An award-winning garden designer from Slaithwaite has created a tranquil show garden for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Pandora Ryan, of Pandora Ryan Garden and Landscape Design Studio, lost three of her grandparents to cancer and all were supported by Macmillan nurses.
Pandora has designed a 99 square metre scheme – named ‘The Macmillan Legacy of a Lifetime Garden’ for the first-ever RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse in Rotherham on July 16-20.
The hope is the beautiful garden will encourage visitors to the five-day show to consider leaving a gift in their will to the national cancer charity.
Inspired by the tranquil beauty, healing qualities and lifecycles of nature, Pandora’s garden design features elegant trees that cast a soft, dappled light through a delicate canopy.
Beneath them, Macmillan Cancer Support’s brand colours are echoed through lush shade-loving perennials, ferns and grasses that form a serene green and white palette.
Pandora said: “I lost three of my grandparents to cancer and each of them was profoundly supported by Macmillan nurses, so the work Macmillan Cancer Support does holds deep personal meaning for me.
“My late grandad called the Macmillan nurses ‘angels’ – a reflection of what their compassion and unwavering support meant to him and the family when it was needed the most.”
Pandora explained that her design invites visitors to consider “the impact of a lifetime and how each generation can support the next”, and how leaving a gift in a will to the cancer charity “can be a person’s lasting legacy to help people living with the disease in the future.”
The garden will showcase more than 1,200 individual plants and features a reflective water pool at its centre, alongside a sculptural centrepiece designed and created by Pandora entitled ‘The Pillars of Strength’, representing the support offered by Macmillan.
“I wanted to include a reflective water pool approached via three chequerboard paths, symbolising our shared journey through life as humans and the challenges of navigating a cancer diagnosis.
“Once at the pool, visitors are invited to place seed-infused ‘fallen leaves’ made from sugar paper into the water to create a moment of appreciation for the cycles of life and to mirror how a gift in a will can nurture future generations.
“The Pillars of Strength sculptural centrepiece stands as a quiet monument to resilience, support and enduring impact.
“Its reflective surfaces mirror the water and surrounding landscape, while its engraved illustration reinforces the role of Macmillan and the far-reaching effects of legacy giving.”
This year sees the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bring its Flower Show – usually held at Tatton Park in Cheshire – to South Yorkshire for the first time.
Pandora described creating the garden as a career landmark and added: “Gifts in wills are Macmillan’s largest income stream, and if this garden encourages even one more person to leave a donation so that more people living with cancer can receive the care and support they need, then I’ll be very happy indeed.”