OUR CABIN GARDEN AT PATINA MEADOW

Gardening is not for the impatient. Oftentimes, the garden we aspire to grow, the one with beds overflowing with gorgeous green growth and big, beautiful blooms, does not arrive in a season. It takes time, and we've experienced this firsthand with our Cabin Garden at Patina Meadow.

When we arrived at Patina Meadow, one of the first landscaping projects we began work on was this garden. I dreamed of creating a space inspired by English cottage gardens. During my visits to the Cotswolds, I encountered many of these well-kept potagers. They were charming and romantic. They were densely planted with whimsical flowers of varying heights, bordered by low-structured hedges, striking the perfect balance between control and chaos.

The first order of business was the structure. We outlined beds with short boxwood hedging and planted taller evergreen spires and low-growing yews within them to add interest that would last through all four seasons. For additional focal points, we placed wooden trellises in the center of four of the beds and added our favorite staddle stones to flank the walkways. As we researched the best perennial flowers to add to the space, we planted tulips and alliums in the fall for springtime blooms.

When our last frost passed that first season, we went to the nursery to pick up an array of flowers to plant. We started with Limelight hydrangeas. Though I didn't know much about the plants that thrived in our new Southern climate, I knew for sure that these would be reliable bloomers.

During that first trip to the nursery, we selected a handful of other plants, many of which you will not see in our garden today. We quickly discovered that many of our favorite plants, like delphiniums, did not thrive in this location. Our soil is quite clay-dense, and during the summertime, this area receives very little shade. These factors made for a rather inhospitable environment for many of the flowers that thrive in the more temperate English climate, which served as our inspiration.

Though many of the flowers we enjoyed could work here with lots of care and maintenance, we decided that we would rather have a garden that didn't require constant tending. So, we began to take note of the plants we had purchased for other areas of the farm. In a long planter, we had planted anise hyssop. This gorgeous plant, marked by tall purple spires of blooms and licorice-scented foliage, bloomed all season long with very little work on our part. It also attracted a wide array of pollinators, which we enjoyed watching buzz to and from the florets. So, we added it to the planting scheme.

Since the bright violet blooms of anise hyssop would add just the color we were looking for, we began hunting for more white flowers to enhance their beauty and complement the existing hydrangeas. After speaking with gardeners in our area and doing further research, we landed upon White Swan echinacea. This cultivar performs best in full sun, can tolerate seasons of drought once established, and flowers abundantly from early summer to fall.

Over the past two years, we have continued to fill the remaining spaces in the garden. Two of our favorite additions have been American feverfew and Shasta daisies. Native to this part of the country, the American Feverfew has grown very well here and continues to grow wider and taller, filling in blank spaces without needing to purchase additional plants.

The Shasta Daisies feel like a necessary addition to any cottage garden. They are long-blooming, attractive to butterflies and bees, and serve as excellent cut flowers. They also just feel happy!

Down the long vertical beds on either side of the center walkway, we planted Lesser calamint between the tall evergreen topiaries and the staddle stones. Sprawling out below them is a ground cover of Blue Star Creeper. Both of these plants add a light touch of color without feeling overpowering.

To maintain our garden, we water once or twice weekly during droughts using tall copper sprinklers, and I weed whenever I see an unwanted plant peeking through the mulch. At the start of each season, we fertilize the beds with CaluSolv fertilizer, which helps to break up our heavy clay and provide our plants with the nutrients they need to thrive.

We are very proud of this garden now, but it has taken a lot of planting and replanting to arrive at this point. My advice to you, if you are aiming to create the garden of your dreams, is to figure out your goals in the planning process and to have patience and be perceptive after planting. It is best to work with nature rather than against it. Everything in your garden, including you, will be happier that way.

xx,

Brooke