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Cottage garden design and ideas

Cottage garden design means borders packed with flowers that spill over the paths, roses and clematis on every wall and fence, and hardly any bare soil.

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First 3 designs free · No card

Stone path through apricot roses and foxgloves, a cottage garden idea

Stone path through apricot roses and foxgloves

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46 real cottage garden ideas

46 pictures of cottage gardens, every one a real garden redesigned with the app. Tap Before to see how it started, or Get this garden to try the look on yours.

Cottage garden path ideas

Brick, stone and gravel paths that disappear into the planting. 13 gardens

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See it as a cottage garden in about a minute.

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Cottage garden border ideas

Deep cottage garden borders along a lawn or a fence, tall at the back and low at the front. 8 gardens

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See it as a cottage garden in about a minute.

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Cottage gardens with a lawn

Lawns edged with full borders, some crossed by stepping stones. 9 gardens

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See it as a cottage garden in about a minute.

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Small cottage garden ideas

Patios, courtyards and side passages, planted to the edges. 13 gardens

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Cottage front garden ideas

Front paths and drives, softened with cottage planting. 3 gardens

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How to design a cottage garden

The few ideas behind every garden above, and how to make a cottage garden of your own from them.

What makes an English cottage garden

English cottage garden design comes down to a few repeatable ideas: densely planted borders with no bare soil, a loose mix of tall spires and frothy ground cover, roses and clematis climbing every vertical surface, and a gentle repetition of a few favourite plants so it reads as a whole. Winding paths that disappear into the planting and a place to sit among it all finish the picture.

How to lay out a cottage garden

Start with what stays: the trees, the fences and any path you love. Then plant in layers, tall spires at the back and low, spilling plants at the front, in groups of the same plant repeated along the bed. Airy, see-through flowers let you look through the border rather than at a wall of green. See one laid out in full in our cottage garden plan makeover: a round lawn in deep borders, a flagstone path and fruit trees trained on the back wall.

Pick one colour scheme

A cottage garden planting scheme usually lands somewhere between soft pastels and a warmer pink palette. Picking one and repeating it is what stops the border looking like a jumble.

Pastel border ideas →Pink border ideas →

Keep it flowering for months

This style earns its keep by flowering for months rather than peaking for a fortnight, so it leans hard on perennials that keep going and on the nectar-rich plants that fill it with bees.

Long-flowering plants →Pollinator plants →

See it on your own garden first

Garden Design App builds cottage garden designs around your actual garden. It reads a photo of your space, keeps your trees and fences where they are, and redesigns the planting into a layered border you could genuinely create.

From an idea to a plan you can plant

When one of the designs clicks, the Pro and Max plans turn it into cottage garden design plans: every plant named, how big each grows and where each goes, with a month by month flowering calendar so your borders have colour from spring to autumn.

12 classic cottage plants

The plants that make the look. The full list says what each one brings to a border.

  • Foxgloves
  • Delphiniums
  • Lupins
  • Hollyhocks
  • Peonies
  • Salvias
  • Catmint
  • Hardy geraniums
  • Roses
  • Clematis
  • Phlox
  • Lady's mantle

All cottage garden plants →

More cottage garden ideas

  • A narrow garden redesigned as a cottage garden: a brick and stone path between deep borders of roses, delphiniums and lupins

    Got a narrow garden? Our narrow garden ideas makeover turns a bare lawn into a cottage garden, with a brick and stone path that bends and deep borders along both fences.

  • A winding gravel path through borders of roses, catmint and foxgloves

    A lawn beside a patio becomes a winding gravel path through roses, catmint and foxgloves in our garden path ideas makeover.

  • A lawn edged by deep borders of foxgloves, salvias, hardy geraniums and lady's mantle

    For a cottage garden that smells as good as it looks, start with our scented garden plants.

Other garden styles

Cottage garden design questions

What is a cottage garden?

An informal, densely planted garden: borders of flowering perennials, roses and climbers that spill over the paths, with hardly any bare soil. It is the most romantic of the English garden styles, and the one people most often want when they picture a garden full of colour and scent.

How to create a cottage garden from scratch?

Start with what stays: the trees, the fences and any path you love, and note where the sun falls. Then plant in layers, tall at the back and low at the front, in groups of the same plant repeated along the bed, and let a path wind through. Or add a photo of your garden and get a cottage garden design for it in about a minute.

What is the rule of three in cottage gardening?

Plant in odd numbered groups, usually 3 of one plant, rather than in pairs or rows. Odd groups look natural; even ones look set out. Our designs use the same idea, with clumps of 3 or 5 of one plant repeated down the bed.

Can I see a cottage garden on my own garden?

Yes. Add a photo of your garden, choose the cottage style, and see your own garden redesigned in about a minute. Your trees, fences and house stay.

Are the plants real, and can I buy them?

Yes. With the Pro and Max plans every design names its plants: garden centre favourites and RHS Award of Garden Merit winners, chosen by a professional gardener, with how big each grows and where each goes.

Is it free?

Your first 3 designs are free, with no card needed. The Pro plan is £29 and the Max plan is £49, paid once, with nothing to cancel.

Can I try more than one cottage garden idea?

Yes. Make different designs and compare them on your own garden. Your first 3 are free, and Pro, one payment of £29, gives you 20 designs over 14 days, two at a time, so you can see several looks side by side.

Why does my redesign look like high summer?

We show your garden at its peak, in full flower, so you can see how full it can look. It is an artist's impression: your real garden changes through the seasons. Every paid design comes with a flowering calendar, so you know what flowers each month, and evergreen shapes help it look good in winter.

Your cottage garden is one photo away.

Try any of these cottage garden ideas on your own garden in about a minute. Your first 3 designs are free.

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