Cottage gardens are all about charm and character, a style that is essentially informal, miles apart from immaculate lawns and regimented borders. The cottage garden style means generous planting, a representation of rural bliss: a sea of blooms, with paths meandering between. Planting is personal with the emphasis on the pleasure of growing plants and enjoying their form and fragrance. A medley of colours and textures all crammed into the borders.

Initially the cottage garden was constructed for its utilitarianism, every bit of growing space was used for the families needs. Flowers, fruit, herbs and vegetables were packed together into even the smallest plots. The gardens extolled in Helen Allingham's paintings, the writings of Flora Thompson and by the influential landscape gardener William Robinson, were idealized visions of rural contentment.

Incorporate wildflowers and herbs as well as the more traditional cottage garden plants. Planting in clumps will provide large blocks of colour to introducing rich patterns of colour and movement. Don't just restrict yourself to planting tall plants at the back and smaller ones at the front - some taller plants in amongst the middle of planting areas can look very effective.

Grow Hollyhocks beside walls and fences, and climbers in amongst hedges or trees, or up walls and fences. Sowing annuals can fill in gaps in the planting. Many flowers also featured in traditional cottage gardens are self-sowing; leave old flower spikes in tact for the plants to self-seed.

It would be a mistake to say that the cottage garden is a low maintenance garden; it requires care and attention like any other garden. Frequent deadheading is required to maintain a long season of bloom, dividing and replanting to avoid one of two invasive plants taking over and though weeds have competition, weeding is necessary from time to time.

Laying out the Cottage Garden

A classic cottage garden has a straight path to the front door, a simple fence and perhaps an arch over the gate, the path or the doorway. A climbing rose or a wisteria would adorn the wall above the front door. The path would be edged with plants that spill over to soften the edges. A few evergreen shrubs will provide permanent green backdrop to show off the flowers, and contrast with autumn foliage and spring bulbs. In winter when the rest of the garden sleeps, they will be there to inject interest and colour. A tree will give scale to the garden, and lift the eye over the flowers. Deciduous trees have more than one season of interest as most provide some autumn colour and many have lovely flowers and fruits. The framework of branches will continue to provide the needed height in winter, without the disadvantage of blocking winter sunlight in a smaller plot. Deciduous flowering shrubs will provide summer interest, and some will give you autumn foliage colour and berries throughout winter.

A cottage garden is not complete without roses. Species and heritage roses that have stood the test of time, plus the modern roses bred for ease of maintenance and disease resistance give you roses without all the work roses can require. There are wonderful climbers to adorn arches, pergola or fence. Work roses into your overall scheme, and let them play their part, and they will contribute immensely to your garden.

Hard landscaping, such as paths, seating areas and containers, are there to help you enjoy the garden. Hard surfaces contrast well with the flow of the planting.

Several different climbers can share the same support, whether it is a tree, pergola or arbour. It's a good space-saving technique that creates colourful features for months on end and adds height to the garden.

Containers are the convenient way to add lots of extra colour around buildings, close to seats and benches.

Objects such as old chimney pots, old watering cans and bottomless metal buckets can be recycled to make authentic, aged features that all add to the character of a cottage garden.