Knot Gardens

The gardens here at Auntie K’s are by no means formal. Everything has a casual feel without being completely disorderly. In fact, that was a comment one of the neighbors made the first year I started digging up lawn and replacing it with gardens. “It looks nice—not messy at all!” I don’t know what his conception of a garden was, but apparently unkempt figured prominently.

I’ve always had a fascination for knot gardens, the epitome of formal gardens, and I’ve had six pots of ornamental allium sitting around for a while, waiting for a home. So, I’ve been thinking that when I move things around a little more, I’ll have an empty section of boulevard that would be big enough for a small knot garden. (I’m going to need a few more pots of allium, but think I can swing that.) I’ll also need a companion plant, and I’m thinking cerastium.

Martha Stewart, the goddess of overachievers everywhere, planted a massive herb garden back in the late 1980s in 9 knots and wrote about it in her book “Martha Stewart’s Gardening.” The other day, I found a sticky note on the design page for that garden, and some notes about how to alter the plantings to fit the gardens at the St Paul house!

I don’t know if I’ll use any of the designs on this page, but the shape of the garden fits the boulevard space I have available. The internet is a great resource for designs, and there are books with pages and page of designs, so I won’t lack for ideas. The hard part will be choosing just the right one! If you have an idea for a knot garden pattern, send it my way!