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Tatton Garden Society won a silver medal at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show with their garden entitled “1016 And All That”. The garden celebrates 1000 years since King Canute forded the River Lily at Knutsford and features Meadowmat Woodland Shade in its design.
The RHS Tatton Park Flower Show is held near to the town of Knutsford in Cheshire. Legend has it that Knutsford was named after King Canute because it was here that he forded the River Lily in 1016. The name Canutesford appears in the Domesday Book; over time this has been distorted to become Knutsford.
Garden Designer Alex Ellison, felt that the plants and flowers used in the garden should be representative of what was growing in the area in Canute’s time.
Because horticulture as we know it, was in its infancy at that time, native wild flowers were the obvious choice to replicate the landscape of the era.
Designing and building the winning garden, Alex is a trained Garden Designer but doesn’t usually practice her art outside of her own garden. Creating the Tatton Garden Society garden presented her with a series of challenges. She said the garden design is relatively easy compared to the paperwork, the pre-planning, the logistics and the buildup. “Having a small budget because TGS is a charity, meant that everything needed to be sourced very carefully.” She said. “We were lucky that so many suppliers were willing to help out by donating products and labour.”
Alex chose Meadowmat for Woodland Shade as the basis for her planting scheme. The 38 species of native wild flowers and grasses would have thrived in the landscape of the time. Being able to install Meadowmat quickly instead of placing individual mature plants in the garden saved Alex a lot of time on buildup day. Having the species list to hand was also incredibly helpful to Alex as she completed the RHS paperwork in preparation for the show.
Meadowmat was donated by Harrowden Turf Ltd and, to ensure that it looked its very best in time for the show, Alex had it delivered early and transplanted it into bread crates that were filled with low-nutrient soil. For the 2 months or so preceding the show, she nurtured the wild flowers and her efforts were rewarded with a stunning floral display - and a Silver medal.
