Side-Yard Cottage Garden Plan This garden looks great all year thanks to evergreen rhododendron and the structure of a smokebush, plus plenty of flowers all spring, summer, and fall. Garden size: 15 by 17 feet. A cottage garden's greatest appeal is that it seems to lack any conscious design. But even a cottage garden needs to be controlled. Some of the most successful cottage gardens start with a formal structure and soften the framework with the lavishness of cottage plants. Jul 30, 2004 A Cottage Garden Plan. Add character to your backyard with classic flower combinations. By Ruth Rogers Clausen. Jul 30, 2004 Download and print this garden plan ».

If you are searching for cottage backyard ideas, then you are looking to create a garden that is a feast for the senses, brimming with color, texture, fragrance, and romantic blooms. Charming and informal rather than pristine and structured; a sanctuary for people and wildlife alike.

Cottage planting schemes are inspired by traditional English styles that date back to the 16th century. These gardens were beautiful and productive, billowing with old-fashioned flowers, seasonal produce, and home remedies.

But now the concept has evolved into more of an attitude than a rigid look – and US gardeners have taken the style as their own.

See: Backyard ideas – decor inspiration for outdoor spaces

Massachusetts-based landscape designer Margaret Hensel wrote a book on the subject – English Cottage Gardening for American Gardeners – and helps gardeners to interpret the look in their own backyards.

'There are very few thatched cottages in America but the idea of cottage gardens works very well,' she says. 'You can live in a split-level or ranch house and still have a wonderful cottage backyard. I have seen cottage gardens for Arts and Crafts-style houses in the Midwest, Berkeley California, North Carolina, century-old adobe houses in Santa Fe New Mexico. I could go on. Think effusive, informal, abundant and loved. I think love is really the key.'

While the look today is flexible, there are themes that will help you to emulate its charms, so read on to discover cottage backyard ideas to create your own dream design.

1. Let your house inspire cottage backyard ideas

A cottage backyard begins with your house. 'Look out your kitchen windows, walk in and out of your front and back doors, and imagine what you’d like to see and experience,' says Hensel.

'Think color, texture and fragrance. Imagine a fragrant mock orange (Philadelphus) by your kitchen window, or French lilacs planted where you can smell them when you walk by, then underplant them with hardy geraniums.'

Think about the areas you can best see from inside different rooms, and the immediate impact of opening out onto the backyard. Make the most of small glimpses through windows you walk by, such as on stairwells.

If you have a garden room or patio that extends off a main living space, then treat this as an extension of your cottage backyard.

Whether you are sitting inside looking out the window, or relaxing just outside, you want to be immersed in the cottage atmosphere.

See:Cottage patio ideas – to create a pretty spot for relaxing and entertaining

2. Plant abundant borders in your cottage backyard

In classic cottage backyard schemes, borders are bursting with planting. 'Although they look haphazard, some thought needs to be given to planning the effect. You are aiming for a succession of blooms that give a tapestry of color,' says gardening expert Leigh Clapp.

'Think old-fashioned favorites, including geraniums, roses and foxgloves, to create an informal, casual atmosphere, and plant them close together, ignoring standard spacing.

'Let plants flop over and weave through each other. Voluptuous, effervescent, fragrant and self-seeding choices will help you create the look. Multi-petalled flowers will give that romantic feel, such as blousy peonies and old roses.

'You don’t need to be confined to only authentic plants, though, as a colorful mix of bulbs, perennials, annuals and flowering shrubs will give a year-round vision with more structure.'

3. Add interest with tall flowers

Some of the most important plants in a cottage backyard are those that pop up in borders, towering above their neighbors to add height and drama. In mainstream gardening, taller plants are usually reserved for the back and middle of wide borders, but in cottage planting, it looks good when they are dotted throughout.

‘I quite like putting tall plants near the front of a border,’ says celebrity gardener Monty Don in an episode of Gardener’s World. ‘You don’t want them all at the back – you want to be able to look through flowers as well as up to them.’

He reveals that in his own cottage garden, he has ‘deliberately tried to cultivate a jumble of soft colors’ and adds to it with plants that offer a ‘spike or spire of color’.

Don's recommended tall flowers for cottage backyards include foxgloves, verbascums, hollyhocks and delphiniums. Bear in mind that these plants usually require supports.

4. Choose plants that are easy to grow and care for

When researching cottage backyard ideas, it's easy to get swept up in the romance of cultivating overflowing borders. However, be careful of making too much work for yourself – especially if you aren't an experienced gardener.

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'You will be kept busy mulching, watering, feeding, deadheading, cutting back, dividing, planting and tweaking the design,' says Clapp.

'Start small so that it doesn’t get out of control; learn how to keep the plants fed and looking abundant, then gradually increase the size.'

To ensure success, Hensel advises to choose easy-to-grow plants. 'Old-fashioned lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), mountain bluets (Centaurea montana), peonies, all kinds of hardy geraniums, daisies, Siberian iris (Iris siberica) – mix them up and plant them close together.'

It’s a good idea to include thoughtfully placed low-maintenance evergreen shrubs as they can act as a backbone, adding structure and year-round texture and keeping things looking green in every season.

‘Every gardener learns from their successes and mistakes, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes and experiment,' adds Hensel. ’There are no set rules for cottage gardening. Most importantly, have fun.'

5. Plant a meadow area in your cottage backyard

A meadow area that's left to naturally self-seed is a vital addition to cottage backyards that have enough space. Not only are wildflowers such as poppies, marigolds, and ox-eye daisies delightful to look at, but they are self-seeding, so will fill in gaps and settle where they please.

Wildflowers are also loved by pollinators such as bees and butterflies, which are essential to a healthy garden and the wider environment.

Even if you don't have lots of space, try to fi

Planning A Cottage Garden