Plants and Design in English Tudor Gardens: Knots, Mazes, and Symbolic Beds

Tudor gardens blended ornamental and useful plants in intricate, symbolic layouts. Andrew Borde recommended separating pot-herbs from "quarters and pulse together with a place for bee-hives" via a broad-hedged alley, though smaller gardens typically intermingled medicinal and decorative species.

Ornamental Plant Palette

Extensive plant lists included acanthus, asphodel, auricula, amaranth, cornflower, cowslip, daffodil, daisy, gillyflower, hollyhock, iris, lavender, larkspur, lily of the valley, lilies, marigold, nigella, pansy, pink, peony, periwinkle, poppy, primrose, rocket, roses (including sweetbrier), snapdragon, clove gillyflower, sweet william, sweet john, star of Bethlehem, star of Jerusalem, stock gillyflower, tuft gillyflower, velvet flower, violet, wallflower, and fragrant herbs like mint and marjoram.

Geometric Bed Design: The Knot Garden

The four quarters formed by intersecting main alleys were subdivided into "knots"—geometric or fanciful patterns (dragons, etc.) outlined with coping (wood, brick, stone, tile) and edged with box or border plants. Knots were either:

• Open: Outlined with border plants, interior strewn with colored sands
• Closed: Filled with growing flowers

Mazes and Labyrinths

Alternative to knots, mazes ranged from:

• High hedges concealing intricate paths (forcing wanderers to the outskirts)
• Low plant outlines (lavender) serving as decoration

Central features typically included an arbor or clipped tree.

Design Philosophy

Bed shape trumped content. Latticework fences or striped railings on carved posts/beasts enclosed quarters. This emphasis on pattern over plant collection reflects the Tudor garden's role as crafted artifice—a designed landscape expressing order, symbolism, and status.