{"id":2517,"date":"2020-02-18T13:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2020-02-18T13:30:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:30:26","slug":"country-styled-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gardenbenches.com\/blog\/country-styled-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create A Country Styled Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may not own a cottage.\u00a0 You may not even live in the countryside.\u00a0 But, for you, a little bit of the rural is essential to your peace and wellbeing.\u00a0 You want to create a haven within your grounds, somewhere flowers bloom and bees and butterflies flourish.<\/p>\n

Sound like you?<\/p>\n

Then, you may have your heart set on a country-styled garden.\u00a0 You will amaze visitors with the carefully crafted chaos of border planting and wall climbers.\u00a0 There will be an intricate layering of plants that is so effortless that for the uninitiated, it will look like nature took control and created something magical.\u00a0 It forms the perfect backdrop for your teak dining sets<\/a> or your lovers\u2019 bench.\u00a0 A haven away from it all to enjoy nature.<\/p>\n

Here we guide you through some of the essentials when creating a country-styled garden.<\/p>\n

Forgo the lawn<\/h2>\n

A manicured lawn is a standard feature of a garden.\u00a0 It almost goes without saying that you will take the central swathe of the garden and turn it into a stretch of grass.\u00a0 There are lots of reasons for doing this.\u00a0 Primarily, it offers a space for your family to mooch in the summer months and somewhere for your pet to run around.\u00a0 It also makes the landscaping of your garden a little easier, as there is a large section of land that does not need any other planting or excessive weeding.<\/p>\n

However, a neatly manicured lawn is not a distinctive feature of a cottage garden \u2014 quite the opposite.\u00a0 The country gardener will entirely forgo the lawn.\u00a0 Instead, they will create a landscape of informal and overflowing flowerbeds.\u00a0 The aim is to create a variety of textures and colours \u2013 mixing up the land with a range of planting.\u00a0 You need to create a casual look, as the ultimate aim of a country garden is the celebration of nature.<\/p>\n

Add an arbour<\/h2>\n

An arbour is an essential of the country garden.\u00a0 It is the wooden archway, usually over the gate, that is adorned in creeping flowers.\u00a0 Not only does this feature add height to your garden, but it will also add that hint of romantic escape.\u00a0 It will create a sense of mystery to the entrance to the whole garden, or maybe even a small section of your garden.<\/p>\n

If you want to add to the sense of fairy tale, you can lay stepping-stone slabs that run-up to and beyond the arbour. The path can act as a guide around the garden, informally helping the visitor experience the space as you desire.<\/p>\n

This arbour is the place to plant your climbing roses or your vines, which will promise such colour in the summer months.\u00a0 If you choose ivy, you will have beautiful foliage all year round.\u00a0 If you select a clematis, you will notice the die back during the winter.\u00a0 It is best to keep this to your pots close to the house.<\/p>\n

\"planters\"<\/h2>\n

Play with your planters<\/h2>\n

Remember the key to your country-style garden is to shy away from anything too formal.\u00a0 Consequently, buying a load of stone planters from the garden centre or the reclamation yard may well be too staged for your garden.\u00a0 Instead, you want to make planters out of the most unexpected items.\u00a0 You aim to give your garden an organic feel as if the plants have sprouted themselves.<\/p>\n

Imagine using some old Wellington boots as planters, all in a row by the backdoor.\u00a0 Then, maybe you can turn an old Belfast sink into a planter, with flowers overflowing over the edge.\u00a0 A favourite planter was an old bath, still fitted with taps, which created a point of interest in an otherwise dull corner of the garden.<\/p>\n

For smaller planters, you could use old teapots and jugs, and maybe the odd jam jar or two.<\/p>\n

Look for vintage accessories<\/h2>\n

What you can scan the reclamation yards for are vintage accessories to offer authenticity to your design.\u00a0 You are aiming to give your garden a haphazard, albeit wonderfully crafted, feel.\u00a0 Therefore, finding yourself an old pitchfork or a steel watering can help to offer the hit of vintage.<\/p>\n

The look you are going for is a sort of shabby chic for the garden.\u00a0 You want to look for those beaten up cartwheels, and the old milking churns, all aged with some authentic rust.\u00a0 You can then use these to supplement your planting scheme.\u00a0 One item that could add some vertical planting to your garden is the shabby wire planter.\u00a0 You can attach these planters to a shed or a fence and encourage plants that like to tumble over the side like a waterfall.<\/p>\n

The best advice for choosing your vintage accessories is to avoid bright colours.\u00a0 You want mooted colours that are harmonious with nature.\u00a0 Remember you want your flowers to steal the show, so the accessories should be the stage on which these plants perform.<\/p>\n

\"garden<\/p>\n

The winding garden path<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

There shouldn\u2019t be any sharp angles in your garden.\u00a0 Therefore, your path is going to have to meander aimlessly through your flower beds.\u00a0 We say aimlessly when we mean carefully crafted.\u00a0 Remember the art of the country-style garden is the perception of chaos but with the eye of an artist.\u00a0 Your path needs to wind around in such a way as the visitor will see the garden in exactly the way you hope.<\/p>\n

Although you will want the path to be clear, you need to avoid rigid lines.\u00a0 Therefore, the flower beds will look best if they overflow onto the track.\u00a0 You are trying to make it seem like nature made it this way and you are a lucky recipient of this serendipitous creation.<\/p>\n

There are lots of choices for material for your path<\/a>.\u00a0 You could create a charming effect with cobblestones.\u00a0 The cobblestones will be more resistant to the growth of weeds; yet will give the impression of the land pushing through.\u00a0 Alternatively, you can buy wooden stepping-stones from the garden centre and organise these on woodchip.\u00a0 This is more keeping with the sense that the garden has just emerged this way while keeping your feet out the mud. Finally, you could go for gravel.\u00a0 This would make a neater line through your garden but may offer the perfect contrast with the textures of your planting.<\/p>\n

The classic white-picket fence<\/h2>\n

As with everything else about your garden, the perimeter of your land should not be too well defined.\u00a0 There should be a sense of toppling over into the world.\u00a0 The white-picket fence allows your plants to poke through and spillover.\u00a0 There will be nothing crisp about the border, other than the wonderfully white fence slats.\u00a0 The fence also provides a classic backdrop to your flowers.\u00a0 Remember any accessory is meant to blend into the background and complement the star of the garden \u2013 the flowers.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you may go for the classic walled garden with a wooden doorway.\u00a0 A walled garden<\/a> offers you the privacy you need while maintaining that shabby chic style.\u00a0 If you choose high walls around your yard, then you need to plan your planting to make the most of the vertical spaces created.\u00a0 You could manufacture the odd missing brick here and there, for instance, to give you a space to plant an alpine or two.<\/p>\n

\"bee\"<\/h2>\n

Plant luxuriously<\/h2>\n

Where everything else has been mooted and charmingly understated, your planting needs to luxurious and full throttle.\u00a0 Everything about your garden flowers should scream abundance.\u00a0 You need full and heavy-petalled flowers like roses, peonies, bellflowers and more.<\/p>\n

You also need to plant your taller flowers to the back and then as you move towards paths or open edges, plant shrub-like flowers.\u00a0 The plants should be an explosion for the eyes and the nose.\u00a0 Your country-style garden will be a haven for wildlife, specifically the bee and the butterfly.\u00a0 So, you need to plant some lavender and honeysuckle to attract these pollinators.\u00a0 Not only will these plants grow relatively haphazardly, with the honeysuckle climbing up a wall, but will also offer hints of purple and yellow \u2013 wonderfully contrasting colours.<\/p>\n

BBC Gardeners\u2019 World<\/a> suggests 12 essential plants for your cottage garden. As well as roses, honeysuckle and lavender, they suggest:<\/p>\n