A Haliburton Cottage Garden

Haliburton cottage gardens come in all shapes and sizes. Here are some traditional sunny and part-shaded garden beds, all with native plants.

The work we do here at Grounded covers a wide spectrum: from projects akin to rewilding where we work with succession to create a landscape that is biodiverse and beautiful, to more traditional garden bed plantings. This project is the latter.

The site

My client had three garden beds he wanted planted at his cottage. The home itself was set in beautifully landscaped grounds with mature trees the homeowner had planted himself. Two of the beds were in part sun, one in full sun. So this meant I was using a full range of plants – shade-loving through to sun-loving.

The ‘Bear Bed’: a lush first impression

This bed greets people as they drive up to the cottage. A wonderful carved bear faces you framed by three spruce trees, creating a part-shaded area. As with all the beds, I removed existing vegetation and added about two inches of mulch.

The Bear Bed at the cottage after I applied mulch.
The Bear Bed at the cottage after I applied mulch.

I planted one Alternate-leaved Dogwood as a centrepiece, and then the following list of ferns and perennials. The matrix/groundcover layer was a type of dogwood – Bunchberry.

Plants laid out at the Bear Bed prior to planting. I used plants that are happy in part-sun.
Plants laid out at the Bear Bed prior to planting. I used plants that are happy in part-sun.

The side bed: bridging the gap between forest and cottage

This was a bed to the left of the driveway. As with the Bear Bed, it was retained by a stone wall. Behind the bed were conifers. I chose a similar list of plants.

Shade-tolerant plants ready to be added to the side bed at this cottage.
Shade-tolerant plants ready to be added to the side bed at this cottage.

The sunny bed: a traditional Haliburton cottage garden

This was a foundation bed, near the house. It was in a much more sunny position, seeing sun for most of the day. The homeowner wanted to maximize flowers, so I packed in perennials tightly and dispensed with a groundcover/matrix layer to give a traditional garden bed appearance, but using native plants. I added two Smooth Roses as structural centrepieces.

The sunny bed at the cottage ready to be planted after a thin layer of mulch was added.
The sunny bed at the cottage ready to be planted after a thin layer of mulch was added.
The sunny Haliburton cottage garden just after planting.
The sunny cottage garden just after planting.
As is standard, I labeled one specimen of each species with a metal label to help identification in the future.
As is standard, I labeled one specimen of each species with a metal label to help identification in the future.
It is important to watch out for our local wildlife when working on cottage gardens.
It is important to watch out for our local wildlife when working on cottage gardens.