Lush beds are essential to English gardens. "The sort of plant-packed or intensively planted landscape is iconic," Carey. Include abundant flowers in your backyard to achieve this appearance.
At Sissinghurst Castle, hedges are a classic English garden feature. Classic low hedges of evergreens like boxwood can be replicated using inkberry holly, closely planted perennials like lavender, or easy-care catmint.
English gardens include annuals, perennials, and shrubs. Carey advises filling your garden with colors and plants you love to achieve the exuberance of an English garden, whether formal like this or a small section of your yard.
A useful and attractive potager, or kitchen garden, should include herbs and vegetables in an English garden. Carey recommends interplanting dianthus and sweet alyssum to beautify and attract pollinators and beneficial insects.
Winding walkways let you explore your area and work in the garden. More meandering is preferable. Plantings over walkways sharpen hard edges, adds Carey.
"Roses are very much a part of any English garden," Carey explains. In this classic English garden, climbing roses cover walls and trellises. Over rock walls, trellises, and arbors, climbers and rambling roses can spill.
Carey thinks fragrance is sometimes underestimated, yet no English garden is complete without it. Sweet peas, perennial geraniums, peonies, and snapdragons are classics.
"Every foot of space is valuable in an English garden," Carey. Even if your outdoor space is small, add as many plants as possible for coziness and solitude.
Your yard can easily have an English or cottage atmosphere with spring-flowering bulbs. Crocuses, daffodils, grape hyacinths, and tulips can be planted throughout the spring to complement snowdrops.
Traditional English garden plants include delphiniums, larkspur, hollyhock, and dianthus. Fill yours with seasonal colors to make your landscape inviting year-round.