The Modern Cottage Garden: A Fresh Approach to a Classic Style

The Modern Cottage Garden is a primer and tutorial guide to the exuberant classic garden style. Due out 15th Sept 2020 from Workman Publishing on their Timber Press imprint, it's 228 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

I found this an inspirational book but also a practical one with advice on planning, siting, building, and developing a cottage garden whatever the conditions or the reader's situation.The traditional cottage garden with roses and flowering perennials elbowing one another in lush abandon is the main focus, but the author has done a good job of presenting inspiration for smaller spaces (even container gardens) which give the feeling of a more traditional cottage garden style in a much more limited scale.

The book also contains a cottage gardener's almanac, divided by seasons which enumerate the tasks to do and things to expect during the year. A final section contains a primer of 50 essential plants with botanical name, habit, spread, description, and season(s) of interest given along with photographs. The standard classics are included of course: saxifrage, sedum, rudbeckia, and several classic roses, but the author has also included plants which I hadn't really considered. The included grasses are particularly well represented in this collection.

The photography throughout is superlative - clear and easy to understand. The book also includes an abbreviated resource list with links, and a cross referenced index.

Five stars. This is a solid gardening book dedicated to a classic style which is well written, beautifully photographed, and surprisingly comprehensive.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.