Designing An Informal Garden

Designing a garden for a new home can be fun. While formal gardens can be awe-inspiring, they require much work to maintain. If you want a garden that looks nice but is less work than a formal garden, an informal garden, also called a cottage garden, may work for you. 

History of Cottage Gardens

Cottage gardens were planted by a serf or peasant in front of their cottage.  The plants were primarily vegetables and herbs so the inhabitants could eat and treat medical problems.  A few flowers were scattered through the garden to keep pests down.  If the garden didn’t produce, the inhabitants didn’t eat.

After the Industrial Revolution, landowners began to idealize peasant life. They embraced the concept of cottage gardens, shifting the focus from growing vegetables and herbs to cultivating flowers and unique plants. This transformation laid the groundwork for our modern understanding of cottage gardens.

Informal Garden Principles

Informal gardens have guiding principles rather than rigid rules. Here are some hallmarks of the informal garden.

Curves, Not Lines

Nature doesn’t typically create things in straight lines. Informal gardens feature natural curves in their paths and flower beds. These gardens lack symmetry and do not have a defined focal point. The meandering paths can sometimes obstruct your view, encouraging you to slow down and take a closer look at the flowers.

Nature doesn’t typically create things in straight lines

Informal gardens feature natural curves in their paths and flower beds. These gardens lack symmetry and do not have a defined focal point. The meandering paths can sometimes obstruct your view, encouraging you to slow down and take a closer look at the flowers. 

The edges of beds are not as defined, and some plants may gently crowd the path.  Instead of a line of plants, there are clumps of 3,5 or 7 plants. While paths still need to be a meter wide to let people using a wheelchair or walker enjoy them, they can be natural stone, bricks, cobblestones, pebbles, gravel, or mulch. Cobblestones, pebbles, gravel, and mulch are hard for wheelchairs and walkers to handle. They are usually cheaper than brick or natural stone, however. Putting low plants in the cracks between stones or bricks is okay, instead of keeping them ruthlessly clear.

Go for Whimsy and Romance

Cottage gardens, which contain a profusion of plants.  Go for whimsy and romance when choosing plants for this garden.  Don’t be afraid to pick bold colors.  Put plants whose blooms clash with one another next to each other. 

Group by sunlight and water needs

  Mix heights and textures in beds to increase the whimsy of the garden.  Because an informal garden doesn’t have a focal point, don’t be afraid to add a water feature, fountain, or sculpture.  You can tuck them in nooks so they come as a surprise to people rounding a curve while walking through the garden.  Remember to include seats so someone can rest or sit and watch the birds, butterflies, and other wildlife in the garden.

 Crowd The Beds

Gardeners are usually told to spread plants out so there is good air circulation between the plants.  In an informal garden, plants are slightly crowded.  Vegetables may be planted in the beds among the flowers instead of being off alone. 

To prevent diseases, use rich soil with plenty of organic matter.  Water from drip irrigation so the foliage doesn’t get wet and water early in the morning, so the plants have all day to dry if they do get wet.  Work to keep your plants as healthy and vigorous as possible to compensate for the crowding.

White Picket Fences

Most cottage gardens are enclosed.  White picket fences or latticework keep the garden under control.  Fences may be painted a bright color instead of white.  Lattice fences serve as trellises for vines and vegetable plants.  Since the fences are not to keep people out, they usually are only three- or four feet-tall.  They mark a boundary without blocking the view.  If you have pets, you may have to make the pickets close together so the pet can’t slip out while keeping you company in the garden.

Wide Color Scheme

Instead of a small color pallet, informal gardens choose from all the natural colors.  While you may plant muted flowers, go for bold and let beds clash.   Mix and Match Rigid rules may make a lovely formal garden, but they are not as fun as planting what you want where you want it.  Of course, planting shade plants in direct sun won’t end well, but as long as you give the plants optimum conditions, you can plant whatever you want.  You can put shrubs and small trees in your flower beds to provide dappled light to understory plants. 

Plant ephemeral plants such as Virginia bluebells that bloom early, then fade and become inconspicuous as the spring turns into summer. Height Matters Formal gardens tend to be strict about putting tall plants in the back, with ever shorter plants marching toward the border of the beds.  Tall and shorter plants are mixed throughout the flower bed in an informal garden.  Often, a shorter plant will bloom while a larger plant is still growing.  As the shorter plant stops flowering, the taller plant beside it surpasses it and becomes the tallest plant in the garden.  This requires some thought to match up the flowering and growth stages of the plants, but it can be done.  On the other hand, you can just mix them in any way you want for a more natural look.

Good For Wildlife

Informal gardens with many different plants are generally more wildlife-friendly than formal flower beds.  Flowers attract pollinators such as butterflies and bees.  Small animals may nest in grasses.  The grasses add animation to the garden by swaying in the breeze.  Any water feature will help by giving the wildlife a drink.  Birds feed caterpillars to their young while insect predators keep pests in check.  If you want butterflies, you must plant enough of their larva’s favorite plants to feed the caterpillars until they pupate. 

Caterpillars consume a single plant long before it is grown. For example, a sample cottage garden bed may have trumpet flowers growing on the fence, their bright orange blooms attracting hummingbirds and butterflies.

  With its bright red flowers, the Cardinal flower may grow next to the fence.  Who cares if the colors clash?  They are both colorful and cheery.  Bright prairie flowers like purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and blanket flowers surround a witch hazel tree with its crooked limbs and yellow fall flowers. 

With an informal garden, almost anything goes. At TN Nursery, we can help you find plants that fit into any niche.  From native plants to plants that are a little fussy, we have them.  Give us a call at 931.692.7325 to order now.