In 1991we created the only formal area of our garden. We used the miniature box, buxus suffructosa.
1995
2001
2004
2008
2010
June 2014
September 2014. The box hedges in the knot garden have box blight. This is not curable – at least there are no chemical cures available for domestic use.
While this is sad, one of the blissful things about gardening is that the end of one project is always a the beginning of a new one.
What shall I plant now?
Green Writing Room 
There’s a beautiful foundation to work with. What about herbs?
It would be convenient and I keep herbs in the pots at the front of the knot garden, but herbs tend to get very messy, so I am in two minds about them (and many other things).
Can one make a decorative herb garden? Amazing pictures…you’re definitely have a “green thumb.”
It’s a great idea and tempting as it is close to the kitchen, but herbs are not pretty most of the year. They are often rampant, sort of useful weeds and best severely contained, but maybe I could experiment along those lines for a year and see what it all looks like.
🙂
It did look beautiful. My sister-in-law, who is absolutely in love with English gardens, built a similar garden in her yard, complete with a white picket fence. –Curt
Thanks, you can get away with a very loose style of gardening if you have just a little bit of tidy evergreen and mowed lawns in the garden.
Last time I was in England I visited Chatsworth. The English do have a way with their gardens. 🙂
I’m aiming for something that would fit onto the doorstep at Chatsworth.
Sad about this.
Did you plant it under the influence of Michael Tippettt?
Umm? I think you’re going to have to explain, so no… Just looked it up. We saw New Year at Glyndebourne some time ago, but never seen the Knot Garden.
The only one I have seen is Midsummer Marriage, where I felt a bit like Bruckner asking Wagner why that woman was burning. Liked the music, though.
Yes, we enjoyed New Year, and I have very fond memories of a performance of A Child of Our Time. (Birtwhistle was a teacher at my last school, so i got exposed to modern classical music quite young).
Oh Hilary – how BEAUTIFUL it was ! How much did your hearts break, I wonder …? Because although I know what you mean about the new beginnings, that was really something !
As for now … http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/9994641/Why-box-blight-isnt-the-end-of-your-hedge.html
Another go …?
I’m only a little sad and once the decision had been made, I was happy to think of change. The article really referred to big box schemes and our little plants would have been been worth that amount of effort. Also there is the little matter of chemicals ‘not available to the general public’. Watch this space, something will emerge.
It’ll need to be really hardy, eh ?
Indeed, it is a frost pocket! Sometimes the young growth on the box was hit in spring.
We have a few boxes here and there but never heard of blight regarding boxes. I must look it up. Perhaps a different box is the answer? There are supposed to be many varieties. Despite all our intentions with bulbs, we had just two daffodils and two tulips flowering this year. I really liked the greenness of the boxes before the blight took hold.
Did a double take here, Gerald, thought you were kidding me about boxes/containers, not so sure now. Yes there are some resistant varieties, but I think it would be wiser, and more fun, to try something new.
The tone of your post does sound like you’re actually quite excited to plant something new there. I’m not really a gardener, so I’m not sure what to suggest. But having seen all these pictures of your lovely garden I have no doubt you’ll come up with something, that will look wonderful.
Claire
Thanks, yes, after an initial down period, I became excited by new possibilities. It may have a year of not quite right experiments, but hopefully something will emerge.
The photo of it fully grown in 2010 was super. Do you like lavender?
Aha, yes, I have a very sweet dwarf lavender, but it would be too expensive to buy enough plants for the box garden, so I am thinking of some temporary solutions while I try and grow lots of cuttings from my one plant… Bee paradise, if I can do it.
I didn’t think about the cost my Mum used to have them in pots in a row. So nice someone took them all one night.
That’s so mean, to take someone’s plants, your poor mum. I’ve got lots of lavender in the garden, and some of it was not too expensive, but this particularly tidy little plant was an extravagance.
When one door closes another opens. I’m sure you will find something wonderful to plant.Planning is part of the fun of any destination.
You are absolutely right, I love planning new garden spaces.
It is always exciting to start new projects. I wish I could give you a useful advice, but you know how terribly black my both thumbs are. Wish you the best of luck, Hilary. I love the aspect of your garden from 2010. What a beauty it was, and my compliments on the pictures 🙂
It was funny to discover how much it had changed over the years. I shall miss it’s seasonal shifts, but I agree, new projects are fun.
What a wonderful pictorial and history. You have so much fortitude to design, plant and care for your garden! I do, too. I plant…and before too long, I’ve killed it. 🙂
Ah, but that’s the wonderful thing about a garden, things bloom, die, regenerate and give pleasure and no one gets hurt along the way (except for the odd thorn or two).
If you still want a knot garden then try ilex crenata instead of box. Octave made by Scott chemical does work on box blight but it is expensive. You have to register over the phone to buy it. But haven’t bought it for 4 years as the tub is huge!!!
Thanks, that looks like a very good idea. I shall probably play with it as an open bed for a year or so, but I like the look of the ilex.