10/08/2026
Love this before and after with all the ways they do it explained!
A Plain Backyard Can Become a Cottage Garden Retreat When You Combine a Covered Porch, Stone Patio, Outdoor Fireplace, and Deep Planting Beds Filled With Flowers That Match the Sun and Shade.
The house renovation gives this backyard much more warmth, but the landscape is what makes the finished space feel special. Instead of leaving a concrete slab surrounded by lawn, the design creates several connected outdoor rooms: a covered porch for sitting, an open stone patio, a fireplace area, a curved garden path, and deep planting beds filled with hydrangeas, hostas, ferns, daisies, pink flowering perennials, ornamental grasses, and foliage plants. The most important lesson is that the garden changes as sunlight changes across the yard. Sun loving flowers occupy the brighter openings, while hostas and ferns take over beneath the mature trees.
Start with the outdoor rooms
Before choosing plants, decide where people will sit, walk, eat, and gather. The covered porch becomes the transition between the house and garden, while the larger stone patio provides room for movable seating around the fireplace.
For a similar layout, allow at least 10 to 12 feet of depth for a comfortable seating area. Natural flagstone works especially well because its irregular edges blend naturally into garden beds. Concrete pavers can create a similar effect if natural stone is outside the budget.
Instead of making the patio a rectangle surrounded by lawn, let planting beds curve around portions of it. This immediately makes the hardscape feel like it belongs inside the garden.
Use hydrangeas as the major flowering shrubs
The blue hydrangeas beside the porch provide the largest blocks of summer color. That look is commonly associated with bigleaf hydrangeas, although their success depends heavily on climate and winter protection.
For an Indiana type climate, bigleaf hydrangeas can work in protected locations, especially where they receive morning sun and afternoon shade, but flower buds can sometimes be damaged by winter temperatures.
Reblooming varieties such as Endless Summer types can be more forgiving because they may bloom on both old and new growth.
Give bigleaf hydrangeas roughly 3 to 5 hours of sun, preferably earlier in the day. They appreciate consistent moisture and are not particularly drought tolerant.
Plant them in spring after severe freezing weather has passed or in early fall with enough time to establish before winter. Apply 2 to 3 inches of mulch over the root zone and water deeply during dry periods.
If reliability is more important than blue flowers, consider smooth hydrangeas such as Incrediball or Invincibelle Spirit II. They tolerate partial shade and bloom on new wood, making winter flower loss much less of a concern.
Use daisies and coneflowers in the sunny openings
The white flowers on the right and pink flowers toward the foreground create the loose cottage garden effect.
White coneflower would be an excellent choice because it tolerates summer heat and becomes fairly drought tolerant after establishment. Shasta daisies can also provide large masses of white flowers but generally appreciate more consistent moisture.
Coneflowers prefer at least 6 hours of direct sun. Plant them about 18 to 24 inches apart in groups of five, seven, or more.
The pink flowers could be recreated with pink coneflowers, garden phlox, cosmos, or hardy geranium depending on height and location.
Coneflowers can remain standing through winter so birds can eat the seeds. Cut the old stems down in late winter or very early spring.
If using garden phlox, provide good air circulation and choose mildew resistant cultivars. They perform best in sun to light shade with moderately moist soil.
Fill the shade with hostas and ferns
The areas beneath the mature trees and around the edges of the porch receive much less direct sunlight. This is where foliage becomes more important than flowers.
Hostas are ideal for creating the broad green masses visible throughout this landscape. Use different sizes rather than relying on one cultivar everywhere.
Large blue or green hostas can form the rear layer of the garden. Medium chartreuse varieties brighten darker areas, while smaller hostas can edge paths.
Most hostas prefer part shade and reasonably moist soil. Morning sunlight is generally beneficial, while intense afternoon sun can scorch the leaves of some varieties.
Ferns provide the finer texture needed between the hostas. Christmas fern, lady fern, and autumn fern are all useful woodland garden plants.
Plant hostas and ferns in spring or early fall. Water regularly during their first season, particularly beneath mature trees where established roots compete aggressively for moisture.
Add ornamental grasses where you need movement
Fine textured grasses near the walkway and patio soften all of the stone and keep the garden from looking like a collection of shrubs.
Japanese forest grass is an excellent choice for partial shade. Its arching foliage is especially attractive near steps, boulders, and paths.
For sunnier locations, prairie dropseed is a great Midwest option. It forms tidy arching clumps, handles drought once established, and does not become excessively large.
Little bluestem can provide more height and excellent fall color where the garden receives full sun.
Plant grasses in groups of three or five rather than placing a single grass in every open space. Leave their dried foliage through winter, then cut them back in late winter before new growth begins.
Use burgundy foliage for contrast
The dark foliage visible in several parts of the garden keeps the planting from becoming an uninterrupted mass of green.
Heuchera is one of the easiest plants for achieving this effect in partial shade. Cultivars range from deep burgundy and nearly black to caramel, silver, and lime green.
Heuchera prefers reasonably well drained soil. It dislikes staying wet through winter, so avoid low areas where water collects.
In sunnier sections, darker sedum cultivars can create a similar burgundy accent while tolerating much drier conditions.
Repeat these dark plants every several feet rather than placing one isolated specimen in a single location. Repetition connects the different beds visually.
Create a curved garden path
The narrow path winding through the planting on the right encourages people to explore the yard rather than simply walk across it.
A secondary garden path can be narrower than a main walkway. Around 30 to 36 inches is comfortable for one person.
Flagstone set into compacted gravel works well in a cottage garden. Gravel alone can also work if the path has good edging.
Let low plants slightly soften the edges but keep taller flowers far enough back that they do not constantly fall across the path.
Build the fireplace area before planting around it
The outdoor fireplace creates a destination at the far side of the patio and visually anchors the entire garden.
Keep plants far enough away from the firebox and chimney to avoid heat damage and fire risk. Stone, gravel, or paving should surround the immediate fireplace area.
Use lower plants nearby so views toward the fire remain open. Taller shrubs and flowers can sit farther behind the seating area, where they create enclosure without crowding people.
A fireplace can also benefit from subtle landscape lighting so people can move safely between the house and seating area after dark.
Plant in layers
The easiest way to recreate this lush appearance is to think of every bed as three or four layers.
At the back, use hydrangeas, small ornamental shrubs, or taller ferns.
Through the middle, use large hostas, ornamental grasses, coneflowers, phlox, and heuchera.
Toward the front, use smaller hostas, sedges, catmint where sunny, hardy geranium, creeping phlox, or compact grasses.
Then occasionally allow one taller perennial to rise through the middle layer. That prevents the garden from looking like perfectly graduated rows.
Water according to the plant, not the whole yard
One mistake in mixed gardens is watering every plant on the same schedule.
Hydrangeas, astilbe, and many hostas prefer more consistent moisture.
Coneflowers, prairie dropseed, catmint, sedum, and many ornamental grasses need much less water after establishment.
Whenever possible, divide irrigation into separate zones. Drip tubing beneath the mulch allows shrubs and perennials to receive slow, deep watering while keeping foliage dry.
For new plants, check the root zone several times each week during the first month. Gradually reduce watering frequency as roots establish.
Let the garden become fuller over time
Do not crowd plants just to recreate the mature appearance immediately. Check the mature width of every plant before installation.
A hosta purchased in a one gallon container may eventually become 3 or 4 feet across. Hydrangeas can become even larger.
Leave appropriate gaps and cover exposed soil with about 2 to 3 inches of mulch. By the second and third growing seasons, plants will begin touching and naturally suppressing many weeds.
The main lesson is to design this type of backyard around contrast. Combine hard stone with soft planting, sunny flowers with shade foliage, large hydrangea blooms with fine grasses and ferns, and open gathering areas with densely planted garden edges. When each plant is placed according to its actual sunlight and moisture needs, the finished garden can look abundant and complex without becoming difficult to maintain.
