No one wants their garden to feel unkempt, but there's something to be said for the irresistible charm of a slightly overgrown outdoor space. But how do you strike this balance?
Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott's backyard is a masterclass in planting beds that feel just wild enough. We spotted the gorgeous cottage garden in a recent Instagram post of Zooey's, highlighting their perfectly overgrown borders. The mix of pruned boxwoods with unmanicured vines interacts gorgeously with their brick garden paths, creating a scene straight out of The Secret Garden.
It proves that a laissez-faire attitude to borders is the key to achieving the trending wild garden look.
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To dive deeper on Zooey and Jonathan's approach to garden borders, we got in touch with master gardeners about how to recreate their look. Below, you will find their tips, plus a curation of the best tools and plants for building a similar garden.
Recreate Zooey and Jonathan's Look at Home
This set is ideal for beginners, providing all the essential tools needed to get started with gardening this summer at an affordable price. Designed to withstand the elements, these tools are cut out for a variety of garden tasks.
With its dense, compact growth habit and small dark green leaves, this shrub is an excellent alternative to traditional boxwood in planting schemes. It produces attractive reddish new growth in spring, but loved for its year-round structure. It's perfect for adding a polished feel to your wild scheme.
This easy-care plant returns year after year, making it a reliable choice for any garden. Its delicate, small flowers add a subtle pop of color – perfect for brightening up vertical spaces.
These Felco pruning shears have hardened blades for effortless trimming in your yard, making light work of tough rose pruning jobs. Our Garden Content Editor swears by them for even the toughest shearing jobs calling them the 'best pruners you can buy.'
This Felco sharpening stone is essential for the sharpening of your pruning shears which can quickly blunt during the busy growing season. It's the perfect addition to your manual pruning regimen.
These solar-powered lights are the perfect way to keep your pathway lit for late-night walks and dining, like those we see at Zooey and Jonathan's home. The subtle shape will blend in well with any plants you choose.
The biggest lesson embedded in Zooey and Jonathan's cottage garden is the importance of contrast. We've already commented on the mix of vines with carefully pruned boxwoods, but the plants arching gently across the rick pathway is just as notable. Putting this type of wildness at the edge of a walkway is always a very striking choice.
Angelene Padilla, garden expert at Bloomfield Farms explains, 'This fanciful pairing is effective because of the contrast, and well, that's hard to unsee. Because stone and paving are hard, flat, and permanent, and the ferns are soft, textured, and seasonal, the two elements work in opposition to one another and give the impression of being intentional.'
She continues: 'Placing a hardscape next to a blank wall is unfinished, whereas the same wall with an abundance of ferns feels considered and crafted. That's the idea that readers can implement in their own gardens.'
One of the most striking elements of Zooey and Jonathan's edges is the addition of a seemingly random white flower stem. Adding a few handfuls of wildflower seeds like the Monarch Meadow Mix from Amazon is the key to bringing in intermittent blooms like this, which feel polished but a bit unexpected.
Julian Palphramand, Head of Plants at British Garden Centres, advises: 'Self-seeding cottage garden flowers are brilliant because they do half the work for you and help fill borders for free. Some will settle in happily and come back year after year, while others will gently move around the garden and surprise you in new spots, bolstering your borders for free.'
An equilibrium between wildness and manicured sensibilities will always create the most beautiful gardens, and Zooey and Jonathan's outdoor space is the perfect place to turn when you need some inspiration.
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