The Knot Garden
Knot gardens appeared in England during Elizabeth I's reign—geometric patterns edged in boxwood, cotton lavender, and germander, designed to be viewed from upper windows. Only wealthy people had them. Only wealthy people had upper windows.
The pattern was the point: intricate, orderly, controlled. In Richard II, the gardener complains about trying to maintain a perfect garden while the whole kingdom falls apart:
Why should we in the compass of a pale
Keep law and form and due proportion...
When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up,
Her fruit-trees all upturned, her hedges ruined,
Her knots disordered?
The knot garden was a model of what the state should be—orderly, balanced, under control. When the knot gets disordered, something's gone wrong with the kingdom.
Our knot garden here uses boxwood for the outer border, thyme for the inner border, and lavender and winter savory for the knots themselves, and yew in the center.
Traditional Knot Garden designs would create outdoor rooms—spaces bounded by low hedges but open in the middle, perfect for private conversation because you could see people approaching before they could hear what you were saying.
But add an arbor, add some height to those hedges, and suddenly you have concealment. In Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick says "I will hide me in an arbor"—and the people talking nearby know it too. They're counting on it. They stage their conversation for him to overhear.
The knot garden promised order, but it also provided the perfect architecture for deception. Geometric patterns on top, hidden listeners underneath. That's very Shakespearean.
Special thanks to longtime CSF supporter and thespian Chuck Wilcox for voicing the part of The Bard in our video series. Full production credits available here. All photos copyright Colorado Shakespeare Group except those in the public domain, published under Creative Commons (CC) licensing. For more information on (CC) artwork in this video, click here.
Enjoy this slideshow of the plants we have in our Knot Garden:
