English Cottage Gardening: For American Gardeners, Revised Edition

by Margaret Hensel, Tasha Tudor (Foreward)

Thanks to the extraordinary photographs and gardening wisdom in this classic book, the elegant intimacy of the English cottage garden is a practical possibility for amateur gardeners in diverse regions of the United States. The author has analyzed the aesthetic and horticultural elements in ten representative cottage gardens―eight in England and two in the United States. Her spectacular photographs render the look and atmosphere of these gardens, while her text focuses on easily grown, readily available plants that are adaptable to a wide variety of climatic and soil conditions. In the back of the book―completely updated for this new edition―may be found specific horticultural information on a wide variety of cottage garden plants commonly available in the United States, glossaries of Latin and common names, and a list of sources for old rose varieties. The gardens in this beautiful book are not those of the great estates of England, manicured by staffs of professional gardeners. They are, instead, labors of love on the part of individual homeowners, many of whom started with bleak, rubble-strewn lots and went on to create the enchanted settings pictured here.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

Reviews

[Emma Jo]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
What a lovely, inspiring, beautiful book!!! It fuels my passion for English Cottage Gardening and everything that comes with it, and now I will never stop encouraging people to grow havens with whatever space or place they have!🪴🌻🌷

[Ren]

Just what I wanted from a book on cottage gardening (English, American or otherwise.) A variety of different gardens with information on the philosophy behind the garden. Wonderful pictures (really the big draw for me) and even more important a very complete listing of the plants in the picture. Also rates a five star book because of the plant glossary in the back, very thorough and each plant has a list of attractive companion plantings. Love it!!

[Alyssa Bohon]

A slightly sentimental very nineties-feel garden read. That's the tone of the text flow. But this book gets bonus points for naming the flowers in almost every picture with both common and Latin botanical names, and giving detailed, experienced advice on the culture and cultivation of multiple plants.

The large colorful pictures are of far lesser quality than current publications, kind of grainy, but they are charming. (Charming is a word used frequently in this book, along with graceful, sweeping, and romantic.) But it's not just dated eye-candy. It's really informative - if you want to grow a cottage garden. If not, you probably wouldn't be reading it.

Also, I never saw so many pictures of alchemilla in my life as I encountered in this book. If it's true that exposure breeds taste, this plant will soon appear in my garden...

[Wilhelmina]

A very fine book full of both knowledge and wisdom. My favorite chapters focused on individual gardens and went over what each gardener started with, the challenges and failures unique to their stories, and the successes. While my eyes tended to glaze over the long lists of catmint and lady's mantle and siberian irises (etc.) that accompanied photos, it is useful to have those listed if you want to understand how the beautiful combinations were achieved. The cultural list of plants is also an amazing resource, and I'll be returning to it next winter when I can begin my first year of Real Gardening™.

[Helena]

I read this mainly for the Foreword by Tasha Tudor and the photos, which are lovely. I knew going in that most of these plants don't thrive in my area of Florida, so it was always just going to be eye candy. I enjoyed looking through it though, and I imagine if you live in a place where these types of flowering plants do well, it would offer helpful tips and guidance for creating your own cottage garden.

[Annie Oosterwyk]

Nice, old fashioned gardens surrounding sweet cottages.

[Marcella]

The first few chapters were so dreamy but I disengaged after that. This book is as old as I am.

[Amy]

Beautiful borders
sprawling, sunny flowers grow
Like my grandma's did

[superawesomekt]

Love this book! Of course it has amazing pictures of cottage gardens, but it also is full of practical information, plant lists, resources, etc. I think that you would want to be in zones 4-9 to be able to use this book effectively.

Hensel takes you on a tour of English cottage gardens—with a wide range of space and style—all the while giving a detailed narrative of plantings, groupings, methods. She ends with a few American interpretations, one of which is the lovely illustrator Tasha Tudor's home in Vermont!

Highly recommended for those who are interested in cottage gardening.

[Lorie]

Great pictures and a nice list of plants with details at the end. I'll probably add this one to my personal collection if I can find it used at a decent price. I can see I am going to have to start a shelf for gardening books in the new house.

[Michelle]

I LOVE the photos in this one!

[Ruth]

I am taking this with me on my anniversary getaway so we can discuss what to do with our southern slope.

[Karen Floyd]

Beautiful pictures and practical advice and ideas. One of the best garden books I've read.

[Callista]

beautiful!

[Susan Price]

Beautiful book. Very helpful as I plot my gardening ambitions.

[Amy]

Love, love, love this book! so many inspirations and plant combination ideas for my own garden.