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Cottage Garden in the City

© Barbara M. Martin

Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted, including any photos, by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

Cottage Garden in the City

Cottage gardens are eye candy. They are jubilant and colorful and unpretentious and utterly rich. And they are alive and well in the city!

I can spot one a block away even while driving in heavy city traffic and I will detour to take a closer look, much to the dismay of fellow travelers. This erratic view and swerve routine is murder or more precisely close to suicidal in the cityscape of "one way" signs, wayward pedestrians, municipal street works and commuter traffic. The other day I was so smitten by the cottage gardens in a small area of Baltimore that I had to park the car and walk, just to savor the outrageous performances.

Poppies and lavender.

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Certainly I admired the tasteful and traditional gardens too, but yawn, they didn't really enrich my life. A tame pairing of oversized urns planted up in coordinated geraniums, the somber elegance and fine proportions of clipped evergreens, the tidy row of marigolds just don't cut it. They truly pale in comparison to the exuberance of a cottage garden display.

Cottage gardens are too much fun to contain themselves to an orderly row; they don't stay tucked neatly behind a fence or up off the sidewalk. Cottage gardens shout at you! These gardens are made for riotous escape and excess. The skilled gardener can pack it full and orchestrate endless and sublime blooming combinations. The beginning gardener can plant a bunch of stuff and see what happens. Both will enjoy what they do and the neighbors will love the results. Passersby will smile, too. And I will stop the car and get out and admire your handiwork. Do other people do this? My husband would like to know.

The riotous color and texture and fragrance and explosive cheerfulness of the cottage style absolutely animate the urban setting. These tiny front gardens are labors of love and patience and optimism, sometimes a lot of horticultural skill and possibly a little smile of fortune thrown in. Each plot is a one-of-a-kind design with vibrant personality, often with humor and some tongue-in-cheek fun added to shake up the mix.

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