Elements of a cottage garden

In this series, Stephanie Donaldson analyses the key features that contribute to making a particular type of garden. Here she explains how to create the quintessential cottage garden full of old-fashioned flowers, lavender-lined paths and fruit trees. This planting harks back to a time when gardens weren't planned, they grew. It's about abundance and informality, at its best when allowed to develop gradually.

The basics
Like every garden, this style has three main elements - vertical, horizontal and planting. It is how you marry these together that creates the distinctive cottage-garden look. In this case, the verticals are the walls of the house, the greenhouses and sheds, and the plant supports and fences. These must be clothed with an abundant mix of climbing plants to create the right mood. The horizontals include the paths and edgings, planters - and water. They enclose, contain and anchor the planting while the water, vital for plants and wildlife, is present in water butts, ponds and pools. The planting must include a profusion of climbers and ramblers, perennials, edibles and annuals allowed to self-seed wherever they like.

Boundaries
A picket fence with matching gate is the classic boundary to a cottage garden. Painted or plain, fancy or functional, it frames the garden and allows plants to weave freely between its slats or tumble over it. In towns and villages a smartly painted, white picket fence will fit harmoniously into its surroundings, while a rural setting requires something more roughhewn and rustic. A boundary fence can be productive (planted with loganberries, for example) or deter intruders (both human and animal) when combined with particularly prickly plants such as the extremely thorny Rosa rugosa. If privacy is important, a native hedge establishes quickly. Bought cheaply as one-year old whips, they can reach a height of two metres in five years, framing the garden and providing a food source and an important nesting place for birds and other wildlife.

Paths and edgings
It's hard to beat old bricks for both the path and the edgings. In traditional cottage gardens these were often recycled from tumbledown buildings, but now that old bricks have considerable commercial value they are harder to come by. A good, and much cheaper alternative, is to check your local paper for small ads offering brick ‘seconds'. These are not suitable for building but are ideal for use in the garden. Paving companies also do reasonable simulated bricks, but because they are made from cement rather than clay they do not weather as attractively.

Plant supports
Whether it's a wigwam supporting sweet peas, a rose-covered arch over the gate or a row of runner beans clambering up poles, plant supports are an integral part of the cottage garden. Like the picket fence, the general rule of thumb is that the more rural your garden, the more rustic the materials, while a town garden can take more sophisticated finishes. The added height offered by plant supports gives variation and interest to the borders.

Walls
The walls of your house, your shed or garage can all be used as support acts (literally) for your planting and will display them to good effect. With the assistance of vine-eyes and wires or trellis, climbing roses, honeysuckle and clematis will clothe specific areas and soften the hard edges of a building, clamber around windows and doorways and disguise any eyesores.

Trees
If you are lucky you may have an old fruit tree or two in your plot. Productivity has always been important in cottage gardens and it is worth having a tree professionally pruned, or learning how to do it yourself, if this means it will continue to bear fruit. Sometimes, though, the fruit just isn't palatable, in which case plant a rambling rose or clematis to festoon its branches. But choose carefully: some rambling roses are excessively rampant and pruning is no solution - the more you prune, the faster they will grow and you will end up with a thicket of Sleeping Beauty proportions. When introducing new trees, source local varieties of apple, pear, plum or cherry, or for something more unusual, mulberry, medlar or quince.

Furniture
Painted furniture looks pretty set among a riot of cottage-garden flowers, but be realistic - unless you have somewhere to store it over winter it will need repainting regularly and you may be better choosing something more rustic and durable. Cushions complete the picture, but you need a convenient and dry place to store them. An old tree positively begs for a swing, while two will provide anchor points for a hammock.

Wildlife
An established cottage garden is a wonderful wildlife habitat. Many old-fashioned flowers are pollen and nectar-rich and will attract birds and beneficial insects. Buddleja, sunflowers, thyme, marjoram, candytuft and poached-egg plant are a few of these. Leave nooks and crannies to provide homes for small mammals, amphibians and invertebrates.

10 classic cottage-garden plants

● Aquilegia Flowers early and self-seeds around the garden
● Foxglove Blooms in its second year, dies but self-seeds
● Hollyhock Tall spires of tissuepaper flowers, worth growing despite rust marring the leaves
● Honesty Tricky to introduce, but once established will self-seed prolifically and brighten the spring garden with its purple flowers
● Houseleek Succulent rosettes often seen growing on clay tile roofs, but equally happy in shallow troughs
● Lavender The perfect fragrant edging for a path
● Love-in-a-mist Self-seeding annual with sky-blue flowers and ferny foliage
● Pinks Silvery grey foliage and fragrant flowers
● Pot marigold One of the easiest to grow with bright orange flowers but
avoid the stunted ‘dwarf' varieties
● Sweet pea (above) Every cottage garden needs a wigwam of sweet peas