If you are looking for a way to make your garden a unique and interesting place you might want to consider creating a themed garden. A themed garden is a collection of flowers, shrubs and features that reflect a specific style, theme, or purpose. It will add personality, beauty and colour to your property and they can be designed to suit a variety of different climates, sizes, and budgets. Here we will give you some ideas for themed gardens that you can try yourself whether you wish to attract wildlife, create a formal setting, or design a relaxing area full of colourful plants and flowers. Some of the most popular ideas for such a garden are as follows.
Create a Cottage Garden.
A cottage garden is a theme for a garden that seeks to create the charm of a country cottage from years ago. They are typically filled with colourful wildflowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruit trees, creating a lush and relaxing area. They lack the formal planning of more modern English gardens, as there really are no rules. You can add plants wherever you have a space and pack them as tightly as you wish. Cottage gardens are also known for their imaginative use of space, incorporating trellises, fences, and containers to maximize the planting area. For more information read our article How to Create a Cottage Garden.
Design a Formal Garden.
A formal garden is in many ways the opposite of a cottage garden and tends to have a symmetrical and geometric design, with plants and hedges that are neatly pruned and shaped. Popular choices for the hedges are box, yew and laurel and use can be made of low hedges to divide the garden into sections. Flower beds can be part of such a garden but are well maintained and not over full. Paths will usually be straight and you can also include statues or fountains to enhance the feeling of order and elegance.
Enjoy your own Fairy Garden.
A fairy garden can be enjoyed by children and adults alike and really adds a fun element to your garden. Well suited to containers although you can build one anywhere you like a fairy garden is a mix of plants and accessories that you can buy or even make yourself. Given the small size of the figures and objects you will add you should use small plants and not plant them too densely. There are now a wide range of fairy garden accessories you can purchase ranging from figures of fairies, gnomes and pixies to their houses and miniature animals. Whilst you could turn your entire garden into a fairy garden its more likely just to be a container or two that would fit in well in a cottage or rock garden.
Build a Rock Garden.
Use a variety of sizes and types of rock to create a rock garden and fill them with plants that will give it a real alpine feel. Good choices include sedum, lavender, heathers and dwarf conifers or evergreens. A rock garden can be a large and well-designed project for your entire space or just a small rockery in a suitable corner.
Relax in a Butterfly and Pollinator Garden.
Why not create a garden that will encourage butterflies, bees, hoverflies, moths and other beneficial insects to live and thrive there. The Buddleia (of which there are several varieties) which is commonly known as the butterfly bush is a good place to start when looking for suitable shrubs and flowers, but they also love hebe’s, lavender and honeysuckle as do bees. Choose flowers that are blue, yellow or white to attract bees. Pollinators are vulnerable to chemicals so avoid using pesticides wherever possible. To learn more read our article on How to attract Beneficial Insects.
Create a Water Garden.
A water garden is an area of your garden that’s main element involves a water feature. It can range from a small pool or even a container in a corner of your property to a more substantial pond that the rest of the garden is built around. Surround it with plants that live in on near water such as lilies, iris, water hawthorn, rushes or sedge and then add fish, snails and frogs. For greater effect you can gain movement and sound by creating a stream, fountain or waterfall.
Make a Simple and Flexible Container Garden.
This is a garden where you grow plants in pots, boxes, barrels, or other containers, rather than in the ground. This is ideal for people who have small gardens or even just a balcony or rooftop. Its big advantage is its flexibility as you can move the plants around as needed. Most plants can be grown in a container, as long as you provide adequate drainage, soil, water, and sunlight. Decorate the containers to add some uniqueness and character to your garden.
Grow an Edible Garden.
Lots of people grow vegetables that they can harvest and eat afterwards but why not see how far you can go with making a truly edible garden. As well as vegetables, you can grow fruits, herbs, berries and even edible flowers. You can buy edible carnations, pansies, marigolds and nasturtiums to name just a few. To complete an edible garden why not create a compost bin or worm farm to recycle your leftover food and use it to improve your soil for next years crops.
Create a Wildlife Garden.
You can quite easily make your garden a welcoming place for the animals and birds that live in the UK. A simple bird table or hanging feeders filled with sunflower hearts or nyger seed will soon have a variety of species visiting and you can encourage them further by providing a nesting box or a source of clean water. There are a range of shrubs that produce berries that birds love like holly, hawthorn or rowan that can be grown which be very popular later in the year as food gets short. You can attract hedgehogs by creating holes under fences to allow them to move across gardens from one side to the other and by providing clean water. Any small pond or water feature may bring frogs and a variety of insects. Providing suitable roosting places or a bat box can encourage bats as well. There are so many options available and most are both easy and cheap. A great choice for a garden that will give plenty of enjoyment whilst benefitting populations of our birds and animals so many of which are struggling.
Make Best Use of Space with a Vertical Garden.
If you only have a small garden there are a variety of ways to make the most of your space by growing vertically. Use a fence, wall, trellis, hanging baskets or create your own structure from recycled materials such as cans, bottles and boxes that suit what you plan to grow.
Grow your Own Herbs in a Herb Garden.
If you like the idea of growing something edible but you have limited space this could be the option for you as you can grow a variety of herbs in a small area. You can choose from plants that have culinary, medicinal, or aromatic uses, such as parsley, oregano, thyme, mint, basil, chives and rosemary.
Relax In a Shade Garden.
If your garden has a lot of natural shade perhaps from long overhanging trees that you wish to keep or from tall surrounding buildings, then a shade garden is an obvious option. You can choose from a wide range of plants that prefer less sunlight such as foxgloves, astilbe, ferns or impatiens. Using lots of different colours and types of plants and you can brighten up even the shadiest area. A shade garden also has several advantages in that it usually needs less watering or fertiliser as well as less weeding.
Enjoy Flower Arranging from Cutting Garden.
People who enjoy flower arranging may want to consider having their own cutting garden where they can grow flowers that are ideal for bouquets as well as types of foliage, grass and berries that can be used to complement them. When designing a cutting garden its best to choose varieties of flowers that regrow once cut as well as types that flower at different times so you have more fresh flowers for as long as possible.
Meditate in a Zen Garden.
A zen garden seeks to create a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere. Also known as a Japanese rock garden they have been around for hundreds of years in Japan often in Buddhist temples. They contain rocks, sand and gravel along with neatly pruned shrubs all carefully pruned and arranged. Traditionally a lot of zen gardens were dry places but nowadays water features are often included.
Plan a Low Maintenance Succulent Garden.
Succulents are fleshy looking plants that store water in their leaves, stems, or roots and are resistant to droughts. You can keep them inside but are perfect plants to be grown outside in pots and take little maintenance only requiring watering in very dry spells. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours most of which will do best with a lot of sun. Some varieties will have no problems with a UK winter, but others may need some protection from frost so its always worth checking before you buy.
Here we have given you just a brief introduction to some of the more popular themes for your garden but there are countless options available and you may even create something nobody else has done before. It’s worth remembering that very few of these themes are likely to take up your entire space and most gardens will have several different areas that complement each other. Ultimately your choice will be down to personal preferences as well as the location and scale of your property but whatever you decide to do you will hopefully enjoy it. Happy Gardening.