What can you do (or would like to do) in an 'English Country Garden"?

Question

How big would your ideal garden be? What would you have in it? What would you like to do in it?

I'm hoping I get a wide variety of answers. Let your imagination run free.


I love Yahoo answers.

thanks, Sandra.

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Is anybody out there. Come on you country garden fans.

Answer 1

I like to see a large arbor with wisteria coming up from its corners and covering the top. The arbor can be very simple allowing the wisteria to provide shade. If you have a good size tree, English ivy can be grown in its shade. allow the ivy to grow no more than 3 feet or so up the trunk of the tree and maintain a distance between the Ivy and any other structures.

By nature, an English garden is going to have a manicured look as opposed to the free form plantings of a tropical garden, for instance. Hedges are almost always included. My ideal English garden would have the space to plant a hedged labyrinth. They can be very therapeutic and many designs are available from the internet.

Plant lavender in a few sunny locations. Especially where it is difficult to water since lavender is very drought tolerant and needs very little fertilization.

A water feature is very important to help provide audio relaxation. Just a trickle from a small fountain is satisfactory. A gold fish pond is also a consideration. If you place it in the pathway, a cute bridge spanning it really looks good.

I also like to have a meandering pathway of pavers or small gravel that encourages your guests to enter the garden and view what it offers. Plant some woolly, lemon or other variety of thyme or the newer miniature mint along it's border so when stepped on, it's aroma will be released into the air.

As far as other plants are concerned, your temperatures would be the major consideration. You will definitely want some rose bushes. How many would depend on your ability to provide the extra care they will require. Although the newer hybrids are more resistant to pests and disease, the older varieties do have a stronger scent.

A simple or ornate swing and or hammock are very inviting as is a small table surrounded by casual or formal seating. Intermittent placing of a few accent pieces (old well pump, bird bath, etc...) will help maintain the viewers attention to your garden. A shed for tools and lawn equipment could be built with English accents to add even more architectural interest.

If space allows, it is nice to include some sort of yard game. Horse shoes to miniature golf, even a table set up with checkers or a chess set, it is nice to have some sort of game.

Provide lighting along the path as well as illuminate some of your specimen plants if the garden is to be enjoyed at night.

As far as its size. I would prefer that, from the moment a guest enters the yard, the garden would appear to cover the entire space.

Answer 2

hi sandra! i have an english country garden in washington state!
you're gonna want to plant flowers that are not only pleasing to the eye, but also to the nose!
you might want to start out with some really decent old english rose bushes (when the ground warms up, go to a really good nursery...not wal-mart or such stores)or go online and check out David Austin Roses Limited, or Wayside Gardens they both have fantastic selections! english rose bushes smell fantastic, and are pest free and disease free! Just prune them once a year anytime after 'president's Day in February.
At the same time throw some seeds: cosmos, alaskan daisy, bachelor button, shirley poppy, aster, hollyhock (next to a fence-they need to be proped up) and whatever else will sway in the breeze and is colorful! Just throw them out and press them into the ground with your foot. Also in front of everything, put in some white allisium-smells fantastic but is very short! Marigolds, and some ground ivy or star jasmine would be good too. These two plants will wind around you garden and cover rocks and fill in cracks! Plant a couple of butterfly bushes, a silver lace vine and some coral bells. Bleeding heart and hosta are a great choice for a shady area, as is astillbe. You might want to stick to one single color of astillbe for a dramatic look! They are very wispy and beautiful with tiny tiny flowers! They need shade and a constant damp, but not soaking wet area to do well though. Hosta do great in the shade..some species will take morning sun. They need a damp loamy soil to excel in. Put out some bird houses, and a bird bath with a natural flat rock winding path, and in a year or so you'll have yourself a really nice little english garden!
don't forget a brass wind chime, and maybe a few pieces of concrete garden art. Concrete won't fall apart in the winter freezes like clay pieces will.
Don't forget perenial baby's breath or dahlias either and maybe some english lavendar (likes a fairly dry area).
Good luck on your garden...i adore mine! lh

Answer 3

if i had the time and room i would love a huge garden. would like to have ever type of vegetable and flower you can grow as i love watching things grow and develope... i would also have a tree orchard so I could note how differrent trees change as they develop

the more fragrant flowers and trees the better...Lets

Answer 4

I don't have a green thumb, so I can't suggest how to grow one. But if I had access to one...I'd swing in a hammock and nap! :-)