Elizabethan Knot Garden Design

The passage of time dictates changes not the least of which are altering styles and fashions.

Elizabethan knot garden design. Still elements of bygone gardens persist and contemporary herb gardens in particular owe. Snail mounts were. The central feature of the folger s elizabethan garden is a knot garden a popular design in shakespeare s time which contains thyme rosemary lavender and other herbs.

Knot garden designs were based on lace work the intricacies of which were slightly lost unless viewed from above. It cleverly mirrors the geometric design of the decorative plasterwork on the ceiling of the great chamber in the manor house. A knot garden is a garden of very formal design in a square frame consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander marjoram thyme southernwood lemon balm hyssop costmary acanthus mallow chamomile rosemary calendula viola and santolina most knot gardens now have edges made from box buxus sempervirens whose leaves have a sweet smell when bruised.

By jim and dotti becker april may 1995. Francis bacon said that there ought to be gardens for all months of the year meaning there should be something of interest to look upon even in the winter months when a garden can often look bare. Influences from renaissance italy began to infiltrate tudor gardens.

This can be seen in the greater regularity of design and the relationship between the garden and the façade of the house along with architectural features such as banqueting houses loggias and fountains. Hardison that serves as a garden ornament and a sundial. The elizabethan garden was in use throughout the year.

The framework created by the yews plays. Elizabethan gardens magistra rosemounde of mercia copyright micaela burnham 2002 a knot was the word most often used to describe garden beds of the 16th century in england. What better time to re create and elizabethan garden.

This was partly achieved by the intricate designs of the knots and the topiary. Elizabethan knot gardens were designed to mimic the beautiful embroidery designs which were associated with that period in british history. An elizabethan garden design concept related to the french parterre low hedgings of box or yew forming a particular pattern with gravel type spaces and pathways designed to be best appreciated viewed from the first floor reception rooms where the design becomes more apparent.