Re: knot garden plants

Hi Nan,
The seventeenth century civil war garden at Basing House in Hampshire has a
magnificent knot garden with the "knotted bit" made out of icterina and
purple sage which is far more effective than the usual boring dwarf box. The
problem is that lager louts (a familiar English garden pest) try and walk
along the tops of the plants.Another suggestion for the knots is Helichrysum
italicum whose curry smell might appeal to the kids, other suggestions are
Hyssopus aristatus or one of the upright Teucriums. Then there is the
question of what to use to fill the spaces in between the knots. As these
plants will be shorter, they will have to cope with the light and water
grabbing propensities of the edging, but provided the outsides are kept
short and rigously maintained,  Oreganos, Thymes and Armeria immediately
come to mind......and various Artemisias eg A pontica.  When working with
knot designers, I try and encourage the idea that the gardens should smell
good as well as look good. In this context Dianthus is ideal because some
species and varieties are tall and fairly formal looking whilst others are
ground covering and most smell magnificent.
Best wishes


Anthony


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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nan Sterman" <Talkingpoints@PlantSoup.Com>
To: <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 4:48 AM
Subject: knot garden plants


> I am looking for suggestions for plants to use in a knot garden in a
> school garden.  So far, my list includes lavender (gray/green) and
> santolina (gray/green).  Does anyone have any other ideas - we don't
> want it to be more than a few feet tall but tough enough to withstand
> some bumping from the kids.
> -- 
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>
> Nan Sterman Plant Soup (TM)
> PO Box 231034
> Encinitas, CA 92023 760.634.2902 (voice)
> Talkingpoints@PlantSoup.Com 760.634.2957 (fax)
>
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