If you’re craving a little country in your city garden, it might be easier than you think to add some rural charm. And there are inspirations everywhere. But why would you want to? Because farm love is a real thing. Recently, the New York Times ran an article entitled ‘The Modern Farmhouse is Today’s McMansion. And It’s Here to Stay.’ From white board-and-batten siding and black window frames on the outside to shiplap and enormous clocks on the inside, the large faux country homestead is hugely popular. They blame, erm, credit a lot of this new-and-here-to-stay trend to reno shows like Fixer Upper on HGTV.

Whether you’ve already scored Old McDonald’s home or just want to soften up your city digs a little, gardening ideas from real country and farm gardens are just a road trip away. I found some wonderful ideas on a recent garden tour around Ontario’s Mallorytown, a small rural town on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Here are 7 easy garden ideas for bringing a little country charm into your city garden.

1. Choose old-style flowers with a twist

Nothing screams ‘urban’ louder than exotic plants in a tamed and trimmed garden. ‘Country’ is all about old-fashioned flowers your grandmother would’ve grown and letting them ramble. But let’s face it, none of us are really into replicating our gramma’s place. Instead, try annuals and perennials that offer a little something different. For instance, Petunias are a classic choice. Climbing petunias, like those seen in the photo above, add a nice twist. P.E.I.-based Vesey Seeds offers packages of Tickled Pink Climbing Petunia seeds, a fragrant bloomer with an upright form, reaching a height of 6 feet, that can be trained to climb a frame or trellis.

Hollyhocks (see below), coneflowers, daisies, and flox are also great at adding height in a flower bed and renowned for delivering a wonderful randomness, popping up each spring in delightfully unexpected places.

2. Go soft on hardscaping

Fences and walls in a city garden are inevitable but you can easily loosen things up a bit. Relax your garden’s design by adding more rounded shapes and curving lines. There isn’t a straight line in sight in this slopeside garden, shown above, where the flower beds are terraced using low, hand-built fieldstone walls in sinuous lines using naturally-shaped local stone.

3. Keep the softness coming

You don’t need a lot of space to get that country-in-the-city feel. Try raised beds with rounded corners using reclaimed bricks or well-worn pavers (there’s that softness again!). Up the soft factor by encouraging moss to grow on your beds. This is easiest to do if your bed is in part shade, getting sun for about 60% of each day–the ideal amount of sun exposure for moss. Moss Acres, an American company, ships ready-made Moss Milkshakes to Canada if you want to be assured of maximum mossiness in a relative hurry (more on that, below).

4. No-brainer tip: grow edibles

Since most farms are usually all about nurturing something that will eventually be eaten, it only makes sense to grow some edibles in your own country-ish garden. I love how the plant containers shown above are as handsome as they are practical. Attached to an exterior wall of a small storage barn, these containers raise vegetables and herbs up to catch the sunlight in a deeply shaded garden as well as keep the tempting plants out of the reach of rabbits and deer.

5. Repurpose stuff (with a wink)

Back in the day, living on the land often meant having to make do. My guess is that farmers were reclaiming and recycling long before city folk caught on. Repurposing doesn’t have to be serious business, either. This dog house, seen above, has taken on a second life doing double duty as a garden feature and a storage place for fun stuff–a glance inside revealed a basketball and a frisbee.

6. Let your paths go green

I think moss gives any style of garden a romantic touch but there’s some practical reasons for encouraging moss in a small city garden. They include:

• In a tiny garden where a grassy path isn’t going to work, moss can give you a lovely ribbon of greenness without the need of a lawn mower
• Moss loves sheltered areas in shade, something neighbouring buildings will be lending to your garden whether you like it or not
• Moss enjoys poor, compacted soil, something that cities deliver in abundance.

If you want to try your hand at growing your own patch of moss, check out my post The Slow Art of Moss Growing.

7. Consider the hollyhock

There’s no denying that hollyhocks exude country charm. But they can deliver much more than a pretty flower in an urban garden. For one thing, their tall spires (upwards of 8 feet) add loads of colourful drama but they don’t need a lot of elbow room–perfect when you don’t have a lot of space. In fact, these beauties prefer to be backed up against a wall or fence for support. So pick a place that gets full sun and use hollyhocks as a colourful backdrop to a garden bed, covering a boring wall or fence, and taking up little space to boot.

If you love the country-in-the-city idea but want flowers with a little more glam, look for hollyhocks with ruffled, double blooms like ‘Peaches n Dreams’ or ‘Chater’s Double’. These beauties look almost like blousy roses held aloft amidst velvety green leaves on thick stems growing higher than your head. What could be more wonderful?