English Cottage Garden

We created a Santa Barbara version of a proper English garden for the lady of the house, who was born and raised in England.

Roses, lavender, lamb’s ears, scented geraniums, bearded iris and other cottage flowers bloom with abandon beneath new Chinese pistache trees that pitch in with dappled shade and fall color.

We enlarged the existing brick patio with a generous edging of rosy flagstone squares and gray gravel, then repeated the flagstone and gravel for rambling paths bordered by petite cranesbill, pincushion flower and Afterglow echeveria.

New, natural wood elements include lattice-clad arbors. One stands over a glider for two, just steps away from a classic bird bath; the other, at the opposite end of the yard, is near a gurgling fountain and a pair of raised vegetable beds that offer fresh-picked, home-grown harvests year-round. On the house, a horizontal trellis over French doors and a new wood deck supports a robust Roger’s Red California native grape vine.