Lavender and Knot Gardens Great British Garden Revival

There's no doubt that Britain is a nation of very proud gardeners.

Our love of flowers and plants goes back centuries.

But there's a problem.

Not everything is rosy in our gardens.

Our iconic plants are under attack from foreign invaders.

Ancient woodlands are at risk of being lost forever.

And our favourite flowers are disappearing

right before our very eyes.

So we need you to help us in our revival campaign.

We'll be inspiring you to dig deep and celebrate the best of British...

..As we reveal the country's most stunning gardens...

..And sharing our top gardening tips.

It's time to rediscover our passion for plants...

..And breathe new life into our gardens.

There's one plant that has the power to calm, soothe and relax.

It will provide colour and fragrance right throughout the summer,

it's incredibly versatile and if you give it the conditions

that it loves it'll become your best garden buddy.

But this traditional British garden favourite

is in danger of being reduced to a handful of varieties

unless we rekindle our love for lavender.

On my revival campaign I discover the origins of one of our most iconic lavenders.

This is the daddy of them all?

This is it. This is the Hidcote lavender.

This is what people know Hidcote for.

-'I swap the garden for the kitchen.'

-Well, this is for lamb rump.

What we're going to do, we've taken some rosemary here...

-Hold on. Lavender and lamb?

-Lavender and lamb.

'And I show you how easy it can be to get a stunning lavender display in your garden.'

If it's happy where it's growing

you should easily get a good ten years out of a plant.

And that's not bad, is it?

This is the very beautiful Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire.

If you're a lavender fan already it will come as no surprise

that I've chosen to start my revival here.

Hidcote is the name given to perhaps the most famous of the English lavenders.

Lavandula angustifolia Hidcote.

This world famous Arts and Crafts style garden was the life's work

of garden designer and plants man Lawrence Johnston.

He first introduced lavender at the turn of the 20th century

and it's been grown here ever since.

I couldn't imagine planting up a garden and not using lavender

because it represents everything about gardening to me.

I once did a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show and I only used

lavender and box balls.

Because I think it's so wonderful. It's structural and yet floral.

It has wonderful scent and it brings wildlife into your garden.

There are over 400 varieties of lavender

with a range of form, scent and colour.

No, lavender isn't just purple.

But sadly today there is only a limited choice available at our garden centres.

We need to revive some of the wonderful lavender

varieties before they're lost from our gardens forever.

Historically lavender has been highly prized,

believed to have been brought to the UK by the Romans

who celebrated its healing qualities.

For the Tudors, lavender was the herb of cleanliness and calm

and the Victorians used lavender in perfumery and for scenting clothes.

From the 19th century till the Second World War,

the small market town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire

was one of the major lavender-growing regions in the country.

At its height of popularity in the 19th century,

100 acres were grown around the town.

But by the end of the Second World War,

landowners were turning to more prosperous crops

and succumbing to urban development

and the lavender-growing industry in the UK witnessed a decline.

'But in recent years, local farmers Alec and Zoe Hunter

'decided to start their very own Hitchin lavender revival.'

I feel all of a sudden I've travelled to France and I'm not in Hertfordshire.

It's amazing.

Why did you come along and decide to start growing it again commercially?

We were farming here anyway and my wife and I decided

that growing a bit of lavender, because of the historical connection to Hitchin,

would be such a nice thing to do.

So it was a simple as that but it built on historic foundations

-and, of course, perfect growing conditions?

-Exactly. Yes.

And when you saw it growing we just want to grow more and more.

And what is it that you've always loved about the plant?

The way it changes during the season.

It's lovely at the green stage and lovely when it's in full flower.

It's perfect.

Hitchin lavender is now a family affair with Alec's son Tim

returning to the farm in 2009 with his Argentinian wife

to take over the running of the lavender side of the business.

Now it's not just about growing lavender,

visitors can come and pick their own.

It's quite amazing that just outside of London, really,

-anybody can come along and pick a bag of lavender.

-That's right.

We want to encourage visitors when they come into the farm to be

picking as much lavender as they can get into a bag.

-Show me. What do I do?

-I'll give you a pair of scissors.

-Lovely.

It's a very short stem on this lavender. What would it be used for?

This particular variety is very good for gauze bags, organza bags.

So if you want to do lavender pillows.

And then your longer varieties over there would be for your bunches.

'The farm has over 15 acres of lavender

'and the rows add up to a staggering 17 miles.

And many different varieties of lavender.

When I first came back we probably only had four or five

and now we've got over 60 so, yeah, there's a lot to choose

and a lot to pick from and come and see.

And visitors here are enjoying it. How many visitors?

Nowadays we're looking at about 30,000 a season

and when I came back it was a couple of thousand so it's really grown.

It's really coming on in leaps and bounds so it fits in perfectly

with this idea of reviving lavender in our gardens and as an industry.

-So you support it?

-I'm all for it, obviously.

I mean, not only is it a wonderful flower, a beautiful scent,

so many different varieties,

it attracts the birds, bees, butterflies.

-It's amazing.

-So the future is in lavender.

-Absolutely.

This farm has demonstrated that there definitely is the interest

for people to come and enjoy this wonderful plant.

Let's hope they start growing lavender in their own gardens.

Hidcote Manor Garden is famous for its eponymous lavender

which has grown amongst a whole host of other colourful plants.

The garden is a series of distinct rooms

created during the Edwardian era.

Garden curator Andrew Hunt knows all about the garden's history

and famous connection to lavender.

Tell me about Lawrence Johnston,

the guy who created this garden very early in the 20th century.

Well, Lawrence, between 1907 and 1948,

he created Hidcote Garden that people can see today.

He had no formal training in horticulture

but he was very passionate and loved plants.

He would only select the best of the best varieties

and that's exactly what he did with this lavender.

He saw this growing in the south of France

and absolutely loved it and brought it back to this garden.

And this is the daddy of them all?

This is it. This is the Hidcote lavender.

This is what people know Hidcote for.

And how long has this been here?

We presume this plant has been here just over 25 years.

So it's not the original plant but it's one of that plant's children?

It is, yeah. It's the baby.

We estimate that Lawrence Johnston brought lavender into this garden

in the 1930s and we've taken cuttings from the original plant

and this is one of them.

Now, I'm on a revival to being back

so many of the 400 varieties that we don't grow so often any more.

I think that's a great idea.

I personally love lavender and the different varieties,

colours, growth forms you can get.

It's just so versatile it's unbelievable.

What's your favourite variety of lavender?

-It's got to be Hidcote.

-HE LAUGHS

'When selecting lavender for your own garden,

'there are choices to be made about size,

'shape and form, fragrance and colour.

'From purple through to pinks and even white.

'Depending on how you're going to use your lavender

'you'll also need to decide which type to go for.'

This is a French lavender and it wears a hat.

These petals fly up in the air like bunny ears.

I mean, it's grand.

It's not as hardy as the English type and it is a bit showy-offy.

And this, to me, is the perfect English garden lavender.

Absolutely beautiful.

Flowers for a month during the summer on elegant long stems

with nice silvery foliage.

'For real impact, plant a low growing hedge

'using several different coloured lavenders.'

One of the really great joys of the British garden is a gravel pathway

edged by a low lavender hedge.

I've dug out a nice little trench.

Now, it will rely on really good drainage

so I'm going to spread some of this grit just for extra drainage.

The species I'm starting off with, with this hedge, is angustifolia.

Lovely, feathery, silvery foliage.

Long spikes and look at those blooms.

Absolutely beautiful and quite simply tip...

Tip it out of the pot and lay it in the trench over that gravel.

I'm going to lay the second one in the trench

about 12 to 18 inches apart from the first.

They'll close up and will be fully mature within three to four years.

Now, to get some variety into the hedge I'm going to move onto

a slightly different variety.

This is Loddon Pink.

Lower growing and slightly lighter coloured flower.

Beautiful nonetheless. We'll place him here.

When you're planting lavender, and this one is a nice white one,

what you do is you plant slightly above ground level

so that no water lodges around the base of the plant.

Ideal growing conditions will be a nice, open, bright, sunny position

with a really well-drained soil but the sun is the most important thing.

'Even though lavender thrives in hot, dry conditions,

'like any new plant it will benefit from a drink

'to help it establish once freshly planted.'

I think that looks superb.

In a couple of years these lavender spikes

are going spread gently over this path.

They're going to soften this area

and they're going to be an absolute delight.

'For me, there's nothing better than a lavender hedge-lined path

'as you gently brush past the flowers and release the incredible scent.'

'Key to reviving lavender is highlighting the huge

'diversity of this beautiful family of plants.

'Thankfully, there are lavender enthusiasts out there

'who are just as passionate as me.'

I've read about one man in Kent who's on a lifetime quest

to either find or invent the ultimate lavender.

'Simon Charlesworth started growing lavender in his back garden

'23 years ago and he now has over 400 different types,

'holding a national collection in his walled garden

'near Tonbridge in Kent.'

What do people look for, for a good garden lavender?

Now, the first thing really is scent.

The second thing is a dark flower

and the third thing very often is a short lavender.

Now, the interesting thing is the dark flowering lavenders

very often don't carry the heavier scent so you need to go a bit paler.

'Simon wants people to appreciate the different colours, scents

'and sizes of lavender and how it can make an impact in modern gardens.'

This is a great variety. This is called Edelweiss.

It's been around since about the early 1800s.

It's beautiful. Very long stem. Branching on the stem.

Cracking scent.

The contrast between the white and the dark purple is amazing.

How long is the lavender season?

Well, you get a good four weeks on the short ones

and then just as they're going over you get the taller ones

coming into bloom so that pushes it to eight weeks.

And there are some Dutch lavender

and they'll flower right through to the frost.

So if you plant properly for succession,

you could have enough all summer long.

That's right. Probably 12, 15 weeks.

'French and English lavenders flower first with the hybrid

'intermedias starting and finishing later.

'Mixing varieties not only gives a longer flowering period

'but also creates a striking visual effect.'

This is a really sweet drift.

I presume a mixture of different types of lavender.

A little pink one called Little Lottie just weaving through this bed

and you've got St John here, which is just a wonderful pale pink,

very tall lavender.

And we've spotted them with the taller intermedia types with the heavier scent.

-So it's a real tapestry, isn't it?

-It is. It's wonderful.

'As well as safeguarding this national collection,

'Simon's other mission is to create the ultimate lavender.'

So this is the latest lavender we've produced.

It's called Heavenly Night.

What we've done is we've taken a small bit of material to the lab

and we've treated it in some solution for a given length of time.

It will give them the strength

and it just changes the structure of the plant.

Much shorter stature than its parent with these thick, rigid stems.

And that's all to please market forces?

It is. For late flowering, well-scented,

dark-flowered lavender for July into August.

As part of my lavender revival campaign

you'd like to see a whole load of new varieties, different varieties,

different sizes on offer in garden centres around the country?

Yeah, I think it would really important to put a modern spin

on an old garden favourite.

Rarely have I visited a garden that was so interesting

and it just goes to show that with a little bit of creative planting,

this garden classic can feel fresh and contemporary.

Lavender's Mediterranean roots are very nicely reflected here

at Hidcote Manor Garden around the lily pond

with the lollypop bay trees and the spiked agaves

perching on the side of the water.

However, some of the lavender has just gone over flowering

so it's a perfect time to give it a bit of a haircut

and get it shipshape for next year.

I always approach this job with a slight sense of regret.

It's still summer, the sun is out but the lavender is over,

and if I don't want this particular shrub to get leggy and woody,

it needs treatment and it needs it now.

So I'm going in and I'm going to just cut back to, I suppose,

just below the flower spike.

So, what I'm doing now is really maintaining a nice compact shape

and also by pruning like this I'm encouraging lots of side shoots

and lots of flower for next summer.

The hint of regret is tinged with hope for next year.

'Lavender responds well to a good cut-back.

'It will bounce back after a few weeks and look fine through winter.'

Not all of us will have been careful enough to give our lavender

a light haircut like this.

If you've allowed your lavender to get woody

and slightly brittle there is another way to rejuvenate it.

This plant is...well, it's just been here a long time.

It's got old. It's got gnarly. It's very, very woody.

There are a few options.

Whipping it out completely and replacing it with something else,

but that would be a shame in a way because if you look into it

there is some new growth in the very crown of the plant.

What I'm going to try here is to do something that is not often advised.

I'm going to cut hard into the old wood and see

if these shoots will act as a rejuvenation for the entire plant.

I would only do this at a milder time of year.

Never too early and never too late.

I'm going to come in about ten inches from the crown

and I'm going to cut back hard.

The idea is that you've got to be cruel to be kind

and if I want to rejuvenate this plant

and to solve the problems of brittle wood, I really have to get in there.

I'm not sure if this is going to regrow but I may as well have a try

and there are some really fine new shoots there, so fingers crossed.

'Only attempt to cut back woody lavender like this

'if the plant has new shoots and if you're willing to gamble

'as regrowth isn't guaranteed and you could lose the plant.'

Now, the cutting back here has been quite brutal

but look what it's opened up.

These fresh shoots which really will form that new, vigorous regrowth.

I hope.

The lesson here is cut it back as soon as it's finished flowering.

With regular pruning and if it's happy where it's growing,

you should easily get ten years out of a plant.

And that's not bad, is it?

'Lavender has long-held a reputation for its fragrance.

'Used in beauty products and essential oils,

'with its magical scents and soothing qualities.'

But did you know that English lavender is perfect for cooking?

Another reason to grow some in your garden.

Castle Farm in Kent is the biggest lavender grower in the UK,

with over 85 acres.

They grow many varieties including those suitable for use in cooking.

Caroline Alexander runs the farm shop where they sell

all things lavender, including lavender flavoured food products.

Caroline, what variety is this?

This one is called Maillette so it's a true angustifolia type.

Specifically bred for really, really good oil content.

Not only has it got a lot of oil in it but the type of oil is really

powerful so this is the really high grade stuff that goes into

the massage oils and the high grade perfumery and high grade toiletries.

-Is this cooking lavender for people to grow at home?

-Certainly.

The Maillette, this specific variety is generally not available

in the garden centres yet. It may come through.

Really, any angustifolia can be used for cooking but some will have

a much stronger scent and flavour to them than others.

The' best time to harvest lavender

'is when it has the most oil in the plant.

'This is at its mid-flowering stage,

'when a third of the heads are in bud,

'a third are in flower and a third have gone over.'

At home what you can do is just cut bunches like this.

Hang them somewhere where it's nice and warm and just let them dry out

and then keep the heads stored in a jar in a dark place.

You can just drop a few heads in when cooking a lavender cake

or lavender biscuits.

Infuse the flavour by maybe putting the lavender into oils

or into vinegar or into sugar and just letting it steep there.

Or into vodka and adding a bit of honey. That's really good.

-Really good.

-That put a smile to your face.

A bit of lavender liquor from that.

'Someone else who loves experimenting with lavender in food

'is local chef Ben James, who serves up lavender-infused meals

'at his pub, The George and Dragon.'

-So, Ben, what are you going to use these for?

-This is for lamb rump.

What we're going to do is take some rosemary...

-Hang on. Lavender and lamb?

-Lavender and lamb.

I've literally got some olive oil, some salt, some pepper

and some rosemary. And the lavender just really helps

the sort of aromatic note hit your nose first.

So we just rub that all the way into the nicely scored meat.

Both sides.

What do you think is so good about cooking with lavender?

It's nice to be able to offer people food

that is different to everyday menus.

Give somebody something exciting to try.

So we're going to put this fat-side-down in a cold pan.

Put it on a low heat to let some of the fat render out

before we put it in the oven.

'I can't wait to try it.

'Ben's prepared a range of treats that we're hoping to tempt people with back at Castle Farm.

'We've got a lavender drink with cucumber, mint and lemon.'

I think you should find that you've got a little bit

of the perfume on the nose and then at the back

but straight away you've got the lemon and the mint.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It works very well together.

'The lamb with the lavender rub.' That's delicious. Gorgeous.

-'Honey and lavender carrots.'

-It's very fragrant but not too much.

'And lavender chocolates.'

Really delicious.

Well, I'm sold. But more importantly, can we get the farm visitors eating lavender?

-You can taste the chocolate.

-Yes.

But then after a while you get a bit of the after kick.

-The lavender really comes through.

-Yeah. It's really nice.

That's not for you.

-How do you find that?

-I wouldn't say the lavender is too much.

I do use honey but I've never thought about putting

-lavender on them at all and I've bought some lavender.

-Fantastic.

-Mm.

-Yeah.

-That is gorgeous.

-Cheers.

-Well, that was really lovely.

Introducing a new idea of lavender in food and drink

and looking at the surprise on people's faces.

They really appreciated it and I hope it will make them

all go home and plant lavender in their gardens.

If you'd like to increase the amount of lavender plants you have

in your garden, it's easy to do, by taking cuttings,

and I'm going to show you how.

Now, this is a very nice plant to take some cuttings from.

So, what I'm looking for are some stems, side shoots,

that haven't flowered this year and all I do is simply peel them

away, taking a little bit of a heel.

Put that in a plastic bag there. A little bit of water.

Keep it nice and fresh.

Good time to do this is between April and September.

So, there you go with the heel there, which is

just a tear from the stem, and that will be from where the new

roots emerge, as it begins to take as its own new little plant.

'It's best to do this first thing in the morning,

'or later in the evening when water content in the plant is higher.

'To plant the cuttings, use a small terracotta pot filled with compost.'

I'm adding plenty of grit because with lavender,

it's all about good drainage and I get my cutting,

I strip off the base leaves and I'm going to clean that heel with

a sharp knife, running it across the base.

When you've done that, dip the end in the rooting hormone

and tap it at the side, just to shake off any excess powder.

Then, gently put it into the pot, firm the compost around it.

Do a few of those.

'A pot this size should take about six cuttings.'

Give it a little watering.

When excess water has drained away, create a mini

greenhouse by covering the pot with a very simple plastic bag.

That should create the perfect atmosphere for these

cuttings to strike. And after a couple of weeks, you can

snip the corner off and let some air begin to circulate.

Check it every so often.

You don't want any disease like mildew taking over.

And after a couple of months, those should have rooted.

When they root, take off the covering and grow this on, maybe

in a greenhouse,

in a frost-free situation for a couple of months, or even pot them

on and plant them out in the garden when they're about a year old.

Terry Winters is a computer designer by trade,

but a self-confessed lavender anorak.

He taught himself all about lavender to solve a gardening problem

when he moved into a new home.

This is a garden that my wife and I created from scratch three years ago.

It's a tricky site because it's very sunny, it's very dry,

and it's on chalk.

I knew from day one, lavender had to

be the centre of the planting plan.

I knew nothing about lavender and so I sought out lavender specialists

and I learned about the different varieties and the different species.

We grow them in pots here, we grow them in this large lavender bed

and along pathways. It's great just to be in amongst it.

The combination of different types of lavender,

which flower at different times of the year, combine to create

almost like a Persian carpet effect of colour that runs across the bed.

Along this alley,

we've grown lavender on either side of the pathway,

intermingled it with the Verbena bonariensis,

so you get a kind of a purple haze that I think looks quite lovely.

I know this journey will take me forward into the future

and I'll grow many more different varieties.

I think people should do what I've done, they should go on that

learning experience and bring lavender into their own gardens.

Really, what's not to like about lavender?

Lavender is such a wonderful, versatile plant with

so many great uses.

With just a little bit of care and attention, it'll fill

our gardens with scented blossoms in blue and white and pink and purple.

But let's grow some of the more unusual varieties

and fill our gardens with that scent and the sound of buzzing bees.

Across the series, our revival team are travelling the length

and breadth of Britain, celebrating our gardens,

flowers and plants, in all their glory.

With one important mission -

to champion our rich gardening heritage.

Next, Alys Fowler is on the campaign for knot gardens.

A knot garden is one of the most distinctive contributions

we have made to the garden world.

It was a centrepiece of the Tudor garden, an elaborate, living

tapestry of plants, woven together in glorious intricate design.

'Sadly today, they are seen as dated and simply too much effort.'

But I think the knot garden does have a place in the modern world.

We just need to be inspired.

I want to show you that knot gardens don't have to be old-fashioned

or fussy, they can be simple, low-maintenance and stylish.

I think they're an important part of our heritage

and one that we should be proud to revive.

On my revival campaign, I'll see how an artist's contemporary

take on a traditional knot garden has become a true labour of love.

This is entwined heart.

You're a shameless romantic, aren't you?

'How a fantastic competition in the Midlands led to a knot garden

'being revived by local volunteers.'

It's looking wonderful and I feel very Zen after all this raking.

'And I'll show you how easy it is to create your very own knot

'garden from scratch.'

I've mostly chosen herbs

because I want this knot garden to be as useful as it is pretty to look at.

In terms of style and design,

knot gardens truly are a thing of beauty and what better place

to start my revival campaign than here, at Helmingham Hall, in Suffolk?

'This spectacular moated manor house was

'built at the start of the reign of Henry VIII.

'Today, its formal gardens include a magnificent walled kitchen

'garden with herbaceous borders, a stunning parterre,

'and a shining example of a knot garden.' And this is it.

Isn't it fantastic?

The knot garden is basically a structured symmetrical design,

using low-growing plants.

More traditionally, these were herbs, but more recently, it's box.

'Sometimes, the elaborate patterns in Tudor knot gardens have meanings,

'like symbols of love and complex puzzles, or family crests.'

The overall effect is said to resemble embroidery,

and often there's a rope motif, but when is a knot not a knot?

Well, when it's a parterre.

This is a parterre.

So what's the difference between this and a knot garden?

Well, if the knot garden is an intricate interwoven tapestry,

then a parterre is a much cleaner, bolder architectural feature.

What I love about knot gardens is they're one of those few

historical features that work in the modern day

because they give your garden both structure and style.

I've come to the historic royal retreat of Hampton Court Palace,

where today we can see a 20th-century recreation of a Tudor knot garden.

Terry Gough is head of gardens and estates for historic royal palaces.

People looking at it now would go, "Oh, it's much looser than

-"I imagined," but that's because it's in an interim period.

-That's correct.

What we will do now is get them nice and sharp

and then we will plant with wonderful summer-flowering plants.

'Hampton Court Palace was originally owned by Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey,

'who is thought was an early advocate of the knot garden.'

So, how does the history of knot gardens in this palace work?

Well, Wolsey's biographer reports that Cardinal Wolsey had

"knots so in knotted, it cannot be expressed",

so obviously referring to Thomas Wolsey's knot gardens

because he was the first builder of Hampton Court Palace.

And then, of course, Henry VIII took it from him, made it a royal

palace and then he started to change the gardens completely.

So, do we have any of those early knot gardens?

Are there pictures of them? Does any of it exist any more?

Unfortunately, they've all been swept away.

All we have from that Tudor period are the walls

and some of the surviving features, but the gardens have been swept

away by later monarchs demonstrating later gardening tastes.

It's always the way with gardening history.

Everybody has to rip it up and start again.

'By the 17th century, there was

'a change in attitudes towards the traditional knot garden.'

Over time, grander parterres, such as this one, began to take over

and British monarchs, such as William of Orange, started to try

and outdo the great gardens of Versailles.

'This royal rivalry reached its peak with

'the introduction of the ultimate supersized knot garden.

'The maze.'

Hampton Court Palace is home to the oldest surviving puzzle hedge maze.

It was built in the late 17th century.

'But by the mid-18th century, mazes, knot gardens

'and parterres fell out of fashion as garden trends changed

'and naturalistic landscape gardens became all the rage.

'The Victorian Arts and Crafts movements were a mini

'revival of confusing knot garden, parterre combinations.'

But ultimately the knot garden was lost in the aftermath of the

First World War, seen by many as just

too labour-intensive and old-fashioned.

'That's why on my revival campaign, I'm out to prove that knot gardens

'can be low-maintenance, ultra-modern and fit for the 21st century.'

'Here at Helmingham Hall the knot garden has been created to be

'historically sympathetic to the house

'but still manages to look effortlessly modern.

'Owner Xa Tollemache is an award winning landscape

'and garden designer.'

It was in 1980 that we decided to do our own garden on this side of the house.

Gosh, it looks incredibly established for that time, doesn't it?

And how did you come up with the design?

We did it in initials, which is "A" for Alexandra, but no-one calls me

by that. And then "T" is over there for Tim.

-Oh, I see.

-My husband.

-Yes.

And then the other two are the fret, which is such a wonderful

pattern to do a knot garden with because it sort of lends itself.

And the planting in between is delightfully informal.

Is that on purpose?

Well, I love a formal structure but informal planting,

so I want all the flowers and planting to be very exuberant

and soften the architectural element of it.

And how did you go about choosing the plants in the beds?

I was keen that this knot garden should be historically

correct up to a point,

so most of the genus are old plants introduced

in Britain before 1750, and I pop in some annuals every now and again.

So this side is your initial, but the design changes over here.

Yes, they are four beds for herbs.

So we did this in basically a Union Jack,

and then I just put this stud work of box as a sort of punctuation.

So what do you like most about a knot garden?

Well, it's tremendously adaptable.

It's a very nice thing to look from your windows onto a knot garden,

and they can be as simple or as complicated as you like to make them.

You can have gravel in between. It can be very low-maintenance.

You know, you can have a knot garden or a parterre or anything,

sort of in that vein, outside a modern house,

and it will look smart, cool, contemporary and fun.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And, of course, you now, in the winter,

I've seen this in snow and it's just fantastic.

I think it's a marvellous way to enjoy gardening.

So I see there's an element of seasonal planting.

Do you put that on every single bed?

Where there are gaps. For instance, we've had narcissi here.

White narcissi, and then they die down, you know,

and the leaves get really ugly, so I chopped them

off and I have an antirrhinum, which is an old plant.

It's a snapdragon,

and I pop them in and it prolongs the flowering season.

-But some of the beds are perennial planting and there's no need.

-Right.

But where there are bulbs, you know, you need to just give them

a bit of encouragement.

What do you find works best between the beds?

I mean, are there sort of plants you really rely on?

Well, this is a new invention.

These are agapanthus, and I like the combination of leaf.

-Mmm.

-..the contrast and, of course, the box roots are quite greedy

and the agapanthus, like, sort of its root being starved.

So they come up and they have fabulous flower heads

and then the seed heads, they die off and the seed heads go through

the winter, so it works well there.

And then I have other old plants.

I mean, you know, all the astrantias.

All the aquilegias and sedums

and sort of things that really don't mind being a little bit competitive.

Yes, I suppose that's the, that's the point, isn't it?

I particularly like the astrantias

and aquilegias as they sort of rise above the box.

Yes, because in the middle...

-you want to be able to see them.

-Yes.

You can have the lower plants, you know, on the outside beds

because you can look down on them.

You can't always look in there,

so when the agapanthus are up here, you know, it works quite well.

I'm quite pleased with that.

And it's exactly that which I think works so well with this design.

It's the very formal, and then this incredibly delicate, relaxed air to

-it that I think this garden pulls off so well.

-We're nearly there.

THEY LAUGH

'One of the best things about knot gardens is that they allow

'you to be creative.

'I've come to the village of Tilford, in Surrey, where artist

'Rod Burns and his wife Pamela have created a series of gardens

'brought to life with Rod's unique artwork.'

So this is their delightful herb garden,

and actually its roots are very much with the knot garden.

So although it looks fairly modern in some extent, actually this

is a very ancient idea of having a hortus conclusus, so it's a tiny

hidden garden, and the beginning of the knot garden comes out of this.

'In medieval times an enclosed garden was a space in which to grow

'culinary and medicinal herbs, often protected by box hedging.'

And from that comes the knot garden

and then later into parterre gardens.

So they look radically different

but their origins are actually from the same place.

'Like the cooks and apothecaries of old, holistic therapist Pam

'uses the gardens to their full potential.'

They are places for reflection and contemplation.

But not only that, it's very practical.

We can enjoy the culinary herbs. We can enjoy herbs for teas.

We can enjoy the medicinal properties of the herbs.

It's multipurpose. But also...very beautiful space.

'And actually there's another secret garden that I've come to see...'

Hello.

'..created by Pam's husband Rod,

'a self-proclaimed garden renaissance man.'

Hello, Alys.

This is not at all what I expected. It's delightfully hidden.

-Everything is all little compartments.

-Yeah.

All little secret places,

and that's what I've tried to do throughout the garden.

To have little areas which have their own identity.

It was my vision when I came here.

I thought, "Wouldn't it be good to have maybe 50 or 100 people

"in the garden and actually not be able to see them.?"

Gosh. OK, that's an interesting way of thinking about it.

You've really, kind of, built up little hidden rooms.

Yeah. It infuriates my wife because she can never find me.

Oh, I like the fact you've got a proper knot going on on the outside.

-Yes.

-Yes. And then is this a heart?

-This is an entwined heart. Like four hearts.

-That's lovely.

And a couple of kisses thrown in.

You're a shameless romantic, aren't you?

THEY LAUGH

'Rod's creative talent is clearly on show here.

'I love the clever rope edge design which plays with shadow

'and light, and the sense of symmetry you get when viewing from different angles.'

So as I want to, you know, persuade everyone out there that they

should have a little version of this,

what do you think are the kind of... What are the key practicalities?

-Particularly with getting the design right.

-You can design your own.

You don't have to follow any particular design. You can do it any way.

I grew all the plants from...

-you know, that.

-Yes.

-And they all took.

I don't think I had any casualties at all, and I'd drawn it out

and I just measured it, and...

the plants just planted only a few inches apart.

And within five years, I had a knot garden.

Now it's very mature and it's just right.

How many days does it take you? Because you have to prune it.

Yep. It takes two days. Shears. Nothing else. No mechanical...

It has to be shears. But it's very, very low-maintenance.

People look at it and think, "Wow,

that's massively high maintenance," and it's not.

As part of my revival and campaign, imagine

if you walk down the street and every other front garden had

a wonderful, playful knot garden like this.

'I think what Rod's done here is fantastic.

'It shows that the knot garden does not need to be a fusty, old

'relic consigned to history. It can be modern.

'It can be arty and it can be fun.'

I am always at home in a kitchen garden like this one

here at Helmingham Hall, in Suffolk.

Traditionally, knot gardens were created using herbs like these

chives in flower.

So this is the perfect setting to show you how to

create your own stylish, modern knot garden.

In order for your design to be effective, you need a bold, simple

outline, and then the intricacies can come into what you fill in between.

So I have created a very simple sun motif, which gives me

a very instantly recognisable design.

And then I can have fun with the beds in between.

So...

the important thing with a knot garden is for it to be precise.

'I'm marking my edges with bamboo canes

'and I'm using twine secured with tent pegs to create my sun's rays.'

So now that I know where my centre point is,

I'm going to go in.

And are you ready for the magic?

Circle...

'I'm using a sand-filled bottle tied to another secure peg to

'help me draw the perfect circular sun.

'Whilst I'm not using box hedging in my knot garden I'm giving

'a nod to Tudor traditions with my planting.'

I've chosen plants, mostly herbs and edibles, because I like

the idea of a knot garden being useful as well as pretty to look at.

'I'm marking out my border with lavender dwarf blue -

'a small compact variety which will produce deep purple flowers.'

Now lavender was very traditional in knot gardens.

It was often used as edging.

You get the joy of the scent, the flower, the pollinators

and the bees are all happy.

'You need to grow them 15-20cm apart and they'll eventually grow

'to form a good, solid, low hedge that's hardy and easy to maintain.'

From here on in, my next back bone in my design is going to be chives

and the reason I chose chives was,

similar to the lavender, you get lovely flowers.

They look fantastic. The pollinators like them.

You get to eat the chives but, more importantly, it's an incredibly

cheap and easy way to place out a design.

And the joy about chives is that you can really shove these

guys in together so you can make a very kind of strong, bold line.

'To knit my design together, I'm adding purple sage.

'It's wonderfully fragrant

'and will work visually with the lavender and the chive flowers.'

And that's the bones of this design.

It's the permanent planting that makes this a knot garden,

so all that's left to do now is just to get it in the ground.

'My plants are in so it's time to remove the twine

'and finally plant my sun centre piece.

'I want to create height so I'm going to use a larger variety of lavender.'

So now you can see the layout of the design

and all I have to do is fill in the bare spaces.

'Later I'm going to bring this design to life with colourful bedding

'and more edible plants.

'The end result will be a cost-effective, great-looking,

'practical knot garden that you can easily recreate.'

'For more inspiration on my revival, I've come to the ancient site

'of Astley Castle in Warwickshire, where the owners have come up with

'a unique way of bringing their historic knot garden back to life.

'In 1900, a Tudor garden with parterre elements was revived here

'but, in 1978,

'the castle-turned-hotel was devastated by fire

'and the gardens fell into disrepair.

'The building's remains have since been turned into holiday homes

'but now it's the garden that's getting all the attention.'

As part of a restoration project, the owners invited the public to

get involved in designing and building their own knot garden.

'A competition was launched and the winning design was for

'a knot garden which harked back to the castle's Tudor past.

'The installation of the garden is being headed up by Kasia Howard.'

Hello.

Pleased to meet you. Welcome to our knot garden.

Ah, what a location! What a back drop!

It's fantastic, isn't it?

We're just very lucky to be able to recreate a knot garden here.

A slightly contemporary styled knot garden.

And was there always a garden here?

We believe that there was always a garden here, yes.

Some of the old maps that we've got show that there was

a garden here on the north side of the moated island

and, more recently, a knot garden was planted here during

the Arts and Crafts revival of knot gardens and so,

when we came to this site in 2008,

there were a few straggly remains of hedges here.

'The revival of this knot garden is faithful to the castle's royal past.

'During Tudor times,

'the Nine Days Queen, Lady Jane Grey, lived here

'and she's not the only former resident

'to have worn the English crown.'

The lady who designed the garden, Kate,

she was inspired by the fact that the site was linked to three queens.

Elizabeth Woodville, her daughter, Elizabeth of York,

and then poor, old Lady Jane Grey.

So the garden roughly follows that pattern, that theme of three.

So we've got three main beds and then three yews

and then we've got this seating area at the back.

Very clever kind of interweaving of the history there.

Yes, definitely. Definitely.

-Now, can I help?

-You certainly can.

We are just levelling this area here

so that we can put down some crushed brick, because the Tudors loved

to use different coloured gravels within their garden and we're

just going to lay it along this part of the garden here as the surface.

-Fabulous.

-There you go.

-Thank you. Oh, that's a lovely colour.

'I love how this modern knot garden

'has some very careful historic references.

'The coloured gravel,

'centred herbs and the protective Hornbeam hedge were all

'common features in Tudor gardens.'

It's looking wonderful and I feel very Zen after all this raking.

So, we're putting in privet

because they're hoping to make that lovely rope effect, where it goes

sort of up and over, that you see in so many traditional knot gardens.

'And one of the best things about this restoration work is

'that it's a community project with volunteers from the local

'area all mucking in together.'

I have a certain affinity with Astley Castle.

When I first met my wife, I brought her here

had a meal in a castle and I think, you know, she was impressed

because over 40 years now we've been together.

HE LAUGHS

So this is a wonderful example of a revival of knot gardens

and the thing that seems to me

is it works very well as a community project.

You know, you just keep following the pattern, isn't it?

Exactly. It has a rhythm to it which people get,

people understand, and a balance

and I think, sometimes, with some gardens, it can be very difficult.

You kind of... You approach them and you think,

"Oh, I'm not sure what's going to happen here,"

but the structure of a knot garden somehow fixes you.

It places you and you feel kind of quite comforted by it.

Yeah. I can't tell you how impressed I am with the whole thing.

-Well, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

It's great to see a much-loved landmark being restored by locals.

It's even better that it's a knot garden

because that means my campaign is already up and running.

Inspired by the enthusiasm of those volunteer knot gardeners,

I'm back at Helmingham Hall, where I'm ready for the next

stage in my modern take on the knot garden.

The permanent element of my knot garden is now in.

These plants are all perennials so they'll be here this year

and next year and all I need to do is maintain them.

It does look a little bit spacey in the beginning

so what I'm going to do is use some bedding plants to sort of

fill it in and give it a little bit more colour.

Now, these are French marigolds and they're very...

colourful and bright and not expensive.

'I'm alternating them with dwarf lavender

'to break up what will become the hedge border and

'the bright yellow will compliment my lavender sun centrepiece perfectly.'

So, although these plants are small now, they will grow bigger.

You don't want to plant them on top of each other

so leave at least 10-15cm.

There you go. Now you can start to see my sun a little bit better.

And now I have these spaces in-between, which I can

fill in with other edibles which will not only pull the design

together but it means I have lots to pick over the summer.

'The first salads I'm going to add

'is a loose-leafed lettuce called Salad Bowl Red.'

You don't want to crowd them in because they need a good, extensive

root system in order to allow you to pick them time and time again.

So you really want them sort of 20-25cm apart.

I also have some Green Salad Bowl lettuce

and, finally, I have a Romaine-style lettuce.

So this is a slightly more upright, crunchy lettuce

but, again, you can treat it in exactly the same way.

You just keep harvesting.

And for the final segment of the design, I'm going to sow some

coriander and I'm going to sow it really quite thickly

so I get it as cut-and-come-again, baby-leaf coriander

and this is when the leaves are really packed full of flavour.

Just liberally sow the coriander fairly thickly and cover...

cover the seed.

And here it is - my knot garden.

So it will evolve and the lettuces will grow bigger and the chives will

finally make a full bank and the lavender will make a proper hedge.

A very simple, very cheap, very easy and very productive

knot garden that can be put into absolutely any garden or any space.

Knot garden designs work well in small spaces

and even in raised beds.

Just use plants that work for you and don't be afraid to be creative,

like Roger and Susan Chartier, who live in the village of Otham in Kent.

They've proved you don't need stately home grounds

by turning their front garden into a parterre.

Originally, it was just grass with a pampas grass in the middle

and it looked very boring

and we thought we'd try something different about 15 years ago.

I come up with all sorts of weird and...

Very ambitious with your projects.

..wonderful ideas and she just tempers things down.

-And of course I listen to her.

-It's because you're a retired engineer

and you've always got projects going, haven't you?

We ended up with a simple design of basically curves.

You did a lot of drawings first, didn't you?

And then you laid out this black sheet and you drew it all first.

We started planting it up and we then filled it with these

laurel, what we call lollipops, and viburnum, which are evergreen.

Even though it's quite hard work once a year for all

the trimming and actual sweeping up of all the bits,

the rest of the time you can leave it.

I let all the mess go on the ground, which upsets Sue

because she likes putting clods down there

but then I just fall over them.

He'd rather do it like that and then rake it up.

I believe in chaos.

Yeah. He does, actually.

To create their garden, Roger and Sue collected over 500 cuttings,

which came with sentimental value.

This front garden has emotions for us because the hedging

came from our mothers' gardens

and they've both recently passed away so it does remind us of them.

I think that was my mum's

and the smaller one was your mum's, wasn't it?

-No, love, it wasn't.

-Oh.

-SHE LAUGHS

This garden is no bigger or smaller than most

and I think it fits in well.

Well, with busy working people cos a lot of people work all the time

and they haven't got a lot of time to tend flower beds, have they?

It's not difficult to maintain and it's not difficult to set up.

You can do all sorts of great shapes.

I mean, this is circles but you could do interlocking squares.

If you plant this, it only requires attention once a year.

I think he's done very well.

I think he's got some nice shapes there.

Perhaps that one could be slightly a little bit rounder

but that makes it unique, doesn't it?

-Yeah. OK, love.

-HE LAUGHS

What I've learnt about knot gardens is,

despite their historical settings and their seemingly strict rules,

they're actually the perfect design for the modern gardener.

If done well, they're very low-maintenance.

They offer year-round structure

and the design, it's open to a lot of interpretation,

which means, I think, they're absolutely ripe for a revival.