Easy Ways to Add Cottage Style to Your Garden

I will show you a few easy ways to add cottage style to your garden this year. I adore the simple, pretty look of an English garden and was inspired to recreate the feel in my garden.

Where to Find Cottage Style Garden Ideas

One of the places I look for things to add to my garden is at my local antique and vintage stores. I’m always on the lookout for interesting pieces that I can repurpose and use in my garden spaces.

Recently I was at a local spot, Sage Farm Antiques in N Hampton, NH, for their monthly show. The first thing that caught my eye was a stack of vintage croquet wickets. Not only did they have the coolest patina on them but they were only $2 each.

The theme for the May show was “May You Bloom and Grow” There were 20+ vendors with their focus on porches, patios, and the garden. If you are local here is the Sage Farm show schedule for 2022.

Other vintage items to look for when you are antiquing that work in a cottage garden is metal baskets and buckets. They are perfect for tucking a pot of flowers in your garden or on your porch. I have a few of each in my stash that I use through the seasons.

Planter Makeover

Instead of buying new planters for my garden this year, I decided to give a couple of my old plastic ones a makeover. My goal was to create the look of an old metal planter.

First, I painted both of the planters with a flat black indoor/outdoor paint. Easier said than done…do you ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong!! I managed to get more paint on me than on the pots…dropped my entire paintbrush handle in the paint can…oh it went on and on, finishing with thunder and the skies opening up and pouring on me while I tried to manage to carry the semi-wet planters into the garage…

After the black paint was dry and it stopped raining, I added detail to the planters to mimic an old iron planter with antique copper and greenish teal paint.

To achieve this look dip the tip of your paintbrush in copper paint, then tap most of it off onto a paper towel before lightly brushing over the planter. While the copper paint was still wet I did the same technique with the teal paint.

Shopping for Flowers

Not that I need an excuse to visit a nursery…but I did need to fill up these planters with flowers!! One of my favorite spots is Wellington Gardens in Brentwood, NH. It’s a family-owned nursery and this is actually their yard! They also open at 7 am 7 days a week in May so we went early Sunday morning.

I was happy to see their resident turtle having his breakfast! He’s been part of the nursery for 20 years! He spends his winters in greenhouse #2 (my husband had to ask!)

For these planters, I wanted to use purples and pink flowers and picked up a vibrant pink black-eyed Susan vine and a variety of other annuals.

Adding Cottage Style

Using Croquet Wickets

Now to create some cottage garden style for these newly painted planters! I grabbed two of the antique croquet wickets and crisscrossed them in one of the planters.

Aren’t these purple and white flowers gorgeous?? They are Proven Winners Superbells ‘Holy Smokes‘

Using Grapevine

Now, for the second planter, I wanted to show you a simple way to create an English cottage garden look with something you probably already have in your house!

What I did was grab an old grapevine wreath that I had and take it apart. All I did was unwind the grapevine that wrapped around the wreath and cut the small floral wire when I saw it. I used some of the grapevines when I made this Rustic & Natural Spring Wreath

I took a few of the smaller pieces of the grapevine and created a birdcage trellis by crisscrossing them in the planter.

This was the perfect spot for lavender and I added two small plants that will fill this pot up in no time!

Cottage Style Garden Tower

Last Spring I made this cottage-style garden tower. It’s been a Pinterest and reader favorite ever since! The base for this is a cheap tomato cage.

It was the perfect trellis support for a black-eyed Susan vine last year and I definitely want to grow another one on it this year!

After a year out in the elements, the trellis is definitely more rustic looking!

Finished Cottage Garden Planters

It’s so nice to have some color in my cutting garden right now! It’s still early in the gardening season here and I’m just starting to plant in the rest of the garden.

This little bunny was on my Spring porch but I’m hoping if I put him in my garden he will scare away any real bunnies!!

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Visit Stacy

You have to see what Stacy at Bricks N Blooms did with her adorable vintage find!

First, can we discuss just how perfect this picture is and how pretty her Spring garden looks??? She found the cutest vintage find recently and wait until you see what she did with this Pretty Flip Idea for the Front Porch.

Stacy is a master gardener too! If you need a fantastic gardening guide check out here Gardening 101: A Guide for Beginners. Her new book is available on Amazon.

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