Battle of the Visionaries at Tatton Park

Six of today’s most exciting garden designers have been selected from many hopefuls to exhibit in a new Visionary Gardens category at this year’s RHS Show Tatton Park.

Designers were tasked with creating gardens focusing on artistic concepts, future fashions and environmental implications, such as climate change and the use of sustainable materials. The results produced a whole host of intriguing ideas from across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales which will culminate in a battle to be the best in bloom when the show takes place between 22 and 26 July.

English representation will come in the form of three very different gardens that use interesting visionary concepts. ‘A Fractured World’ by Alan Gardner of Sutton Coldfield explores a metaphorical view of today’s world with a deconstructivists’ piece of land art, while ‘Time’ by Marcus Green of Northhamptonshire focuses on the cycle of plant life within time. Finally, ‘Gridwork’ by Leeds University students Philip Dugdale and Alan Burns is a changeable space responding to modern day-to-day needs, accommodating a variety of uses using a series of planting boxes that form a grid.

Sheena Seeks Green Pheonix brings Scottish presence to the new category with the ‘Time and Bell Garden’, a space designed to stimulate thought, visual interest and contemplation

A flavour of Irish garden design arrives at Tatton with Fiann Õ Nuallãin’s ‘Levitate Me’ garden, created as a landscape for a spiritual and metaphysical experience to signify the resonance and aesthetic value of earth mounds.

Welsh designer Peter Styles from the Welsh College of Horticulture completes the pack of visionary designers with his ‘Glyndwrs Vision’ garden, which is an allegorical vision of his beloved country.

Kris Hulewicz, show manager for Tatton, says: "The number of outstanding entries we had for this new category made selecting the winners a really tough call, but the successful designers met the objectives of Visionary Gardens with inspiring ideas that challenge the concepts of traditional garden design and tackle the issue of sustainability in novel and forward thinking ways."

"It is this innovative spirit that has made Tatton stand out from other gardening shows, and why this will be an inspiring addition to this year’s content."

Tatton will be full of fresh content this year with the Tatton Park Young Designer of the Year Competition being held during show week, the RHS Summe Fruit and Vegetable Competition, and the floral catwalk staged by British Florist Association.

For more information visit Tatton Park Flower Show

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