Chelsea Pensioners Garden

Hello Friends!

I was going to do a quick photo post of the Tiny Green Cottage and how it stands today, but I found my photos to be rather droll and uninspiring despite the fact I still have some flowers blooming. While the stalwart Delphinium and Calendula add a little autumnal charm to my garden, those sparse images certainly cannot compare to what I am about to share!

Doing a random search for Cottage Gardens, I stumbled across this wonderful site featuring images from the Chelsea Pensioners Garden in dear ol' Blighty (ie.England). I found the content of this particular web page very inspiring, and I certainly hope they don't mind I've adopted a few images to share with my readers.

This Chelsea Pensioners Garden seems to be the ultimate in the cottage-look! Of course, it being English certainly helps, but it also features a romantic jumble of heirloom plants, clamoring roses, and quaint water features all combined with antiquated accents to create an evocative look of yester-year.

I just love the look of the Foxglove in the vegetable garden, and the white roses climbing up the brick of the fireplace. If you look closely, you can see a tiny bird's nest in the corner. What a beautiful place this must be in person!

If you would like to see more of these images, please follow this link to Moosey's Country Garden where I found everything featured today.

Tips For Creating Your Own Cottage Garden From Better Homes and Gardens

Hello, Friends.

Weather in Portland has been just plain uncooperative this past week.
Too much cold, too much rain.

The flowers are confused and only partially opening, and today I discovered a Delphinium which had been carelessly trampled on by a neighbourhood pet (or meter reader-- one can never be too sure). No, this week has been no good at all.

As a result, the Tiny Green Cottage has a lack of new content to share for the day. In cases such as this, I consult the piles of magazines I've held onto throughout the years for either their informative editorials or inspiring photos.

Today's post is gleaned from a back issue of Better Homes and Gardens, which included helpful information on planning your own Cottage Garden. The photos are gorgeous, and the advice is sound. I hope you enjoy!

-Tiny Green Cottager
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Go Informal


Cottage gardens don’t look designed. In fact, they’re usually exuberant, free-flowering, and sometimes even unrestrained. To get the informal look, avoid planting in straight lines or defined patterns. Let plants cascade over paths and weave through each other. It adds to their charm. And grow self-seeding plants that pop up in unexpected places.

Grow Old-Fashioned Flowers

Cottage gardens aren’t about new varieties. They’re usually filled with the same traditional favorites your grandmother would have grown. Some popular examples include peony, cosmos, foxglove, snapdragon, pansy, bachelor’s button, columbine, bleeding heart, and hollyhock.

Select Homey Furniture

Make your cottage garden into an outdoor living space by adding comfy furniture. Avoid anything contemporary. Instead look for Adirondack, wicker, or painted metal shellback chairs. The furniture doesn’t have to match: Part of the charm is how informal it is. An eclectic mix fits right in.

Look for Soft, Romantic Plants

Most cottage gardens have a romantic feel. Part of that feel comes from the flowers. Look for blooms in soft pastel shades. Also look for plants packed with petals, such as peonies and old roses. As an added bonus, many of these varieties are also wonderfully fragrant.

Look for Materials with Character

Cottage gardens often include structures made from natural or well-worn materials. Weathered wood fences, arbors, and gates are right at home among a collection of cottage plants.

Using Curving Pathways

Create soft meandering pathways instead of those that follow a straight, structured line. Many paving materials work in cottage gardens, including wood chips, stone, old bricks, and flagstone.

Choose Vintage Accessories

Accessorize your cottage garden with antique or vintage items. You’re more likely to find garage-sale bargains than high-ticket purchases in a cottage garden. An old, dented watering can or a gate with peeling paint can work nicely.

Employ the Unexpected

Don’t be afraid to find creative uses for old items. For example, an old chicken feeder might become a fun planter, or a rusty trowel could be a great gate handle.

Fit in a White-Picket Fence

Though not every cottage garden has a white-picket fence, the two do seem to go hand-in-hand. You don’t have to use the fence to create a boundary. A short section simply could hold up favorite floppy perennials.

Do What You Love

While all these elements are commonly found in a cottage garden, the biggest rule is that you create a look you love. Don’t get caught up in trying to follow “the rules.” Plant what you like and how you like it for a delightful cottage garden to suit you.
-Better Homes & Gardens

Cottage Garden 2009

Just a picture post of the state of our garden as it has stood this week.

Lots of plants to put in the ground still, and weeding to be done! But I'm hoping that any day now we will have tulips in bloom.

Farmers Market Finds

I've the good fortune to work near the Downtown Portland Farmers Market which recenty re-opened late last month.

My favourite part of the market are the plants offered throughout the growing season, and I've had quite a bit of luck finding plants I've been searching for awhile, or had absolutely no luck starting from seed.

Last week I brought home (on the bus, no less!) five Foxglove (digitalis purpurea), two white Bearded Tongue, three Creeping Phlox, a six pack of Oregon Giant Peas and lastly, a White Peshwar Poppy which once divided, turned into six individual starts. And all of this for about $35.00!

Old-Fashioned Romance

I love cottage gardens and have high fantasies of tearing up the entirety of our front lawn and transforming it into something like these photos I saw in Martha Stewart's magazine. I honestly don't know how she gets the Peonies to stand up so straight. She must know a trick to make them levitate!