Originally, these gardens were created by the workers that lived in the cottages of the villages to provide them with food and herbs with flowers planted in for decoration. The more common flowers to the cottage garden were hollyhocks, delphinium and daisies in addition to the flowering herbs. The method of planting closely packed plants reduced the amount of weeding and watering required.

Today, a cottage garden is often primarily flowers and completely free-form in nature. Many gardeners attempt to use heirloom varieties of plants in their cottage gardens to preserve the antiquity of the method.

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