Hello All- I'm interested in creating an English Garden for my wife and would appreciate any pointers from you guys on how to do so. I'm pretty new to the whole gardening thing.
The area that we want to put the garden is between the side of our house and our walkway to the side door.
We currently have Rhodedendrons (sp?), Azeleas, a Holly Bush and some other bushes. We're looking to add a lot of color and incorporate flowers that bloom every year (perrenials?).
Can you guys point me in the right direction? Are there any websites that you can recommend?
Where do you live? (Ahh the irony, I always forget to state where I live when I post). I would start by finding information specific to your area, to find out what plants will grow well in your climate. You can find information from a local agricultural service, or find local master gardeners who can recommend plants to try.
I assume you are going for the cottage style of English garden as few US properties lend themselves to the formal layout of a stately English country garden. There are no hard and fast design rules for this type of garden - they focus on a riot of plants and plant combinations offering a long bloom season and often allow for a lot of self-seeding plant material. Not all plants suitable to a true English cottage garden will work in all areas of the country, but most common cottage perennials should be applicable. Here is a short list of some of the more standard cottage garden perennials:
delphiniums Shasta daisies Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus) Dame's Rocket (Hesperis) Rose Campion (Lychnis) bearded iris cranesbill (hardy geraniums) Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla) wallflowers asters peonies mallow violets phlox dianthus bleeding heart spring and summer bulbs clematis and other climbers and of course, roses.
You can incorporate any other perennials or annuals as you desire. The intended effect is a lush, billowy, flower-filled garden - the precise placement of these plants is much less significant. The above list focuses on sun lovers, but shady areas also can be planted in this style with a different selection of plant material. You should realize that this type of garden tends to be on the high end of the maintenance schedule - the chaos is controlled, but just barely. For best results the soil needs to be in prime condition and amended annually, watering is frequent and deadheading and staking almost nonstop during the growing season. It is always wise to incorporate some evergreen plant material to give the garden substance in winter - sounds like you have a good start with that, but you might want to bring in a few more small evergreens or even evergreen perennials, depending on your location and their hardiness in your area.
English Cottage Gardening for American Gardeners, by Margaret Hensel is a great resource - lots of photographs, plant listings and sources for locating. Should be available through Amazon.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.