Knot gardens are wonderful. Try to test your pattern with simple materials like coloured sand or mulches first to see the actual shape and I like your idea of using annuals first to see how it works out. Lavenders too make a good cheap alternative to expensive shrubs. They lend themselves well to a good trim was well. As for boxwood, I agree, they can be expensive - however you can propagate them. A knot garden is a long term investment in terms of time, labour and money. So it makes sense that you propagate whatever plants you'd need to do the job. While you are determining what you need for your yard, get clippings of boxwood and start making new plants. By it's 3 or 5th year it will be large enough to be used as border plants. A couple of years ago I started some boxwood cuttings and have a surviving 15 plants this year. I will make more to produce more plants once more.

Please tell how you propogate boxwood! Is it difficult? Thanks for your ideas. Especially the one about perhaps laying it out in mulch first! I agree this will be a long, drawn out thing. So, it sound like I might very well be able to propogate boxwood for a few years while I work on it. I think I will start trying to plant the "field" planting of a very low groundcover such as Pennyroyal or Moneywort (Creeping Jenny) this season. And start trying to get the cuttings, divisions, etc. to plant next year, and the year after.

Very simple. In summer, mid or late summer, I take green wood cuttings of boxwood at about 3" or longer. I leave about 2 leaves on each cutting and dip each one in root hormone #2 (for greenwood). Shake off excess powders I then insert them in a soilless mix (no fertilizers). You can combine up to 20 cuttings in 1 pot and place them in a plastic tent (large clear plastic bag with holes for ventilation). Don't over water, just keep it damp but not too damp. If you have a cold storage area or can fashion a cold frame, you can place several cuttings in that location. Leave it out till next spring, by summer the cuttings would have started to root. Gently pry and separate the cuttings loose and plant them in individual containers and keep them well watered. If you have the area for it, by the second year, plant them direct in the garden soil and keep them exposed to the elements. By the third year, you can begin planting them in your knot garden. They will eventually play catch up although you will appreciate it only in the fifth year. The thing is, every year, take cuttings to make more plants. This way, in case some plants die, you have extras to keep it going.

Another plant, (annual) that is easily propagated are coleus and they branch out very nicely so they too can be used for a single season as hedges.

Thanks for the info. It sounds a lot like trying to propogate a rose bush. So, in 5 years, how big would you suppose they would be? I really like the idea of keeping starts going so that you will always have replacements too. For that matter, I guess I need to make sure that I have replacements of all my plantings planted elsewhere for patch jobs huh? I see where coleus would have lots of different colors to choose from too.

It's very much the same propagation technique applied to other plants. My 2 year boxwood growth is about 5" now. When the snow melts away, I expect another couple of inches growth this year and I will also begin to start pinching back the tips to make the plant bushier. A five year growth is possibly 8" and bushier. I keep my hedge to a low 12" - 14" high and that's sufficiently high for my needs. I find that they do grow stronger and faster once they've been transplanted direct into the ground (your nursery patch). Patience is the key.

I'd like to trouble you w/ one more question: do you think boxwood would do ok in an area against the North side of my house. That ranges from 10'out; being partial shade, to almost full shade; closer to the house?

Boxwoods would tolerate partial shade but not full shade or deep shade. Otherwise they'd come out leggy with thin foliage. They just wouldn't look good.

If you do go for boxwood - make sure that it is a type that doesn't grow to 3ft. You will need the pygmy sort that only attain 12-18" - otherwise you will be pruning all yr!! For other shrubs - pygmy barberries, and privets have been used. Lavender is good, but will not do well in shade. Hyssop works well and will come from seed, so a hedge will grow in one season. Santolina is also poplular. Is it your intension to have the center circle a different material to the outer ones?
Good luck with the idea

Germander also makes a nice knot garden. You have to shear it. Cheaper than boxwood.

I wish I could find the "pygmy sort" boxwood. It is never available at nurseries in my area; and at Lowes, even tho they carry three varieties (2', 3', and 5'), they mislabel the 3' grower as "dwarf". And yes - I prune and trim at least three (or four,if not too close to beginning of cold temps)times a year.

Ianna, thanks for the detail instructions on boxwood propagation. I will copy it and save. mmayerct - I love the Germander borders in herb gardens and would try a knot garden using it, but does it freeze out easily? Have you had good success using it?