This knot garden was created using annuals and ingenuity. Making a knot garden


How Danny constructed his knot garden using plants we can all grow Story by Danny Duff. Photo by Darlene Stack


minor repairs. The design is in the style common to Western Europe from the 16th


T


his is how I constructed a knot garden about six years ago. It has held up pretty well so far with


century.


The actual Knot Garden is the square in the middle flanked by two bookends with the boxwoods. I first tilled the ground down six to eight inches and dissected the garden with string and stakes to find the centre. It is easier to shovel out the pattern evenly when its in four quarters (shovel with a narrow flat shovel). I used lawn edging and 10 to 12-inch


spikes on either side of each piece of edging to hold the pattern in place. I used my secateurs to cut the edging. After the pattern is in place, backfill with soil, adjusting your pattern as you tamp down on either side of edging. The nails are hammered down to the soil line flush with the edging. The pink colour in the garden is turkey


grit used as stepping places. There is an urn in the centre filled with succulents and an aloe.


www.localgardener.net The plants that I use are mostly


Alternanthera. They are easy to clip to get that over/under effect. ‘Disney Pink’, ‘Morris Arboretum’, ‘Aurea Nana’, ‘Kingswood’, and ‘Rouge Italienne’ are the Alternanthera used. For the public, the downside is that these Alternanthera are not always commercially available and most do not produce seed. The plants are started by cuttings


taken several times over the winter months. Santolina chamaecyparissus is the silver plant I like. They thicken up quite well when clipped. I generally plant


ally so they are all treated as annuals. If these aren’t available in abundance, I suppose one could use different thymes and mints for mat-forming and colour differences, although these can easily grow rampant and out of hand with undesired results. To achieve an over/under knot


two plants side-by-side in the


trenches and move the next set of two about six inches further down and so on to create the diamond. Most of my spacing is about six-inch centres. I also have Lavandula angustifolia and Salvia officinalis


‘Icterina’. This year the


bookends will be bordered by Salvia officinalis ‘Tricolor’ and backfilled with Lavendula dentata, fringed lavender. I don’t worry about hardiness in the lavender. Our garden is planted annu-


garden effect one could also use different lower growing annuals such as short varieties of marigolds which could actually might look quite inter- esting. No clipping would be involved but they would have to be dead-head- ed regularly. Alyssum, Ageratum and Senecio cineraria (dusty


miller) are


just a few varieties that could work. If you are not looking for an over/under effect, then many varieties could be used depending on personal taste. For this spring I planted some single


early tulips. I am not sure how they will do or look in the knot garden as I didn’t plant them in over/under appearance. If the critters don’t eat


them, the garden may be interesting. q


Early Spring 2014 • 25


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