From You: Homegrown Cottage Gardens to Love
Wild and colorful gardens provide beautiful views and curb appeal for homes across North America
I’ve had such a wonderful time looking through all of the cottage gardens that Houzz users posted in response to our recent Houzz Call. From across North America have come photos of undulating waves of plants, rambling roses and delightfully unruly vines, rock gardens, container gardens, window boxes and more. Here’s a small sample. Enjoy, then please add your own in the Comments.
After. Here is Diane V-Town’s garden in May 2018. “My goal was to have a low-water-use but lush cottage garden that supports birds, bees and butterflies,” she writes.
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Before. This was reader elsabae’s challenging rocky yard in Maine before she used her two green thumbs on it.
After. This is how elsabae’s garden looked in spring 2018. It’s hard to believe that this is only the second spring she has worked on her garden.
Stones in Cottage Gardens
Stones can play key roles in cottage gardens. Houzz user ciderhillfarm repurposed these stones from an old dug-out barn foundation on the property. The spectacular color palette in this garden reminds me of the garden color theories presented by iconic garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. The planting plan includes California poppies, corn poppies, delphiniums, salvias, daylilies, catmint and snow-in-summer daisies.
Stones can play key roles in cottage gardens. Houzz user ciderhillfarm repurposed these stones from an old dug-out barn foundation on the property. The spectacular color palette in this garden reminds me of the garden color theories presented by iconic garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. The planting plan includes California poppies, corn poppies, delphiniums, salvias, daylilies, catmint and snow-in-summer daisies.
Stones play a strong role in Houzz user gloria0412’s garden as well. This garden is on a lake in the Kawarthas in Ontario, Canada. “On the sunny, dry lakeside, I planted a sloped bed of Calgary Carpet juniper and a blue spreading juniper as foundation, then added beds with lots of lavender and Annabelle hydrangeas, a few daylilies, banana-cream daisies and sedum,” she writes.
A stone wall enhances Houzz user porchlady1’s garden in Petoskey, Michigan. “Since we knew that we would always be there over July 4, we decided that we would plan a red, white and blue garden. Now that we’ve retired, we have added many other gardens, but our ‘fireworks’ one remains our favorite,” she writes.
Cottage Garden Curb Appeal
“This was a fun project to design because we were able to create this exuberant garden in place of strictly using traditional foundation plantings for the front,” writes Houzz pro Bethesda Garden Design. Ornamental trees are a wonderful addition to cottage gardens. Here a crepe myrtle adds to the showy flowers.
“This was a fun project to design because we were able to create this exuberant garden in place of strictly using traditional foundation plantings for the front,” writes Houzz pro Bethesda Garden Design. Ornamental trees are a wonderful addition to cottage gardens. Here a crepe myrtle adds to the showy flowers.
Houzz user minischnauzlady’s cottage garden is one of those spots that make you stop in your tracks to take a closer look. “Most of my plants have come from the bargain tables — I think they are happy to be rescued,” she says. “My biggest surprise is that my chrysanthemums are blooming now! The tree rose is Julia Child, and the most prolific bloomer all summer — it seems to thrive on neglect.”
A beautiful bluestone path is lined with colorful plants along the front of Houzz user Hilary Buxton’s house, and the colors change by season. “My favorite time is in the spring before it gets too warm. The borders are filled with purples and greens, and then hot colors take over in the summer with yellow, orange and pink,” she writes. “It’s a lot of work, but I love walking the path to my door at the end of the day!”
Houzz user lizruork moved into her tiny row house in Toronto in 2005 and writes that “the garden was ‘landscaped’ with gravel.” The space measures 10 by 16 feet. Here it is in 2018. Over the years she has filled the space with shrubs and climbers, including daphne, honeysuckle, clematis and roses and many other perennials. She particularly enjoys the fragrances in her garden from the Sharifa Asma roses, daphne and honeysuckle. “People stop to enjoy the garden constantly,” she writes.
For the hot Florida summers, Houzz user socottage used cottage garden style but stuck to a palette of cool green and white, describing it as “a visual respite from our hot Florida summers.” Pots and garden art enhance this work in progress.
The right of way between the sidewalk and the street is often a neglected space, but not at Houzz user leonora102’s house in Bend, Oregon.
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Houzz user Nancy Nygaard has focused on attracting wildlife to her property above the Mississippi River. She writes that birds of all varieties, cultivar bees, butterflies, deer, bears, minks, snakes, foxes and coyotes all come by to visit. Nygaard has something in common with the beautiful butterfly seen here. “My own favorite is the coneflower, because it is available in many varieties and colors and requires very little maintenance,” she says.
Providing a Beautiful View
A shady cottage garden enhanced by hanging plants provides a lovely view from Houzz user lindaart’s porch.
A shady cottage garden enhanced by hanging plants provides a lovely view from Houzz user lindaart’s porch.
Houzz user debsimmons has been working on her Georgia garden for more than 20 years and recently added this covered porch, where she can sit and admire all of the fruits of her labor.
Border gardens, planters and pots have transformed the area around Houzz user mjg2018’s patio into a beautiful, colorful space.
Houzz user Robert Zeleniak has made the most of the space beyond his property, gardening in the common area of his condo community. This is the view from his patio. “We had to negotiate for permission to garden here, and received it,” he writes.
Houzz user Celeste Hackett has installed an organic vegetable garden in her side yard. The pea gravel, flowers and climbing vines give it a wild cottage garden look that can be enjoyed from the patio table.
Cottage Garden Climbers
Houzz user Simone’s fence is adorned by “a wildly enthusiastic rambler rose.”
Houzz user Simone’s fence is adorned by “a wildly enthusiastic rambler rose.”
The front and back gardens at Houzz user Jacquie Walton’s 1922 bungalow in Portland, Oregon, are full of color. Here, clematises climb a salvaged piece in the back of the garden, while vibrant dahlias provide a showstopping moment in front.
Objects of Affection
Part of the fun of cottage gardens is adding funky objects into the design. Things like cafe chairs, vintage watering cans and sundials become yard art.
Houzz user Debbie Lusk writes that her gardens have “snippets of cottage.” This vintage metal table and aqua watering can next to the nasturtiums are just such a snippet.
Part of the fun of cottage gardens is adding funky objects into the design. Things like cafe chairs, vintage watering cans and sundials become yard art.
Houzz user Debbie Lusk writes that her gardens have “snippets of cottage.” This vintage metal table and aqua watering can next to the nasturtiums are just such a snippet.
The butterfly-shape bench in Houzz user appytrails’ garden pays homage to the beautiful butterflies the garden attracts.
An antique sundial atop a block of granite graces this garden by JudyG Designs.
Houzz user Melanie Riley has a way with objects in her northern Illinois cottage garden. Here, a fanciful cafe chair, lovely hand-painted pot and trellis adorn the garden, but my favorite piece is coming up next.
Check out more pots and planters
Check out more pots and planters
The way she placed a vintage bike with a basket full of potted flowers is simply divine.
Small Cottage Garden Moments
You don’t have to have a sprawling outdoor space to make cottage garden moments happen. In White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, Houzz user tuckerboo used potted plants, antiques and plant stands to create big curb appeal. “I have a quarter-acre lot and I have run out of space! A friend of mine who grew up in England calls my little areas ‘puddleys,’” tuckerboo writes.
You don’t have to have a sprawling outdoor space to make cottage garden moments happen. In White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, Houzz user tuckerboo used potted plants, antiques and plant stands to create big curb appeal. “I have a quarter-acre lot and I have run out of space! A friend of mine who grew up in England calls my little areas ‘puddleys,’” tuckerboo writes.
Houzz user Edmonton Designer’s cottage garden is four stories above the ground. Wrought iron pieces provide structure around containers full of lavender, violas, ivy geraniums and lots of herbs.
Houzz user HU-11774216196 has a charming potting shed complete with window box in the middle of this garden in Union Bay, British Columbia, Canada.
Thank you so much to everyone who shared cottage garden photos and favorite plants. I wish I could have included all of them here, but there wasn’t enough room. Please keep them coming in the Comments!
More
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Browse garden sheds
Thank you so much to everyone who shared cottage garden photos and favorite plants. I wish I could have included all of them here, but there wasn’t enough room. Please keep them coming in the Comments!
More
How to Create a Cottage-Style Garden
12 Storybook Cottage Gardens
Lay of the Landscape: Cottage Garden Style
Browse garden sheds
We’ll start with readers who shared photos of their plots before and after they started gardening. It’s amazing how much charm and appeal a cottage garden can add to a home.
Before. This was Houzz user Diane V-Town’s garden when she moved into her San Francisco Bay Area house in 2015.