English style garden, features, garden design

Desired by many gardeners and romantics, free from symmetry and rigid assumptions –the English garden is a very popular for many years type of garden referring to the natural landscape gardens, in which the dominant values are color, freedom, romance and naturalness

Features of the style

Gardening is a great passion of English people, which is absolutely not reserved for properties with a large garden. Very often you can see small home gardens, decorated beautifully and stylishly. Although at first glance the English style may seem chaotic due to the large number of different species of ornamental plants, densely overgrown, luxuriantly growing shrubs and trees, on closer inspection it turns out that the combination of plants is well thought out and planned, and plant species smoothly transition in color and texture from one to another.

English style in the Polish garden? Of course!

The first associations we can have with this style are vast areas with lakes or ponds and a beautifully stretching lawn. But is it really necessary to have a huge space for this style? Above all, the English style is a comfortable place for people and plants, where a variety of colors and geometry rule. We can successfully transfer it to our native gardens. What are the main principles of this style, which plants dominate and how to plan beds to enjoy a truly royal garden? Here are some basic principles that you should know before creating a garden in the English style.

Main ideas

Modern English gardens are mainly dominated by ornamental flowers and shrubs – species specific to the climate and country with pastel colors and “soft” shapes that grow easily. The main principles of the style, which should be taken into account already at the design stage is the selection of flowers and shrubs in such a way that they form tiers, according to the principle: higher plants in the back and the lowest in front. Plants should complement each other when they bloom and smoothly transition pastel shades from the lightest to the darkest colors. It is also advisable to plant evergreen plants so that the garden enjoys its magnificence for as long as possible

Plants, characteristic for the English style are:

• the so-called cushion perennials, forming downy clumps such as: thyme, small-flowered carnation, rockery, blue carnation, Carpathian bellflower and sedum,
• taller plants include violets, primroses, pansies, tulips, crocuses and lilies of the valley,
• beautiful and long-blooming roses such as French roses, damask roses, bourbon roses, and mullein roses,
• climbing plants, which will beautifully overgrow a fence or arbor such as: clematis, honeysuckle or grapevine,
• shrubs forming hedges: ligustrum, lilac and snowdrops, and yews and bay trees,
• trees that bloom beautifully in spring like: apple tree, cherry tree, plum tree.