Knot Gardens and Parterres

This work on knot gardens and parterres is written in two parts. The first unravels the tangled story of the knot garden as it transforms itself from the curious knot of Tudor times into the great embroidered layouts of the 17th century. The English landscape all but obliterated formal patterns but they emerge again with the flamboyance of the Victorian parterre. Here, fully illustrated, is the alternative history of British gardening; a story that embraces all the decorative arts. At last it is possible to see how the designs used in weaving, embroidery, carpentry, glazing and plasterwork appear again and again mirrored in the garden.