Take a walk through the RHS Flower Power Garden
Award-winning designer Anca Panait returns to RHS Flower Show Tatton Park with this fabulous Feature Garden
Designer Anca Panait took inspiration from Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, a taxonomic guide book to the colours of the natural world, first published in 1814. She also draws on people's emotional responses to colours, to create a garden that both excites and soothes, depending on where one is on the journey.
Visitors are welcomed into the garden by the red borders, hot and passionate where geums and bronze fennel are offered up on a backdrop of Deschampsia grasses.
Turn a corner into the cooler orange area where Anca hopes to create a more relaxed feeling with mass planting of Kniphofia 'Tawny King' set among drifts of the feathery grass Nassella tenuissima.
A water feature draws people to the soothing, calmer blue area where salvias, chicory and Eryngium create a naturalistic planting scheme.
A small boulder invites people to take a seat and dip their toes in the cool waters below before crossing the path to the forest area, where there's an opportunity to rest among the woodland planting sheltered by taller trees.
The backdrop is made up of three coloured free-standing walls, built over the course of a week by specialists from Wales using traditional techniques and only natural products. The lime render was built up over several days as was the dye, again created with only natural products.
This year is a welcome return to RHS Flower Show Tatton Park for Anca who was a finalist in the RHS Young Designer of the Year in 2017.
“There were three of us in that year and we formed a close bond. I’m still in touch with them, particularly Ulla who won. We offer tips and advice on projects to each other - it’s a very tight friendship.
“When you come to RHS Tatton Park as a Young Designer it's quite pressured. It's the first Show Garden you've designed, so, although it's a competition, you all help each other out.”
So what next for the up-and-coming designer who continues to impress?
“I would really love to go to RHS Chelsea!
“We're very lucky to be in an industry that could keep working throughout the pandemic. People have been stuck at home, looking out at their gardens - so there has been plenty of work for us.
“That's one positive from the pandemic, people are more into gardening and the natural world.”
Meet the designer
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Born in Romania, Anca Panait has lived and worked in the UK since 2012 and is one of a growing number of young landscape architects making their mark on the industry.Meet the designer
As a finalist in the RHS Young Designer Competition, here at RHS Tatton Park in 2017, she was awarded a Silver Gilt medal for the Prospect and Refuge Garden. She went on to design The Entertaining Garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2018.
Growing up with a passion for drawing and capturing the beauty of the natural environment, Anca describes her
Meet the landscapers
Landstruction is no stranger to RHS Flower Shows and has built several award-winning gardens, including at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and here at RHS Tatton Park.Founded by David T Binks, the firm is based in nearby Chester and specialises in landscaping and construction. The team benefits from three generations of landscaping and horticultural excellence and works in the commercial and private sector.
With thanks to...
Big Hedge Co, CED Stone, Haven Outdoor and Living Space.
- Below is a small sample of some of the plants in this garden or you can download the full planting list here (13kb pdf).