DIY Network

The Inner Square The Inner Square From "Weekend Gardening" episode WKG-311

Everything is in place and ready to be planted.

The first five hours of this project have been spent designing and laying out the framework for the knot garden, and now it's time to start filling in all the spaces with a variety of herbs. The herbs chosen for this garden will look and smell great, and they're also very long-lived perennials. First Maureen spots all the plants, or sets them in place still in their pots. After everything has been spotted, she and her assistants can begin digging.

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• Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis) (figure A) is a perennial shrubby herb that will live for decades -- once it's in the ground, you'll never have to replant it. This upright form of rosemary will form the hedge outside the knot garden and will provide intermediate height.

• The vertical center of the knot is a noble bay tree (Laurus nobilis) (figure B). This herb was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans and is the bay that is used in cooking.

Expert tip: (Nicholas Staddon, Monrovia Growers) A bay tree is the perfect centerpiece for a knot garden. Not only do you have a wonderful formal evergreen shrub in the garden so it's something to look at all year round -- you can bring the leaves indoors and use them in the kitchen. When you're making spaghetti or paté -- there are numerous reasons to use a bay tree!

• Two lavender varieties, lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) and green lavender cotton (Santolina virens) (figure C, right and left, respectively) are of similar stature but vastly different colors. Since the key to knot gardens is to use highly contrasting plants against one another to emphasize the geometry you've created, these two work beautifully together in such a setting.

  Figure A

  Figure B

  Figure C

  
  

• East Friesland meadow sage (Salvia nemerosa 'East Friesland') (figure D) was a popular perennial but became too tall for this application. A new variety is perfect for knot gardens, however: it stays very low, produces perfectly sized little flower spikes and is very fragrant. This herbaceous perennial prefers good drainage and drier soils.

• For the front section of the knot, high contrast is essential. Here it's provided by prostrate rosemary (Rosemarius officinalis 'prostratus') (figure E). The green of this dense plant will provide a beautiful foil to the dusty color of the lavender behind it.

• In the corner that fronts the green lavender plantings, Maureen plants a gray-toned Otto Quast Spanish lavender (Lavendula stoechas 'Otto Quast') (figure F).

  Figure D

  Figure E

  Figure F

  
  

• Dwarf myrtle (Myrtus communis 'compacta') (figure G), which goes in behind the purple sage, is very fragrant when cut. Frequent cutting is important to keep the plants in good form -- and to provide plenty of material to bring into the house for culinary and other uses.

Expert tip: (Joan McGuire, garden curator) One nice thing about having your own herb garden is that you can dry the herbs for future use. The best time to do this is in the early morning, when the dew has already dried. Just gather the herbs by the stems and tie them up in a rubber band. That way, when they dry, they won't fall out, because the stems do get smaller.

• The final choice for the outer sections is variegated licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare 'Licorice Splash') (figure H), a very drought-tolerant species.

Figure G

Figure H

Planting Strategy

Maureen's planting strategy for the knot garden is fairly simple: The soil should be dug out enough that the top of the lumber is visible about 1" above the soil level of each plant (figure I). The bay tree goes in the center, planted deeper than the other plants because it has a larger and deeper rootball. Many of the plants will be placed rootball to rootball; any gaps will be filled in with good-quality topsoil (figure J) (since the garden soil doesn't necessarily have to be placed back in the area, this technique works well in yards with less-than-ideal soil -- even potting soil can be mixed in with the topsoil to provide better drainage).

Figure I

Figure J

Time spent: 9 hours.

RESOURCES :

Mulch
Whitney Farms
Website: www.whitneyfarms.com

Plants
Monrovia Horticultural Craftsmen
Website: www.monrovia.com

Simply Beautiful
Website: www.simplybeautifulgardens.com

Maureen Gilmer, Horticulturalist & Author
Website: www.moplants.com

Suggested books/design software:
Gaining Ground by Maureen Gilmer
The Budget Gardener by Maureen Gilmer
Maureen Gilmer's Garden Maker Software