#92 Finding inspiration for my Dream Rustic Cottage garden & Scandinavian garden design

I wanted to take a deeper dive into the the realm of dreams and possibilities and make a video about dreamy cottage gardens from a slight traditional Scandinavian or Nordic approach.

Today is all about stunning and magical gardens and sharing with you some inspirational pictures and ideas from various sources. I wanted to create a video by compiling images and concepts that resonate with my dream garden in a way that serves as a vision board or a mind map for the future.

Please subscribe to my Youtube channel for weekly content.
Thanks for joining me, like, subscribe

Lets connect
-Instagram: https://instagram.com/saving_siskola?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

#cottagegarden #dreamgarden #forestgarden #scandinaviancottage #flowers #gardening #gardeningideas #mökkipuutarha

00:00 Intro
00:54 Creating a cottage garden
01:30 What is a cottage garden?
02:22 My dream garden
03:09 What to consider when planning a garden
04:22 Adapting to the surroundings
04:42 Using what is at hand
05:15 Adding a rustic look to your garden.
05:42 What it takes do start developing a garden
06:48 Magical fairytale garden feel with natural materials
08:08 A pond and a greenhouse for a focal point
08:34 Apple trees and berry bushes
09:17 Choosing garden plants
10:17 Dahlias
10:39 More familiar with flowers
11:06 The Lilac
11:28 Rhododendron or Alpinen Roses
11:52 Snowball tree
12:12 Violas
12:27 Flowers I like
12:57 List of easy to grow Perennials
14:48 IG profile,Torpantyttö
16:01 G profile, Karianne Tellefsen
17:09 Outro and end quote

Hello friends! As a continuation to last weeks garden themed video I wanted to take a deeper dive into the the realm of dreams and possibilities and make a video about dreamy cottage gardens, from a slight traditional Scandinavian or Nordic approach.

Imagine entering your garden and being surrounded by a lush, beautiful and vibrant garden reflecting your dreams and personality. Today is all about stunning and magical gardens and sharing with you some inspirational pictures and ideas from various sources.

I wanted to create a video by compiling images and concepts that resonate with my dream garden in a way that serves as a vision board or a mind map for the future.
I believe this is something that many of you also might enjoy or find helpful.

It is a huge task to create a cottage garden from scratch so my purpose is not to do that any time soon but just to take a look at all the possibilities out there and get the creative gardening juices flowing.

Creating the perfect garden means different things to different people but I believe that you should create what YOU love, so there shouldn’t be any strict rules. A cottage garden is about the plants, so it doesn’t have to be perfect and there are no strict guidelines.

A cottage garden design is ideal for the self-confessed plantaholic as it is all about making sure nearly every piece of ground is covered in an apparently unstructured design. A cottage garden is all about an informal mix of closely planted flowers across the

Color spectrum, full of life, textures and containing both ornamentals and edibles. I have never been great at following rules so I embrace this Controlled Chaos Approach. In true cottage gardens the decorative plants are interspersed with eatable plants or vegetables such as chard, spring onions, broccoli, globe artichokes,

As well as edible flowers like Calendulas, Violas, Chive and Oregano flowers. My dream garden should feel romantic, etherial and timeless. I would love a garden that overwhelms you and embraces you in homeyness. It should be vibrant but natural, comfortable, fun,

A little mismatch with rustic elements but above all else quite wild and easy to maintain. I would integrate charming and quirky or old objects into the garden. Beautiful bird baths, fountains, lanterns, birdhouses, enchanted ornaments, wrought iron decorations, big claypots, hanging baskets, cute watering cans, you name it.

When it comes to planning the garden of your dreams, there is definitely a lot to consider. Since I bought my abandoned farm I have become the custodian of the land and its my responsibility to take care of it. The land has forest and old fields and meadows but has been neglected

For a very long time and is overgrown and wild. There are many old trees on the property so there is lots to consider when planning a garden there. For a place like Siskola the garden should feel natural and wild and not too formal or rigid.

Of course there could be a framed area dedicated to a more planned and lush cottage garden style but as a whole I think it is important to look around and see what the surrounding dictates. For example at Siskola there are many birch trees in front of the house. They take

So much moisture and nutrients from the ground that it is difficult for other plants to get along next to them. This part of the yard has to work more as a forest garden. There is also a creek that flows through the property and flows over now and then so that is something

To keep in mind as well. It is important to adapt to the surrounding and also a good idea to use what the surroundings have to offer. I have a lot of forest around so I could easily incorporate old pieces of tree-trunks and stumps into the flower beds.

As you know there are many old farm equipment lying around the property. Perhaps they could be used as flower displays and would give a nice and rustic vibe. Since Siskola is an old farm this would suit very well with the theme as a reminder of past times. Maybe I

Could also use the old scrap cars for decorative purposes by planting flowers under the hood or cascading out of the windows. Or maybe use the old tractor wheel I discovered in the ground as a round planter.

I really love the rustic look even in gardens. And If you don’t have a farm you could still add rustic elements and details like, old metallic chairs or rusty ornaments to your garden. Only the Imagination is the limit so it is possible to get very creative.

Developing a garden that is full of bloom and color, like a cottage garden does take time. It’s almost impossible to pull it off in a short period or at least it would need a very thick wallet, especially since plants and flowers are extremely expensive here in Finland.

It’s only through the growing of Perennials or plants that live for more than two years, that you’re really gonna get a beautiful display and for Perennials to get established and show their full potential it might take years.

Making a garden is also a work in progress so it is definitely not something you do in the spur of the moment. To get started it would make sense to group plants into planting areas or displays.

This way you can start small with only one area at a time and it would also be easier to maintain. My plot of land is also quite big and has many micro climates so this approach would work well for getting splashes of colors in different areas around the courtyard.

I would really love to have a garden with a bit of a magical or secret garden feel. Walking around the house and down to the sauna on cozy pathways framed by flowers and covered in stone slates or gravel would be lovely. Imagine being surrounded by mossy stonewalls

And hedges like in a fairytale garden. Elevating the natural landscape by making fences and dividers from sticks and branches would be a great way to put together a garden on a shoe string budget. I could use the branches from the fallen Silver willows to weave a fence round some flower

Beds or even construct a frame to plant pea shoots or other climbing plants around. Perhaps it would be possible to build a gate, a pergola, a dome, a tunnel, a gazebo or any other structure from bended hazel branches or other old logs, twigs and branches. That

Would really bring that magical whimsical feeling to the garden. There is plenty of material around for natural structures that would look like something the elves made. I imagine having a pond as a centre piece in the north part of the garden one day. Perhaps

With a pathway around it and a rustic bench next to it to sit and enjoy the sound of the creek. Another good focal point to plant around in the south facing garden would be a nice greenhouse. I have planned it to stand where the old aviary is now with the view to the

Apple trees and the open field. I would also like to plant more apple trees on the property to get a more productive orchard. The trees on the property are quite old and at the moment they don’t produce the best apples

But Im trimming them a little every year so hopefully they still can be reinvigorated. You can’t grow that many fruit tree varieties in my grow zone but berry bushes do really well here instead. So I will like to continue planting them as well. I imagine getting blueberries,

Blackberries, raspberries and different gooseberries and propagate more of the black, red and white currants that I currently have. The berry garden would probably need an enclosure from the deer though. When it come to choosing plants for the garden, I want for the most part indigenous plants

That are native to the area or thrive well here. There should also be a nice variety of plants so that they bloom at different times. When choosing garden plants it is a good idea to also combine plants with different forms

And varying shapes, textures and structures. Tall or short, bushy or wispy. A nice mix of variations makes a more vivid, lush and interesting look. I would plant bushy Hydrangeas or Lilacs for mass, wispy lacy flowers like Baby’s breath or ornamental grass for movement or swaying in wind. I would plant wining and creeping

Plants on trellises or train them to grow up trees and low growing crop covers like Alyssium to edge flower beds and paths. For sculptural statement flowers I would plant Dahlias with I love. I wanted to start practising already with planting them so I ordered 4 different varieties in complimentary hues

The varieties I got where Mister Frans, Copper Boy, Linda’s Baby and Cafe au Lait but it was really hard to chose because I loved them all. Only recently have I started getting more familiar with flowers, by doing a lot of research.

Slowly I am putting together a wish list of the flowers and plants that I like and that can survive the cold winter in Finland. Not all perennials survive here, and some have to be sown yearly or be taken inside to overwinter. As well as Hydrangeas and Dahlias I also love Peonies and Lilacs.

The Lilac belongs to the Finish traditional garden and is the queen of the summer garden with the fragrances reminding of that early childhood summer. We are used to thinking of the garden lilac as either blue-lilac or white-flowered, but nowadays you can also

Find noble lilacs in more reddish hues that are old traditional varieties brought back into production. Rhododendrons, or Alpine roses as we call them here are among the most popular shrubs that people grow. Alpine roses requires little maintenance but quite a lot of space instead.

It thrives best in a quiet and sheltered place with partial shade, but can also survive in a sunnier location. They require a slightly acidic soil to grow. The ‘Pohjan Neito’ or The Maiden of the North is a Snowball tree that is also a very

Popular yard shrubs in Finland due to its wonderful, abundant “snowball bloom”. It grows most handsomely in an open place but is also suitable as a flowering fence or in groups. Violas or Orvokki as we call them in Finnish are one of the most typical and popular summer

Flower. in Finland. they come in all these gorgeous colors and brighten up any landscape so I understand why. Some other flowers that I really like are Delphinium flowers, Foxgloves and Snapdragons but I think they all look very similar. I also like the simple flowers such as Daisies,

Corn flowers and Baby’s breath. What are some of your favourite flowers? Let me share with you some of the flowers that made it to my list of easy to grow perennials that require very low maintenance and that do well in an area with cold winters.

The fabulous looking Siberian Iris has elegant butterfly-like flowers in shades of blue, violet, white and yellow. The striking grasslike foliage make them a stand out feature in any garden. It has a long display season but is very trouble free to grow.

Astilbe, Is a strikingly bold perennial wildflower with tall, “white” feathery flower plumes, and large attractive fern-like leaves.
It is an excellent plant for the waterside and other damp places so it is a good margin plant for ponds, pools or streams and an ideal choice for damp woodland areas.

Big Betony (Superba) is an old-time perennial with abundant flowers, that is easy to care for. The bushy perennial has decorative, serrated foliage and large, tufted, lilac-red flowers. This perennial sits beautifully in a wide variety of plant groups. It grows so bushy

That there is no room for weeds. 
Big betony is also pest and disease free, deer and rabbit resistant and its eye-catching flowers are attractive to pollinating insects. The Globe flower is one of the cutest Perennial meadow plants. It has large, bowl shaped,

Lemon yellow flowers, resembling double buttercups. It Grows in damp meadows with low vegetation and are suitable for moisture-retaining soil. Next I would like to mention some of my favourite Instagram profiles that has some very inspirational gardens and flower arrangements.

Torpan tyttö or the girls of the croft is a lovely Finnish Instagram profile about a woman who lives in the middle of the forest in a red croft from 1930. The home has been her fathers and his fathers, and other men and women of the family until

These days when the girl of the croft, Ilona, moved there with her husband, two cats and a dog and carefully started to renovate the house. You can spend hours looking at all her endless, amazingly taken photos that capture the moment beautifully but what I really love the most about this

Profile is the cozy little garden details that emphasise the old traditional Nordic look. I highly recommend this profile to all nature lovers who love aesthetically pleasing pictures and beautiful and surprising details. lona also has a lovely webshop selling handmade consumer goods called torpantyttöpuoti. Karianne Tellefsen is an Instagram profile from Norway.

Each and every of her pictures is a masterpiece and tell a beautiful story on their own. Karinne has an amazingly decorated house that I could do a whole episode on separately 
but her greenhouse and terrace is just something else. She definitely has the cottage garden theme mastered.

Kariann makes gorgeous flower arrangements and reefs and has a real talent in capturing the beauty in every season. She brings furniture and interior decor to the outside areas as well as nature indoors in the most spectacular way. This is a wonderful profile but especially for those who love everything old.

I cannot praise this profile highly enough. There is such amazing detail that I love. I hope you got inspired by all these lovely gardens and flower images. For me gardening is still a learning process but I have a strong will to learn. If you have any good plant

Suggestions or other gardening ideas please feel free to share. Take care and see you next week Bye bye! “To plant a garden is to dream of tomorrow.”