Compost should be watered during dry periods so that it remains active.
Prune only to retain the shape. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs such as azaleas and rhododendrons.
Mid-August through September is a good time to transplant any shrubs that you've purchased with root balls wrapped in burlap. Make sure you get them in the ground two to three days after purchase. Do not fertilize until the second year, when the feeding roots have become established.
Lawns or bare spots reseeded with grass now will have a chance to get established before winter sets in. Water often and mulch with hay.
In colder regions, houseplants that have been outside for the summer should be brought in at the end of this month. A sudden cold spell will be too much of a shock for them to survive. This is also a good time to take cuttings.
You can still enjoy garden flowers indoors. Sow these annuals inside: sweet alyssum, dwarf marigold, browallia, ageratum, and nasturtium. Grow them in a moderately cool (60 degrees F), sunny window.
Plant fall-flowering bulbs now.
Two or three leaves should be left when cutting gladiolus, so that the bulbs can ripen.
This is the month for transplanting Oriental poppies.
Rock-garden pants should be checked to see if they need thinning. Overcrowded plants will not stay healthy or attractive.
Sow these perennials outdoors for next spring: aquilegia, Phlox paniculata, digitalis, centaurea, and primrose.
Hardy lily bulbs may be planted in the ground and left to overwinter outdoors.
Cut back the flower stalks of perennials that have finished blooming. Cut delphinium flower stalks to the ground, and a new, though smaller, flower stalk will develop. The flower will survive the coming cold days and even light frosts.
Lift, divide, and replant Japanese and Siberian irises soon after bloom. Transplant them to places where they will have "wet feet but dry knees."
If you notice a gap in your perennial bed between spring and fall blooms, visit a local nursery to see what's in bloom there and ask the experts for advice on what to plant.
The vegetable garden is likely to require daily harvesting now. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers should be picked as soon as the fruits are ready. This not only captures the best flavor, but it also makes way for new fruits.
Maximum flavor of herbs for drying is achieved by cutting them just before their flowers open.
Make sure that potatoes are not escaping into the sunlight. Hill or mulch them if they are.
Trenches of new asparagus beds should receive their final filling in this month.
Remove dead pea vines, bolted lettuce, and other plants that have gone by and add them to the compost pile. If they show signs of disease, however, burn them.
Separate melons from the ground with a thin board to prevent decay or damage from wireworms.
Cut out raspberry and blackberry canes that have just finished fruiting.
Most perennials outgrow their containers and require repotting every two or three years.
Check out all the great info the Old Farmers Almanac has to offer.
http://www.almanac.com/
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Garden not looking its best? Yvonne Cunnington
Almost every flower border needs a mid-summer garden tune-up. By mid-season, chances are strong that the twin scourges of heat and drought have battered your plants.
If your annuals and perennials look exhausted with few flowers, lots of deadheads, and tattered and scorched leaves, don't just give up.
Treat your flower beds to a thorough weeding, cut back plants that don't look good, deadhead finished flowers, and fill gaps with fresh new plants, or pop a container into that bare spot. Also be sure to give thirsty plants a good thorough watering. With luck, your garden will look refreshed when relief appears with cooler fall temperatures and renewed rainfall.
Some annuals, impatiens and newer petunia varieties like the Wave and Fantasy series don't need deadheading and bloom until frost, but if they're leggy with fewer flowers, cut them back to half their height.
Perennials: For their mid-summer garden tune-up, shear back early perennials by half their height. Some, such as Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla spp), have fresh leaves under old ones.
Cutting back spent flower stems and browned leaves promotes also lush new foliage in rock cress (Arabis and Aubrieta), cushion spurge (Euphorbia polychroma) perennial candytuft (Iberis), creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), catmint (Nepeta), cranesbills (hardy geraniums).
A great resource for your mid-summer garden tune-up
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques, by Tracy Disabato-Aust (Timber Press, 2006) is an indispensable guide to caring for perennial flower gardens.
Packed with maintenance tips and lists of perennials by growing conditions, need for regular division or not, re-blooming or not, and much more. Highly recommended!
For later perennials, deadhead when the seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the flower spike is about 70 percent finished with flowering. This encourages repeat flowering with some plants, but the second flush won't be as prolific.
Repeat bloomers include baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata), campanula, coreopsis, delphinium, foxglove, purple coneflowers (Echinacea cultivars), perennial sage (Salvia cultivars), veronica, summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and, of course, repeat flowering roses.
Diseased-looking or dead-looking plants: To cope with excess heat and drought, some perennials jettison their foliage; the leaves may be dried out but the roots are alive and ready for next season's growth.
The same applies to eaten by pests, such as hosta foliage decimated by slugs. To test if your plant is alive give it a gentle tug; if the roots hold fast, it should be fine.
The plants most likely to succumb to dryness are new plants that didn't have enough moisture to grow a wide ranging root system.
As for plants with diseases, for example, older varieties of phlox that get mildew on leaves, cut them back (don't compost, put in garbage); for next season, consider replacing them with disease-resistant varieties and slug-resistant hosta cultivars.
If your annuals and perennials look exhausted with few flowers, lots of deadheads, and tattered and scorched leaves, don't just give up.
Treat your flower beds to a thorough weeding, cut back plants that don't look good, deadhead finished flowers, and fill gaps with fresh new plants, or pop a container into that bare spot. Also be sure to give thirsty plants a good thorough watering. With luck, your garden will look refreshed when relief appears with cooler fall temperatures and renewed rainfall.
More summer garden tune-up tips
Annuals: True annuals flower, produce seeds and die, so a mid-summer garden tune-up that includes deadheading helps prolong bloom. This, plus regular water and fertilizer, keeps cosmos, geraniums, marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias flowering longer.
Annuals: True annuals flower, produce seeds and die, so a mid-summer garden tune-up that includes deadheading helps prolong bloom. This, plus regular water and fertilizer, keeps cosmos, geraniums, marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias flowering longer.
Some annuals, impatiens and newer petunia varieties like the Wave and Fantasy series don't need deadheading and bloom until frost, but if they're leggy with fewer flowers, cut them back to half their height.
Perennials: For their mid-summer garden tune-up, shear back early perennials by half their height. Some, such as Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla spp), have fresh leaves under old ones.
Cutting back spent flower stems and browned leaves promotes also lush new foliage in rock cress (Arabis and Aubrieta), cushion spurge (Euphorbia polychroma) perennial candytuft (Iberis), creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), catmint (Nepeta), cranesbills (hardy geraniums).
A great resource for your mid-summer garden tune-up
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques, by Tracy Disabato-Aust (Timber Press, 2006) is an indispensable guide to caring for perennial flower gardens.
Packed with maintenance tips and lists of perennials by growing conditions, need for regular division or not, re-blooming or not, and much more. Highly recommended!
For later perennials, deadhead when the seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the flower spike is about 70 percent finished with flowering. This encourages repeat flowering with some plants, but the second flush won't be as prolific.
Repeat bloomers include baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata), campanula, coreopsis, delphinium, foxglove, purple coneflowers (Echinacea cultivars), perennial sage (Salvia cultivars), veronica, summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and, of course, repeat flowering roses.
Diseased-looking or dead-looking plants: To cope with excess heat and drought, some perennials jettison their foliage; the leaves may be dried out but the roots are alive and ready for next season's growth.
The same applies to eaten by pests, such as hosta foliage decimated by slugs. To test if your plant is alive give it a gentle tug; if the roots hold fast, it should be fine.
The plants most likely to succumb to dryness are new plants that didn't have enough moisture to grow a wide ranging root system.
As for plants with diseases, for example, older varieties of phlox that get mildew on leaves, cut them back (don't compost, put in garbage); for next season, consider replacing them with disease-resistant varieties and slug-resistant hosta cultivars.
Check out Yvonne Cunnington's site for great gardening tips.
Also Yvonne's book is a must have.. http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/index.html
Thursday, July 17, 2008
How To Care For Your Lawn: Debunking Lawn Care Myths
Three Lawn Care Myths
Myths are abundant when it comes to caring for the American lawn. In this article, I'll address just a few in hope of setting the record straight.
Myth One: Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are necessary in order to get golf green grass.
In truth, using chemicals is not only unhealthy for us, our children, our pets and the environment, but it does nothing to build up the health of the lawn. Because these fertilizers act quickly, they can make an unhealthy lawn look better faster. Meanwhile, these chemicals can chase away earthworms, kill off the soil microbes involved in decomposition and soil formation, and cause tremendous top growth of the grass blades without allowing the roots to grow at the same pace.
For expanded organic thought, take a look at Chemical-Free Lawn: The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass by Warren Schultz. It can help you figure out easy ways to keep your lawn green and chemical free.
Myth Two: The foundation of a healthy lawn is the consistent use of fertilizers and weed controls.
Not true. The foundation of a healthy lawn is healthy soil! What makes a soil healthy is its texture, structure and what's called soil life. A healthy soil will allow water, air, nutrients and roots to move through it with ease. It's filled with good stuff like microorganisms, worms and other beneficial life forms. Without sponge-like soil (that can soak up water and drain with ease) as your foundation, you will find yourself treating the symptoms (with weed controls and over-fertilizing), rather than getting to the "root" of the problem.
A great book to read to gather tips on soil is The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers by Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny. What's great about this book is they give important information about how to get your soil in top shape without bogging you down with overly-scientific information.
Myth Three: Watering lawns every day is critical (especially in the sweltering heat of summer) to keep it looking green.
If you have a sandy soil (test it with a soil pH meter to find out), you may have to water twice as much. Not only is it a waste to water on a daily basis, but it's also unhealthy for the grass. If the grass stays wet for too long, it becomes more susceptible to diseases and insects! Also: Use common sense and conserve water.
Note: I'd like to pay special thanks to Stuart Franklin, the author of "Building A Healthy Lawn." This book has been helpful to me over the years in understanding good lawn-care practices.
Myths are abundant when it comes to caring for the American lawn. In this article, I'll address just a few in hope of setting the record straight.
Myth One: Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are necessary in order to get golf green grass.
In truth, using chemicals is not only unhealthy for us, our children, our pets and the environment, but it does nothing to build up the health of the lawn. Because these fertilizers act quickly, they can make an unhealthy lawn look better faster. Meanwhile, these chemicals can chase away earthworms, kill off the soil microbes involved in decomposition and soil formation, and cause tremendous top growth of the grass blades without allowing the roots to grow at the same pace.
For expanded organic thought, take a look at Chemical-Free Lawn: The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass by Warren Schultz. It can help you figure out easy ways to keep your lawn green and chemical free.
Myth Two: The foundation of a healthy lawn is the consistent use of fertilizers and weed controls.
Not true. The foundation of a healthy lawn is healthy soil! What makes a soil healthy is its texture, structure and what's called soil life. A healthy soil will allow water, air, nutrients and roots to move through it with ease. It's filled with good stuff like microorganisms, worms and other beneficial life forms. Without sponge-like soil (that can soak up water and drain with ease) as your foundation, you will find yourself treating the symptoms (with weed controls and over-fertilizing), rather than getting to the "root" of the problem.
A great book to read to gather tips on soil is The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers by Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny. What's great about this book is they give important information about how to get your soil in top shape without bogging you down with overly-scientific information.
Myth Three: Watering lawns every day is critical (especially in the sweltering heat of summer) to keep it looking green.
If you have a sandy soil (test it with a soil pH meter to find out), you may have to water twice as much. Not only is it a waste to water on a daily basis, but it's also unhealthy for the grass. If the grass stays wet for too long, it becomes more susceptible to diseases and insects! Also: Use common sense and conserve water.
Note: I'd like to pay special thanks to Stuart Franklin, the author of "Building A Healthy Lawn." This book has been helpful to me over the years in understanding good lawn-care practices.
Friday, July 11, 2008
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Monday, June 30, 2008
Build a Backyard Parterre
Its hard to think of anything more formal than the symmetrical knot garden, with its crisp miniature hedges of contrasting colors artfully laid out and carefully clipped to resemble the interwoven threads of ancient Celtic knot work. Knot gardens have been a part of traditional garden design for hundreds of years, yet they are rarely seen these days.
To keep the textured, woven effect that is the defining feature of these gardens, the miniature hedges must be clipped and manicured on an almost daily basis. Few of us have time for such obsessive forms of horticulture. For this reason alone, they have fallen from favor and have now largely been replaced by the less labor-intensive yet equally decorative plantings known as parterres.
Parterres are basically knots without the woven effect, and their strong lines and four-season appeal have much to offer the modern gardener. Here we give you an adaptation of the classical knot garden, a pared-down, simplified parterre based on a mid-17th-century English design that you can easily install and maintain, and that will coexist comfortably with looser, less formal plantings.
Traditional knot gardens typically used miniature hedges of contrasting colors, true English dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa'), santolina, and germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) among the most common choices, and purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and golden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold') offering some newer variations. However, in climates where harsh winters are the norm, dwarf boxwood is not reliably hardy, and miniature hedges of santolina and teucrium will not hold up under the weight of snow.
For our adaptation, therefore, we have chosen to construct the entire knot out of the reliably hardy boxwood, Buxus microphylla 'Winter Gem'. (If 'Winter Gem' is not available, B. x 'Green Gem' or B. sinica var. insularis 'Wintergreen' would be equally good. Or you could use the dwarf Japanese yew Taxus cuspidata 'Nana', although it won't have the liveliness and density of boxwood. In addition to their hardiness, both yew and boxwood are equally happy in sun or shade.
The Best Site Parterres are at their best when viewed from above, even if only slightly from above, so try and locate the planting where you will be able to look down on it. In choosing a site for your knot garden, look for a level spot not too far from the house, somewhere that will be visible year-round from indoors, not just from out on your deck during the summer; knot gardens are beautiful in winter, too.
The evergreen outline of the knot garden we present here makes a perfect frame for massed plantings of annuals, perennials, and even herbs and vegetables (see Editor's Note), so if possible, choose a site that gets plenty of sun. If your property tends toward being shady, you can use the knot as a frame for shade-loving plants: Hostas, astilbes, and impatiens look wonderful grouped within the knot's evergreen framework. Finally, in looking for the ideal site, take into account the possibility that you may later want to extend your planting. Formality has an uncanny habit of growing on you: Once you see how captivating a knot garden can be and what visual enjoyment it provides throughout the seasons, you may find yourself yearning to create another.
Getting Started Our knot garden is a 21x21-foot square (see diagram). The central circle is six feet in diameter, the paths that separate the beds are three feet wide, and the total linear footage of evergreen edging (boxwood or yew) is 165 feet. (We have built a little leeway into this figure; no two plants are the same.)
You have a choice of exactly how many plants to buy. If you buy large specimens and plant them just touching one another, you will instantly achieve the illusion of an established planting, but large plants are much more expensive. By increasing the spacing between plants, you can cut down on the number of plants you will need. You can also cut down on cost by buying young, small specimens (sometimes called slips) and spacing them farther apart. If you do it this way, your miniature hedges will take a few years to knit together, but you will still achieve the "patterned" look right from the start.
To calculate the number of plants you will need, first divide the total linear footage of the knot outline (165 feet) by the average size of the plants you are buying. Then, by adjusting the distance between plants, you can come up with a final number for how many plants to buy. For example, if you are buying 'Winter Green' boxwood with 18-inch-diameter crowns, and planting them crown to crown, you will need to buy 110 plants. If this exceeds your budget, you can cut down on the number of plants needed by adjusting the spacing between them. For example, by spacing the plants one foot apart instead of crown to crown, you will need only 66 plants.
If this still exceeds your budget, you can plant your knot garden in stages, doing just the central circle this year and adding the satellite beds next year. Alternatively, you can lay the whole knot garden out per our plan, but edge with boxwood only those beds your budget will allow, and edge the other beds for this first season with a perennial such as 'Silver Mound' artemisia, or even with massed annuals such as alyssum. In other words, you can do as much or as little as your budget will allow and still have a beautiful, eye-catching knot garden in the first season.
Laying Out the Design Locate the center of the 21-foot-square area and drive in a wooden peg. Attach a three-foot-long string to this central peg and use it to mark out a circle six feet in diameter. (Tip: Once you have described this circle, use orange surveyor's spray paint to keep it visible.) The circle will be your reference point for laying out the remainder of the knot, so the more visible it is, the better.
The easiest way to lay out the four satellite beds is to cut a template from an inexpensive blue tarpaulin to the measurements given (see diagram). Lay the template on the ground and use wooden pegs or spray paint to mark the outline. All the paths that intersect within the knot are three feet wide. Have a piece of wood at hand, marked off at three feet, so that you can check quickly and easily as you go that your paths are of uniform width.
You will need to remove all grass from the central circular bed and the satellite beds once they are laid out. Renting a sod-stripper for the day will help with this otherwise laborious job, and the cost is minimal.
Planting The easiest way to plant hedges, whether miniature or otherwise, is to dig a planting trench, placing the excavated dirt onto a tarpaulin as you go. This gives you the chance to shuffle plants around as needed and also allows you to amend the soil uniformly, if necessary. Boxwood has a fibrous root system, and this makes it relatively easy to transplant into the trench. Water the shrubs well before backfilling your trench.
Plant the central circle first; it will be your reference point for the four satellite beds. Then plant one bed at a time, remembering that the intersecting paths are all three feet wide.
Finishing Touches The overall design calls for something with a little height to be placed in the central bed-a standard rose; a small, carefully pruned tree; a birdbath-even a dense planting of ornamental grass. The delicately variegated Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' is especially attractive against the cool-green boxwood. Plant annuals or perennials in the satellite beds.
Give the newly planted hedges a gentle, conservative clipping just to establish uniform height. (An early summer clipping is usually sufficient to keep the garden looking good, but you may want to give the hedges a light haircut at the end of summer as well.) Then mulch carefully around the base of the hedge, using a good layer of dark, finely milled mulch. Finally, edge the grass crisply all around your new knot garden.
What Will It Cost? The total expense depends on whether you go with young, small plants widely spaced or more-mature ones planted so they touch one another. Remember that you can also build the parterre in stages. Boxwood is more expensive than yew but is much better suited to parterres. Small 15- to 18-inch plants cost around $40 each; large 18- to 24-inch specimens are around $50 to $55 each. Most nurseries will give a "landscaper discount" of 25 percent to 30 percent for a quantity purchase. (Yew plants tend to be much larger than boxwood, so you'll need fewer of them; they are about the same price as the large boxwood.) The total cost would be around $4,000 retail if you buy the biggest plants (deduct up to 30 percent of this for a wholesale discount and you may be lucky enough to spend only $2,800). If you buy smaller plants and space them conservatively, you could spend as little as $3,000 retail (or $2,000 wholesale).
If you are buying large, field-dug boxwood plants, they will probably arrive balled and burlapped-and they're heavy. Be prepared: Rent a handcart at your local rental center. The cost is minimal, and it will make the job of moving the plants infinitely easier.
To keep the textured, woven effect that is the defining feature of these gardens, the miniature hedges must be clipped and manicured on an almost daily basis. Few of us have time for such obsessive forms of horticulture. For this reason alone, they have fallen from favor and have now largely been replaced by the less labor-intensive yet equally decorative plantings known as parterres.
Parterres are basically knots without the woven effect, and their strong lines and four-season appeal have much to offer the modern gardener. Here we give you an adaptation of the classical knot garden, a pared-down, simplified parterre based on a mid-17th-century English design that you can easily install and maintain, and that will coexist comfortably with looser, less formal plantings.
Traditional knot gardens typically used miniature hedges of contrasting colors, true English dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa'), santolina, and germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) among the most common choices, and purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and golden arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold') offering some newer variations. However, in climates where harsh winters are the norm, dwarf boxwood is not reliably hardy, and miniature hedges of santolina and teucrium will not hold up under the weight of snow.
For our adaptation, therefore, we have chosen to construct the entire knot out of the reliably hardy boxwood, Buxus microphylla 'Winter Gem'. (If 'Winter Gem' is not available, B. x 'Green Gem' or B. sinica var. insularis 'Wintergreen' would be equally good. Or you could use the dwarf Japanese yew Taxus cuspidata 'Nana', although it won't have the liveliness and density of boxwood. In addition to their hardiness, both yew and boxwood are equally happy in sun or shade.
The Best Site Parterres are at their best when viewed from above, even if only slightly from above, so try and locate the planting where you will be able to look down on it. In choosing a site for your knot garden, look for a level spot not too far from the house, somewhere that will be visible year-round from indoors, not just from out on your deck during the summer; knot gardens are beautiful in winter, too.
The evergreen outline of the knot garden we present here makes a perfect frame for massed plantings of annuals, perennials, and even herbs and vegetables (see Editor's Note), so if possible, choose a site that gets plenty of sun. If your property tends toward being shady, you can use the knot as a frame for shade-loving plants: Hostas, astilbes, and impatiens look wonderful grouped within the knot's evergreen framework. Finally, in looking for the ideal site, take into account the possibility that you may later want to extend your planting. Formality has an uncanny habit of growing on you: Once you see how captivating a knot garden can be and what visual enjoyment it provides throughout the seasons, you may find yourself yearning to create another.
Getting Started Our knot garden is a 21x21-foot square (see diagram). The central circle is six feet in diameter, the paths that separate the beds are three feet wide, and the total linear footage of evergreen edging (boxwood or yew) is 165 feet. (We have built a little leeway into this figure; no two plants are the same.)
You have a choice of exactly how many plants to buy. If you buy large specimens and plant them just touching one another, you will instantly achieve the illusion of an established planting, but large plants are much more expensive. By increasing the spacing between plants, you can cut down on the number of plants you will need. You can also cut down on cost by buying young, small specimens (sometimes called slips) and spacing them farther apart. If you do it this way, your miniature hedges will take a few years to knit together, but you will still achieve the "patterned" look right from the start.
To calculate the number of plants you will need, first divide the total linear footage of the knot outline (165 feet) by the average size of the plants you are buying. Then, by adjusting the distance between plants, you can come up with a final number for how many plants to buy. For example, if you are buying 'Winter Green' boxwood with 18-inch-diameter crowns, and planting them crown to crown, you will need to buy 110 plants. If this exceeds your budget, you can cut down on the number of plants needed by adjusting the spacing between them. For example, by spacing the plants one foot apart instead of crown to crown, you will need only 66 plants.
If this still exceeds your budget, you can plant your knot garden in stages, doing just the central circle this year and adding the satellite beds next year. Alternatively, you can lay the whole knot garden out per our plan, but edge with boxwood only those beds your budget will allow, and edge the other beds for this first season with a perennial such as 'Silver Mound' artemisia, or even with massed annuals such as alyssum. In other words, you can do as much or as little as your budget will allow and still have a beautiful, eye-catching knot garden in the first season.
Laying Out the Design Locate the center of the 21-foot-square area and drive in a wooden peg. Attach a three-foot-long string to this central peg and use it to mark out a circle six feet in diameter. (Tip: Once you have described this circle, use orange surveyor's spray paint to keep it visible.) The circle will be your reference point for laying out the remainder of the knot, so the more visible it is, the better.
The easiest way to lay out the four satellite beds is to cut a template from an inexpensive blue tarpaulin to the measurements given (see diagram). Lay the template on the ground and use wooden pegs or spray paint to mark the outline. All the paths that intersect within the knot are three feet wide. Have a piece of wood at hand, marked off at three feet, so that you can check quickly and easily as you go that your paths are of uniform width.
You will need to remove all grass from the central circular bed and the satellite beds once they are laid out. Renting a sod-stripper for the day will help with this otherwise laborious job, and the cost is minimal.
Planting The easiest way to plant hedges, whether miniature or otherwise, is to dig a planting trench, placing the excavated dirt onto a tarpaulin as you go. This gives you the chance to shuffle plants around as needed and also allows you to amend the soil uniformly, if necessary. Boxwood has a fibrous root system, and this makes it relatively easy to transplant into the trench. Water the shrubs well before backfilling your trench.
Plant the central circle first; it will be your reference point for the four satellite beds. Then plant one bed at a time, remembering that the intersecting paths are all three feet wide.
Finishing Touches The overall design calls for something with a little height to be placed in the central bed-a standard rose; a small, carefully pruned tree; a birdbath-even a dense planting of ornamental grass. The delicately variegated Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' is especially attractive against the cool-green boxwood. Plant annuals or perennials in the satellite beds.
Give the newly planted hedges a gentle, conservative clipping just to establish uniform height. (An early summer clipping is usually sufficient to keep the garden looking good, but you may want to give the hedges a light haircut at the end of summer as well.) Then mulch carefully around the base of the hedge, using a good layer of dark, finely milled mulch. Finally, edge the grass crisply all around your new knot garden.
What Will It Cost? The total expense depends on whether you go with young, small plants widely spaced or more-mature ones planted so they touch one another. Remember that you can also build the parterre in stages. Boxwood is more expensive than yew but is much better suited to parterres. Small 15- to 18-inch plants cost around $40 each; large 18- to 24-inch specimens are around $50 to $55 each. Most nurseries will give a "landscaper discount" of 25 percent to 30 percent for a quantity purchase. (Yew plants tend to be much larger than boxwood, so you'll need fewer of them; they are about the same price as the large boxwood.) The total cost would be around $4,000 retail if you buy the biggest plants (deduct up to 30 percent of this for a wholesale discount and you may be lucky enough to spend only $2,800). If you buy smaller plants and space them conservatively, you could spend as little as $3,000 retail (or $2,000 wholesale).
If you are buying large, field-dug boxwood plants, they will probably arrive balled and burlapped-and they're heavy. Be prepared: Rent a handcart at your local rental center. The cost is minimal, and it will make the job of moving the plants infinitely easier.
Louise Kehoe is a writer and garden designer who lives in Acworth, New Hampshire.
Editor's Note: We're seeing a trend toward more designed and planned gardens, and this parterre is one example. If you don't wish to tackle such an ambitious or costly project but find yourself drawn to this classic design, we suggest you read The Art of the Kitchen Garden, by Jan and Michael Gertley (The Taunton Press, 1999; 203-426-8171; www.taunton.com). It is filled with ideas for using annuals and garden vegetables in designs that mimic the form of the parterre.
by Louise Kehoe Illustration by Margo Letourneau
Create a Knot Garden using Landscape Vision www.landscapeyourvisions.com
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