The Knot Garden

In a previous post, (The Garden Through the Year, December 8, 2007), the knot garden was introduced. It was one of the first and only elements of my garden put on paper before put in the ground. Everything was laid out with string, then outlined in old bricks. I wanted that English garden look, neat and orderly. It looks more like a riot than a tea party in this photo.

This is more the vision. But the four heaths, erica darleyensis ‘Mediterranean Pink’, planted in the loops of the center died the first year. They were replaced with calluna vulgaris ‘Sunrise’. That was the first of several planting adjustments.

Time marches on. The callunas turn a rosy pink in winter. All is well.

Next spring things are getting out of control. Violas are everywhere, seeding wildly. The dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Firewitch” is taking over. It gets a hard trim several times. Note the calluna turning yellow.

By fall the violas are gone but the black mondo grass, ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, seems too large. Salvia coccinea ‘Lady in Red’ has seeded around a bit.

Winter again. The calluna reddens. Thymus citriodorus ‘Doone Valley’ becomes variegated. The blue fescue, festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’, is looking suspiciously large as is the dianthus and mondo grass.

Next summer the dianthus is out, the mondo grasss is out, the fescue is out and gaillardia grandiflora ‘Goblin’ is in. I should have known that was a bad idea but there were these seedlings everywhere, free plants.

By the fall it became obvious the plantings needed rethinking. The gaillardia is way too large.

Early spring 2007 shows nice red calluna joined by lavender ‘Hidcote’, lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’, cuttings. Bamboo stakes are placed to keep the planting line straight and the squirrels from digging there.

In mid spring the grape hyacinths , muscari armeniacum, are blooming, the sedum spurium ‘Red Carpet’ is red and the calluna is changing from red to yellow. The baby lavenders look good.

Mid summer shows yellow calluna and those pesky violas are back.

I like it. Taken this week, the photo shows the lavender filling in. It may grow slowly enough to be kept the proper size. There go those callunas turning red again, but more to come later about that.
orderly,

Frances

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~ by fairegarden on December 26, 2007.