The cottage garden is one of the most popular of all garden styles. Today's versions are particularly well suited to modest plots, and depend on the selection of plants and the careful choice of appropriate and authentic materials for their quaintly old-fashioned look.

Originally, cottage gardens were primarily functional and practical, with fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers and shrubs crammed into a very small area. Cottage gardening tends to be labour-intensive, relying on good husbandry rather than modern chemical sprays; the garden itself can also look unattractively dreary and bare in the winter, as a large proportion of the plants are annual or herbaceous.

However, when in bloom, the cottage garden can be very pleasing to the eye, and a perfect remedy to the man-made environment, and the style has devotees in country and city locations all over the world.