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A basil knot garden

Flower & Garden Magazine, Feb-March, 1996 by Marty Ross

Traditional boxwood knot gardens can tax the patience of their creators, taking years to fill in properly. Not so a basil knot, for which the wait is measures in weeks, not year.

Garden Knots Of Any description are impressive; planting one with annual herbs is a playful experiment in colors, textures, forms, fragrance - and flavors. Creating your own herbal knot demands a certain amount of inspiration and a little painstaking work, but it's not difficult, and gratifying results appear quickly.

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Kansas City gardener Sue Nastali first planted her basil knot five years ago. Her space for gardening grew suddenly when a tree died; where the tree had stood, she designed a square bed, raised slightly, edged in brick and surrounded by a gravel path. A deck overlooks the enclosed space, and Nastali wanted a formal design that would be pleasing when viewed from above.

To experiment with knot patterns, Nastali decided to plant a temporary garden in globe basil. She chose the variety `Spicy Globe,' which grows as a fine-leafed, compact mound 6 inches tall and can be sheared to maintain its shape and density. The technique was such a success that Nastali abandoned the idea of a permanent boxwood planting in favor of an annual knot.

Nastali's basil knot, like all knot gardens, has its roots deep in history. Knots have been used as ornaments for thousands of years. The terms "knot" and "maze" were confused in very early garden literature, but by the 16th century, knot patterns featuring neatly clipped, intertwined edgings were published in garden books. In the 17th century, any square garden intersected by paths at right angles could be called a knot. The modern gardener has many distinguished traditional options.

Knot designs fit well in gardens of any style or period. A formal knot lends dynamic contrast to an otherwise informal garden. On the other hand, the curves of a knot provide delicate ornamental balance to the crisp, architectural angles in a formal garden. In any garden, placing a well-defined border around the knot helps set it apart.

Nastali based her design on a 16th-century embroidered knot on a purse carried by Queen Elizabeth - a pattern she first spotted in a museum in England. Many more ideas for knot patterns can be found in old gardening books and modern garden encyclopedias. The great British garden designer Rosemary Verey has described several historical knot patterns in her books Classic Garden Design and Good Planting Plans.

Verey's knot designs are intended to be permanent plantings, often combining green and golden boxwood for contrast, sometimes with santolina or germander as a third element. Verey is fascinated with the intertwining, basket-weave effect achieved by pruning curved rows of plants to appear as cords slipping over and under each other. In Nastali's basil knot, the pattern can be clipped to imply a weave or left unpruned. She likes the effect either way.

Before planting a knot, assess the site and soil. Herb experts recommend a location that receives at least six hours of full sun. Well-drained soil, improved with compost, is just as important. Herbs are very tough plants, but don't believe any suggestion that they prefer poor soil.

Once a site is chosen, set aside a generous area for the knot. Remember that the smaller the space, the simpler the design should be. Sketch out your ideas on paper, and when you feel comfortable with a design, make a scale drawing on graph paper. Then you can lay the design onto the soil with confidence.

Start planning early in the season. Nastali works well-composted manure into the soil in February. She plants in May, after the danger of frost is past and the soil begins to warm up.

A wide array of plants are welcome in an herb garden, so let your imagination, your taste, and your location be your guides. Instead of basil, the knot could be planted with parsley, or a combination of annual and perennial plants - germander with basil, for example, or basil with intersecting curves of torenias or violas. The knot can be planted to change with the seasons: you might try planting an early crop of radishes, followed by tiny marigolds. The design also could be planted in bulbs. Nastali experimented one year with several crocus varieties. The planting showed promise, but squirrels invaded before the result was in full flower.

For her design, Nastali uses 22 packages of basil seed. She sows the seed thickly to ensure a dense stand. Her knot is not inexpensive to plant - the seed cost more than $30 in 1995 - but the returns are very impressive. One year the harvest was enough to produce 100 quarts of pesto.

A quick-growing herbal knot allows you to experiment for a season with a historic formal garden device. The design may be adapted into a permanent feature planted in perennial herbs, annual flowers, boxwood or some imaginative combination. Whatever the final result, the first harvest of the herbal knot will be its own fragrant reward.

Sue Nastali creates her herbal knot garden in a raised bed measuring 7 feet by 7 feet. She prepares and smooths the soil several weeks before sowing seeds. Short stakes, a yardstick, twine and flour aid Nastali in drawing her design. She uses an inverted laundry basket to draw the circular shapes, although a trash can lid or any other round object of the right size would work.

A basil knot garden

Flower & Garden Magazine, Feb-March, 1996 by Marty Ross

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