Cottage Garden Design

In each case, the sense of enclosure serves to contain, protect, and separate your garden from its surroundings. It is visual, to provide a steady backdrop and frame the view. It directs your attention inward to the garden. It visually and physically defines the garden and contains the wild growth of the plants; the enclosure ultimately lends an underlying sense of order to the scene.

In the olden days, the fencing protected the plantings from harm and kept out the domesticated grazing animals as well as browsing wild critters. It also marked the property line and kept small children and possibly hens safely inside.

Today, besides serving such mundane purposes, the fencing may also serve as a windbreak or create an attractive barrier for privacy from nearby neighbors. In any case, it always separates your private haven from the hubbub outside the gate.

Continued next time...

This article is the first in my Spring 2001 Cottage Garden Design Series: An overview of cottage garden design and using a sense of enclosure in Part I, growing a wide variety of plants and working with nature in Part II, and nurturing the soil in Part III. And then, Follow Your Heart in Part IV.

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