All Tied Up

Image Garden Visit

On Saturday Son # 5 (the Landscaper) completed a big job he's been working on for the past 2 months. I drove past the house yesterday & wow, I may be biased but the results are just spectacular. I showed him all the wonderful comments from my previous post on his work & in his own quiet, reserved way he was really delighted - thank you all so much for your lovely feedback. I'll post on his latest project in the next couple of weeks.

We were talking about formal gardens & the subject of Knot Gardens came up. He's had a request from a client to do a small version in a walled, semi-shaded courtyard, so we've being doing some research together. He loves the challenge of precise, formal work & by the speed of referrals he's receiving & his long waiting list, it appears this has become his trademark brand.

Originating in the Elizabethan period, knot gardens are traditionally placed in a courtyard & are designed to look like the pattern in a woven rug or tapestry. Low growing hedges & gravel walkways were used to simulate the interwoven effects of the pattern & clipped trees & shrubs are used to form the central pattern generally in the form of rectangles, squares or circles. Often, perfectly balanced topiary trees are used as a feature in the corners of the design. They are best seen from upper storeys or balconies of a house & they look particularly spectacular from the air.

Because of their precise layout and reliance on geometric shapes, knot gardens are traditionally high maintenance, as the hedges and plants must be constantly trimmed and pruned. Traditionally, knot gardens use one type of hedge only to border the walkways, & it's generally Buxus because it's easy to shape. Then various types of plants, shrubs, flowers or herbs are used to fill in the various compartments. In Elizabethan times, knot garden compartments were often filled with colourful medicinal herbs.

Image Rafter Tales

Image Garden Visit (Little Moreton Hall)

Image House to Home

Image My House & Garden (Hatfield House)

Image NGS

Image Magical Heritage of Essex (Layer Marney House)

Image LondonTown (Hampton Court Gardens)

Image UK8 (Sudeley Castle)

Image i.ehow

Image GOGG