English Garden Design Tips for a Classic Outdoor Look

It is said that the English gardening style has become one of the most popular and well-loved styles worldwide. With a few fundamental concepts of design and horticulture, it is possible to create variations of English garden styles suitable for different conditions and landscapes. 

The essential components of an English garden include large stretches of bright plants, coordinated color themes, diverse styles, and herbaceous borders filled with flowers throughout three seasons.

English gardens gained popularity during the 18th and 19th centuries thanks to influential figures who introduced techniques for herbaceous borders and single-color garden designs, often incorporating geometric forms with diagonal lines in borders.

Below is a selection of plants suitable for English landscapes, essential garden elements, and design concepts to help create a beautiful garden.

What Is the Difference Between an English Garden and a Cottage Garden?

Although “English garden” and “cottage garden” are often used interchangeably, they have distinct characteristics. These styles, however, are frequently blended.

The earliest English gardens were designed by the noble class who lived on expansive estates. These grand gardens featured formal, symmetrical designs with 

• Vast green lawns 
• Walled garden rooms 
• Extravagant flower borders
• Neatly trimmed hedges
• Adorned elements like traditional sculptures and water features

These gardens primarily served decorative purposes and showcased wealth.

On the other hand, cottage gardens were maintained by peasants living in small cottages. They had a functional, informal design and were planted with fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, and medicinal herbs, often surrounded by stone or picket fences to keep livestock out.

How to Design an English-Style Garden

Select and assess your location. English-style borders require full to partial sun as well as adequate drainage. Choose an area of your yard that receives six to eight hours of direct sunlight on most days of your growing time. Add soil amendments to make an abundant soil.

Find ideas. Explore online resources like Pinterest or gardening blogs for ideas. Visit local gardens with English elements to discover the desirable plants in your region. Create a list of the things you would like to add.

Create a plan. Sketch out a rough sketch to envision how your yard will appear. For more complicated landscaping projects, speak with an experienced landscaping company.

Take into consideration the scale. Choose plants, materials, and other features that match the scale of your property and home. Adding small water features like the tabletop fountain or birdbath is possible if you’re limited in space. Make use of bistro seating instead of an expansive bench. Alternate larger plants with smaller varieties that don’t grow out of the space.

Take into consideration your style. Select a color scheme, material, plant, and other accessories that match your home’s exterior. Blend English-style elements with other details that align with your tastes.

English Garden Design Elements

English gardens include formal hedging and hardscaping to provide a sense of order. There are also smaller borders of planting for an offset. Incorporate some or all of these English garden elements to give an appealing visual and timeless appeal.

• Include An Entrance Gate

There’s nothing more beautiful in the English landscape than a basic gateway. They’re simple, suitable to install and purchase, and the impact is massive. 

Do you not have a wall on which you can put this new building? You can also purchase standalone designs set in a garden with simple vines and bushes.

• Strategy the Color Scheme

You’re looking for the appearance of a natural color scheme. Nature combines plants in ways we can only dream of mimicking, so you can be quite free with the color theory you use. Attention to how the colors work together and interact before deciding on the color scheme you want to use. Select plants that are within your color scheme.

Plants with the colors of orange and blue since they’re opposites. Throw the flower arrangements in pink to create a tiny clash. It’s controversial, but it’s fun. Utilize triadic colors of green, purple, and orange and analogous color schemes that include orange, yellow, and pink.

It is possible to work using many color schemes, including bold ones, since the green background color can tie everything in place,

• Structured Hedges and Freeform Flowers

The use of hedges to build low or high walls in an English garden provides a solid structure, contrasting the more natural, looser forms of cottage-style plants. 

The massive high topiary hedge in Oxfordshire’s garden creates a dramatic formal backdrop for the soft, delicate border flowers. Shades of rose, pink, and purple are harmonious with the lush foliage and green hedges.

• Layered Mixed Borders

Layer your plantings using plants for height, trees as background and structural aspects, and perennials with attractive flowers and foliage that add to the season’s color. Incorporate annuals into the mix to fill in the gaps and add color quickly throughout the fall and summer. Choose dwarf varieties for smaller spaces.

• Incorporate Seating

English gardens are meant to be enjoyed, so they often feature benches. These provide a perfect spot to sit and appreciate the surrounding beauty. Wooden, stone, or metal structures are ideal for these spaces, complementing the natural charm of the garden.

• Layer Leaf Textures

Select plants with diverse leaf textures to create interest. “Texture is more important than color because a variety of textures brings a sense of movement to a border,” explains an expert. Movement adds vitality to a mixed border’s appearance.

The size and shape of the leaves define leaf texture. Plants with large leaves, such as lamb’s ears, lady’s mantle, or heuchera, provide a coarse texture. 

Wispy, broad, or fern-like leaves, like those of daylilies, yarrows, or ornamental grasses, offer fine texture. Medium-sized leaves in plants such as irises, euphorbia, or azaleas provide balance with medium-textured foliage.

Mixing leaf textures enhances the visual impact of your border. A proper combination ensures the garden looks appealing even when flowers are not blooming. 

Texture can be tricky to grasp, but a practical tip is to take a black-and-white photo of your garden border. This helps visualize the textures more clearly. Consider adding plants with larger leaves if you need more contrast. “Don’t hesitate to rearrange plants seasonally to refine your style.”

• English Roses

Roses are an essential feature of any English garden, often admired for their delightful fragrances. Many fragrant climbing varieties come in shades of pink, such as:

1. ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ (medium warm pink)
2. ‘Pearly Gates’ (light pink)
3. ‘New Dawn’ (very pale pink)
4. ‘Pretty in Pink Eden’ (medium to dark pink)

• Focal Points

Add a statue, planter, urn, or reflective gazing ball as a focal point to draw attention and enhance the garden’s charm. Place these near pathways or central locations to create a visual anchor.

Classic English statues, often made of stone or concrete, typically feature human figures, angels, cherubs, or animals. However, you can select elements that suit your style. A fountain, bench, or striking plant can also be an eye-catching focal point.

• Evergreen Boxwoods

Boxwood plants are versatile landscape elements, often featured in elegant, formal English gardens. However, they can also complement casual designs, such as those with large ferns in the background and simple annual geraniums in the foreground.

Maintaining boxwoods is straightforward; trimming shrubs into rounded shapes can be easily accomplished with a battery-powered or electric hedge trimmer. The vibrant shades of green are especially striking in autumn, and the boxwoods remain lush and evergreen throughout winter.

• Keep Hedges Well-Trimmed

Large, well-maintained shrubs can serve multiple purposes: dividing spaces, creating pathways or walls, or separating different garden sections. This organizes the garden and creates additional planting areas for enjoyment. For entertaining guests or family, hedges can help define distinct spaces, adding functionality to the garden.

• Plant Self-Seeders

To cultivate a natural, wild look in your garden, consider plants that drop seeds and reappear independently. These include perennials or annuals such as calendula, zinnias, columbine, coneflowers, cosmos, poppies, lupines, and asters. 

Self-seeding plants create a sustainable population, lending a naturalistic touch to formal planting. The spontaneous regrowth reduces maintenance and brings charming irregularity to the garden, balancing structure with organic unpredictability.

• Geometric Vegetables

The formal design principles of English gardens extend beyond ornamental plants. Geometric layouts and dense plantings are also evident in vegetable gardens. 

For example, a well-organized vegetable garden can feature a variety of greens and herbaceous plants in symmetrical arrangements. This method optimizes space and works well for both small and large gardens.

• Embrace High-Contrast Combinations

For a bold visual effect, pair citrus-colored daylilies with alliums in contrasting shades of purple. These unexpected combinations enhance the garden’s visual interest, proving that breaking traditional rules of color coordination can create stunning results. Such contrasts are particularly impactful in gardens with minimal structural elements.

• Set Out Tender Perennials

To keep flower beds lush and colorful, introduce tender perennials into your garden in late spring once the early bloomers have faded. This approach maintains visual interest and enriches the mixed borders with fresh, vibrant growth.

• Perennials Mixed With Tropicals

England’s temperate climate allows for the harmonious integration of hardy perennials and tropical plants. Combining lush, large-leafed greenery with vibrant tropical flowers creates a dynamic urban-style garden. Growing tropicals in containers adds flexibility, enabling easy overwintering if needed.

• Gardening Defined by Horticulture and Design

Sometimes, unexpected elements can add a unique charm to a garden. For example, a couple initially built simple shelters to attract bluebirds, only to find them filled with swallows instead. Their efforts resulted in a charming roosting line miming an outdoor wall, enhancing the overall design.

• Don’t Weed, Edit

Consider allowing some plants to grow naturally, even those typically regarded as weeds. This approach encourages a sense of freedom in your garden. “Some call it weeding; I call it editing,” as one gardener noted. The distinction between a weed and a desirable plant often lies in its placement.

Plants that appear unexpectedly—such as volunteer zinnias or fleabane within rose beds—can enhance a garden’s wild, organic aesthetic. Embrace the natural beauty these surprises offer, as they contribute to the essence of a traditional mixed border.

• Late-Season Color

The authentic English landscape is a continuous masterpiece. Even in October, border plants in Cambridgeshire estates like Wimpole Estate remain vibrant with color. While many perennials are fading or going to seed, colorful blooms can still be spotted on chrysanthemums, with some flowers just beginning to open. The low boxwood hedges at the front provide a lush green presence all year round.

• Do Not Forget to Take in the Views from the Inside

If a bedroom overlooks an arbor, consider planting trumpet vines at each of the arbor’s six posts. These vines will give the illusion of floating flowers through a second-story window, blooming consistently from July until the first frost.

• Familiarize Yourself with Your Garden

For newly established gardens, observing what grows naturally throughout the spring and summer before introducing new plants is essential. If you have a new garden, don’t do anything for at least a year, advises experts. 

Study the garden, see what it reveals, and note what’s already thriving.

Pay attention to how much sunlight your garden receives to position plants appropriately. Additionally, soil drainage should be observed, as this will help make informed choices about what and where to plant it.

“You can fill your garden with annuals in an hour for instant appeal, but long-term success requires patience and thoughtful planning,” it’s said. A garden is an ongoing project, so take your time to get it right.

FAQ

How can you distinguish between an English garden and a cottage garden?

An English garden is more orderly in its arrangement of plants, whereas a cottage garden has a more unruly, natural, and wild appearance.

What are the typical colors in English gardens?

The most common colors in English gardens include a variety of shades of purple, pink, and green.

Why do English gardens often have walled gardens?

Walled gardens in English landscapes are both attractive and practical. They retain heat, block wind, deter animals, and provide privacy, making the space feel secluded from noise and unsightly views. Additionally, walls create extra growing opportunities for specific plants and trees.

What type of food is typically served at an English garden celebration?

Traditional fare includes a variety of sandwiches with classic fillings such as cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon, cress, and egg. Freshly baked scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream are also a staple. Complement the experience with high-quality teas like Earl Grey or English Breakfast.