Informal

A cottage garden looks like an informal jumble of colour and tone. In fact it is anything but! The romantic planting of this style harks back to that wonderful designer Gertrude Jekyll, who was to all intents and purposes as blind as a bat! Her herbaceous borders were packed with a selection of bulbs and perennials to ensure blooms from Spring to Autumn. The key was successional planting around key colour blocks which she placed carefully using the colour wheel. Traditionally roses and climbers are combined with perennials. As a style it robs a core idea from interior design by planting in uneven groups of threes, fives and sevens.