Knot garden

Knot Garden at St Fagans museum of country life,
southWales

Knot gardens were first established in the UK in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

A knot garden is a very formal design of garden in a square frame and grown with a variety or aromatic plants and culinary herbs including Germander, marjoram,thyme, southernwood, lemon balm, hyssop, costmary, acanthus, mallow, chamomile,rosemary, Calendulas, Violas and Santolina. Most knot gardens now have edges made from Box (Buxus sempervirens) of which the leaves have a sweet smell when bruised. The paths in between are usually laid with fine gravel. However, the original designs of knot gardens did not have the low box hedges, and knot gardens with such hedges might more accurately be called Parterres

Some early knot gardens have been covered over by lawn or other landscaping, but the original traces are still visible as undulations in the present day landscape. An example of this phenomenon is the early 17th century garden of Muchalls Castle in Scotland.

Most Renaissance knot gardens were composed of square compartments. A small garden might consist of one compartment, while large gardens might contain six or eight compartments.

Examples of Knot Gardens

The Knot Garden at
the Red Lodge Museum, Bristol.

Knot Gardens have become established in many temperate formal gardens throughout the world including:

• Antony House, Cornwall, UK
• St Fagans, South Wales
• Alexandra Hicks Herb Knot Garden, University of Michigan, USA
• Knowle, Solihull, UK
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden, USA
• Anzac Square, Dunedin, New Zealand
• Red Lodge Museum, Bristol, UK
• Western Reserve Herb Society, Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland, USA
• Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, UK