERY contemporary, the landscaping was pretty cottagy (somehow it worked, go figure).
I live in an area of very upscale homes, lots of subdivisions where the prices start at 1 million with beautiful homes and very organized landscaping. I just know that when people approached my house I wanted them to think "how cozy, this person is a gardener" not "how gorgeous, it must have cost a bundle". I am on 12 acres and at this point the acre or so around the house is what I'm working on, the rest is what it is.
The other day my husband came outside while I was weeding to ask me something. He walked around with me while I was puttering and after a minute he said "this feels like an old cottage garden". I almost jumped for joy!
Next year the backyard........

Annette

LOL, I just re-read my post and realized I need to clarify. I don't live in one of those million+ subdivisions, I've just been surrounded over time ;).

Annette

What a great thread! I haven't posted here in a while, and had forgotten what a happy, inspiring forum it is! I think I should spend more time here and less time watching Judge Judy and Dr. Phil! This is much more uplifting. My mom was great with houseplants, but growing up we just had a lawn with camellias. I did have a neighbor up the street who grew chard, raspberries and rosemary...she influenced me because I loved eating the berries and bbqing lamb seasoned with the rosemary. My own cottage garden brings me comfort, femininity, solace, beauty, and a purpose. This morning I went out and pollinated the first female zucchini flower, fed the birds, said hello to the butterflies on the butterfly bushes, filled the birdbath, and sat on the rocker on the porch drinking coffee. My 12 yr. old shepherd 's legs were giving out on our morning walk,(which made me sad,) but she still loves to lay on the porch and breathe in the energy and vitality of the garden. The birds have planted several sunflowers, neighbors have given me bulbs, seeds, and tree seedlings. I have giant pumpkins lining the driveway, and watermelon growing along the fence! The garden is full of surprises and kind of has a sense of humor. I sing as I weed, pray as I water, and always ask the spirits of the master gardeners, fairies, gnomes, etc. to come through and help. This area has a drug/poverty problem, and I think this garden has brought some light and beauty. Some other neighbors have planted cottage gardens, too, and it really helps. Even the most down and out catch their breath when they walk by...My dad says it looks like something out of Alice in Wonderland. A visitor told me, "It looks like Snow White lives here!"
Stephenie

I am new to this forum and this website. My husband and I moved into a new suburban home - typical new house - huge house sitting on an itty bitty lot. I knew that I was going to garden, I had slowly started the obsession at our previous house we lived in and with this new one - I wanted it to be a beacon of who I was, not what I inherited.
I think that I have found a new home in this forum because cottage gardening to me is about not worrying about formality and predetermined space requirements - its about seeing a plant that you love and want to find a home with you and just include it with the pack of other "peeps" - because in the end, it will either blend or it will stand alone and shine, while making that around it shine as well.

Since I have little space and my husband practically begged me to consider just one request from him (LOTS of different colors) - cottage gardening fits us, it feels right. Now I did something that I am sure does NOT fit in with cottage gardening by containing my beautiful yard in curbing, it works for me. Its as if its a representation of who I am: orderly and contained on the outside but bursting and free and chaotic on the inside. I am looking forward to how it will grow and develop.

i look forward to sharing each others stories here. its really comfy! thanks for letting me share why I cottage garden.

Well hello nwgardengirl, nice to see you over here. A great big welcome to cottage. All I can say is you are going to love it here, the people in this forum have become my extended family :o). You'll see by the pictures in the gallery there's lots of different styles of planting a cottage garden, all different and all really beautiful in their own right.

Annette

I am also new to this web. I love cottage gardens for the beautiful colors and shapes. We have just moved in to our 5 acre dream house after years of living in the city. We adopted and are homeschooling our 2 grandaughters. Gardening is just part of what I want to teach them. I remember when one of them came running into the house after playing in the yard with a tomato in her hand shouting "Grandma, there is FOOD in our yard". Ever since, I have enjoyed showing them the wonder of growing things. We scatter seeds around and see what comes up. Sometimes we get tall things in front of short things, sometimes the colors don't match. The girls love the birds, butterflys, deer, rabbits, foxes and raccons that share our part of the world. They enjoy picking flowers to bring to church or to give to a friend or neighbor, as well as the food we grow. Cottage gardening does take us back to a simpler, more innocent time when people knew their neighbors and could take the time to sit on the porch and watch the world go by. Thats the kind of world I want for my girls.
Donna

Some very neat stories here. Everyone has a story to tell. I am new to this forum as well, just happened upon it one day looking for something else.
I started 3 years ago, I didn't know about "cottage gardens",I just knew what I liked. I started out with some roses and shrubs, and it just went from there. I saw a magazine with a beautiful cover on it that said "Cottage Gardening". It had picked me before I even realized it.
It is a simplistic style and an escape from the craziness in the world. I want to create a place for my family and friends to relax and feel at peace with themselves, if only for that moment.
My Grandma was a gardener, she didn't do much with perennials, but I can still see her out there with her "bandanna doo- wrap" planting marigolds and petunias.
When people walk by our home, they always stop and look. People need to know this is totally acheivable, if they want to put some work into it. I guess you have to love the dirt, and the nature of getting out there and digging and weeding and all that goes with it. The simple beauty of each petal and leaf, the shape and size. There's joy in that. Getting back to basics.
I'm so enthralled, I applied to the Master Gardener program near my home. I hope I'll be accepted, so I can help someone else really get it. Nature is a beautiful thing.