However, flowers are inherently beautiful and impossible to hate, and they soon achieved an importance in the garden equal to that of the food-supplying plants. The wild-flowers self-seeding amongst the other flowers gave the cottage garden its unplanned and natural appearance so many gardeners aspire to today.
So, why bother planting a cottage garden? There are many reasons, the most important being to help conserve our native wild plants and traditional garden flowers - and, of course, to encourage wildlife into the garden by providing them with natural habitats. But there is also the reason that a cottage garden is so attractive. By planting flowers of different heights and colours you add texture to the garden. The plants can also be left to their own devices, so there is very little maintenance involved and they will soon spread and remove the need for weeding! Of course, the whole garden need not be devoted to cottage garden plants. Perhaps just plant a selection of these flowers in your existing borders, or in pots and containers. A rusty old watering can or pail planted with wild flowers spilling out of it looks superb. Or cluster together rough old terracota pots filled with cottage garden flowers and have a few pots lying amongst them empty. If you have an old fence you've been thinking of replacing, don't replace it just yet but let annual climbers, such as Sweet Peas, scramble all over it, then pull your fence down and replace it after summer! A pond can look more natural and wild if a profusion of suitable cottage garden plants and wild flowers are planted around it. The ideas are endless. You could even set aside one part of the garden to contain only cottage garden flowers or perhaps herbs. Another eye-catching idea is to leave an area of lawn unmowed and develop it as a meadow area, planting or sowing wild flowers into it.