16 Best English Garden Ideas and Designs to Inspire You
Take elements of this classic naturalistic style and put them to use in your landscape!
One of the most classic and attractive garden designs is the English Country Garden. The mix of lush, vibrant patches of flowers with well-trimmed hedges, stone walls, winding paths, and other nooks offers a combination of unfussy charm and formal wonder.
While we might love to drop everything and move to rural England to enjoy one, it's probably not practical for most of us. Luckily, we can bring some of the most common elements of an English garden here, and put them to use in our own gardens.
What Makes an English Garden?
The term "English garden," like the style of gardening itself, doesn't fuss over a lot of details or strict definitions. English gardens are romantic, lived-in, and typically lush, with lots of classic or even old-fashioned elements and flowers. But English gardens are also always being tended to, and planted, and so new elements are always making their way in.
The gardens themselves really began to take shape in 18th-century England. It's thought that the English garden was initially intended as a contrast to the more "architectural gardens" of the time, which were far more rigid in structure, pattern, and shaping.
Keeping that in mind, the best way to recreate some of the style is to do it with a touch of laissez-faire whimsy. Remember that the point is to create something beautiful, fun, and relaxing and not too stiff. Here are more than a dozen tips and tricks for getting the ideal effect.
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Aim for Variety
Tall plants, short plants, pink flowers, white flowers—all of these things can be placed next to one another in an English garden.
Of course, you'll have to make some adjustments to ensure your plants have access to sunlight and aren't too crowded. In general, it's best not to overthink a garden like this one and instead to opt for a free-flowing plan.
Keep Reading: 25 Garden Plans and Ideas to Inspire You
Add Meandering Paths
At first glance, a garden path might seem like a lot of work. But actually, it couldn't be simpler to source and lay the right one for your garden—and the payoff is big. Not only will you give yourself an easy route in and out of the space, but you'll also be afforded the luxury of watering your plants without having to step into tall grasses or get your shoes muddy. It's a win-win!
Keep Reading: How to Create the Best Garden Path for Your Yard
Install a Garden Gate
There are few things more magical in an English garden than a simple gateway.
Depending on what you choose, they can be inexpensive and easy, or Secret Garden-level impressive. But either way the visual impact is huge.
Don't have a wall into which to install your new structure? You can also build stand-alone designs that can be surrounded by simple bushes and vines.
Keep Reading: 17 Inspired Garden Gates for a Beautiful Backyard
Grow Along Structures
Don't simply think of your garden as a horizontal space! Think of the vertical space too.
If you're just starting, consider adding a trellis and some climbing vines. Feeling more advances? You can attempt to espalier a wisteria, fruit tree, or other tree along the wall of a shed or other already-existing structure, as shown.
Keep Reading: 40 Smart Trellis Ideas
Incorporate Seating
English gardens are meant to be enjoyed and savored, which is why they often include benches. What better way to sit and take in all the beauty around you? Wooden, stone, and metal structures all work beautifully in these spaces.
Keep Reading: 22 Creative DIY Bench Ideas
Create Lush Garden Beds
A classic English Garden is a little bit disorderly.
Skip the neat, uniform rows and plant of variety of flowers—roses, lavender, delphinium, and other colorful options—close together. A dense and rich garden with plenty of character is what you're after.
Keep Reading: What Is Meadowscaping?
But Keep Hedges Trimmed
While the flower beds are a little wild, the hedges in an English garden are often very well maintained.
Grow and maintain hedges to divide spaces, create paths, or as exterior walls. If you like, you can even create an area for entertaining friends and family.
Keep Reading: 20 Boxwood Shrubs We Recommend
Plant (and Grow) in Shapes
English gardens aren't just floral. They're architectural.
Map out your garden with plenty of squares and circles, then use various edging ideas to keep them in their space.
Keep Reading: 30 Best Garden Edging Ideas
Add Some Stone
Classic English gardens often have ancient stone or brick walls. Even if you're not be able to fully replicate that look for a reasonable price, you can still add stone features—low walls or other structures—to bring in that ancient, lived-in look.
Plant Roses
When it comes to gardening, nothing's more English than a fragrant, semi-overgrown rose bush blooming and pulsing with life. There are dozens of varieties to choose from, for any size garden.
Keep Reading: 16 Stunning Types of Rose to Grow
Plant in Profusion
While variety works great in some places (such as in garden beds), give yourself leave to go simpler, while staying lush, in others.
Here, the gardener has achieved a lavish look with just two types of climbing rose: 'William Baffin' and 'New Dawn.'
The bottom line: You don't need to plant more than a few kinds of things if you do it in big sweeps.
Keep Reading: Plant Rose Bushes Like a Pro with These Expert Tips
Embrace Contrast
Citrus-hued day lilies are pretty splashy on their own, but this gardener has bucked convention by pairing them with alliums in an equally assertive but seemingly contradictory shades of purple
The result? Brilliant. Color is particularly important where you don't have structure.
Keep Reading: 86 Popular Types of Flowers for a Country Garden
Think Beyond Fences
The couple who own the garden pictured here initially installed just one of these quaint shelters to attract bluebirds, only to see it occupied by swallows.
So they tried another... and another... and wound up with an unintended benefit: The line of roosts provides the suggestion of a garden wall.
Keep Reading: 25 Best Birdhouses for Budding Birdwatchers
Make a Gathering Space
Tea in the garden—such a time-honored tradition—requires a spot to take that tea. But it's also a great spot to simply sit and enjoy the space, to read a good book, or to visit with friends and neighbors. A few chairs and a small table, and a flat space to put them are all you need.
More: This Trend Will Change the Way You Think About Outdoor Furniture
Cover the Pergola
Have an arbor or a pergola? Try planting a trumpet vine at each of an arbor structure's posts. It will look like the vines are floating in the air from a second-story window, plus they bloom from July to the first frost. Learn more about trumpet vine in our roundup of favorite flowering vines—it’s #16 on the list.
More: 30 Pergola Ideas to Add Style and Shade to Your Backyard
Pay Attention to Light
Embrace an area with a collision of light and shadows to create a cozy dining area. Hydrangea petiolaris thrives in the shade provided by a north-facing potting shed wall, while desert agaves soak up the bright daytime light.
Keep Reading: 25 Best Low-Maintenance Shade Perennials
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