English Canal and River Gardens
An English trip was planned to be all about boating, but it turned out to be quite a lot about gardens. Gardens we visited, gardens we floated by and gardens that influenced our definition of something beautiful. What we learned will influence your garden too.
What You Will Get from Reading This:
- A handful of easy ideas to bring that quiet English Garden charm into your own garden
- Plant suggestions that thrive near water and soften the edges of a Small space and utilize container plantings.
- Simple design touches that create a sense of calm, movement, and tell your story.
The Backstory
In 2018, newly retired to a new house and town on the Gulf Coast of Florida we decided we needed an adventure. On PBS, we found a tv show called “Great Canal Journeys. It starred two old actors, Prunella Scales and Timothy West who traveled on waterways throughout the world but mostly on the British Canal System. The country has nearly 3000 miles of canals, and they are everywhere, mostly built in the 18th and 19th century before the advent of the railroads when they provided cost-efficient transport of goods and people, all over. Today they are used for anything from a day out to an extended vacation.
As we told ourselves about the tv series: “Those two must be 80. If they can do it, anyone can!” So, we ordered the guidebooks, rented a fully furnished boat and booked some flights.
The Experience
We traveled slowly (4mph was fast work!), by day, and moored the boat at night. The canals are everywhere with good sightseeing nearby, plenty of pubs and villages to shop and eat in, and we met people from everywhere.
As you travel along these narrow, restricted waterways, you meet some of the same people repeatedly, share stories and work the heavy lock gates together. We met a Swedish couple who spend summers on their custom-built boat, plenty of Australians who know how to plan an extended holiday and local folks along the way.
The Gardens Along the Way
While everything interested us, what struck us as a pair of volunteer Master Gardeners was how the canal side homeowners decorated their backyard docks with pots of plantings. Classic English gardens in miniature, they overflowed into the water. Pots on the ground, hanging baskets and planters filling stone walls, wherever you could put one, they did.
Features of English Gardens You Can Use
One important fact to keep in mind, is that any British gardeners, worth their salt, expect to use a wide variety of plants, whatever the size of their garden. They hold this expectation far more than any other gardeners anywhere else in the world.
So, if there is anywhere in your garden that you want to clean out the garden center for, your English Canalside planters are where to do it!
Both Intimate and Dramatic
You can indulge both of these goals in your English Canalside gardens, add some seating for a quiet afternoon rest, read a book, have a visit. In the same garden you can design a surprise, walk along a narrow path and then a surprise; indulge your sense of theatre!
Fulfill your ambitions, you don’t even need a canal or your own river.
Roots and Routes-Be Inspired by Places You Loved
I’ll show you our photos because if you love an English garden this is the easy way to get started. Also, by planting in containers and with a few substitutions we found (we garden in sultry South Florida) you can do this in whatever climate your garden is located in.
What to Take Away for Your Garden
Practical Notes
Group your pots together, pick what you like to work with, fill your space, plant in your own version of the thriller, filler, spiller. By this I mean if you have a place for a big puff of a single flower, go for it. Just make sure to have height on top and low drifts, this way you will simulate the blowsy, deep borders we found in English gardens.
What Travel Teaches All of Us
Gardeners
Travel has a unique way of inspiring gardeners, offering fresh ideas, plant varieties, and design styles that can be adapted to our own spaces. This series explores how to bring the charm of specific destinations into your container gardens, starting with a trip along the magnificent Thames and the Oxford Canal, including the canal system to Stratford-upon-Avon.
Canal and River Travel
The long, narrow vessels are easy to manage, you are taught how to open and close the locks yourself and you float slowly along with plenty of opportunity for admiring the flowers, the architecture and of course the pubs. Here are the planting ideas that we took home from the trip.
Bringing that Evocative English Canal Side Garden Home
The English canal and riverbanks are known for their quaint, lush plantings that soften boat docks and waterside paths. These gardens often feature a mix of classic English perennials, climbers, and charming container styles that reflect a timeless, cozy aesthetic.
Some Plant Choices You Can Make for an English Garden Feel
- Classic Perennials: Foxgloves, lavender, delphiniums, and bleeding hearts evoke the quintessential English garden.
- Climbers: Clematis and sweet peas add vertical interest and fragrance.
- Foliage: Ferns and hostas thrive in shaded canal-side spots and add texture.
- Seasonal Bulbs: Daffodils and tulips bring early spring color.
For detailed planning tools see the following Appendix Section
Substitute Plantings for Your Climate
Use this work sheet for alternative plant choices, especially for hot and wet climates.
Depending on where you make your garden, not all the English plants will thrive for you. In this series I will show you some alternatives for changing conditions. These plants will enjoy your garden and still create that English waterway aesthetic.
Container and Design Tips
- Try some weathered wooden or metal containers reminiscent of boat crates or old dock materials.
- Incorporate trailing plants like ivy or lobelia to soften edges.
- Mix textures and heights to mimic natural English garden layering.
- Add small trellises or obelisks for climbers.
Incorporating Your Travel Memories and Souvenirs
Because so many of the homes we drifted by on our trip enhanced their canal sides and boat docks with containers of flowers, we’ll start off the series with container planting designs.
Including Your Travel Story
One of the most enchanting aspects of travel-inspired container gardening is the chance to weave your personal journey into every leaf and petal. Imagine coming home with not just souvenirs, but stories to root in your home garden. From rustic pots picked up at a local market to books and decor you buy along the way, these elements transform your garden into a living scrapbook.
Picture a planter adorned with a miniature wooden boat, echoing the slow glide of your canal boat, or a vintage key nestled among foxgloves, symbolizing the hidden gardens you discovered. Perhaps you can add the same plants you admired abroad or you can make your own substitutions (see appendix). You can plant beautiful containers that remind you, every day, of your adventure.
Your “Memory Planter”
This “memory planter” becomes more than just a collection of plants—it’s a tactile diary of your adventure, a place where every bloom tells a story and every leaf holds a memory. It invites you to pause, reflect, and share your journey with visitors, making your garden a deeply personal and evocative space.
Quick Checklist for Your English Canal-Inspired Container Garden
To help you plan your own English canal-inspired container garden, here are the first in a series of watercolor-style visual guides you can download and use: Find them in the Appendix Section.
A. Core Design Principles: A visual guide to laying out your containers.
How to use the Thriller-Filler-Spiller plan to create beauty in the different shapes and sizes of your pots.
B. English Garden Plant Choices: A planting list you can use.
C. English Garden Plant Substitution Planner: Substitutions you can use if the English choices do not suit your climate.
D. Container Garden Planner Page: A practical, climate‑smart guide for designing and maintaining thriving container gardens in warm, humid, or subtropical regions.
Download and Print Your Favorites
Summary and Takeaway
Travel gives gardeners new eyes. Bringing a bit of the English canals home—whether through plant choices, container styles, or a single meaningful souvenir—turns your garden into a place layered with memory.
If you’d like to try it yourself, the Appendix has simple guides to help you plan, substitute, and design your own canal-inspired containers.
To us all, rooted and roaming,
Jane
appendix page for canal gardens by Jane monti