A New Cottage Garden by Mark Bolton

A New Cottage Garden by Mark Bolton

This book came out just this year, and the subtitle is: A practical guide to creating a picture-perfect cottage garden.

This is a fascinating role reversal - a garden photographer who spent years capturing other people's garden dreams finally decides to create his own slice of paradise.

In this book, Mark Bolton takes us on a deeply personal journey as he transforms from observer to creator.

What makes this book particularly special is Bolton's unique perspective. After decades behind the lens, photographing everything from grand estate gardens to intimate cottage spaces, he brings both an artist's eye and a beginner's heart to this project.

Let me share two particularly evocative passages from the book:

I have been photographing gardens for many years chic town gardens, grand country house gardens with deep double borders, formal (Italian gardens with statues round every corner, and somewhat eccentric gardens with gnome collections and follies built from reused wine bottles.

However, what really love to shoot, and what I will always make time for, is a cottage garden -billowing colourful borders alive with ees and scent, dotted through with focal points: rose arches, fences, rustic hazel wigwams, old tin baths filled with summer colour and, of course, a productive vegetable patch to an impossibly pretty potting shed.

When recently moved to a nineteenth-century cottage in Devon, I finally had the opportunity to create my own version. So, in this book, will show you how an amateur gardener like make a decent stab at a new cottage garden, worthy of spending lots of time in, and perhaps, slightly selfishly in my case, worthy of taking pictures in - my job but also my passion!

So, let's get started. First things first, we need to look at the basic framework of the garden we already have and make some plans.

His description of cottage garden stars is equally enchanting:

The stars of the cottage garden in early summer Fragrant dianthus Sweet williams and cottage pinks belong to the dianthus family, and are classic cottage garden favourites.

Here they have been flowering their socks off for weeks. If you really get down low and take a proper look (get out a macro lens and photograph them closely), the petals have finely detailed patterning. Sweet william (Dianthus harbatus) is biennial - a two-year life cycle where you sow the seed one year and it flowers the next year and has a fringed ruff beneath a flattened head of early summer flowers.

It is easy to grow and best planted in drifts at the edge of the border. Cottage pinks (so called because the serrated edge of the petals look a bit like they have been eut with pinking shears) have grey-green foliage and are perennials. They have an amazing ability to look fresh when cut, even after weeks in a vase.

Foxgloves are among the cottage garden stalwarts and of course, a British native plant; their spiked flower heads rise above the borders and are beacons for bumblebees. The flowers are usually dark pink with a spotted throat, but the white version is fabulous, and will shine oat in a shady area of the garden.

Foxgloves are biennial and will self-seed easily. L actually do some in seed trays each year to ensure a ready supply, and they are easy to transplant if you find a seedling in the wrong place. Make sure that you leave some flower heads so that they seed around the garden. 

In this book, you'll learn:

• How to assess your garden's inherited gifts
• Season-by-season guidance for cottage garden development
• Practical tips for both novice and experienced gardeners
• Environmental and wildlife-friendly gardening practices
• The art of thrifty gardening through seed-swapping and material reuse
• Photography tips for capturing your garden's beauty

This book is particularly valuable because it combines:

• A photographer's trained eye for composition and beauty
• A beginner's understanding of the learning curve
• Real-time documentation of successes and challenges
• Practical, accessible advice for creating a charming cottage garden

The book is 192 pages of wisdom, beautiful photography, and hands-on guidance for creating your own cottage garden paradise.

You can get a copy of A New Cottage Garden by Mark Bolton and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $22.