Garden historian Jenny Rose Carey shares her 12 tips for planting a gorgeous English garden.
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English gardens have an ethereal, peaceful feel: Roses clambering over stone walls, old-fashioned plantings such as sweet peas, and meandering paths that invite you to explore. But there’s actually not one defining feature. “The concept means many different things to different people,” says garden historian Jenny Rose Carey, author of The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide and former senior director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm. “But what’s appealing about the ‘English-ness’ of it is that you can take what you like about the look and make it part of your own garden’s design, no matter where you live.”
Historically, English gardens evolved from many sources of inspiration, including walled kitchen gardens, which supplied large estates with fruit and vegetables, and cottage gardens, which were productive spaces where herbs, flowers, vegetables, flowers, and livestock were raised together. Great houses, such as Great Dixter and Hidcote, reflect the iconic English garden sensibility that remains so appealing even today. “We can’t take that Sussex farmhouse and the old stone walls back with us, but we can find plant combinations and elements we love and recreate that feeling in our own gardens,” says Carey.
Ahead, here’s how to incorporate the romance and beauty of these gardens into your own outdoor spaces with these English garden ideas.
1
Lush Plantings
Full, lush beds are a key element to English gardens. "The sort of plant-packed or intensively planted landscape is iconic," says Carey. To capture this look in your own backyard, include beautiful flowers in profusion. Here, various shades of blue offer a peaceful welcome in this elegantly planted border.
2
Low Hedges
Hedges are an iconic element of English gardens, as seen here at Sissinghurst Castle. Low hedges of evergreens such as boxwood are classic, but you also can imitate the look with other shrubs such as inkberry holly or tightly planted perennials such as lavender or easy-care catmint.
3
Plant Diversity
Annuals, perennials, and shrubs all have a place in the English garden. Whether formal, as shown here, or a tiny corner of your yard, the garden should be overflowing with colors and plants you love to capture that sense of exuberance that is part of an English garden, says Carey.
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4
Kitchen Garden
Both herbs and vegetables should be part of any English garden in the form of a potager, or kitchen garden, which is both practical and pretty. Interplanting with flowers, such as dianthus and sweet alyssum, adds beauty and attracts pollinators and beneficial insects to your garden, says Carey.
5
Garden Paths
Winding paths allow you to further explore the beauty of your landscape, and they provide a place where you can work in the garden. The more they meander, the better. Allow plantings to spill over the walkways to sharpen harsh edges, says Carey.
6
Roses
"Roses are very much a part of any English garden," says Carey. Here, climbing roses cover walls and trellises throughout this quintessential English garden. Both climbers and rambling roses can be trained to spill over rock walls, a trellis or arbor.
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7
Fragrance
Fragrance is an often overlooked part of gardening, but no English garden is complete without it, says Carey. Look for classics such as sweet peas, perennial geraniums, peonies, and snapdragons.
8
Private Spaces
"Every foot of space is valuable in an English garden," says Carey. Even if you only have a tiny outdoor space, make it your own by fitting in as many plants as possible to achieve a sense of coziness and privacy.
9
Spring Bulbs
Spring-flowering bulbs are an easy way to imbue an English or cottage feel to your garden. Shown here, a profusion of snowdrops bloom in early spring, but you can plant a succession of spring bulbs for color all season long, including crocuses, daffodils, grape hyacinths, and tulips.
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10
Old-Fashioned Plants
Old-fashioned favorites such as delphiniums, larkspur, hollyhock, and dianthus belong in an English garden. Fill yours with a succession of seasonal color to make the landscape inviting in every season.
11
Garden Bench
A wooden or metal garden bench allows you to stop and smell the roses, quite literally! It's essential for enjoying your garden from every perspective.
12
Relaxed Plantings
Not every English garden has to be perfectly manicured. "With the cottage garden feel, that neatnik mentality goes out the window," says Carey. Let the flowers overflow the paths, mix in as many colors as you love, and allow plants to reseed at will. This sense of overjoyed abandon is evident in this wildflower border at Hidcote, seen here.
Arricca Elin SanSone
Arricca Elin SanSone has written about health and lifestyle topics for Prevention, Country Living, Woman's Day, and more. She’s passionate about gardening, baking, reading, and spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
