A garden scent from heaven

Margaret Hargreaves turned a previously plain plot into a chocolate-box pretty cottage garden filled with colourful flowers and gorgeous scents – here’s how

Create your own blooming delight!

Push open the white picket gate at the home of Margaret and Peter Hargreaves and you’ll step into a flower-packed garden brimming with colour, where the heady scents of old-fashioned roses and sweet peas fill the air. In this little corner of the Staffordshire countryside, the couple have not only managed to recreate a magical cottage garden, but one that captures a feeling of nostalgia, too. Yet, when Margaret and Peter bought Grafton Cottage more than 40 years ago, the garden had little more going for it than an apple tree, a rectangular lawn and two pigsties. Here’s how some clever use of plants and subtle shapes turned it into the enchanting wonderland it is today.

Surprisingly, there was never a grand plan for the garden. Margaret was an enthusiastic amateur who’d originally learnt about plants from her mother.

‘My mother loved to garden and used to raise flowers from seed, and I would watch her, fascinated. I knew from the start that I wanted a cottagey feeling throughout the garden,’ says Margaret, who grows all the old favourites, such as hollyhocks, foxgloves and sweet Williams.

FINDING INSPIRATION

Gradually, eager to know more, she and Peter spent time visiting nurseries and other gardens for inspiration and to discover new plants. ‘Plans and ideas are always in my mind’s eye,’ says

Margaret. ‘I do all the planting and Peter does the nitty-gritty; he loves the garden as much as I do.’

The couple’s first move was to make the borders wider and section off part of the garden with trellis, which they planted with honeysuckle, to create a vegetable plot. Eventually, they incorporated another cottage-garden classic, the babbling brook, complete with bridge.

RUSTIC ADDITIONS

The landscaping, which uses only natural materials, has been designed to show the plants to an advantage. Look one way and you’ll see a larch-pole arbour covered with roses and clematis; look another and there’s a curved arch smothered with sweet peas. ‘You get this wonderful perfume as you walk through,’ Margaret explains, stressing that scented flowers are a key ingredient in a cottage garden. Pathways are made from old brick laid in a herringbone pattern, and stepping stones meander through the lawn.

The borders are also colour-themed to bring harmony to the space. ‘It’s easier on the eye to have a few main colours,’ says Margaret. ‘I think of it as painting, just with plants. It’s also important to let them mingle and grow into one another.’ The whole effect, especially in high summer, is intoxicating.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

One clever tip Margaret incorporates in her garden planning is to use the same flower in two different shades, so, for example, the billowing clematis by the side of the garden gate comprises two plants: purple ‘Warszawska Nike’ and the lighter, lavender-coloured ‘Tentel’.

‘It’s easier on the eye to have a few main colours’

Margaret has lots of clematis in her garden, but they are all the viticella group because, as she points out, these don’t get the dreaded clematis wilt.

‘I also adore violas,’ she says. ‘You can put them at the front of borders and they keep on flowering for months.

For height, you need tall plants like delphiniums and hollyhocks in summer, and heleniums, aconitum and thalictrum to provide interest later in the year.’

Margaret adds: ‘It’s true what they say, gardening is good therapy as well as good exercise. As soon as I’m out there, it takes my mind away from everyday problems. Taking on more knowledge all the time, working on the soil, seeing the results – it all gives me a big buzz. My garden has given me great pleasure and satisfaction over the years.’

COME AND VISIT

Grafton Cottage opens annually under the National Garden Scheme, and the couple have so far raised more than £76,000 for charity. This summer will be their 26th year, with money going to Alzheimer’s Research UK. Visit on 1, 15 and 29 July and 5 August, from 11.30am-5pm, admission £4; ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/garden/11244/

Get the look Keep the layout simple to set an informal style. Curved borders and wavy paths look better than straight lines.

The front garden is packed with plants of all varieties and heights The borders are colour themed; this ‘hot’ one has phlox, crocosmia, lilies and monarda

Get the look If you have a south-facing front garden like Margaret, choose sun-loving plants such as dahlias and lupins.

Stepping stones in the lawn lead the eye down the garden

Pelargoniums on a vintage trolley create a pretty display

Go bold with Monarda ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ and Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’

Using different shades of one colour creates a harmonious effect Introduce tall spires into the border to add height and interest: Margaret has used delphiniums, campanulas and hollyhocks. Get the look

Margaret grows her hollyhocks and cornflowers from seed

A ‘Karlsruhe’ rose grows over an arbour – a cottage-garden essential

A tree provides shade for a seating area