I’ve always loved Georgina’s cottage garden. There is something about her garden that always puts a smile on my face. It is the ultimate cottage style garden, overflowing with everything any garden will be proud of. How one can one pack so much into that patch, and still make it all work and look amazing is beyond me. But that is exactly what Georgina has managed to do.
This lovely cottage garden has over seven fruit trees. No kidding. And they all seem to be thriving here too. There is a huge lemon tree, a fig tree, cherry tree, an espaliered apple tree, a peach tree, a kumquat tree in a large terracotta urn, and even table grapes that grow over a trellis.
Georgina has the best roses growing here. Her rose bushes are always happy and covered in flowers at any time of the year. Even miniature roses grow big and look like regular rose bushes in her garden. I have some of the same rose bushes that she has, but somehow they don’t perform as well as Georgina’s. She has that green thumb. Georgina’s green thumb can be seen in how successful she is with plant cuttings.
Georgina is the master at making plant cuttings. She makes all sorts of cuttings, and they all take and get beautiful and big under her care. The best cuttings are rose cuttings that she is so good at. I have received full-blown rose bushes, only to find out that it started off as a tiny rose cutting. She is amazing with rose cuttings! Don’t be surprised if some of the rose bushes in these pictures are from her cuttings.
Georgina is even good with seeds. She knows how to get them to sprout, grow into seedlings, and eventually into mature plants. Her vegetable garden is always filled with one veggie or another. Her success with seedlings can be seen here. She will patiently start her tomato seedlings in late winter and wait for them to become large enough plants to transplant into her veggie patch. She has started fava bean plants from seeds her uncle sent her all the way from New York. And she just recently gave me a zucchini seedling that she started from seeds that came from Malta! I tell you, Georgina is good with seeds.
One lovely element in Georgina’s garden that I covet and appreciate is her knack for sprinkling tasteful cottage inspired garden accessories and sculptures all over her yard. I love this about her garden.
I think her landscape is the only one where I see such charming garden accessories strewn here and there, that look so at home here. I’ve tried to replicate this in my own garden, but somehow I just don’t get the same effect.
Even hard to grow bougainvillea thrives in Georgina’s garden. The day I stopped to take some photos, as I walked past the bougainvillea vine I saw little birds flying out of the bush. I knew right away there were little nests in that bougenvilla vine all nicely hidden.
Succulents abound here, and Georgina has used her knack with cuttings to make more of them to spread all over her garden.
Another unique feature in Georgina’s garden is her collection of birdhouses that can be found scattered all throughout her backyard. This is a legacy feature from the previous owners. The gentleman who lived there before with his wife liked to make birdhouses, and he made quiet a few that he had nailed all over the fence. They left them behind when they moved, and Georgina did a wonderful job of carefully restoring each one of them with a fresh coat of paint, and has preserved them in her garden. Over the years Georgina has added her own collection of birdhouses to the mix as well.
The coolest story of all is the one birdhouse that Georgina has in her covered patio. Sri painted it for Georgina when she was visiting her a few years back. But the amazing thing about this birdhouse is that it has birds that come and lay eggs and give birth to new chickies every year! They may not be the same birds, but she always gets a married bird couple every year that takes up residence in this birdhouse.
Sometimes they even build their nest on top of the birdhouse rather than inside. Like a bird rental apartment, Georgina has a new bird tenant every year.
Georgina’s garden is the kind of lovely place where you can imagine that fairies are hiding in the happy carefree juxtaposition of flowers and plants. In fact, her daughter Jazz has done just that. Created a little fairy garden here.
I really love Georgina’s garden. When I am here, I imagine myself in an English village, where cottages with charming gardens abound with all sorts of flowers and plants, all growing together with reckless abandon, while somehow looking like it was all planned and meant to be. This landscape is cottage gardening at its best. It is a perfect harmony of plants in Georgina’s garden.
